
                    **********************************
                          PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
                    RECORDS INFORMATION Leaflet No: 89
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  [Note: this and all other PRO Records Information leaflets are (c)
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            INTELLIGENCE RECORDS IN THE PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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This leaflet describes records of intelligence sections of the
service departments and some central government departments which
are available for consultation at the Public Record Office. Further
information on intelligence and security work in modern government
will be found in the major series of departmental files. For the
period before 1782 some intelligence correspondence can be found
in the State Papers Domestic and State Papers Foreign classes
held at Chancery Lane.


1. WAR OFFICE

For a large part of the 19th century several separate departments
within the War Office were given responsibility for different
aspects of intelligence related work, particularly with maps.
Centralisation was first carried out in 1873 when the Intelligence
Branch was established and this became the Directorate of Military
Intelligence (DMI ) in 1888 . In 1904 DMI became part of the Directorate
of Military Operations (DMO); it was made independent in 1915
and then reunited with DMO in 1922. The two departments were again
separated in 1939.

The various sections of Military Intelligence (MI ) and Military
Operations (MO) were kept distinct even when under a single head.
DMO was responsible for outline operational planning up to the
time when an operation Commander was appointed. It also collected
information about British forces and the armed forces of close
allies. DMI was concerned with the armed forces of enemy countries,
distant allies and neutral countries. It was in close touch with
military attaches and missions abroad and was interested not only
in military details but also in more general historical, topographical
and economic information. Until 1940, when a separate department
was established for the purpose, DMI was also responsible for
censorship. In addition to the departments in London, military
intelligence had staff attached to missions overseas and field
headquarters gathering local intelligence.


WO 78 Maps and Plans 1627 - 1953
The class contains maps which are the result of intelligence gathering
operations (for similar material relating to India, Persia and
the Near East, contact the India Office Library and Records, 197
Blackfriars Road, London SE1 8NG).

WO 106 Directorate of Military Operations and Intelligence 1837-1960
The class contains military intelligence material to 1939.

WO 157 Intelligence Summaries 1914-1921
The class contains daily summaries of information and reports
on military, economic and political affairs.

WO 208 Directorate of Military Intelligence 19l7-1956
The class contains intelligence material for the Second World
War.


2. ADMIRALTY

Long before intelligence was an organised function, officers of
the Royal Navy were expected to report any information about the
whereabouts and strength of hostile shipping. The first proposal
for a specialist staff to co-ordinate this activity was made in
1879, but it was not until December 1882 that the Foreign Intelligence
Committee was set up. This was replaced in 1887 by a new department
of the Admiralty under a Director of Naval Intelligence (DNI).

The DNI's department quickly became efficient and highly effective
thus an influential voice within the Admiralty. It was concerned
with all aspects of enemy and allied shipping, including the number
of vessels, their types, armaments and so on+ It also plotted
shipping movements, particularly of enemy surface cruisers and
submarines. Information on the topography of foreign countries,
particularly coasts, and on coastal defences was also collected.
The department played a major part in signals intelligence work
in both world wars (see 4 below).

No peace time files of the Naval Intelligence Department (NID)
have yet been released, although there are printed reports in
ADM 231.


ADM 231 Naval Intelligence Papers, 1883-1908
The class contains reports on foreign navies, coastal defences
etc., produced by the Foreign Intelligence Committee, and from
1887 by NID.

ADM 137 War of 1914-1918
The class includes papers of NID in ' Room 40 ', many of them
on signals intelligence.

ADM 223 Wireless News 1918-1921
The class is composed of summaries of decrypted signals circulated
by NID and the Government Code and Cypher School (GCCS); see also
Signals Intelligence below.

ADM 223 Naval Intelligence Papers 1939-1947
The class is composed of a wide variety of intelligence papers
from the Second World War.


3. AIR MINISTRY

Until 1918 responsibility for aerial warfare was divided between
the War Office and the Admiralty. only when the Air Ministry was
established in that year was a separate Directorate of Air Intelligence
created. This became the Directorate of Operations and Intelligence
in 1920 and it was not until 1939 that intelligence was made independent
again when the work on operations passed to a new Directorate
of Plans.

Air Intelligence were interested in allied and enemy aircraft,
their fuel systems and weaponry, and airfields . They also prepared
analyses of bombing targets and appreciations of raids, much information
coming from aerial reconnaissance, and studied enemy and allied
air activity. The study of operational research was invented by
the RAF, and this involved the creation of models (for example,
theoretical or statistical) to discover the most effective solution
to a problem. Much intelligence was also gained from prisoners
of war in enemy hands, either by coded letters or by interrogation
after escapes.


AIR 1 Air Historical Branch 1862 - 1959
The class contains scattered intelligence papers of the First
World War.

AIR 40 Directorate of Intelligence 1926-1958
The class contains intelligence material including much on US
Air Force operations and prisoners of war.


4. SIGNALS INTELLIGENCE

On 5 August 1914, the cable ship Telconia lifted from the bed
of the North Sea the German overseas telegraph cables. Thereafter
German diplomatic communications had to go by wireless, as did
signals to the High Seas Fleet and the U boats. These could be
intercepted and so were sent by cypher. Cryptography had been
subject to a lot of study in Britain before the War, particularly
at Naval Intelligence Department, and as a result, specialists
at NID were able to read many of Germany's diplomatic and operational
signals. The knowledge thus gained gave NID much influence and
the work was at times of major significance, leading, for example,
to the entry of America into the War because of the interception
of the notorious Zimmerman telegram.

In 1919 the Cabinet established the Government Code and Cypher
School (GCCS) to advise on the security of British codes and cyphers
and to study the methods of cypher communications used by foreign
powers. It was an inter-service organisation and was finally placed
under the Foreign Office for administrative purposes in 1922.
During the Second World War the School was based at Bletchley
Park. German signals during this period were encyphered by a machine
which had originally been developed for commercial use . The Germans
improved its security and called it Enigma. At Bletchley Park,
first using the 'Bombe' and then a computer called 'Colossus',
GCCS decrypted the intercepted signals. The resulting intelligence
was called ' X ' source or 'Ultra ' . The initial work of radio
interception was the responsibility of 'Y' service .


ADM 116 Admiralty Secretary's Department: Cases.
Coding and Cyphering Committee, 1920-1926, records are in ADM
| 116/2101.

ADM 137 War of 1914 - 1918
The class includes papers of NID in 'Room 40', many of them on
signals intelligence.

ADM 233 Naval Intelligence Papers 1939-1947
The class is composed of a wide variety of intelligence papers
from the Second World War.

DEFE 3 Intelligence from Enemy Radio Communications, 1941-1945
The class is composed of translations of decrypted signals and
summaries of intelligence from signals. Mainly German signals,
a few Italian: the majority relates to naval activities.


5. FOREIGN OFFICE

Funds for the collection of intelligence abroad had been voted
by Parliament for much of the early modern period and were administered
by the Secretaries of State. From 1782 the Foreign Secretary took
on this role, with administrative responsibility being passed
to one of the two Under secretaries at the Foreign Office in 1325.
The Fund was used during the 19th century for a number of purposes,
not all of them intelligence related. Records relating to the
administration of the secret Service Fund, 1791-1909, can be found
in the following:


HD 1 Foreign Office: Expenditure of the Secret Vote Abroad: Correspondence
and Papers.

HD 2 Foreign Office: Consulate General Meshed: Monthly Accounts
of Secret Service Payments.

HD 3 Foreign Office: Permanent Under Secretary's Department: Correspondence
and Papers.

HD 4 Colonial Office: Secret Service Activities Abroad: Letterbooks.


A fuller description is available in Top secret: An Interim Guide
to Recent Releases of Intelligence Records at the Public Record
Office (PRO Publications, 1993 ).


6. RECORDS OF THE SPECIAL OPERATIONS EXECUTIVE, JOINT INTELLIGENCE
COMMITTEE AND OF INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY AGENCIES

Most of the records of the United Kingdom intelligence and security
agencies and material released by them to other government departments
are retained by those organisations under section 3 (4) of the
Public Records Act 1958 and are not open to the public. Records
of the Special Operations Executive are in the process of transfer
to the Public Record Office. So far records of SOE in the Far
East have been released and placed in the class HS 1. Further
details about these records can be found in SOE: Operations in
the Far East An Introductory Guide to the Newly Released Records
of the Special Operations Executive in the Public Record Office
(PRO Publications, 1993). In the case of SOE records not yet in
PRO custody, enquiries may be directed to the SOE Adviser, Foreign
and Commonwealth Office, Room 3/97, Old Admiralty Building, Whitehall,
London SWlA 2AZ. Records of the Joint Intelligence Committee,
first established in 1936 to co-ordinate the work of the separate
intelligence services, are likewise retained by the department.


FURTHER READING

Christopher Andrew, Secret Service: The Making of the British
Intelligence Community.

F H Hinsley et al, British Intelligence in the Second World War,
5 vols; the third of which is in two parts (HMSO, 1979-1990).

John Ferris, 'Whitehall's Black Chamber: British Cryptology and
the Government Code and Cypher School, 1919-1929', Intelligence
and National Security, vol. 2 (Jan. 1987).

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