Page 6 - Ft. Huachuca Scout 7-17-15

6A The Scout FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2015

Military Intelligence – Moment in MI history

Maj. Gen. Ralph Van Deman – Namesake of the East Gate

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Beginning Aug. 3, the East Gate will be known for-

ever more as the Van Deman Gate. But who is Van De-

man? The short answer: Maj. Gen. Ralph Van Deman

(pronounced Van Dee-men, not Van Day-men nor Van-

deman) is recognized as the Father of American Mili-

tary Intelligence for his role in establishing the first

effective professional intelligence organization within

the Army nearly 100 years ago.

When the United States declared war on Germany

on Apr. 6, 1917, the U.S. Army’s intelligence efforts

were nearly non-existent. Early attempts to gather

information about foreign armies had resulted in the

creation of a Military Information Division in 1885.

In 1903, the division transferred from the Adjutant

General’s Office to the Office of the Chief of Staff,

where it became the Second Division of the General U.S. ARMY PHOTO
Staff. By 1908, however, the Second Division had 0DM*HQ3DXO0HQRKHUFRPPDQGHURIWKH86$UP\,QWHOOLJHQFH&HQWHUDQG&RPPDQG6JW0DM$UW-RKQVRQXQYHLOWKHPHPRUL
been absorbed by the Third (War College) Division, DOL]DWLRQSODTXHDWWKH9DQ'HPDQ*DWHRQ-XO

and Army intelligence was relegated to a committee. seize Manila and assassinate Gen. Arthur MacArthur, that it would only duplicate British and French efforts.

Intelligence activities continued to decline over the the military governor of the islands. Persisting, Van Deman managed to gain the support

next several years due to insufficient personnel and ap- By the time he arrived at the War College, Van De- of Secretary of War Newton Baker. On May 3, 1917,

propriations as well as limited interest or understand- man was the closest example of a career military intel- the War College received an order to create an intel-

ing of the importance of the discipline. ligence officer the Army had at the time. Given this ligence organization and detail an officer to “take up

In 1915, Maj. (later Maj. Gen.) Ralph Van Deman experience, he immediately grasped the implications the work of military intelligence for the Army.” Van

was assigned to the War College Division. A native of of the United States’ lack of a military intelligence or- Deman, of course, was the perfect choice to lead the

Delaware, Ohio, Van Deman had attended both law and ganization. Van Deman wrote numerous memoranda newly established Military Intelligence Section (MIS).

medical schools before accepting an Infantry commis- criticizing the ineffectual nature of the intelligence Under Van Deman’s leadership, the MIS experi-

sion in 1891. Four years later, he was assigned to the committee. He stated, “To call a chair a table does enced rapid growth. By the end of the war, the MIS

mapping section of the Military Information Division, not make it a table—it still remains a chair. And to call consisted of 12 different functional offices. These were

and over the next decade, gained valuable intelligence the personnel of the War College Division a Military divided between a Positive Branch for intelligence col-

experience in Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Information Committee does not make it one” [em- lection, attachés, translations, maps and photographs,

China. In the Philippines, Van Deman established an phasis in original]. On several occasions, Van Deman and training, and a Negative Branch for all counter-

intelligence organization in Manila that conducted ter- pled his case to Maj. Gen. Hugh Scott, the Chief of intelligence functions. At the request of Gen. John J.

rain analysis, mapping, and counterintelligence. He Staff, who refused to consider the establishment of a Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary

was instrumental in uncovering and foiling a plot to U.S. military intelligence organization on the grounds Forces in France, Van Deman created and supervised

the Corps of Intelligence Police to perform the over-

seas counterintelligence mission. Additionally, a Code

and Ciphers Section within the MIS became the Ar-

my’s first organized signals intelligence unit. Finally,

Van Deman initiated the first personnel security inves-

tigation and identification card systems within the War

Department.

In 1918, the renamed Military Intelligence Division

(MID) had more than 1,400 personnel, both military

and civilian. It was moved out from under the War

College to a spot as one of four equal divisions on

the War Department’s General Staff, a position it has

maintained to this day. In addition to equality on the

General Staff, other long-standing consequences of the

establishment of the MID were the recognized need for

professional intelligence personnel and the preserva-

tion of an intelligence effort even in times of peace.

That the World War I period was a watershed in

U.S. Army intelligence history cannot be overstated.

No one individual did more to advance Army intelli-

gence than Ralph Van Deman. In 1988, the MI Corps

U.S. ARMY PHOTO recognized this when it chose him as one of the initial
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members of the Hall of Fame. In 1992, it further me-

LQ morialized him by naming the East Gate in his honor.