“All the touts we need”: HUMINT experience in Northern Ireland

Abstract

This paper examines the use of human intelligence in the conflict in Northern Ireland, identifying how republican and loyalist terrorist sources were handled by the security forces and the lessons applicable to current counter insurgency conflicts. This is done by analyzing the context of operations, initial deployment of troops, and the development of the intelligence process throughout the conflict. The conflict in Northern Ireland presents many lessons for the use of human intelligence, including effective training of handlers, recruitment tactics, and using informers to potentially influence organizational behaviour. While republican and loyalist terrorist organizations were investigated by intelligence agencies, a policy of civilian police primacy for operating informants in loyalist organizations led to both perceived and actual collusion. It may have made operational sense, especially at the beginning of the conflict, to utilize local knowledge, but gathering intelligence on all terrorist organizations should have operated along identical policies.