ARMY LINEAGE SERIES

MILITARY INTELLIGENCE

John Patrick Finnegan

Lineages Compiled by
Romana Danysh

Center of Military History
United States Army
Washington, D. C., 1998

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Finnegan, John Patrick.
Military intelligence / John Patrick Finnegan : lineages compiled by Romana Danysh.
p. cm. - (Army lineage series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Military intelligence-United States-History 2. United States.
Army-History. I. Danysh, Romana, 1940- . II. Title. III. Series.
UB256.U6F56 1997
355.3'432'0973-dc21
96-44554
CIP

CMH Pub 60-13

For sale by the U.S. Government Printing Office
Superintendent of Documents, Mail Stop: SSOP, Washington, DC 20402-9328
ISBN 0-16-048828-1

ARMY LINEAGE SERIES

Jeffrey J. Clarke, General Editor

Advisory Committee
(As of 24 October 1997)

U.S. Army Center of Military History
Brig. Gen. John W Mountcastle, Chief of Military History

Foreword

Intelligence has been defined as the art of "knowing one's enemies," and military intelligence is as old as war itself. However, the development of an intelligence organization within the United States Army is comparatively recent. The Army did not acquire a permanent peacetime intelligence organization until 1885, and the oldest of today's military intelligence units can trace its lineage only back to the eve of World War II. The Army did not formally recognize intelligence as a distinct professional discipline until 1962, when it finally created the Army Intelligence and Security Branch, the predecessor of today's Military Intelligence Branch. The Military Intelligence Corps, which incorporated all military intelligence personnel and units into a single large regiment, did not come into existence until 1987.

Although the intelligence organization within the U.S. Army was slow to develop, it has become increasingly important both as a combat multiplier in war and as a source of information for the nation's decision makers in peace. As the nation and its Army move into an information age, military intelligence will assume an even greater significance.

To tell the military intelligence story in as much detail as security regulations currently in force allow, the U.S. Army Center of Military History has worked in collaboration with the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) to produce this volume of the Army Lineage Series. It is intended both to bring a relatively unknown part of the Army heritage to the attention of the general public and to foster unit esprit de corps among the thousands of military intelligence specialists now serving in the ranks of America's Army

ROBERT W NOONAN, Jr.
Major General, USA
Commanding
U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command

JOHN W MOUNTCASTLE
Brigadier General, USA
Chief of Military History

The Authors

John Patrick Finnegan graduated magna cum laude from Boston College in 1957 with an A.B, in English Literature. After a period of civilian employment with the National Security Agency and military service in the U.S, Army Counter Intelligence Corps, he went on to receive a Ph.D. in Twentieth Century American History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Before accepting his present position as historian with the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command, Dr. Finnegan taught at several American universities and at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and worked as a military historian at the U.S. Army Center of Military History. He is the author of Against the Specter of a Dragon: The Campaign for American Military Preparedness, 1914-1917, Military Intelligence: A Picture History, and The Military Intelligence Story: A Photo History, as well as coeditor of U.S. Army Signals Intelligence in World War II: A Documentary History.

Romana Danysh graduated from Barnard College in 1962 and received her M.A. degree in history from Stanford University in 1963. Since 1964 she has served as a historian at the U.S. Army Center of Military History. Ms. Danysh is coauthor of Infantry, Part I: Regular Army, a volume in the Army Lineage Series.

Preface

This book attempts to present an organizational history of Military Intelligence in the United States Army from its beginnings to the present. It makes no pretense at discussing the operational aspects of intelligence in detail, partially due to the continuing need to safeguard intelligence sources and methods. Furthermore, the book focuses its attention on the Army and necessarily slights the complex interrelationships between Army intelligence and other organizations in the intelligence community. Finally, although the book includes the lineages and heraldic items of military intelligence brigades, groups, and battalions organized under tables of organization and equipment (TOES), it does not cover the numerous intelligence units, past and present, organized for one-of-a-kind missions under tables of distribution and allowances (TDAs).

Preparation of this volume has been a collaborative effort between the U.S. Army Center of Military History (CMH) and the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM). John Patrick Finnegan, Military History Office, INSCOM, wrote the narrative text. Romana Danysh, Organizational History Branch, CMH, compiled the lineages.

Both authors owe large debts to numerous individuals. The idea of preparing an organizational history was conceived by James L. Gilbert, INSCOM Command Historian; Janice E. McKenney, Chief of the Organizational History Branch, CMH, was instrumental in bringing about its publication as part of the Army Lineage Series. The introductory text owes much to those who took the time and trouble to compose unit histories, as well as to the former historians of the U.S. Army Intelligence Center, the U.S. Army Security Agency, the U.S. Army Intelligence Command, and the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence. Lt. Col. Marc Powe's thesis on the evolution of the Military Intelligence Division from 1885 to 1917 served as a basic building block for the monograph, as did Col. Bruce Bidwell's unpublished eight-volume manuscript on the development of military intelligence from the founding of the republic to 1953. The unpublished thirty-volume history of the Counter Intelligence Corps which Maj. Ann Bray and others prepared in the late 1950s also contained a

xii

wealth of information. Finally, preparation of the narrative would have been impossible without the research assistance provided by the library and archival staffs of the National Archives and Records Administration, the U.S. Army Military History Institute, the Library of Congress, the National Security Agency, the U.S. Army Cryptologic Records Center, the Pentagon Library, and the Center of Military History.

Special thanks are due to the individuals who served on the panel that reviewed and commented on the first draft of the narrative. These include Brig. Gen. James L. Collins, U.S. Army (Retired), former Chief of Military History; Romana Danysh, Morris J. MacGregor, Jr., Janice E. McKenney and John B. Wilson of CMH; Dianne Putney of the U.S. Air Force History Office; and Col. James W Dunn, U.S. Army (Retired), of the Corps of Engineers History Office. Others who provided a valuable critique include David F Trask and Robert K. Wright, Jr., of CMH-, Dean Allen of the Defense Intelligence Agency History Office; Bruce Saunders, formerly with the History Office, U.S. Army Intelligence Center and School; and Henry Schorreck, formerly with the National Security Agency's History Office. Jeffrey J. Clarke, the Army's present Chief Historian, devoted considerable time and energy to polishing the final version of the manuscript. Over the years, a succession of INSCOM commanders have encouraged the project of compiling an organizational history, while former INSCOM Chief of Staff Malcolm L. Hollingsworth provided steady support.

In addition to the narrative history, this volume features lineages and heraldic data for 108 military intelligence units- 13 brigades, 10 groups, and 85 battalions. They comprise all active and inactive Regular Army and Army Reserve TOE units as well as all federally recognized Army National Guard TOE units as of 30 June 1996. We did not include smaller units, such as companies and detachments, because they are not authorized their own heraldic items. However, former separate companies and detachments perpetuated by brigades, groups, or battalions are covered in the relevant lineages. No TDA units of any size are included because, in accordance with longstanding Army policy, lineage and honors are determined for TOE units only

The Organizational History Branch of CMH is responsible for determining and publishing the official lineage and honors of Army units. The lineages in this volume are the result of research done by many past and present members of the branch, including John Finnegan. Romana Danysh prepared all the lineages for publication and updated them to reflect significant organizational changes, campaign participation credit, and unit decorations through 30 June 1996.

Each lineage is adapted from the unit's official Lineage and Honors Certificate, which outlines the history of the unit in a highly stylized format and constitutes its birth certificate, its deed to organizational properties, and verification of its service record. Although we have compressed the lineage and honors data in this book to save space, the information is the same as that on the certificates, which accounts for the technical language used. The glossary at the

xiii

end of the volume will assist readers unfamiliar with lineage terms. The parenthetical entries after each unit decoration refer to the general orders announcing the awards.

Descriptions of coats of arms, shoulder sleeve insignia, and distinctive unit insignia approved for the units appear with the lineages. These descriptions as well as the color illustrations and the brief account of heraldic items were furnished by The Institute of Heraldry (TIOH). The authors are particularly grateful to Gerald T. Luchino, Thomas B. Proffitt, Nuala Barry, and James M. Hammond for their expert assistance in providing the heraldic material for this book. We also want to express our very special thanks to the late Ronald E. Dudley, an alumnus of both TIOH and CMH, who volunteered to type the heraldic data in the appropriate format for publication. In some instances, the text relating to the heraldic items is not as comprehensive as in the original letters of approval, amendment, or redesignation sent to the units. Minor changes have been made to meet the need for brevity

Although previous volumes in the Army Lineage Series had individual unit bibliographies, the scarcity of open-source literature on military intelligence units made such an approach impracticable. Very few histories of intelligence units have been published, and historical reports submitted by intelligence organizations generally have been classified. The files of the INSCOM History Office contain information on selected units and installations. Some intelligence histories are also included in the large unit history collection maintained by the U.S. Army Military History Institute at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. In addition, the Military Intelligence Professional Bulletin, a quarterly publication of the U.S. Army Intelligence Center and Fort Huachuca, regularly features thumbnail sketches of various military intelligence units.

Photographic support for this volume was provided by T. Gardner, Sr., and Robert J. Bills, contractors working for the Assistant Chief of Staff, G-6, INSCOM. At CMH, John W Elsberg, Arthur S. Hardyman, Catherine A. Heerin, Diane M. Donovan, the late Rae Panella, Joycelyn M. Canery and John Birmingham all participated in the various aspects of producing the book.

As indicated, the efforts of a great many people contributed to the production of this volume of the Army Lineage Series. However, any mistakes, errors, or omissions are solely the responsibility of the authors.

JOHN PATRICK FINNEGAN
U.S. Army Intelligence and
Security Command

ROMANA DANYSH
U.S. Army Center of Military History

Contents

xvi

xvii

page created 10 September 2001

Return to CMH Online