UNITED KINGDOM

Overviews

Military Intelligence

Allen, Matthew. "The Foreign Intelligence Community and the Origins of the Naval Intelligence Department." Mariner's Mirror 81, no. 1 (Feb. 1995): 65-78.

Bywater, Hector C., and Ferraby, H.C. Strange Intelligence: Memoirs of Naval Secret Service. London: Constable, 1931. New York: Richard R. Smith, 1931.

Constantinides sees this book as a "paean of praise to British naval intelligence" that is lacking in authoritative sources. "The successes the authors claim for naval intelligence of the prewar period seem exaggerated in the light of later evidence."

Clayton, Anthony. Forearmed: The History of the Intelligence Corps. Riverside, NJ: Macmillan, 1990. 1993. Forearmed: A History of the Intelligence Corps. London: Brassey's, 1993.

Surveillant 1.2 notes that this is the "authorized history of the British Army's Intelligence Corps." Watt, I&NS 9.4, calls Forearmed an "admirable and truly seminal account."

Deacon, Richard [Donald McCormick]. The Silent War: A History of Western Naval Intelligence. Newton Abbot, UK: David & Charles, 1978. New York: Hippocrene Books, 1978.

Sexton notes that The Silent War is a "[s]urvey history of the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) and the British Naval Intelligence Division (NID) from their inception[s] to the 1980s."

Constantinides, finds the book "[e]asy to read," but adds that it "must be approached with caution because it is a mixture of good sections ... and weak ones, with debatable and (at times) sweeping conclusions." The World War I and World War II sections are the strongest parts of the book; earlier and later coverage is weak.

Fergusson, Thomas G. British Military Intelligence, 1870-1914: The Development of a Modern Intelligence Organization. Frederick, MD: University Publications of America, 1984.

Pforzheimer: "This first scholarly history of a modern military intelligence department to be published in the United States is an excellent reference source, well annotated and indexed, with an extensive bibliography."

Gudgin, Peter. Military Intelligence: The British Story. London: Arms and Armour Press, 1989. [US]: Sterling, 1991.

Strong, IJI&C 6.1, notes that this book has only 156 pages, and military is defined as "army" only. Thus, it is "not the definitive study suggested by its title, and it includes two inappropriate and apparently gratuitous chapters. But those looking for historical information about the British intelligence apparatus might find this a convenient starting point."

To Surveillant 1.1, Gudgin has focused on the "growth of the British military intelligence industry, charting its changing organization, its perceived functions, its sources and its future tasks."

Harding, Thomas. "Exodus of Officers Hits War on Terror." Daily Telegraph (London), 14 Aug. 2007. [http://www.telegraph.co.uk]

"The military's ability to fight global terrorism is being hampered by an exodus of officers from the Intelligence Corps, with 20 per cent departing in the past three years, defence sources have disclosed.... [M]ore than 100 officers [have been] lured into highly paid private security jobs or becom[e] disillusioned at the way intelligence is handled.... In particular, Special Forces are suffering with dwindling numbers as troops are recruited into the private sector. Only last month, the commanding officer of 22 SAS left a promising career for a well-paid civilian job."

Hartcup, Guy. Camouflage: A History of Concealment and Deception in War. Newton Abbot, UK: David & Charles, 1979.

Constantinides: This work deals primarily with visual deception from a British viewpoint. There is relatively little on other types of concealment and deception, or on other countries use of deception in general. The author "makes debatable judgments on Japanese susceptibility to deception," and "is wrong when he laments the lack of available information on Soviet camouflage."

Haswell, Jock. British Military Intelligence. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1973.

Constantinides notes that Haswell had "full access to all records of the Intelligence Corps." The author found "a constant factor in the history of British military intelligence: the prejudice against intelligence and intelligence officers within the British military service throughout most of the last two hundred years."

Mason, Tony [Air Vice-Marshal]. "The Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Target Acquisition Requirement -- An Overview." RUSI Journal, Dec. 1998, 55-59.

"This article makes two major points. The first is that, traditionally, the requirement in warfare for information about the enemy was desirable, but now it is essential. The second is that dominant battlespace knowledge depends on much more than knowledge of the battlespace. The conclusions to be drawn from both statements raise sensitive problems about future force structures and procurement."

McPeek, Robert L. "Electronic Warfare British Style." Military Intelligence 22, no. 1 (Jan.-Feb. 1996): 23-26.

This article reviews the "organization and capabilities of the British Army's electronic warfare (EW) unit, the 14th Signal Regiment (EW). As the only organization of its kind in the British Army, the 14th Signal Regiment has kept quite busy supporting all levels of command from tactical to strategic."

Nesbit, Roy Conyers. Eyes of the RAF: A History of Photo-Reconnaissance. Stroud: Sutton, 1996.

For Twigge, I&NS 14.2, this book's breadth -- from the origins of UK photoreconaissance before World War I to the present day -- means that "only a superficial view of the capability and significance of British aerial reconnaissance" is presented. However, the illustrations "provide a visual narrative often ... superior to the text." Coverage of operations by RAF reconnaissance squadrons in World War II is "well informed and illuminating."

Parritt, B.A.H. The Intelligencers: The Story of British Military Intelligence Up to 1914. Ashford, Kent, UK: Intelligence Center, 1971. Ashford, Kent, UK: Intelligence Corps Association, 1983.

Constantinides comments that this book "is, on the whole, an honest portrayal of military shortsightedness luckily balanced by improvisation at a time of need and the critical innovations of pioneers."

Robson, F.G. Intelligence Corps - 1914-1984: The Authorized History. London: State Mutual Books, 1986. [Wilcox]

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