All in all making it not only very difficult, but also very dangerous to organise a campaign of any size outside of the British Isles. It is, in fact, the British army. Even in 1813, Wellington's Peninsula army of 60,000 British troops had to be supplemented by Portuguese brigades. Neither did it help the British army that her officer corps still bought their commissions and had practically no military knowledge whatsoever. Prior to the Napoleonic wars, it is clear that British military records were somewhat lacking with regards to European knowledge.
Military intelligence is a contradiction in terms.
Napoleon's style of war was previously unheard of in Europe. Those who would oppose him could succeed only by studying his techniques and using them against him, or as in Britain's case, forcing Napoleon to fight them on their terms. Using her financial strength and naval power, Britain successfully imposed severe economic pressures on France, while at the same time being able to maintain a small, but highly professional army on the outskirts of Europe. In this way, they were able to hurt France without having to face the direct strength of the French army. In the meantime, those duties were carried out by the Adjutant General and the Secretaries at and of War.