Photo By Lori Stewart | Instructors of the Intelligence School, Fort Riley, 1946. Col. Oscar Koch (1st row,...... read more read more
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by Lori S. Stewart, USAICoE Command Historian
INTELLIGENCE SCHOOL OPENS AT FORT RILEY
On Jul. 1, 1946, the Army Ground Forces formally opened its Intelligence School at The Cavalry School, located at Fort Riley, Kansas. This represented a significant step in creating a permanent, centralized school for Army intelligence.
During World War II, about 20,000 soldiers trained at Camp Ritchie’s Military Intelligence Training Center run by the Military Intelligence Service. When the war ended, the school was phased out, leaving the Army without a general intelligence school. Recognizing that “few officers or men [had been] ready to assume the staggering jobs of intelligence activities” when the war had started, the Army Ground Forces activated an intelligence school at Fort Benning, Georgia, in October 1945. This school was directed to develop courses “to keep alive the [World War II] battle lessons of intelligence agencies.”
One month later, the school moved to Fort Riley to operate under the administrative purview of the Commandant, The Cavalry School (renamed the Army General School on Nov. 1, 1946). The new Intelligence School, the “first institution of its kind organized within Army Ground Forces,” formally opened on Jul. 1, 1946, with the first official classes beginning in September.
The Intelligence School’s faculty was comprised of combat-experienced officers with extensive intelligence assignments. With an assumption that, in the event of an emergency, the Army would face an immediate need to train large numbers of intelligence personnel, the school trained its students to be capable intelligence personnel and able to train others in the field. The Intelligence School divided its training into three departments.
The Department of Aerial Reconnaissance taught tactical visual observation and photograph interpretation. These courses emphasized the importance of close air-ground cooperation, stressing “ground fighters must be well versed in the information gathering capabilities and techniques” of the air force. Officers trained in the use of aerial photographs and enlisted personnel in photo interpretation. The department also had responsibility for teaching map reading to all students at the Army General School, not just intelligence students.
The Department of Order of Battle and Interrogators of Prisoners of War trained enlisted analysts how to understand the size, location, arms and equipment, movement, supply, morale, and physical condition of enemy forces. Building this enemy order of battle would allow intelligence officers to estimate the enemy’s capabilities, enabling commanders to make better decisions. Because the bulk of order of battle information came from captured documents and prisoners, the exploitation of these sources formed the basis of the department’s curriculum. The department even created a mythical enemy, known as the Aggressor Force, to inject realism into the training.
Finally, the Department of General Subjects focused primarily on the Officers’ Intelligence Course that produced qualified S-2s and G-2s for battalion, regiment, and division staffs. The department’s four committees—Infantry and Services, Cavalry and Armored, Artillery, and Covert Intelligence—worked together to develop standardized intelligence procedures and techniques applicable in any type of field unit. Additionally, based on inadequacies noted during the war, instruction was given on the operations of clandestine radio stations, task force staff preparations for amphibious landings, techniques for public relations in peacetime, and evasion and escape. Students also received overviews of air force and naval intelligence activities and requirements from non-resident instructors. The department’s Special Projects Section prepared intelligence training literature and handled intelligence extension courses.
The emergency anticipated by the Intelligence School came in June 1950, when North Korean forces invaded South Korea. The school’s graduates immediately began deploying overseas, where they were placed in S-2 and G-2 sections or in specialized detachments attached to each division. Despite the best efforts of the school, however, the Army found its peacetime intelligence training had been inadequate. This provided the impetus to establish, in 1955, the Army Intelligence School at Fort Holabird, Maryland, under the direct control of the assistant chief of staff for intelligence.
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| Date Taken: | 06.27.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 06.27.2025 15:28 |
| Story ID: | 501753 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 14 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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