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Office of Naval Intelligence
The Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) is the military intelligence agency of the United States Navy. Established in 1882 primarily to advance the Navy's modernization efforts, it is the oldest member of the U.S. Intelligence Community and serves as the Federal Government's premier source of maritime intelligence.
Since the First World War, ONI's mission has broadened to include real-time reporting on the developments and activities of foreign navies; protecting maritime resources and interests; monitoring and countering transnational maritime threats; providing technical, operational, and tactical support to the U.S. Navy and its partners; and surveying the global maritime environment. ONI employs over 3,000 military and civilian personnel worldwide and is headquartered at the National Maritime Intelligence Center in Suitland, Maryland.
Despite playing an active and decisive role in the American Civil War, in the following years the U.S. Navy fell into precipitous decline. A lack of both federal funding and public interest reduced the Navy's size, prestige, and technological superiority; whereas steel ships were increasingly the norm, the U.S. Navy was entirely wooden. Towards the end of the 19th century, American naval power had become vastly obsolete compared to Europe, and even lagged behind the navies of less developed nations such as Chile.
In an era of rapid industrialization, globalized commerce, and colonial expansion, Alfred Thayer Mahan's ideas about the importance of sea power, expressed in his book The Influence of Sea Power upon History were adopted wholesale by the U.S. Navy. Navalists saw sea power as crucial for U.S. commercial and strategic interests, as well as a source of national prestige and power projection. American naval officers and military strategists advocated for a larger and more technologically advanced navy that could protect the U.S.'s vast maritime borders, safeguard its commercial interests, and project power abroad. Among the leading reformers was Navy Lieutenant Theodorus Bailey Myers Mason, who called for the creation of a naval intelligence office dedicated to gathering information on foreign navies and the latest in naval science to help rebuild the U.S. Navy.
William H. Hunt, who served briefly as Secretary of the Navy under President James Garfield, formed a Naval Advisory Board tasked with rebuilding the Navy and bringing it up to par to global standards. Largely in response to Mason's recommendations, on March 23, 1882, Hunt issued General Order No. 292, which read:
An "Office of Intelligence" is hereby established in the Bureau of Navigation for the purpose of collecting and recording such naval information as may be useful to the Department in time of war, as well as in peace.
To facilitate this work, the Department Library will be combined with the "Office of Intelligence," and placed under the direction of the Chief of the Bureau of Navigation.
Commanding and all other officers are directed to avail themselves of all opportunities which may arise to collect and to forward to the "Office of Intelligence" professional matters likely to serve the object in view.
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Office of Naval Intelligence
The Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) is the military intelligence agency of the United States Navy. Established in 1882 primarily to advance the Navy's modernization efforts, it is the oldest member of the U.S. Intelligence Community and serves as the Federal Government's premier source of maritime intelligence.
Since the First World War, ONI's mission has broadened to include real-time reporting on the developments and activities of foreign navies; protecting maritime resources and interests; monitoring and countering transnational maritime threats; providing technical, operational, and tactical support to the U.S. Navy and its partners; and surveying the global maritime environment. ONI employs over 3,000 military and civilian personnel worldwide and is headquartered at the National Maritime Intelligence Center in Suitland, Maryland.
Despite playing an active and decisive role in the American Civil War, in the following years the U.S. Navy fell into precipitous decline. A lack of both federal funding and public interest reduced the Navy's size, prestige, and technological superiority; whereas steel ships were increasingly the norm, the U.S. Navy was entirely wooden. Towards the end of the 19th century, American naval power had become vastly obsolete compared to Europe, and even lagged behind the navies of less developed nations such as Chile.
In an era of rapid industrialization, globalized commerce, and colonial expansion, Alfred Thayer Mahan's ideas about the importance of sea power, expressed in his book The Influence of Sea Power upon History were adopted wholesale by the U.S. Navy. Navalists saw sea power as crucial for U.S. commercial and strategic interests, as well as a source of national prestige and power projection. American naval officers and military strategists advocated for a larger and more technologically advanced navy that could protect the U.S.'s vast maritime borders, safeguard its commercial interests, and project power abroad. Among the leading reformers was Navy Lieutenant Theodorus Bailey Myers Mason, who called for the creation of a naval intelligence office dedicated to gathering information on foreign navies and the latest in naval science to help rebuild the U.S. Navy.
William H. Hunt, who served briefly as Secretary of the Navy under President James Garfield, formed a Naval Advisory Board tasked with rebuilding the Navy and bringing it up to par to global standards. Largely in response to Mason's recommendations, on March 23, 1882, Hunt issued General Order No. 292, which read:
An "Office of Intelligence" is hereby established in the Bureau of Navigation for the purpose of collecting and recording such naval information as may be useful to the Department in time of war, as well as in peace.
To facilitate this work, the Department Library will be combined with the "Office of Intelligence," and placed under the direction of the Chief of the Bureau of Navigation.
Commanding and all other officers are directed to avail themselves of all opportunities which may arise to collect and to forward to the "Office of Intelligence" professional matters likely to serve the object in view.