Director and Co-ordinator of Intelligence (Northern Ireland)
The Director and Co-ordinator of Intelligence (Northern Ireland) (DCI) is the senior officer of the Security Service (MI5) in Northern Ireland, reporting to both the Director General of the Security Service and to the Northern Ireland Secretary.[1] According to Stephen Dorril, the DCI operated under the cover title of Permanent Under-Secretary for Security Policy.[2]
Establishment
Following the advent of Direct Rule, the post of DCI was established by the first Northern Ireland Secretary, Willie Whitelaw, to act as his personal security advisor and link with General Officer Commanding Northern Ireland, and the Chief Constable of the RUC. According to Christopher Andrew, the post was offered to MI5, but nobody of sufficient seniority could be found to fill it. Accordingly the first DCI was appointed on 31 October 1972 from outside MI5.[3]
An MI5 officer was appointed DCI in 1973.[4]
Billy Wright Inquiry
In March 2008, a former holder of this post, identified only as Witness DCI testified to the inquiry onto the death of loyalist Billy Wright:
- The MI5 officer said this week that the inquiry panel had already seen evidence that the Intelligence Service had informed RUC Special Branch in April, 1997 about the INLA threat.
- He said he had assumed police would have passed the information on to the prison authorities.[5]
List of DCIs
- Denis Payne-mid-1970s.[6] C.1973-75[7] (Ian Cameron has also been suggested for this period but is perhaps more likely to have been DCI Rep (HQNI).
- Possibly John Cradock?[8] c.1976-77
- Possibly John Parker c.1978-1980.[8]
- Possibly David Ranson? C.1981.
- Hal Doyne-Ditmass, C.1981-83.[9]
- John Deverell - 1994.[10]
- S436 - 10 August 1998-31 October 2000.[11]
Notes
- ↑ Glossary, MI5, accessed 13 July 2009.
- ↑ Stephen Dorril, The Silent Conspiracy: Inside the Intelligence Services in the 1990s, Mandarin, 1994, p.188.
- ↑ Christopher Andrew, Defence of the Realm, The Authorized History of MI5, Allen Lane, 2009, p.621.
- ↑ Christopher Andrew, Defence of the Realm, The Authorized History of MI5, Allen Lane, 2009, p.621.
- ↑ No cover-up, MI5 officer tells inquiry, Belfast Telegraph, 14 March 2008.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 David Leigh, The Wilson Plot, Mandarin, 1989, p.209.
- ↑ Stephen Dorril, The Silent Conspiracy: Inside the Intelligence Services in the 1990s, Mandarin, 1994, p.484.
- ↑ Christopher Andrew, Defence of the Realm, The Authorized History of MI5, Allen Lane, 2009, p.785.
- ↑ Transcript Day 71, Rosemary Nelson Inquiry, 5 November 2008.
