This is confirmed by papers of Norman Thwaites, MI1(c) Head of Station in New York, which contain evidence that Reilly approached Thwaites seeking espionage-related work in 1917–1918. Formerly a private secretary to newspaper magnate Joseph Pulitzer and a police reporter for Pulitzer's "The New York World", Thwaites was keen on obtaining information concerning radical activities in the United States; in particular, any connections between American socialists with Soviet Russia. Consequently, under Thwaites' direction, Reilly presumably worked alongside a dozen other British intelligence operatives attached to the British mission at 44 Whitehall Street in New York City. Although their ostensible mission was to coordinate with the U.S. government in regards to intelligence about the German Empire and Soviet Russia, the British agents also focused upon obtaining trade secrets and other commercial information related to American industrial companies for their British rivals.