The Intelligence Corps (also known as Int Corps) is one of the corps of the British Army. It is responsible for gathering, analysing and disseminating military intelligence and also for counter-intelligence and security.

Although the first proposals to create one came in 1905, the first Intelligence Corps was formed in 1914. It was rapidly run down after the First World War and was finally disbanded in 1929. On 19 July 1940 a new Intelligence Corps was created by Army Order 112 and has existed since that time. On 1 February 1985 the corps was officially declared an 'Arm' (combat support) instead of a 'Service' (rear support).

Intelligence Corps personnel wear a distinctive cypress green beret with a cap badge consisting of a union rose (a red rose with a white centre) between two laurel branches and surmounted by a crown. Their motto is Manui Dat Cognitio Vires (Knowledge gives strength to the arm). Their headquarters, formerly at Templer Barracks at Ashford, Kent, moved in 1997 to the former Royal Air Force station at Chicksands in Bedfordshire along with the Defence Intelligence and Security Centre and the Intelligence Corps Museum. The Director Intelligence Corps is a Brigadier.

The corps has a particularly high proportion of commissioned officers, many of them commissioned from the ranks, and also a high percentage of female members. Non-commissioned personnel join in one of two specialisations: Operator Military Intelligence or Operator Military Intelligence (Linguist). They do their basic 12-week military training at the Army Training Regiment Winchester and their 25-week special-to-arm training at 1 (Templer) Training Company, Chicksands, at the end of which they are promoted to Lance Corporal. Until recently, linguists would then do a 78-week language course, at the end of which they would be promoted to Acting Corporal. At present, both Operator Military Intellignce and Linguist must first complete a tour of duty, and it is typically after about two years service that those opting for language training will return to Chicksands for the 78 week course. Promotion continues to be more rapid than in most other corps. Officers complete their training at Sandhurst and then a Young Officers (YO) course to qualify them as Intelligence Officers. The main formation is 1 Military Intelligence Brigade. 1 MI Brigade has responsibility for three regular and one Territorial Army battalions:

• 1 Military Intelligence Battalion
• 2 Military Intelligence Battalion
• 3 (Volunteer) Military Intelligence Battalion
• 4 Military Intelligence Battalion

The tri-service 15 Psychological Operations Group is also based at Chicksands and comes under the remit of the Intelligence Corps.

Prominent members of the Intelligence Corps

• John Buchan, Author and politician
• Mike Jackson, current Chief of the General Staff
• Bernard Lewis, Historian of Islam
• Anthony Powell, Author
• Laurens van der Post, Author

Order of Precedence

External link

• Official website

British administrative corps | Ashford, Kent

Intelligence Corps