The Operators: Inside 14 Intelligence Company - The Army's Top Secret Elite

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May – A 15-year-old boy was shot and injured outside a disco in the Glen Road area of west Belfast by the MRF.

May – SAS Captain Herbert Richard Westmacott was killed by a unit of the Provisional IRA Belfast Brigade known as the "M60 Gang" during a shoot-out on the Antrim Road. Westmacott was one of the most senior British Army personnel to be killed by the IRA during Operation Banner and the most senior SAS man. [30] [31] [32]

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Includes new insights into the mysterious killing of Captain Robert Nairac, a Det Military Intelligence Liaison Officer who was abducted from a pub and murdered after pretending to be a member of the IRA. The Special Reconnaissance Unit, also known as 14 Intelligence Company, was the successor to the Military Reaction Force (MRF). [5] Selection to 14 Intelligence Company was available to all serving members of the British armed forces and to both sexes. For the first time, women could become members of a UK Special Forces unit. Candidates were required to pass a rigorous selection process, designed to select the individuals who possessed the necessary qualities to deal with undercover covert operations they'd be tasked with. In one selection course, out of 1000 applicants who applied, only 17 were deployed to Northern Ireland.

a b Geoff Hoon, Secretary of State for Defence (5 April 2005). "Special Reconnaissance Regiment". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons. col.131WS.Intelligence Company - sometimes referred to as 14 INT, 14 Company, or 'The Det' - was a British Army special forces unit, established during the Troubles, which carried out surveillance operations in Northern Ireland. 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.

April – IRA Fermanagh Brigade Commander Séamus McElwaine was shot dead by the SAS while preparing an ambush near Rosslea, County Fermanagh. Another IRA Volunteer Sean Lynch was badly injured during the incident. [55] [56] These painstaking intelligence gathering efforts often led to the arrest of terrorists by the RUC as well as discoveries of weapons caches. Kirkup, James (17 March 2009). "Gerry Adams: British Army Special Forces in Northern Ireland threaten peace process". The Daily Telegraph. London . Retrieved 26 February 2014.

The author writes with the unique authority of a soldier who has served 7 tours in Northern Ireland with 2 Para, passed 14 Intelligence Company selection, served 6 years in the SAS (including 2 tours in the Anti-Terrorism Team) and 6 years in the RUC. Former SAS soldier Ken Connor, states that he was part of a three man team sent to assess the Military Reaction Force in 1972, which he refers to as the Military Reconnaissance Force (the cover name given to it by the British), in the wake of the Four Square Laundry episode, when the initials MRF became known.

But few were staple: midnight stretcher or log carrying races; land navigation followed by timed weapons proficiency tests; aggression assessments, aka boxing matches (the DS loved to pit Paras or Royal Marines against airmen or sailors); initiative and leadership exercises, where candidates had to work as a team to build things with oil barrels, ropes, and planks. Though not quite up to James Bond standards, the Det employed some specialised equipment. Operators wore microphones and earphones hidden in their clothing to enable them to talk on 'the net' whilst in public. Special covert holsters were worn that allowed an operator conceal their pistols in their waistbands. It seems that the 14th Int was not the only cover name for the SRU. According to the same briefing: Chapter 5 summarises the lessons learned from the first decade of the conflict, discussing the wholesale reorganisation of British forces and the starting positions for a new, more unified phase of the undercover war. Chapters 6 and 7 provide parallel accounts of SAS and Det activities between 1980 and 1985, leading towards the turning point at which the upper leadership of the IRA began to accept that a military victory was no longer possible. Chapter 8 changes perspective and outlines the origins, nature and structure of the various Republican paramilitary groups from 1969-1987.

3 Commando Brigade / Royal Marines

Melaugh, Dr Martin. "CAIN: Bill Rolston (2000) Unfinished Business: State Killings and the Quest for Truth". cain.ulst.ac.uk. Functioning as a rankless meritocracy (as far as one of these can exist in a military), initiative, intelligence, and independent thinking were highly sought after traits in recruits. a b " 'New regiment will support SAS' ". bbc.co.uk. 5 April 2005 . Retrieved 27 September 2022. the new unit, which he estimates will be between 500 and 600-strong The 14 Int, as it was more commonly known, emerged in 1972 following the need for effective covert surveillance on both Catholic IRA and Protestant loyalist terrorists in Northern Ireland. The “Troubles” between the two communities were fuming. And the British army and the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) were trying their best, but falling short.