Intelligence In Britain

Intelligence in Britain

The Second World War occurred between 1939 and 1942 and involved the world superpowers who had formed alliances as well as the rest of the world. Britain just like any other country saw the need to enhance security at a time when the war threatened it. The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) is the British intelligence service responsible for the overseas collection and thorough analysis of human intelligence regarding the country’s security. SIS was formed in 1909 as a secret service and mainly operated during World War 1. However, the role of SIS greatly manifested during the Second World War. The paper will focus on exploring the role that the British intelligence service played during the Second World War.

Origin of SIS

            Before SIS was formed, Britain collected intelligence information regarding her security in an ad hoc manner. From the 17^th century, the English secretaries used to approve parliament funding for spies who were appointed to collect information about Britain’s enemies. By the end of the 19^th century, the army and the navy had established their intelligent groups. The military mainly utilized intelligent information acquired by attachés in different foreign countries. From the 20^th century, Britain had more rivals Germany being the main threat to her security.[1] Thus, the government officials sought to form a more organized intelligence service as compared to what previously existed.

            The Secret Service Bureau and the Secret Intelligence Service operated for many years without the public knowledge. However, the Intelligence Services Act of 1994 commissioned the service such that it functioned on a legal basis.[2]I feel that the commissioning of the Secret Intelligence Service was an unexpected move from the British government which is known to uphold secrecy in its intelligent operations. For instance, since intelligent groups started to be formed in the 17^th century, the information and the existence of spies did not get to public the domain.

            The Secret Intelligence Service was originally half of the Secret Service Bureau while the other half was the Home Section at Nascent Security Service, M15. As such, the reasons and justifications for the formation of SSB were similar to those that led to the establishment of SIS. It would, therefore beat logic to discuss SIS without prior knowledge of the existence and functioning of SSB. I will, therefore, dedicate the next section of the paper to discussing the origins and operations of the Secret Service Bureau.

Secret Service Bureau

            There are claims that the British intelligence service was mainly founded on false information especially when it came to Germany. For instance, when Germany started expanding their naval and military bases, the British also started fueling the rumor that they were also responding in kind. The false of the intelligent information collected in my view is what fueled and heightened the tension between Britain and Germany. The ‘spy fever’ gripped the British government to the extent that citizens were requested to offer any information of suspected German spies in their region. Many people wrote letters claiming to have seen German spies in their territory. However, in 1909, Britain conducted an investigation and found out that there existed no German spies in the country and the tension was uncalled for since there was no threat. Nonetheless, Britain went ahead and created an intelligence agency to counter the threat supposedly posed by Germany. The agency was formed despite the fact that there was no distinction between facts and propaganda.[3] Hence, the Secret Service Bureau was formed.

From its inception, the Secret Service Bureau was intended to function in collaboration with the Admiralty and the War Offices. The bureau was also to work hand in hand with the foreign affairs office where all the work of spying was conducted from the outside world.[4]The main concern for creating the SSB was to create an institutional cut out between all departments of the state that required the use of intelligence and any operations in the spying field that were likely to be identified and exposed.

            The first leader of the Secret Service Bureau was 50 years old Mansfield Cumming who was a navy officer. Cumming resumed office in 1909 despite his lack of expertise and communication skills to conduct intelligence operations. It is said that on his first day in office, he entered in his diary that there was no one to see or anything to do. Previously, the Foreign Affairs office and the Home Sections shared an office. However, in the year 1910, Cumming decided to set up his office on Vauxhall Road.[5]Cumming then set up an address to which all letters directed to the intelligence office were sent.