The Political Intelligence Department (1918–1920) was a department of the British

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * Unit ...

created towards the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. It was created on 11 March 1918 by

Permanent Under-Secretary A permanent secretary (also known as a principal secretary) is the most senior civil servant of a department or ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day activities. Permanent secretaries are the non-political civil ...

Lord Hardinge. It gathered political, economic, and military conditions in both allied and enemy countries and prepared reports for the cabinet, the Foreign Office, and other departments. The director of the department was William Tyrrell, with

James Headlam-Morley Sir James Wycliffe Headlam-Morley, Order of the British Empire, CBE (24 December 1863 – 6 September 1929) was a British academic historian and classicist, who became a civil servant and government advisor on current foreign policy. He was known a ...

serving as assistant director. Most of the staff were drawn from the Department of Information's Intelligence Bureau, including historians Arnold Toynbee,

Lewis Namier Sir Lewis Bernstein Namier (; 27 June 1888 – 19 August 1960) was a British historian of Polish-Jewish background. His best-known works were ''The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III'' (1929), ''England in the Age of the Ameri ...

, and

Alfred Zimmern Sir Alfred Eckhard Zimmern (26 January 1879–24 November 1957) was an English classical scholar, historian, and political scientist writing on international relations. A British policymaker during World War I and a prominent liberal thinker, Z ...

. A major function of the department was to prepare reports on all subjects and countries which might be of importance at the anticipated peace conference following the war. A similar department was created in 1939 at the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, also called the Political Intelligence Department.

References

Defunct United Kingdom intelligence agencies Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office 1918 establishments in the United Kingdom 1920 disestablishments in the United Kingdom {{UK-gov-stub

See also

References