The Washington times., 1922-05-22
WAR Of BRAINS
BEHIND STRIFE
INVOLVING ERIN
Untold History Is Revealed in
Story of Former British
Agent in Ireland.
tcopyrisht. ls.1. by International News
SerYice)


LONDON, May 2e.-The mill
tary toGr Which Great Britain con-
Quoted against ireland prior to the
truce IN 1891 is a matter of history.
The "tOar of bruins"-the efforts
Of the British Secret Service TO
suppress the Irish rebellion--is
stiu matter of untold history.
The International NeWS Service
hereWith presents a fet0 pages OF
untold history of the ",Odr OF
brains" set forth By a former staff
officer of the British Intelligence
Service in ireland. For Obvious
reasons the identity of the aVriter
cannot be disclosed.
or tells Of the dramatic midnight
fnquisitions in Dublin Castle, When,
unseen, British officers submitted
lrtsh cdptiUes to nerve-rdcking
-thtrd-degree" examinations
BY INTELLIGENCER,
Former Staff officer OF the British Intel
lsence Service In Ireland.
Behind the spectacular series
Of murders, outrages and reprisals
which marked the course of the
guerilla warfare waged between
the British forces and the Irish
republican army in Ireland dur
ing 1920 and the first half Of
1921 a secret and more subtle
contest was being waged between
the brains of the rival parties.
This contest did not lack thrilling
incidents, but for obvious reasons
1t was impossible to make these
public at the time. There is,
however, no reason why a short
sketch of them should not be
given now.
Army Was Focus.
The problem confronting the Brit.
ish authorities was that OF breaking
up the military wing of the organiza-
tions which were defying them in
Ireland. The ramifications of the
Irish Republican Brotherhood
stretched too far for rapid extermi-
nation. Sim Fein was in effect a
political creed held by a majority Of
the population. There remained the
Irish Republican army, which prac.
tically, il not theoretically, had alb
sorbed the various armed and organ.
lied bodies Of the country. The Irish
Republican army must, therefore, not
only be defeated in the field but it's
constitution must be attacked, its
plans frustrated and it's cohesion de-
stroyed. In other words, the blow
must be directed at the head. at the
center from which its operations
were directed.
British Authority Divided.
But who was the head. and from
whence did the chiefs of the scat.
tered brigades derive their instruc.
tions? This was the opening ques-
tion of the problem and one which
from its very nature suggested the
means OF solution of the whole. The
British authority was divided into
three administrations-the civil. the
military, and the police. which lat
ter were subdivided into the Royal
Irish Constabulary. functionlnE
throughout the country. and the
Dublin metropolitan. functioninE IN
Dublin alone. Each Of these was
equipped with its own ''inteIhksncs
branch" but when serious trouble
actually began early in 1890 u was
soon discovered that none OF ths-e
"intelligences" had any information
Of value. Something was known of
the more conspicuous personalities
Of the 1915 rebellion: a few odd
scraps Of facts, useful in them
selves but entirely uncoIlated and
therefore of no practical utility
were scattered through forgotten
files. II was as though no current
information existed at all.
The first step was the correlatio
OF these various intelligence" and
the placing Of them under the
supervision Of the police. But this
was by no means all. The mem.
bers of the intelligence staffs were
for the most part officers in
uniform. or professional police
Irish Republican Army and it's
directors, and therefore useless.
For that matter, the whole Of the
detective staff Of the Dublin Metro.
politan Police were shot or other
wise put out of action within the
>irst few months Of active service.
II was necessary not only to reor-
garize the intelligence branch but
TO recruit its personnel. And this
was the first grave difficulty.
Recruits Flowed In.
II is commonplace of human
nature that nearly all o. us love Il
good detective story and that most
OF us, fired with the adventures OF
our hero, have settled conviction
that Providence has specially
equipped us with the qualities essen.
tial to the makeup Of a secret serv.
ice agent. Recruits flowed in; time
was too short to examine their Gre
dentials properly or to give them
more than the mercst smattering of
training. Moreover, Ireland as
whole, and Dublin in particular, has
a comparatively small populat tIon, so
small that a stranger becomes con
spicuous Immediately upon his land.
ing In the country. II was not diff.
cult for the Irish Republican Army
TO find out something about every
stranger who landed, enough at
least to determine whether he came
on some definite busin ess or not. ~
the latter he was worth watching
further.
However, while his comings and
soings were duly noted by men who
antiVn ~ 1tyifh