Founded in the mid-1920s following the
Anglo-Irish Treaty, the Office of the Directorate of Intelligence was originally the intelligence arm of the
Irish Army, hence its
code-name "G2", which is a designation in
NATO's continental staff system used to refer to an army intelligence, security, and information branch. Later, the Directorate became the intelligence service for the entire Irish armed forces; it was then referred to as "J2" (which refers to joint services, i.e. the Army, Naval Service and Air Corps) and took on more national security roles. G2 spent much of its early efforts combating the
Anti-Treaty IRA, in the Republic of Ireland, and also operated in Northern Ireland.
World War II G2 first came to public attention during
World War II (1939–1945), known in Ireland as
The Emergency. Although Ireland had a policy of military neutrality and was "
non-belligerent" during WWII, G2 formed secret agreements with the United Kingdom's
Military Intelligence Section 5 (MI5) and the United States'
Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the predecessor to the
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). During this period, G2 intercepted German naval and aerial communications through
listening stations located across Ireland, sharing the information with
Allied forces. Under Colonel
Daniel "Dan" Bryan, Director of Intelligence, G2 apprehended all thirteen
Nazi spies sent to Ireland, notably
Hermann Görtz, and broke German codes during the war, under the supervision of
cryptologist Richard J. Hayes. During this period, G2 also undertook intelligence operations in Europe, including a notable covert mission in April 1943 where G2 officers travelled to neutral
Portugal by
flying boat, using the cover of the
Irish Red Cross delivering supplies to refugees in
Spain, in order to gather information on the Irish minister (precursor to ambassador) in
Madrid whom the Irish government had become increasingly suspicious about, due to his close links with Germany.
Leopold H. Kerney had been visited by
Edmund Veesenmayer, a senior
Waffen-SS officer, who was one of the main Nazis involved in plotting secret Nazi operations in Ireland. G2 made contact with British spies in
Lisbon and Madrid and concluded that Kerney was in fact neutral.
The Troubles in Northern Ireland G2 was involved throughout
The Troubles (late 1960s to 1998), and Army officers were sent across the border into
Northern Ireland on intelligence-gathering missions from 1969. In August 1969
Taoiseach Jack Lynch asked Irish Army Intelligence to draft proposals for a military intervention and guerrilla operations in
Northern Ireland in order to protect Irish nationalists there from sectarian attack from Ulster loyalist mobs, under a plan known as
Exercise Armageddon. However, it was deemed unworkable and was not adopted by the cabinet. Nationalist areas were later given a form of protection by British forces under
Operation Banner. In 1970, the
Arms Crisis and subsequent trial engulfed the state in a political scandal in which Irish Army intelligence officer Captain
James Kelly was implicated in an unauthorised covert operation with the knowledge of
Minister for Finance Charles Haughey and
Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries Neil Blaney whereby £50,000 of a secret Irish government humanitarian fund of £100,000 (which had been set-up to help refugees fleeing Northern Ireland) was diverted and used to illegally import and smuggle arms and ammunition for the
Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). The Garda Special Branch became aware of the unsanctioned operation and informed
Minister for Justice Mícheál Ó Móráin and Taoiseach Lynch, who were slow to take action. Sensing this inaction, the Special Branch leaked the information to the press and the leader of the opposition
Fine Gael leader
Liam Cosgrave, who put pressure on Lynch to act. This resulted in Ministers Haughey (who later became Taoiseach) and Blaney being sacked from their posts, Captain Kelly was forced to resign, and the subsequent trial of all three in which the case collapsed and they were cleared of charges.
Cold War During the
Cold War, G2 monitored known and suspected
communists as well as agents of communist governments operating in Ireland, primarily through embassies in Dublin, sharing information with western allies. Declassified intelligence files marked "Confidential" released at the end of 2019, after 30 years, show Irish government concerns over the possibility of British nuclear weapons in Northern Ireland. Colonel L Buckley, then Director of Intelligence, briefed
Peter Barry, then foreign minister, in November 1983 on the possibility of British/NATO nuclear missiles on the island of Ireland. Col Buckley believed nuclear weapons could be situated at underground facilities inside
Benbradagh mountain in Derry, which US forces used as a communications hub in order to communicate with its
North Atlantic fleet, but which were also designed for the storage of conventional high explosives. Col Buckley complained that he did not have "the monitoring or surveillance systems" to confirm the presence of nuclear weapons in Northern Ireland, but that the British strongly denied land-based systems in the territory and refused to confirm the movements of air and sea-based nuclear weapons. A separate file marked "Secret" from June 1985 shows that Irish military intelligence carried out reconnaissance on a British Army installation at
Forkhill, Armagh (Northern Ireland), after it received information of "strong rumours" from locals that it was being converted into a nuclear facility. Their findings "strongly discounted the possibility". Materials had been brought into the base in night convoys, but this was done for security reasons, and it was noted that there were underground facilities at Forkhill, but that these were for accommodation and protection in the event of a mortar attack. Military intelligence did, however, have a reservation that Forkhill was "now on a microwave communications network which would have a NATO function in relation to possible nuclear attack". IMIS has been deployed numerous times alongside Irish forces on
peacekeeping duties globally, mainly to ensure the safety and security of Irish troops, but also to provide intelligence on hostile forces. It is considered one of the most secretive intelligence agencies in Europe, and the Irish government and Defence Forces rarely allude to its very existence. == Operations ==