Arrangements have been made by which this branch will take charge of all express movements for the War Department, as well as the tracing of the movements of all War Department property, including the contractors and others for the various bureaus.
Purchase and Supply.—The Purchase and Supply Branch is organized into the following subsections: Supply Program, Purchase, Production, Finance, and Emergency.
MILITARY INTELLIGENCE DIVISION
The Military Intelligence Division has as director Brigadier-General Marlborough Churchill, United States army, Assistant Chief of Staff. This division, which had been a branch, first of the War Plans Division and then of the Executive Division of the General Staff, was separated completely and made an independent division by general orders which reorganized the General Staff, thus putting the Military Intelligence Division on a par with similar services of general staffs of other nations of the world.
The duties of the Military Intelligence Division consist, in general, in the organization of the intelligence service, positive and negative, including the collection and coordination of military information; the supervision of the department intelligence officers and intelligence officers at posts, stations, camps, and with commands in the field, in matters relating to military intelligence; the direction of counter-espionage work; the preparation of instruction in military intelligence work for the use of our forces; the consideration of questions of policy promulgated by the General Staff in all matters of military intelligence; the co-operation with intelligence branches of the general staffs of other countries; the supervision of the training of officers for intelligence duty, the obtaining and issuing of maps: and the disbursement of and accounting for intelligence funds.
One of the important functions of the Director of the Military Intelligence Division is that of coordinating the work of this service with other intelligence agencies. Possible duplications of work and investigation by the State Department, Treasury Department, Department of Justice, Navy Department, War Trade Board, and the War Department are avoided or adjusted at weekly conferences held at the Department of Justice and attended by representatives of these departments who consider matters of common interest. For a similar purpose, the Director of Military Intelligence is a member of the Fire Prevention Committee, the War Industries Board, and the National Research Council.
For the purpose of securing close co-operation between the military intelligence services of the nations associated in the war, the British and French Governments were requested by the United States to send officers to this country for liaison duty. These officers have been of great assistance in accomplishing this end, because of their knowledge of the details of intelligence work in Europe.
For the performance of the service for which the Military Intelligence Division was developed, eight sections have been established, each dealing with its peculiar problems, and working in close liaison with its fellows….
It may not be amiss to call attention to the enthusiastic co-operation which this division has consistently received from the various other intelligence agencies, civilian and others. The American Protective League, the Department of Justice, the Office of Naval Intelligence, the Customs, the War Trade Intelligence have all co-operated in the heartiest manner with each and every effort of the Military Intelligence Division. Indeed, it is hardly saying too much to state that the success of the Military Intelligence Division has in a very large measure been due to the loyal assistance which it has received at all times from the various agencies whose functions are similar to its own.