As the Chief of the Kuomintang (KMT) Army secret service in China, Dai Li helped to develop China's modern intelligence organization in 1928. He became one of the most powerful and feared men in China. Dai was also the head of the Blue Shirts Society, a fascist organization that did security and intelligence work for Chiang. In 1930s and 1940s, his agents from the Military-Statistics Bureau were very successful at penetrating the Chinese Communist and Imperial Japanese puppet organizations. Dai worked with the United States during World War II and was taught new methods of espionage, and his guerrilla force grew to 70,000 men. In return for this partnership, he made available maps of the South China coast, intelligence on Japanese maneuvers and a safe haven for downed Allied aircrew. After the signing of the SACO Treaty in 1942, Dai was placed as head of Sino-American intelligence activities. He died in a plane crash on March 17, 1946, possibly arranged by Dai's counterpart and rival in the Communist Party of China (CCP), the notorious security and intelligence chief Kang Sheng.