Intelligence and Security Group (NI)
Intelligence and Security Group (NI) was a cover name for at least two closely related British Army intelligence units in Northern Ireland.
Real Units
As with other military cover names used in Northern Ireland, such as NITAT discussed below, there were real Intelligence and Security Groups in England and Germany.[1] These were Intelligence Corps units according to Mark Urban, who states that the German unit took part in Operation WARD.[2]
Special Reconnaissance Unit
A briefing prepared for Harold Wilson in 1974 states the Special Reconnaissance Unit operated in Northern Ireland under the cover name Northern Ireland Training and Advisory Teams (Northern Ireland) (NITAT (NI).[3] According to Mark Urban, HQNI became concerned that the NITAT name was becoming too well-known, and replaced it in 1978/9 with the name Intelligence and Security Group (NI). This in turn was replaced with the name 14 Intelligence and Security Company in the early 1980s.[4]
"The Group"
According to Urban, Intelligence and Security Group (NI) was later adopted as a cover name for a structure that was initiated under Commander Land Forces (Northern Ireland), Maj. Gen. James Glover, and which became operational under his successor Maj. Gen. Charles Huxtable in late 1980/early 1981.[5]
Notes
- ↑ Mark Urban, Big Boys, Rules, Faber and Faber, 1992, p.39.
- ↑ Mark Urban, Big Boys, Rules, Faber and Faber, 1992, p.39.
- ↑ Defensive Brief D Meeting between the Prime Minister and the Taoiseach 5 April 1974 Army Plain Clothes Patrols in Northern Ireland, National Archives PREM 16/154.
- ↑ Mark Urban, Big Boys, Rules, Faber and Faber, 1992, p.39.
- ↑ Mark Urban, Big Boys, Rules, Faber and Faber, 1992, p.39.
