alternatehistory.com

In the years before the USA's entry into WW2, there was considerable public paranoia about a "fifth column" in the country that would infiltrate American institutions (including the military) and then turn on them if the USA got into the war. The specifics of the mythical fifth column were often not given in particular depictions so that the reader could imagine they applied to any number of countries, but probably the most commonly cited was that of German-Americans, given their large representation in the country. This paranoia was also ultimately responsible for the controversial internment of Japanese-Americans by the Roosevelt administration after Pearl Harbour.

In reality of course the fifth column failed to materialise. Barring a few crazies in the German-American Bund and so on, no vast horde of treacherous infiltrators ever appeared and such people never had a significant effect on the USA's role in WW2.

The challenge here is to come up with a real, significant American Fifth Column that genuinely affects the USA's performance in a war. Because this is quite an unlikely scenario, I'm not restricting this to WW2: it can be any conflict you want, with a POD as far back as 1900 so you can set it up. Let's hear some ideas.
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