Intelligence Corps
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| British Army Arms and Services | |
The Intelligence Corps (also known as Int Corps) is one of the corps of the British Army. It is responsible for gathering, analysing and disseminating military intelligence and also for counter-intelligence and security.
Although the first proposals to create one came in 1905, the first Intelligence Corps was formed in 1914 and originally included only officers and their servants. The unit was rapidly run down after the First World War and was finally disbanded in 1929. On 19 July 1940 a new Intelligence Corps was created by Army Order 112 and has existed since that time. On 1 February 1985 the corps was officially declared an 'Arm' (combat support) instead of a 'Service' (rear support).
Intelligence Corps personnel wear a distinctive cypress green beret with a cap badge consisting of a union rose (a red rose with a white centre) between two laurel branches and surmounted by a crown. Their motto is Manui Dat Cognitio Vires (Knowledge gives strength to the arm). The Corps' quick march is "The Rose & Laurel" while its slow march is Purcell's "Trumpet Tune & Ayre".
Their headquarters, formerly at Maresfield, East Sussex and then Templer Barracks at Ashford, Kent, moved in 1997 to the former Royal Air Force station at Chicksands in Bedfordshire along with the Defence Intelligence and Security Centre and the Intelligence Corps Museum. The Director Intelligence Corps is a Brigadier.
The corps has a particularly high proportion of commissioned officers, many of them commissioned from the ranks, and also a high percentage of female members. Non-commissioned personnel join as Operators Military Intelligence, with the possibility of specialising as Operator Military Intelligence (Linguist) later. They do their basic 14-week military training at the Army Training Regiment Winchester and their 27-week special-to-arm training at Templer Training Delivery Wing, Chicksands, at the end of which they are promoted to Lance Corporal. Until recently, linguists would then do a 78-week language course, at the end of which they would be promoted to Acting Corporal. At present, both Operator Military Intelligence and Linguist must first complete a tour of duty, and it is typically after about two years service that those opting for language training will return to Chicksands for the 78 week course.
Promotion continues to be more rapid than in most other corps. Officers complete their training at Sandhurst and then a Junior Officers Course (JOC) to qualify them as Intelligence Officers.
The main formation is 1 Military Intelligence Brigade. 1 MI Brigade has responsibility for three regular and two Territorial Army battalions:
- 1 Military Intelligence Battalion - Rheindahlen
- 2 Military Intelligence Battalion - Netheravon
- 3 Military Intelligence Battalion (Volunteer) - London
- 4 Military Intelligence Battalion - Bulford
- 5 Military Intelligence Battalion (Volunteer) - Formation announced in Dec 2004)
The tri-service 15 Psychological Operations Group is also based at Chicksands and comes under the remit of the Intelligence Corps and 1 MI Brigade.
[edit] Prominent members of the Intelligence Corps
- John Buchan, author and politician
- Jabron Hashmi, first Muslim British soldier killed in Afghanistan
- Mike Jackson, formerly Chief of the General Staff
- Bernard Lewis, historian of Islam
- Anthony Powell, author
- Laurens van der Post, author
- Peter Alan Rayner, author
[edit] Order of Precedence
| Preceded by: Royal Army Dental Corps |
Order of Precedence | Succeeded by: Army Physical Training Corps |
