14 Intelligence Company

14 Field Security and Intelligence Company ( known as "The Det") was a part of the British Army Intelligence Corps which operated in Northern Ireland from the 1970s onwards. The unit conducted undercover surveillance operations against suspected members of Irish republican and loyalist paramilitary groups. Many allegations of collusion with loyalist paramilitaries were made against the unit.

Predecessors

The 14 Intelligence Company was the successor to the Special Reconnaissance Unit (SRU), which was itself a reconstituted Military Reaction Force (MRF). "Special Reconnaissance Unit" is the term appearing in official documents from the 1970s. An April 1974 briefing for Prime Minister Harold Wilson states:

The term "Special Reconnaissance Unit" and the details of its organisation and mode of operations have been kept secret. The SRU operates in Northern Ireland at present under the cover name "Northern Ireland Training and Advisory Teams (Northern Ireland)" - NITAT(NI) - ostensibly the equivalent of genuine NITAT teams in UKLF (UK Land Forces) and BAOR (British Army of the Rhine).

Structure

Authors claiming to be former members of the unit describe an organisation with a depot in Great Britain and four operational detachments in Northern Ireland.

• Main Det (Headquarters), RAF Aldergrove
• East Det, based at Palace Barracks, Belfast
• North Det, based at Ballykelly, County Londonderry
• South Det based in Fermanagh

Selection and training of personnel from all arms of the British Armed Forces was conducted in a number of locations in Great Britain. Candidates, both male and female, volunteered for special duties for periods of 18–36 months, before being returned to a parent unit. Trained surveillance operators could volunteer for re-deployment after a period with the parent unit, with potential opportunities to serve in command, staff or training roles within the organisation or higher command structure.

Collusion accusations

14 Intelligence was accused of acting in collusion with loyalist paramilitaries by former intelligence personnel Fred Holroyd and Colin Wallace in regards to the death of senior Provisional Irish Republican Army member John Francis Green, the Miami Showband killings and the Dublin and Monaghan Bombings.

Casualties

• 14 April 1974: Captain Anthony Pollen was shot dead in Derry City while carrying out undercover surveillance on a Sinn Féin event. He was shot twice in front of a crowd of more than 150 people.
• 15 May 1977: Captain Robert Nairac kidnapped and shot by the IRA.
• 14 December 1977: Corporal Paul Harman was shot dead by the IRA in west Belfast. Harman was undercover when he stopped his red Morris Marina on Monagh Avenue. An IRA unit approached the car and shot him in the head and back and torched the car.
• 11 August 1978: 14th Intelligence operative Lance Corporal Alan Swift was shot dead while undercover in the Bogside area of Derry City. Two IRA members fired into the corporal's car with automatic rifles.
• 21 February 1984: Paul Oram was killed in a gun battle between the IRA and up to ten undercover British soldiers. A three-man IRA unit was ambushed by soldiers in Dunloy killing Henry Hogan and Declan Martin. The third member escaped. Oram was killed in the battle and another soldier was seriously wounded.

See also

• Military Reaction Force
• Special Reconnaissance Unit
• United Kingdom Special Forces