MI5 G Branch

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G Branch is the division of MI5 dealing with international counter-terrorism. Domestic and Irish terrorism is the responsibility of T Branch.[1]

History

G Branch was the name of the investigations branch in Vernon Kell's original organisation of MI6 in 1916.[2]

The modern G Branch was created in 1988, when the former FX branch was renamed.[3]

In 1990 G Branch's responsibility for Irish terrorism was hived off to the new T Branch.[4]

In 1995, G Branch appointed a desk officer to study the problem of radicalization in the British Muslim community.[5]

Afghanistan and Pakistan

In January 2002, the Sunday Times reported that G Branch officers had been sent to Pakistan and Afghanistan to question four Britons being held in detention:

The detainees include three men from the West Midlands, captured by the Northern Alliance, and James McLintock, a Scotsman who converted to Islam. All are being held on suspicion of having links with Taliban or Al-Qaeda fighters.
The squad of about five officers from MI5's G branch, specialising in counterterrorism, wants to question the men to find out whether they know of Al-Qaeda sympathisers who may have escaped to Britain.[6]

Directors

Organisation

G2

  • G2P: Counter-proliferation

G3

  • Annie Machon worked in G3 from August 1995 to October 1996.
  • G3A: C-ordination of threat assessments.
  • G3C: Countering threats from South Asia, e.g. Sikh militants.
  • G3W: International terrorist threats not covered by other sections.

G5

G6

    • G6: G Branch agent runners.

G9

  • G9 Jonathan Evans, c.appointed autumn 1998.[10]
  • G9A: Libya, Iraq, Palestinian and Kurdish groups
  • G9B: Iranian state and Iranian dissident groups.
  • G9C: Islamic extremists.[11]

Notes

  1. Christopher Andrew, Defence of the Realm, The Authorized History of MI5, Allen Lane, 2009, p.864.
  2. Christopher Andrew, Defence of the Realm, The Authorized History of MI5, Allen Lane, 2009, p.84.
  3. Christopher Andrew, Defence of the Realm, The Authorized History of MI5, Allen Lane, 2009, p.745.
  4. Christopher Andrew, Defence of the Realm, The Authorized History of MI5, Allen Lane, 2009, p.772.
  5. Christopher Andrew, Defence of the Realm, The Authorized History of MI5, Allen Lane, 2009, p.805.
  6. Nicholas Rufford, MI5 MOVES TO HEAD OFF TERROR DRIVE BY AL-QAEDA BRITONS;BRITISH FIGHTERS;WAR ON TERROR, Sunday Times, 6 January 2002.
  7. Christopher Andrew, Defence of the Realm, The Authorized History of MI5, Allen Lane, 2009, p.772.
  8. MI5 deputy due to start top post, BBC News, 20 April 2007.
  9. Christopher Andrew, Defence of the Realm, The Authorized History of MI5, Allen Lane, 2009, p.748.
  10. Christopher Andrew, Defence of the Realm, The Authorized History of MI5, Allen Lane, 2009, p.806.
  11. Mark Hollingsworth and Nick Fielding, Defending the Realm: Inside MI5 and The War on Terrorism, André Deutsch, 2003, pp.320-321.