The Intelligence Division of Defence Command ( fi, Pääesikunnan tiedusteluosasto, PE TIEDOS; ) is the unit in charge of Finnish

military intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...

. Operational since the creation of the

Finnish Defence Forces The Finnish Defence Forces ( fi, Puolustusvoimat, sv, Försvarsmakten) are the military of Finland. The Finnish Defence Forces consist of the Finnish Army, the Finnish Navy and the Finnish Air Force. In wartime the Finnish Border Guard (which i ...

, its responsibility as a

military intelligence service The Military Intelligence Service ( ja, アメリカ陸軍情報部, ''America Rikugun Jōhōbu'') was a World War II U.S. military unit consisting of two branches, the Japanese American unit (described here) and the German-Austrian unit based ...

is to support the defence of Finland through information gathering and analysis with the

Finnish Defence Intelligence Agency The Finnish Defence Intelligence Agency (, PVTIEDL; ) is the combined signals (SIGINT), geospatial (GEOINT) and imagery intelligence (IMINT) agency of the Finnish Defence Forces. Operational since 2014, its responsibility is to support the defence ...

under its command. The division's predecessors have been organized within Defence Command of the

under multiple names and configurations—partly to conceal covert operations. The first iteration, the Information Office, was created in 1918 at the start of the

Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War; . Other designations: Brethren War, Citizen War, Class War, Freedom War, Red Rebellion and Revolution, . According to 1,005 interviews done by the newspaper ''Aamulehti'', the most popular names were as follows: Civil W ...

Function

The Intelligence Division is self-statedly in charge of military intelligence in the Defence Forces and responsible for the use of intelligence capabilities. Its tasks include monitoring changes in the security environment, providing early warning of military and external threats, and

counter-intelligence Counterintelligence is an activity aimed at protecting an agency's intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering information and conducting activities to prevent espionage, sabotage, assassinations or ot ...

—similar to the tasks its predecessors have performed. In a 2014 interview, Chief of Intelligence, then Brigadier General

Harri Ohra-aho Harri is a given name, and may refer to: *Guto Harri (born 1966), Welsh former BBC Chief Political Correspondent *Harri Anne Smith, American Republican member of the Alabama Senate * Harri Eloranta (born 1963), Finnish biathlete * Harri Hänninen ...

stated that the military gathers information according to Finnish and host country legislation with

signals In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The ''IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' ...

(SIGINT),

imagery Imagery is visual symbolism, or figurative language that evokes a mental image or other kinds of sense impressions, especially in a literary work, but also in other activities such as psychotherapy. Forms There are five major types of sensory ima ...

(IMINT),

geospatial Geographic data and information is defined in the ISO/TC 211 series of standards as data and information having an implicit or explicit association with a location relative to Earth (a geographic location or geographic position). It is also call ...

(GEOINT) and

open-source intelligence Open-source intelligence (OSINT) is the collection and analysis of data gathered from open sources (covert and publicly available sources) to produce actionable intelligence. OSINT is primarily used in national security, law enforcement, and busi ...

(OSINT) as well as through

military attaché A military attaché is a military expert who is attached to a diplomatic mission, often an embassy. This type of attaché post is normally filled by a high-ranking military officer, who retains a commission while serving with an embassy. Opport ...

s. Most information regarding the division or its predecessors is not public per Finnish law.

History

On 11 February 1918, in the early stages of the

, commander-in-chief of White Finland's military, General

Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim (, ; 4 June 1867 – 27 January 1951) was a Finnish military leader and statesman. He served as the military leader of the Whites in the Finnish Civil War of 1918, as Regent of Finland (1918–1919), as comma ...

, appointed Lieutenant Isak Alfthan to command the Information Office () of Mannerheim's headquarters and start gathering

on the civil war enemy

Red Finland The Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic (FSWR), more commonly referred to as Red Finland, was a self-proclaimed Finnish socialist state that ruled parts of the country during the Finnish Civil War of 1918. It was outlined on 29 January 1918 by t ...

as well as on Russian units. During the

Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet-Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1944, as part of World War II.; sv, fortsättningskriget; german: Fortsetzungskrieg. A ...

and

Lapland War During World War II, the Lapland War ( fi , Lapin sota; sv, Lapplandskriget; german: Lapplandkrieg) saw fighting between Finland and Nazi Germany – effectively from September to November 1944 – in Finland's northernmost region, Lapland. ...

, Intelligence Division was in charge of directing the four

long-range reconnaissance patrol A long-range reconnaissance patrol, or LRRP (pronounced "lurp"), is a small, well-armed reconnaissance team that patrols deep in enemy-held territory.Ankony, Robert C., ''Lurps: A Ranger's Diary of Tet, Khe Sanh, A Shau, and Quang Tri,'' revised ...

detachments (), intended to assault assets as well as disrupt supply and communications behind enemy lines. In July 1943, the detachments were reorganized as companies within

Detached Battalion 4 Detached Battalion 4 ( ()) was a special forces unit of the Finnish Army during the Continuation War and Lapland War, serving from July 1943 to November 1944. The battalion was founded under the Intelligence Division of Defence Command from the ...

, commanded by the Intelligence Division. The units conducted around 350 long-range reconnaissance patrols during wartime.

Utti Jaeger Regiment The Utti Jaeger Regiment ( fi, Utin Jääkärirykmentti, ()) is the Finnish Army training and development centre for special forces and helicopter operations in charge of the Army Special Forces Unit and the Special Forces Qualification Course. F ...

was established de facto in 1962 to mimic the special operations of Detached Battalion 4.

Notes and references

Notes

* As some of the early units mentioned do not have official English translations, Wikipedia editors have taken the liberty to translate them. * Due to intelligence documentation being destroyed or hidden and intelligence officers fleeing to Sweden during

Operation Stella Polaris Operation Stella Polaris was the cover name for an operation in which Finnish signals intelligence records, equipment and personnel were transported into Sweden in late September 1944 after the end of combat on the Finnish-Soviet front in the Se ...

, material and research into Finnish military intelligence is scarce at points.

References

External links