Counter Intelligence Corps
The Counter Intelligence Corps ( CIC , German counter-espionage corps ) was an intelligence service of the Army of the United States of America , which was founded during the Second World War as a police-like counter-espionage department . In terms of personnel and organization, the CIC is the predecessor of the Defense Intelligence Agency .
Origins
The origins of the CIC can be found in the Corps of Intelligence Police ( CIP ), which was founded in 1917 by Ralph van Deman, the "father of American military espionage". This organization was active in counter-espionage within the USA . In addition, she was associated with the " American Expeditionary Forces " during the First World War , the American expeditionary force in Europe. In its heyday, the CIP employed more than 600 people. That number was drastically reduced after the war ended, falling to fewer than 20 officers in the 1930s.
Second World War
Under the threat of World War II, the number of employees at the CIP was increased again approximately to the level of the First World War. When the United States entered the war, the CIP was restructured on December 13, 1941, and from January 1, 1942 it operated under the new name Counter Intelligence Corps ( CIC ). At the same time, additional posts for 543 officers and 4,431 agents with the rank of sergeant or corporal were approved.
The CIC recruited its personnel mainly from circles with legal, police or other investigative professional backgrounds. People who knew foreign languages were particularly sought after. In order to make the field work of his employees easier, they were allowed to wear civilian clothes or uniforms without a badge of rank . This measure proved to be necessary in order to avoid disputes over competency within the military hierarchy, in which the CIC personnel were basically involved. The employees, the majority of whom did not hold a high military rank, therefore referred to themselves as "agents" or "special agents" as required.
The tasks of the CIC were varied: On the American mainland, the CIC, in cooperation with the military police and the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), was responsible for the security clearance of military personnel, especially if they had access to sensitive information. The CIC was responsible for the thwarting of acts of sabotage and played an important role in securing the Manhattan Project with the secret services .
In the European and Pacific theaters of war, the CIC acted on different levels: On the one hand, it sought to gain tactical knowledge about the plans of the other side by evaluating intercepted documents and radio messages as well as questioning prisoners of war and other sources. On the other hand, it operated behind enemy lines in a variety of ways, providing logistical and material support for local resistance groups or initiating sabotage and reconnaissance missions itself . Another essential task of the CIC was to defend against and eliminate enemy espionage attempts and resistance groups.
Operations after World War II
Immediately after the end of the war it was the task of the CIC to search for important members of the opposing regime and war criminals in the occupied countries . Furthermore, the CIC sought to recruit outstanding scientists from the military research of the former opponents and to win them over to participate in the related efforts of the USA. In particular, nuclear physicists , rocket developers , cryptographers and aircraft manufacturers were on the wish list of the American military. The attempt to contain the black market was also one of the duties of the CIC.
Soon after, the burgeoning Cold War presented the CIC with new challenges and by 1950, after the outbreak of the Korean War , it was confronted with an armed conflict again. This led to an expansion of the organizational framework of the organization for the last time. In 1961 the entire American secret service apparatus was restructured, since the multitude of different services all too often produced an ineffective coexistence of secret service activities. In the course of this restructuring, the CIC was merged with the corresponding organizations of the Air Force and the Navy to form the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).
literature
- Duval A. Edwards: Spy Catchers of the US Army in the War with Japan. The Unfinished Story of the Counterintelligence Corps. Red Apple Publishing, Gig Harbor WA 1994, ISBN 1-880222-14-0 .
- Edward R. Koudelka: Counter Intelligence, the Conflict and the Conquest. Ranger Associates, Guilderland NY 1986, ISBN 0-934588-09-0 .
- Ib Melchior: Case by Case. A US Army Counterintelligence Agent in World War II. Presidio, Novato CA 1993, ISBN 0-89141-444-4 .
- James V. Milano, Patrick Brogan: Soldiers, Spies, and the Rat Line. America's Undeclared War Against the Soviets. Brassey's, Washington DC 2000, ISBN 1-57488-304-6 .
- Ian Sayer, Douglas Botting: America's Secret Army. The Untold Story of the Counter Intelligence Corps. Grafton Books, London et al. 1989, ISBN 0-246-12690-6 .