Servizio Informazioni Militare
The Servizio Informazioni Militare (SIM) (Eng. "Military Intelligence Service") was an Italian intelligence service .
The SIM was established by the fascist regime in 1927 as the intelligence service of the General Staff of the Armed Forces (RD No. 70, February 6, 1927). It emerged from intelligence agencies ( Ufficio Informazioni , called "SIM" since 1925) of the General Staff of the Army . The navy and air force also set up their own intelligence services (G2 / A2, "SIS" and "SIA"), but these remained more military-specific services, while the SIM in addition to its military-related tasks (G2, until November 1941, then set up the army service "SIE" ) also covered the overall military situation (J2) and all other intelligence-related areas (including counter-espionage ). Together with the OVRA secret police , he is said to have been involved in the persecution of anti-fascists . During the Second World War the service worked quite effectively. I.a. SIM agents broke into the US embassy in Rome and learned valuable information about American encryption systems .
After the armistice of September 8, 1943, the Badoglio government transferred the SIM to the Allied sphere of influence and comprehensively reorganized it in July 1944. But on November 16, 1944, the service had to be disbanded on Allied orders. Formally, it continued to exist until December 31, 1945, but from 1944 until the establishment of the new intelligence service Servizio Informazioni Forze Armate (SIFAR) in 1949 , the Italian agents were essentially under or under the control of the US secret service OSS Successor organizations ( CIG and CIA ).
See also
Web links
- History of the Italian intelligence services on sicurezzanazionale.gov.it (Italian)
- History of the intelligence services in Italy on treccani.it (Italian)