Military Intelligence Service (United States)
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The Military Intelligence Service was a World War II U.S. military unit, primarily composed of Japanese-American Nisei, who were trained as linguists. Graduates of the MIS language school (MISLS) were attached to other military units to provide translation and interrogation services. Near the end of the war with Japan, the curriculum shifted to focus more on Japanese civil affairs, in order to assist with occupation and rebuilding after the war.
The MISLS (initially known as the Fourth Army Intelligence School), and began operation in November 1941, about a month before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. The school initially operated at Crissy Field in San Francisco, but moved to Savage, Minnesota in 1942. There were more than 6000 graduates of MISLS.
The first MISLS students came from the army, but later students were also recruited from Japanese internment camps. MIS members attached to the joint Australian/American Allied Translator and Interpreter Service were instrumental in deciphering and translating the Z plan, an important captured document that described Japanese plans for a counterattack in the central pacific.
In March 1942 the Military Intelligence Division was reorganized as the Military Intelligence Service (MIS). Originally comprising of just 26 people, 16 of them officers it was quickly expanded to include 342 officers and 1,000 enlisted men and civilians. It was tasked with collecting, analyzing, and disseminating intelligence. Initially it included:
- an Administrative Group
- an Intelligence Group
- a Counterintelligence Group
- an Operations Group
In May 1942, Alfred McCormack, established the Special Branch of MIS which specialised in COMINT. [4]
