The idea of landing spies in the United States originated with Nazi Germany's foreign minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop, and this particular operation was developed by the "Schutzstaffel" (SS). Operation Magpie would be Germany's second and final attempt to insert agents onto the American mainland by submarine. They had previously landed agents on American shores by U-Boat as part of Operation Pastorius in June 1942, but that mission failed, resulting in the capture of all eight of the espionage agents who were deployed.