The

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

's 205th Military Intelligence Brigade (205th MI BDE) and its three battalions have a history dating back to World War II. The brigade has been in a continuous active service since 1944. The brigade was constituted on 12 July 1944 in the Army of the United States as the 205th Counter Intelligence Corps Detachment. It was allotted to the Regular Army on 6 October 1950. The unit served during World War II in Northern France, the Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace and Central Europe. It was reorganized and redesignated as the 205th Military Intelligence Detachment on 25 June 1958. In Vietnam, the 205th took part in the

Tet Offensive The Tet Offensive was a major escalation and one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War. The Viet Cong (VC) and North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) launched a surprise attack on 30 January 1968 against the forces of ...

; the Tet 69/Counteroffensive; and the Summer-Fall Campaign of 1969. In October 1983, the Detachment was consolidated with Headquarters, 135th Military Intelligence Group and redesignated as Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 205th Military Intelligence Group. On 16 October 1985, the 205th MI Group was redesignated the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade. More than two thirds of the brigade deployed to

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

with Task Force Eagle in December 1995, redeploying to Germany in November 1996. The brigade continued to provide intelligence support to V Corps, and to the ongoing Joint and Combined Operations in the Balkans, from principal operating bases in Germany and Italy. The 205th MI BDE took part of

Operation Iraqi Freedom The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with the invasion by a United States-led coalition, which resulted in the overthrow of the Ba'athist governm ...

where it was involved in the

Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse During the early stages of the Iraq War, members of the United States Army and the Central Intelligence Agency were accused of a series of human rights violations and war crimes against detainees in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. These abuses ...

investigations and resulting scandal, beginning in late 2003. Major General George Fay initially began the investigation, which was later finished by Lieutenant General Anthony Jones in 2004. As a result of the

Fay Report The Fay Report, officially titled ''Investigation of Intelligence Activities at Abu Ghraib'', was a military investigation into the torture and abuse of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. It was sparked by leaked images of Iraqi prison ...

, Colonel

Thomas Pappas Thomas M. Pappas is a former United States Army colonel who is a civilian intelligence officer with the Army's Training and Doctrine Command at Fort Eustis, Virginia. He was the Brigade Commander of the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade and t ...

, commander of the 205th from 2003 to 2005, received an Article 15 for "dereliction of duty" in his leadership role at the

Abu Ghraib prison Abu Ghraib prison (, ''Sijn Abū Ghurayb'') was a prison complex in Abu Ghraib, Iraq, located west of Baghdad. Abu Ghraib prison was opened in the 1960s and served as a maximum-security prison. From the 1970s, the prison was used by Saddam Hus ...

. He was also relieved of his command in May 2005, one month shy of his scheduled rotation from that position. Sergeant

Samuel Provance Samuel Provance is a former United States Army, U.S. Army military intelligence Sergeant#United States, sergeant, known for disobeying an order from his commanders in the 302nd Military Intelligence Battalion by discussing with the media his expe ...

, an enlisted intelligence analyst from one of the brigade's battalions, also received an Article 15, for "disobeying a direct order" for speaking to the media during the investigations. Ray Starmann, a former 205th MI BDE intelligence officer and author of the books "''Smoke and Mirrors''" and "''Charlie Foxtrot''", wrote a scathing critique of the brigade in 2005 in light of revelations from the Abu Ghraib prison investigations, titled, "''Decline and Fall of the 205th MI Brigade''". "MI just exited stage left – out of a wing at Abu Ghraib prison". The 205th "cased its colors" on 21 June 2007 and was deactivated.final archive
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References

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External links

205th MI BDE website*">Archives
United States military personnel at the Abu Ghraib prison, *
Military units and formations established in 1944 205 Military units and formations disestablished in 2007