Canada. Dept. of National Defence. Directorate of Intelligence : General Order Number 240 (22 April 1932) stated that, "A combined Military and Air Force Intelligence Section will be formed under the direction of the Director of Military Operations and Intelligence, with effect 22 April 1932." In effect, the Air Force Intelligence Staffs of the newly formed RCAF had been amalgamated with the remaining Military Intelligence Staffs of the Canadian Army.
Intelligence duties in the Second World War included interrogating captured enemy personnel and examining captured material, and maintaining files on enemy forces and improvements in weapons and equipment. Enemy radio activity was intercepted and decoded, and supplemented by reports from Canadian reconnaissance patrols and tactical air reconnaissance photographs to assist in this effort. Information from all these sources was carefully evaluated, and then communicated to Canadian commanders.
At the end of the Second World War, the Canadian Intelligence Corps was several hundred strong and its personnel were scattered throughout the world. Many of its members had been seconded to British and American organisations and were employed in a wide variety of activities including clandestine operations in Europe and Asia.
In November 1945, the first Canadian Director of Military Intelligence advised the Chief of the General Staff that "Canada would not engage in clandestine acquisition of information, but would perform the legitimate military function of collecting it openly." It was decided that the Canadian Intelligence Corps's role would be that of an administrative cadre within the regular force, with its main strength in the reserves. As early as 1947, the Corps operated an Intelligence Training School at Camp Petawawa where courses were conducted for both active and later reserve force personnel of all Corps. (Intelligence training was later conducted at Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Borden and today at CFB Kingston).
During the 1950s and 1960s, members of the Intelligence Corps were engaged in a variety of intelligence functions. Officers held a number of intelligence and other staff appointments throughout Canada. A small counter-intelligence detachment was located in Germany and officers and men went on exchange duties and were located in the United Kingdom, the United States, and with the United Nations in Cyprus. A number of Corps officers and men remained engaged in security duties, but an increasing number were involved in Imagery Interpretation and Strategic and Combat Intelligence duties.
On January 1st 1968 the three separate arms of the Canadian Forces (land, sea and air) were formally integrated, and this in turn led to the formation of the Canadian Forces Security Branch. In late 1981 the Chief of Defence Staff was convinced that sufficient disparity in duties existed, and that the two functions of policing and intelligence should be separated. The existing Security branch was split into two separate branches, with the security and police functions remained in the Security Branch and a new Intelligence Branch was created.
The Directorate of Intelligence, Department of National Defence was formed from the amalgamation of the three armed service intelligence directorates. As part of its duties, the directorate gathered intelligence information on Soviet bloc merchant vessels while the ships were visiting Canadian ports. RG24 General Inventory
Director General Intelligence (DG Int) : Falling under the authority of the Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff, this organization became the functional authority within the Department of National Defence (DND) and the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) for defence intelligence collection and exploitation. Falling under the authority of the of the Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff (VCDS), DG Int was also responsible for setting the strategic direction of military intelligence in accordance with the overall policy of the DND and the Canadian government. DG Int position is generally help by a colonel or equivalent. The Chief of Defence intelligence (CDI), still under the VCDS, replaced the organization in November 2004. As CDI took over the functional authority for defence intelligence collection and exploitation, in 2013 CDI created the Canadian Forces Intelligence Command (CFINTCOM) in order to unify the collection and exploitation functions under a single organization.
During its existence, DG Int support various CF operational engagement during (1945-1991) and after the cold war era. The organization has also developed plans and the Intelligence doctrine in order the differents military problems of the moment.
