US Army Military Intelligence History: A Sourcebook - Fort Huachuca ...

World War I Erapresent war.(f) Cooperation with the Intelligence Sections of the General Staff of the various countries at war withGermany, in connection with military intelligence work in the United States and with our forces in thefield, either at home or abroad.(g) The preparation of instructions in military intelligence work for the use of our forces in the field.The new organization was more than a staff agency, but an operational department with control of allfield intelligence units in the Army.Van Deman was named the chief of the new Military Intelligence Section (MIS). Starting small withthree officers and two clerks, it grew with the force of an idea whose time had finally come, with 282officers and 948 civilians in the outfit by war’s end. Van Deman benefited from his close liaison work withBritish intelligence, particularly Colonel Claude Dansey of the British Security Service who provided ahandbook on intelligence organization and methods. This gave structure to the organization which wasdivided into positive and negative branches, positive intelligence being information about the enemy andnegative corresponding with the job of today’s counter intelligence. The Military Intelligence Section wasmade up of these subsections:Positive Supports Both NegativeMI-2 (Foreign Intelligence) MI-1 (Administration, which included:) MI-3 (Counterespionage in MilitaryService)MI-5 (Military Attaches) Personnel MI-4 (Counterespionage AmongCivilian Population)MI-6 (Translation) Office Management MI-10 (Censorship)MI-7 (Graphic: Map and Photo) Publications MI-11 (Passports and Port Control)MI-8 (Cable and Telegraph: Code and Cipher)MI-12 (Graft and Fraud)MI-9 (Field Intelligence:Field Training)Military Morale SectionMI meant military intelligence, with “intelligence” replacing “information,” a British usage that nowbecame institutionalized in the U.S. Army, although there were examples of its use at least back to 1907when an appointment was made for an “Intelligence Officer for the Hawaiian Islands.” Earlier in Americanhistory, intelligence was a synonym for “news.”The MIS would later become responsible for training all of the officers and NCOs needed in Europe ineach battalion intelligence section and those sections in regimental, divisional and corps headquarters.The Military Intelligence Section also filled the AEF G-2’s request for 50 sergeants with investigativeexperience and the ability to speak French. This became the nucleus of the Corps of Intelligence Police(CIP) organized in August 1917. The CIP had 750 agents in France, where they were headquartered nearBordeaux, and 500 in the United States. They would be cut back to 28 in the year following the armistice.Van Deman had ultimately accomplished his goal of restoring intelligence to equal footing with theother general staff sections in the War Department, as had originally been envisioned in 1903.The intelligence organization would undergo yet another reformation. Taking over as the new chief ofstaff in March 1918, Maj. Gen. Peyton C. March viewed the Military Intelligence Division as “a minorappendage to the War Plans Division,” which was not quite true as it was assigned to the ExecutiveDivision of the General Staff. March wanted to place MI back on the General Staff. In his 26 August 1918reorganization, there were four divisions on the general staff: Operations; Military Intelligence; Purchase,Storage and Traffic; and War Plans. Replacing Van Deman who was on his way to France,Marlborough Churchill was promoted to brigadier and appointed Director of Military Intelligence. His81