THE ORGANISATION OF INTELLIGENCE
The object of this Paper
1. The object of this paper is to discuss the existing Intelligence organisation; to ascertain whether this system produces the best results; and, should it appear as a consequence of this investigation, that some more efficient procedure is desirable, to submit proposals designed to make good the apparent defects.
2. It will simplify study of this subject if, at the outset, a distinction is made between the two main divisions under which Intelligence can be broadly classified. The first can be described as Military Intelligence – using the term Military in its widest sense – and the second as Political Intelligence.
The former includes all that technical data (e.g. armament, equipment, organisation of the armed forces etc.) which is of special interest to the three Defence Services. The latter comprises information on the system of government, economic and industrial conditions and the general trend of policy in foreign countries. Such matters are primarily the concern of the Foreign Office, though influencing to a lesser, but nevertheless considerable extent, other Government Departments. (For instance, it is clearly impossible to produce a well-balanced military appreciation without adequate knowledge of the political background).
3. Reduced to essentials, therefore, every Intelligence organisation, whether at the War Office, Admiralty, Foreign Office, or elsewhere, is normally handling two different categories of information. One is of particular interest and usually the immediate concern of one, or at most two Departments. The other, in varying degree, the concern of all Departments.
4. For the purposes of this paper – which is intended to deal with the wider aspects of Intelligence – there is no need to examine in detail the methods employed in the collection and collation of items falling within the first category. This is of local interest, and should be dealt with locally. It is in the second category – Political intelligence – which is common to all Departments, that overlapping and wasted effort may occur. And it is proposed, therefore, to confine discussion to this aspect alone of the problem.
The present system
5. The sources through which this Political Intelligence is obtained are many and various. They range from the Daily Press and the speeches of foreign statesmen, through Diplomatic and other official memoranda to Secret and Most Secret reports. And all these, with only few exceptions, are received by each Intelligence Directorate. How the latter deal with them is their affair; but every item has to be examined – if merely superficially – and its value assessed. This in itself means time; and frequently, where the Service Departments are concerned, it must mean wasted time. For much of this information is quite outside their province. True, it is of interest and widens the general knowledge of the officers dealing with it; but, too often, it may mean less time available for what is their first task – the collation of information of definite military value.
6. Under the present system such a state of affairs is inevitable, since no single Department is responsible for first assimilating this mass of material and for subsequently passing it on to other interested parties in an easily digestible form. It is not the task of the Foreign Office; though it is this Department which requires, and takes, the lion’s share. It is certainly not the task of the Service Departments, which only have an indirect connection, and which would indeed be guilty of a trespass should they attempt to do so. Yet every Department, for its own purposes, must, at the moment, be prepared to analyse the international political situation. There may be as many readings of the situation as there are commentators: there is certainly no doubt whatever that for some at least the time thus spent could have been better employed.
7. The disadvantages of this procedure become even more marked when, for example, a General Staff paper is called for. In nearly every case a political background will have to be produced on to which the military appreciation can then be hung. Provided that this appreciation is to be circulated only within the War Office, the War Office cannot be accused of exceeding its responsibilities. But, if it is to have a wider circulation, there is always the possibility that the political assumptions will be found not to be in accordance with Foreign Office views. And in such matters, it is this Department that must be the decisive factor.
8. That these and kindred difficulties have been recognised is shown in the recurrent demand – a demand, however, that has been invariably refused on the grounds of impracticability – for a Ministry of National Defence and a unified General Staff. Nevertheless, and in spite of these refusals, some measure of satisfaction has been given during the past ten years to the requests for closer co-operation. The Imperial Defence College has been established, the Chiefs of Staff sub-committee of the Committee of Imperial Defence has been set up, while yet other additional sub-committees embracing the Defence Services have been added from time to time as the need for them became apparent. Moreover, it is through these sub-committees, on which all interested parties are represented, that agreed decisions are reached and agreed recommendations are submitted to the full Committee of Imperial Defence and to the Cabinet.
9. This is a perfectly natural and logical process, and it might have been expected that among the first subcommittees to be formed would have figured one to coordinate all Intelligence matters. This committee to be responsible for keeping world political developments under continuous observation, and for issuing, from time to time, a political summary or a memorandum that would form the basis of all major political or military appreciations. Such, however, is not the case. All that at present exists is a Joint Intelligence sub-committee (henceforth referred to as J.I.C.), with somewhat ill-defined duties and which meets only at infrequent intervals. Here surely is a deficiency which could and should be made good.
10. It has been proved by experience that, to enable the Chiefs of Staff sub-committee to function satisfactorily, a lesser body is required to prepare the material necessary for their deliberations. To meet this want the Joint Planning Committee has been called into being. Subsequently, the need for whole-time staff officers attached to the J.P.C. became apparent and, since their appointment, have constantly proved their value. Similar treatment might, with equal justification, be accorded to the analogous Intelligence Committee.
11. It seems, therefore, that to be logical the C.O.S. Committee should be provided with a J.I.C. complementary to, and working in the closest touch with, the J.P.C. In its present form the J.I.C. does not, and in fact cannot, fulfil this role; nor, it is believed, would the addition of a permanent staff officer from each of the Service Departments give it the wider scope that might be so profitably employed. Something more comprehensive seems to be demanded, and in the following paragraphs proposals will be submitted for developing this organisation on suitable lines.
The proposed system
12. It must be clearly understood from the start that the suggested organisation is designed to be purely advisory. It would take no decisions, nor lay down any policy. Equally it would in no way interfere with the complete liberty of action of any particular Department. These points deserve to be emphasised to allay apprehension which a scheme of this type may, quite naturally, raise.
Its principal task would be to sift all that political intelligence material, which hitherto has been dealt with by several departments, and, as the result of these labours, to compile a reasoned analysis of international affairs, either, periodically, in the form of a Secret summary, or, as and when required, in the form of a political appreciation. (The above would be the normal but doubtless it could be asked to undertake special investigation of particular subjects).
13. Having defined its main duties it is now necessary to set out the suggested composition of this organisation. For this it is considered advisable to maintain the J.I.C. as a foundation round which to build. Thus the three Deputy Directors of Intelligence (Admiralty, War Office, Air Ministry) would continue to exercise general supervision and to form the connecting link between the prop
osed new organisation and the three Services. But, in view of the increased responsibilities that will be assigned to it in the future, it is important to strengthen this controlling body by the inclusion of a senior Foreign Office representative, who would also be asked to act as Chairman. (At present this duty devolves on D.D.M.I.)
14. It is not intended that these representatives of the four Departments most nearly concerned, should do more than guide the labours of the revitalised J.I.C. The work of collating the reports received, and of preparing the periodical summaries and appreciations, would be undertaken by a special staff drawn from all interested Government Departments. How the personnel will be provided, and the general allotment of duties, is best shown by a diagram. This is attached as Appendix A. The size of this staff and the suggested lay-out have been arrived at arbitrarily based on experience in the M.I. Directorate of the War Office. Obviously, it is only possible to lay down a definite establishment and conduct of work as the result of actual experience.
15. Opponents of these proposals will undoubtedly protest that a considerable increase of staff is entailed, and this, moreover at a period when it is difficult to select suitable personnel and when, in any case, it is inopportune further to augment their number. It is contended, however, that this may not ultimately be the case; since, if this organisation achieves what it is hoped to be capable of doing, it might then be possible to reduce the staffs of the several Intelligence Directorates. Under existing conditions it is quite certain that a great deal of valuable time is wasted daily through handling reports, which have no military significance and have only a political value. In the future all such reports would be the responsibility of the staff of the J.I.C. Furthermore, there should be an additional saving of time and labour for the M.I. Directorates if they no longer have to compile political appreciations as they are now compelled to do. Collectively, this should mean a considerable lightening of the burden, and the eventual possibility of effecting some reduction in personnel.
16. It may be argued that to remove this political side from the M.I. Directorate is to deprive it, and the War Office (Admiralty and Air Ministry) of essential information. Actually this would not be the case, since the J.I.C. summaries would adequately meet this need, and indeed, in an improved form since these summaries would represent a joint opinion and not that of one Service only. Furthermore, should a political appreciation be required by War Office (Admiralty and Air Ministry) this could always be called for by the Deputy Director of Intelligence, and this also as an agreed production should have an enhanced value.
17. A final word may be desirable as to the methods of circulating intelligence reports and other information under the system here envisaged. What is proposed is broadly as follows. No change would be made in the case of purely military reports. These would go as hitherto direct to the Department/Departments interested. Where, however, these primarily military reports contained items of political interest, copies or relevant extracts would be passed to J.I.C. for consideration. As regards political information contained in Foreign Office Telegrams, Official Despatches and memoranda from H.M. representatives abroad etc., this would always be passed to J.I.C. except in such cases as were only for action by a Department. Eventually, it might be possible to cease circulation of such items to M.I. Directorates, though in the early and experimental stages of the new procedure, it would be preferable to continue the present system, but on the understanding that where political intelligence was concerned no action by M.I. Directorates was necessary. (The case of F.O. has not been dealt with as conditions are so dissimilar from those in Service Ministries).
18. Such, in general terms, is the system it is suggested might be introduced. It is fully realised that much inter-departmental discussion will be necessary if final agreement is to be reached. Nevertheless, it is believed that, given a fair trial, it will go some way towards remedying an obvious lack in the machinery of the C.I.D., and will also provide a speedier and more efficient instrument for dealing with certain aspects of current international problems than is possible under the methods obtaining today.
The study of Propaganda
19. An additional argument in favour of these proposals is to be found in a memorandum by Sir Stephen Tallents dealing with his experiences as Director General designate Ministry of Information during the crisis last September (M.I.C.15). In this memorandum Sir Stephen Tallents states that: “The outstanding lesson, however, taught by the September rehearsal in the Ministry’s sphere, was the lack of machinery for securing the prompt, wide and efficient conveyance of British news and views to potentially enemy peoples.” *
He goes on to argue that it is essential to build up a nucleus organization in peace that will be capable of carrying out: “such continuous study of conditions and opinion in enemy countries as will ensure, at a moment which may come suddenly and will certainly be critical, a
just assessment of the vulnerable points in enemy public opinion and the lines on which they should, through all available channels be attacked.”
20. To fulfil this object Sir Stephen Tallents proposes the creation of a centre that would: “while conducting part of its work in secret, be able also to work openly and in normal conditions. This means that some peace-time ‘cover’ must be secured for it, whether by its attachment to some regular organization, or possibly through the recognised interest in German affairs for other peacetime purposes of the man in charge of it”.
It may also be added, to complete the picture that the “existing agencies” through which he proposes to collect the material necessary for his purpose, are the Foreign Office, Admiralty, War Office, Air Ministry, the S.I.S. organization, and the B.B.C.
21. The case for a reorganised and enlarged J.I.C. must stand or fall on its own merits; but it is at least noteworthy that all of the “existing agencies” cited by Sir Stephen Tallents – with the sole exception of the B.B.C. – are already represented, either directly or indirectly, in that body. Moreover, in the reconstituted J.I.C. could be found, – or so it would seem – not only the ideal cover that is being sought for, but also a permanent staff handling daily the very type of data that is required. By the addition of one more section to that organisation the peace-time propaganda nucleus, that is so urgently needed, could most readily be provided.
22. It is doubtless a simple matter to criticise this scheme, both in its indirect connection with a potential Ministry of Information, and also, more directly, in its original purpose as a common centre for the collation and distribution of Political Intelligence. Yet it would be difficult to deny entirely that, something on the lines set out above is either illogical or would contribute nothing to promote increased efficiency. No claim is made that these proposals are final and that there are no alternatives. They are tentative suggestions put forward as a basis for discussion and criticism, from which it is hoped agreement in principle might result. Once that has been achieved agreement on matters of detail should not present an insoluble problem. All that is now asked, is that criticism should be unbiased and constructive.
* In this connection the following extract from a recent memorandum of M.A. Berlin (No.1130 d/d 2.11.38) is significant.
“I believe that propaganda in Germany, as far as it may affect military matters, is receiving wide study and attention. We know, for instance, that at the Wehrmachtsakademie, which corresponds to our Imperial Defence College, considerable time is devoted to the study of this subject both by civilian and military students.”
It is fair to assume that the propaganda instrument has been allotted a prominent place in the scheme for “total war”.
Notes
1 . Dill to Hankey, 22 July 1935, TNA: CAB 54/3.
2 . Hankey to Dill, 29 July 1935, TNA: CAB 21/2651.
3 . DCOS 4, ‘Central Machinery for Co-Ordination of Intelligence’, 1 January 1936, TNA: CAB 4/24.
4 . Minutes of the 178th Meeting of the Chiefs of Staff, 16 June 1936, TNA: CAB 53/6.
5 . J
IC 1, 30 June 1936, TNA: CAB 56/2.
6 . For more see Edward Thomas, ‘The Evolution of the JIC System up to and during World War II’, in Christopher Andrew and Jeremy Noakes (eds), Intelligence and International Relations, 1900–45 (Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 1987), pp. 223–4.
7 . See Beaumont-Nesbitt’s report and cover note to Hollis, 21 December 1938, TNA: CAB 21/2651.
8 . DCOS 41st Meeting, 14 July 1939, TNA: CAB 54/2.
9 . JIC 32nd Meeting, 3 August 1939, TNA: CAB 56/1. In fact, Foreign Office incumbency of the chairmanship was longer than this: if those chairmen who were diplomats seconded to the Cabinet Office are included, then the FO and its FCO successors only relinquished the role in 2001.
3
WORLD WAR II AND THE ROLE OF
INTELLIGENCE IN STRATEGIC
PLANNING
D ESPITE PRODUCING A series of useful assessments, the pre-war JIC had been hindered by its limited impact and relative aloofness. The German invasion of Norway in early 1940 resulted in the start of what would be a change of fortunes, with the JIC becoming increasingly prominent and central to planning. As a predominantly military committee the JIC was well placed for its strategic role. Operation Torch, the plan for the invasion of north Africa in 1942, was the first occasion on which the JIC was efficiently used for what it had been created to do: provide the intelligence input into a large, strategically important military offensive.
Three events were crucial for the JIC’s profile in April 1940: first of all, the German army invaded and quickly overran Norway; secondly, back in London, Winston Churchill assumed the position of Minister for the Co-ordination of Defence; and thirdly, Victor Cavendish-Bentinck, the JIC Chairman, was invited to take part in discussions with the Joint Planning Committee (JPC). Within a month the reverberations from these events would be felt to great effect, leading to a dramatic rise in the JIC’s stature.
Spying on the World Page 4