The Military Intelligence Corps is the

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as t ...

branch of 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 ...

. The primary mission of military intelligence in the U.S. Army is to provide timely, relevant, accurate, and synchronized intelligence and electronic warfare support to tactical, operational and strategic-level commanders. The Army's intelligence components produce intelligence both for Army use and for sharing across the national intelligence community.

History

Intelligence personnel were a part of the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies representing the Thirteen Colonies and later the United States during the American Revolutionary War. It was formed on June 14, 1775, by a resolution passed by the Second Continental Co ...

since its initial founding in 1776. In 1776, General

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

commissioned the first intelligence unit.

Knowlton's Rangers Knowlton's Rangers was an elite light infantry unit's detachment of the Continental Army that specializes in espionage and reconnaissance in dangerous areas, it was established by George Washington. Named after its commander, Thomas Knowlton, t ...

, named after its leader

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

Thomas Knowlton Thomas W. Knowlton (November 22, 1740 – September 16, 1776) was an American patriot who served in the French and Indian War and was a colonel during the American Revolution. Knowlton is considered America's first Intelligence professional, ...

, became the first organized elite force, a predecessor to modern special operations forces units such as the Army Rangers,

Delta Force The 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment–Delta (1st SFOD-D), also known as Delta Force, Combat Applications Group (CAG), or within Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) as Task Force Green, is a Special operation forces, special operat ...

, and others. The "1776" on the United States Army Intelligence Service seal refers to the formation of Knowlton's Rangers. In January 1863, Major General

Joseph Hooker Joseph Hooker (November 13, 1814 – October 31, 1879) was an American Civil War general for the Union, chiefly remembered for his decisive defeat by Confederate General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863. Hooker had serv ...

established the

Bureau of Military Information The Bureau of Military Information (BMI) was the first formal and organized American intelligence agency, active during the American Civil War. Predecessors Allan Pinkerton was contracted by Federal and a number of state and local governments t ...

for the Union Army during the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

, headed by

George H. Sharpe George Henry Sharpe (February 26, 1828 – January 13, 1900) was an American lawyer, soldier, Secret Service officer, diplomat, politician, and Member of the Board of General Appraisers. Sharpe was born in 1828, in Kingston, New York, into a pr ...

Allan Pinkerton Allan Pinkerton (August 21, 1819Mackay (1997), p. 20; August 25 was the date of his baptism, which many sources incorrectly give as his birth date. – July 1, 1884) was a Scottish-American detective, spy, abolitionist, and cooper best known f ...

and Lafayette C. Baker handled similar operations for their respective regional commanders. All of those operations were shut down at the end of the Civil War in 1865. In 1885, the Army established the

Military Intelligence Division The Military Intelligence Division was the military intelligence branch of the United States Army and United States Department of War from May 1917 (as the Military Intelligence Section, then Military Intelligence Branch in February 1918, then ...

. In 1903, it was placed under the new general staff in an elevated position. In March 1942, the Military Intelligence Division was reorganized as the

Military Intelligence Service The Military Intelligence Service (, ''America Rikugun Jōhōbu'') was a World War II U.S. military unit consisting of two branches, the Japanese American unit (described here) and the German-Austrian unit based at Camp Ritchie, best known as ...

. Originally consisting of just 26 people, 16 of them officers, it was quickly expanded to include 342 officers and 1,000 enlisted personnel and civilians. It was tasked with collecting, analyzing, and disseminating intelligence. Initially it included: :* an Administrative Group :* an Intelligence Group :* a Counter-intelligence Group :* an Operations Group :* a Language School In May 1942,

Alfred McCormack Colonel Alfred McCormack, CBE (1901–1956), was a trained attorney of Cravath, Swaine & Moore who during and after World War II served in the US Military Intelligence Service, where he proved crucial in developing military analysis of cryptographi ...

established the Special Branch of the Military Intelligence Service, which specialized in

communications intelligence Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is the act and field of intelligence-gathering by interception of ''signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly u ...

. On 1 January 1942, the U.S. Army Corps of Intelligence Police, founded in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, was re-designated as the U.S. Army

Counter Intelligence Corps The Counter Intelligence Corps (Army CIC) was a World War II and early Cold War intelligence agency within the United States Army consisting of highly trained special agents. Its role was taken over by the U.S. Army Intelligence Corps in 1961 and ...

. In 1945, the Special Branch became the

Army Security Agency The United States Army Security Agency (ASA) was the United States Army, United States Army's signals intelligence branch from 1945 to 1977. The Latin motto of the Army Security Agency was ''Semper Vigilis'' (Vigilant Always), which echoes the ...

. On June 19, 1942, the Military Intelligence Training Center at

Camp Ritchie Fort Ritchie in Cascade, Maryland was a military installation southwest of Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania and southeast of Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, Waynesboro in the area of South Mountain (Maryland and Pennsylvania), South Mountain. Followin ...

, Maryland, was formed. This group is now widely known as the

Ritchie Boys The Ritchie Boys, part of the U.S. Military Intelligence Service (MIS) at the War Department, were an organization of soldiers in World War II with sizable numbers of German and Austrian recruits who were used primarily for interrogation of pri ...

and are credited with gathering over half of the actionable intelligence in the European Theatre. Most Ritchie Boys were fluent in European languages and could easily interrogate prisoners of war and civilians who knew vital information. At its peak in early 1946, the MIS Language School had 160 instructors and 3,000 students studying in more than 125 classrooms, graduating more than 6,000 students by the end of the war. What began as an experimental military intelligence language-training program launched on a budget of $2,000 eventually became the forerunner of today's

Defense Language Institute The Defense Language Institute (DLI) is a United States Department of Defense (DoD) educational and research institution consisting of two separate entities which provide linguistic and cultural instruction to the Department of Defense, other f ...

for the tens of thousands of linguists who serve American interests throughout the world. The school moved to the

Presidio of Monterey The Presidio of Monterey (POM), located in Monterey, California, is an active US Army installation with historic ties to the Spanish colonial era. Currently, it is the home of the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLI-FLC). ...

in 1946. Renamed the Army Language School, it expanded rapidly in 1947–48 during the Cold War. Instructors, including native speakers of more than thirty languages and dialects, were recruited from all over the world. Russian became the largest language program, followed by Chinese, Korean, and German. Ft_Holabird_Sphinx

On 1 September 1954, the Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence (ACSI) officially redesignated the CIC Center,

Fort Holabird Fort Holabird was a United States Army post in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, active from 1918 to 1973. History Fort Holabird was located in the southeast corner of Baltimore and northwest of the suburban developments of Dundalk, Maryland, i ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

, as the

United States Army Intelligence Center The United States Army Intelligence Center of Excellence (USAICoE) is the United States Army's school for professional training of military intelligence personnel. It is a component of United States Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC ...

, and the Chief of the Counter Intelligence Corps became its Commanding General. The following year, the Intelligence Center expanded further with the addition of the Photo Interpretation Center. Additionally, combat intelligence training (including order of battle techniques, photo interpretation, prisoner of war interrogation, and censorship) was transferred from the Army General School at

Fort Riley Fort Riley is a United States Army installation located in North Central Kansas, on the Kansas River, also known as the Kaw, between Junction City and Manhattan. The Fort Riley Military Reservation covers 101,733 acres (41,170 ha) in Ge ...

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

, to Fort Holabird, giving the commanding general the additional title of commandant, U.S. Army Intelligence School. This arrangement centralized nearly all intelligence training at the U.S. Army Intelligence Center and School, Fort Holabird. The Intelligence Center and School remained at Fort Holabird until overcrowding during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

forced its relocation to

Fort Huachuca Fort Huachuca is a United States Army military base, installation, in Cochise County, Arizona, Cochise County in southeast Arizona, approximately north of the Mexico–United States border, border with Mexico and at the northern end of the Huac ...

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

. Fort Huachuca became the "Home of Military Intelligence" on 23 March 1971, and the last class graduated from Fort Holabird on 2 September 1971, almost 17 years to the day after the Army Intelligence Center was established there
USAINTCS Established at Fort. Holabird, MD
On 1 July 1962, the Army Intelligence and Security Branch was established as a basic Army branch to meet the increased need for national and tactical intelligence. The redesignated branch came with the creation of a new dagger and sun branch insignia, replacing the sphinx insignia that had been in place since 1923. A number of intelligence and security organizations were combined in July 1967 to form the military intelligence branch. In 1977, they recombined with the Army Intelligence Agency and

to become the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command. On 1 July 1987, the Military Intelligence Corps was activated as a regiment under the

U.S. Army Regimental System The United States Army Regimental System (USARS) is an organizational and classification system used by the United States Army. It was established in 1981 to replace the Combat Arms Regimental System (CARS) to provide each soldier with contin ...

.Welcome To the Intelligence Center Online Network
All United States Army Military Intelligence personnel are members of the Military Intelligence Corps.

Structure

Approximately 28,000 military personnel and 3,800 civilian personnel are assigned to intelligence duties, comprising the Military Intelligence Corps. Some of the key components include:

Major military intelligence units

Museum

The United States Army Intelligence Museum is located at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. It features the history of American military intelligence from the Revolutionary War to present. In the Army Military Intelligence Museum there is a painting of "The MI Blue Rose". The back of this painting indicates Sgt. Ralph R Abel, Jr. created it. The painting was photographed and distributed worldwide. Sgt. Abel also painted a replica of the corps flag.

Military Intelligence Hall of Fame

List of Deputy Chiefs of Staff for Intelligence, G-2

The title of Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, G-2 appeared in 1985. Prior to 1985, this office was known as Chief, Military Intelligence Division (1917–1920), Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2 (1920–1945, 1948–1985), and Director of Intelligence (1946–1948).

References

External links

University of Military Intelligence
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Military Intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis List of intelligence gathering disciplines, approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist Commanding officer, commanders in decision making pr ...

Nationstate regiments/corps of military intelligence Military intelligence units and formations of the United States Army Military in Virginia