MI5 E Branch
E Branch is a defunct division of MI5.
History
E Branch was founded in 1915 with responsibility for port control.[1] By 1929, this was defunct with MI5 being reduced to two branches, A and B.[2]
In 1941, a new E Division was created with responsibility for 'alien control' including internment.[3]
In Dick White's 1953 re-organisation of MI5, E branch became responsible for counter-subversion in the Empire and Commonwealth.[4]
E Branch was wound up in 1971, largely as a result of de-colonization. Official MI5 historian Christopher Andrew notes:
- It increasingly made little sense, for example, for MI5 to have the dominant role in an African country which belonged to the Commonwealth and for SIS to take the lead in its non-Commonwealth neighbours. The abrupt disappearance of the SLOs [Security Liason Officers], however, left too little time for an orderly transfer of responsibilities, and led in some countries to a gap in intelligence collaboaration, which was not immediately filled by SIS.[5]
Andrew notes that some MI5 officers were resentful of the change.[6]
Notes
- ↑ Christopher Andrew, Defence of the Realm, The Authorized History of MI5, Allen Lane, 2009, p.77.
- ↑ Christopher Andrew, Defence of the Realm, The Authorized History of MI5, Allen Lane, 2009, p.127.
- ↑ Christopher Andrew, Defence of the Realm, The Authorized History of MI5, Allen Lane, 2009, p.127.
- ↑ Christopher Andrew, Defence of the Realm, The Authorized History of MI5, Allen Lane, 2009, p.327.
- ↑ Christopher Andrew, Defence of the Realm, The Authorized History of MI5, Allen Lane, 2009, p.481.
- ↑ Christopher Andrew, Defence of the Realm, The Authorized History of MI5, Allen Lane, 2009, p.481.
