View source for Military Information Division (United States)

{{Short description|First military intelligence branch of the United States Army (1885-1903)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
The '''Military Information Division (MID)''' was the first [[military intelligence]] branch of the [[United States Army]] and the [[United States Department of War]], operating from 1885 to 1903.<ref>[https://fas.org/irp/agency/army/short.pdf] A Short History of Army Intelligence (2012) Michael E. Bigelow (Command Historian, [[United States Army Intelligence and Security Command]]) (p.  10)</ref>

==History==
The MID was established by [[Richard C. Drum|Brigadier General Richard C. Drum]], the then [[List of Adjutants General of the U.S. Army|Adjutant General of the United States Army]] in October 1885 under his office in [[Washington, DC]]. Thus becoming the [[de facto]] first standing military intelligence agency of the United States. While the [[Union Army]] had a [[Bureau of Military Information]], it reported to the Commanding General for less than a year prior to being disbanded at the end of the Civil War in 1865.

The original duties of the MID consisted of collecting military data on foreign nations. Drum also asked senior Army commanders to have their officers to submit intelligence reports from their travels to foreign nations. "Initially, the division acted as a relatively passive repository for military related information."<ref>Bigelow 2012: 10.</ref> In 1889, the MID saw the formation of, directed and controlled what became the [[Defense Attaché System]], with United States Armed Forces officers being dispatched to [[London]], [[Berlin]], [[Paris]], [[Vienna]], and [[St. Petersburg]]. The [[Secretary of War]], [[Redfield Proctor]], required all information from the attachés to be analysed by the MID. "By 1898, the MID had 16 attaché posts in Europe, Mexico, and Japan. Until the early 1940s, the attaché system constituted the foundation of the Army’s strategic collection effort."<ref>Bigelow 2012: 10.</ref>

===Spanish–American War===
With the beginning of the [[Spanish–American War]] in April 1898, the United States Army entered a conflict with existing [[military intelligence]] preparation for the first time. Since 1882, the MID had been collecting [[Geospatial intelligence|terrain]] and [[order of battle]] intelligence on the Spanish in [[Cuba]] and [[the Caribbean]] and had consequently produced detailed maps of likely [[Theater (warfare)|theaters of operation]]. Such intelligence was assisted by the reports of the United States Army attaché in Madrid, Captain [[Tasker H. Bliss]] who became the [[Chief of Staff of the United States Army]], on Spanish deployments in the region. In April 1898, the Chief of MID, Major [[Arthur L. Wagner]] ordered two experienced military observers of MID to be deployed to the region to collect specific information on Spanish defence capabilities before the deployment of American forces. First Lieutenant [[Andrew Summers Rowan|Andrew S. Rowan]] was deployed to Cuba and First Lieutenant Henry H. Whitney was deployed to [[Puerto Rico]]. "As the war progressed, the MID published comprehensive handbooks for both Caribbean countries."<ref>Bigelow 2012: 11.</ref> The Spanish–American War ended in August 1898 with an American victory.

===Philippine–American War===
After the American naval victory in the [[Battle of Manila Bay]] of May 1898, the American troops were deployed to the [[Philippines]] in July 1898. With American victory in the [[Spanish–American War]] in August 1898, fighting broke out as the Filipinos sought independence. This led to the [[Philippine–American War]] in June 1899. Consequently, the [[Governor General of the Philippines#United States Military Government|American Military Governor of the Philippines]] formed the Bureau of Insurgent Records (BIR) to translate and collate captured documents and to provide information about the Filipino forces beyond tactical reconnaissance. In December 1900, the bureau became the Division of Military Information (DMI) under the United States Military Government of the Philippines and was responsible for [[military intelligence]] and [[counterinsurgency]] capabilities. The Chief of DMI, Captain [[Ralph Van Deman]] who had served on the staff of the Chief of MID Major Arthur L. Wagner and was later called the "Father of American Military Intelligence", expanded the capabilities of the DMI to include a mapping section, improved liaison with other agencies, relayed intelligence to the field commanders, provided photographs and descriptions of known Filipino insurgents, and coordinated localised intelligence officers to gather information on the surrounding terrain, attitudes of local villagers, and the dispositions of Filipino insurgent groups. In 1902, the DMI became a branch the MID with the end of the Philippine–American War in July 1902.

==Reorganisation into Army General Staff==
In 1903, [[Secretary of War]] [[Elihu Root]] reorganised the [[United States Department of War]] and also established the [[Chief of Staff of the United States Army|United States Army General Staff]] to coordinate and perform administrative, planning and intelligence functions. The [[Staff (military)#Intelligence / security / information operations (2)|Second Division]] of the [[United States Department of the Army#The Army Staff|United States Army General Staff]] consequently acquired the MID from the Adjutant General's Office. The Second Division was given four major duties: collecting and disseminating information on foreign countries; directing the work of the attaché system; supervising mapping, and maintaining a reference collection. "For the moment, the intelligence function had achieved equal standing with other staff missions."<ref>Bigelow 2012: 12</ref>

==See also==
*[[Cuban Pacification]]
*[[Military Intelligence Corps (United States Army)|United States Army Military Intelligence Corps]]
*[[United States Army Intelligence and Security Command]]
*[[Office of Naval Intelligence]]
*[[Military Intelligence Division (United States Army)]]
*[[G-2 (intelligence)]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Government, [https://web.archive.org/web/20071212003327/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/additional-publications/civil-war/index.html ''Intelligence in the Civil War'']. Washington, D.C., Central Intelligence Agency, 2005.

* {{cite book |last1=Theoharis |first1=Athan G. |last2=Rosenfeld |first2=Susan |title=The FBI: A Comprehensive Reference Guide |date=1999 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-89774-991-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VnQduXa4JdoC&dq=Military+Intelligence+Division+1882&pg=PA160 |access-date= |language=en}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081028210102/http://www.ushmm.org/uia-bin/uia_doc/art/x9-13 Records of the Military Intelligence Division]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110116013626/http://www.history.army.mil/books/Lineage/MI/mi-fm.htm Army Lineage Series: Military Intelligence]
* {{cite book |last1=Rice |first1=Donald Tunnicliff |title=Cast in Deathless Bronze: Andrew Rowan, The Spanish–American War, and the Origins of American Empire |date=2016 |publisher=The West Virginia University Press |location= |isbn=978-1-943665-43-3 |pages=}}

{{United States intelligence agencies}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Military units and formations established in 1885]]
[[Category:Defunct United States intelligence agencies]]
[[Category:Military intelligence agencies]]