MI5 in Northern Ireland
MI5 acquired the lead intelligence role in Northern Ireland in 2007. During the Troubles, according to the Rosemary Nelson Inquiry, "Primacy lay with the RUC and, in particular, with SB. The Security Service, nonetheless, maintained a highly significant presence in Northern Ireland".[1]
Contents
History
Border Campaign
According to official historian Christopher Andrew, MI5 sent a liaison officer to Belfast during the IRA border campaign of 1958-1962.[2]
The 1960s
On 17 March 1966, Air Marshal Harold Maguire, deputy chief of the Defence Staff (Intelligence) raised the need for 'up to date information on the IRA threat' at a meeting of the Joint Intelligence Committee. However, the director-general of MI5 Martin Furnival Jones argued that the IRA represented a 'law and order' problem rather than a security one, and intelligence assistance should go through Special Branch. The Defence Operations Centre was suggested as a possible vehicle for this.[3]
On 6 November 1968, the Home Secretary James Callaghan asked MI5 for an up-to-date appreciation of the prospect of violence in Northern Ireland from the IRA. Deputy Director-General Anthony Simkins told the Permanent Under-Secretary at the Home Office, Sir Philip Allen that this placed MI5 "in a rather Gilbertian situation as we derived our information from the [RUC] and had no independent coverage." An MI5 paper entitled "The Threat of Violence in Northern Ireland" was completed in December 1968.[4]
Outbreak of the Troubles
In the spring of 1969, an internal MI5 newsletter stated: "The total effort deployed by F. Branch in matters Irish was until recently confined to one part-time desk officer in F.1.C.[5]
On 25 April 1969, Simkins told the Official Committee on Northern Ireland that the RUC Inspector General had asked that MI5 send a liaison officer once again:
- If we took up this suggestion we should probably get a very good idea of the reliability of the RUC's intelligence about the IRA. Allen said the Home Secretary approved of our doing so, and the meeting warmly endorsed the idea.[6]
An MI5 Security Liaison Officer (SLO) was accordingly posted to RUC headquarters at Knock near Belfast four days later. A full-time Irish desk was established in F1B at around the same time.[7]
Stella Rimington, then a junior assistant officer, wrote of this desk:
A new Security Liason Officer was appointed in July 1970.[9]
Direct Rule
Following the advent of direct rule in 1972, an Irish Joint Section was established in London and Belfast, manned by both MI5 and MI6 officers.[10]
Structure and Personnel
Director and Co-ordinator of Intelligence (Northern Ireland) (DCI)
- Denis Payne-mid-1970s.[11] C.1973-75[12]
- Hal Doyne-Ditmass, C.1981-83.[13]
- John Deverell
DCI Rep (Knock)
DCI Rep (HQNI)
Positions not known
- David Ranson c.1980.[14]
- Patrick Walker c.1980[15]
External Resources
- MI5, Pat Finucane Centre
Notes
- ↑ The Rosemary Nelson Inquiry Report (PDF), Crown Copyright, 23 May 2001, p.161.
- ↑ Christopher Andrew, The Defence of the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5, Allen Lane, 2009, p.602.
- ↑ Mark Hollingsworth and Nick Fielding, Defending the Realm: Inside MI5 and the War on Terrorism, Andre Deutsch, 2003, p.136.
- ↑ Christopher Andrew, The Defence of the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5, Allen Lane, 2009, p.602.
- ↑ Christopher Andrew, The Defence of the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5, Allen Lane, 2009, p.602.
- ↑ Christopher Andrew, The Defence of the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5, Allen Lane, 2009, p.604.
- ↑ Christopher Andrew, The Defence of the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5, Allen Lane, 2009, p.604.
- ↑ Stella Rimington, Open Secret: The Autobiography of the Former Director-General of MI5, 2002, p.105.
- ↑ Christopher Andrew, Defence of the Realm, The Authorized History of MI5, Allen Lane, 2009, p.618.
- ↑ Christopher Andrew, Defence of the Realm, The Authorized History of MI5, Allen Lane, 2009, p.621.
- ↑ Stephen Dorril, The Silent Conspiracy: Inside the Intelligence Services in the 1990s, Mandarin, 1994, p.18.
- ↑ Paul Lashmar and James Oliver, Britain's Secret Propaganda War 1948-1977, Sutton Publishing, 1998, p.157.
- ↑ Stephen Dorril, The Silent Conspiracy: Inside the Intelligence Services in the 1990s, Mandarin, 1994, p.484.
- ↑ Stephen Dorril, The Silent Conspiracy: Inside the Intelligence Services in the 1990s, Mandarin, 1994, p.55.
- ↑ Stephen Dorril, The Silent Conspiracy: Inside the Intelligence Services in the 1990s, Mandarin, 1994, p.55.
