Donald Nichols (18 February 1923 – 2 June 1992) was a United States Air Force intelligence officer who played a hidden but pivotal role in the Korean War. He and his spies found most of the North Korean targets destroyed by U.S. bombing during the war. Nichols also warned his superiors far in advance that North Korea was planning the surprise invasion that started the war, although his many warnings were ignored. In the first months of the war, Nichols and his men broke North Korean battle codes, which helped U.S. forces survive the invasion, halt the enemy's momentum, and destroy most of the North's army. Nichols created the Air Force's first covert intelligence unit, Detachment 2 of the 6004th Air Intelligence Service Squadron, which he commanded during most of the Korean War. His intell