Excavating under Gunfire

I will be contributing "Excavating under Gunfire: Archaeologists in the Aegean during the First World War" to the day workshop "Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Protection in Wartime: Contemporary and Historical Perspectives" in Swansea. It develops Chapter 13 of Sifting the Soil of Greece, "Students at War".

One of the topics will be the work of British and French archaeologists to record the archaeological remains and to preserve the finds during the campaign in Macedonia. French archaeologists formed part of the Service Archéologique de l'Armée d'Orient. They had gained expertise working on the site of Elaious at Gallipoli, a site that attracted gunfire from the Turkish forces.

The British work in Macedonia was initially led by Lt-Commander Ernest Gardner RNVR, a former director of the BSA and also Yates Professor Archaeology in the University of London. Gardner was one of several former BSA students operating with Naval Intelligence in Salonica (EMSIB).

For further details about Sifting the Soil of Greece see here.

Archaeologists as Spies

Why did so many former students of the British School at Athens work for military intelligence? What were their roles? Was it just the British? What about other areas of archaeology?

David Gill, 'Archaeologists as Spies', Heritage Studies Research Group, Institute of Archaeology, Gordon Square, Room 612, UCL: 5 pm. All welcome.

Early days of US Intelligence

Early days of US Intelligence
World War I began the modern era of code breaking and intelligence gathering. Major Ralph Van Deman, the “father of American Intelligence” created the Military Intelligence Section in the Army General Staff and a Cipher Bureau (MI-8) within this section.

However, it was World War II that provided a significant and visible victory for military intelligence agencies and laid the groundwork for what eventually became the CIA and the National Security Agency (NSA).

One larger than life personality defining the early history of US intelligence agencies was William “Wild Bill” Donovan. Although was a successful lawyer, and would later become assistant attorney general during the Hoover Administration. He enlisted in the army just before the United States entered World War I.

He would distinguish himself through two world wars as the only American to have received out nation’s four highest awards: The Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Cross, the Distinguished Service Medal and the National Security Medal.

During World War II, President Roosevelt appointed Donovan to create an intelligence service, and the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) began in June 1942.

Under Donovan’s leadership, the OSS collected and analyzed information needed by the Joint Chief of Staff to conduct clandestine operations that were not carried out by other federal agencies or the military.

After the war, the agency became a civilian organization that would coordinate global intelligence gathering and execute operations under the banner of the CIA.

The NSA is the US intelligence agency within the DoD that is responsible for cryptographic security and signals intelligence.

The NSA grew out of the communication intelligence activities of US military units during World War II. The origins of the NSA can be traced to an organization originally established within the DoD , under the command of the Joint Chief of Staff as the Armed Forces Security Agency (AFSA), on May 20, 1949.

The creation of the NSA was authorized in a letter written by President Harry S. Truman in June 1952 (although the letter was classified and remained unknown to the public for more than a generation).

The NSA, although not a creation of Congress, is still subject to congressional review, even though it is one of the most secret of all US intelligence agencies. Its director is a military officer of flag rank, a general or admiral.
Early days of US Intelligence

Intelligence Gathering in the First World War

Many of the former BSA students helped to gather intelligence during the First World War (see Harry Pirie-Gordon). But other archaeological institutes were involved in similar activities.

In late November 1916 the directors of the German and Austrian archaeological institutes were required to leave Athens as they were alleged to have been involved with espionage and 'other hostile acts against the Entente Powers'.

BSA Students and the First World War: Harry Pirie-Gordon

Gill, D. W. J. 2006. "Harry Pirie-Gordon: historical research, journalism and intelligence gathering in the eastern Mediterranean (1908-18)." Intelligence and National Security 21: 1045-59.

Abstract
British scholars were active in the Levant during the years leading up to the outbreak of the First World War. Harry Pirie-Gordon toured medieval castles in the region during the spring of 1908 under the auspices of the British School at Athens; T.E. Lawrence used his maps in the following year. Pirie-Gordon continued to travel widely in the Near East as a member of the Foreign Department of The Times and was involved with the survey of the Syrian coastline around Alexandretta. He was commissioned in the RNVR in 1914 and took part in the raid by HMS Doris on Alexandretta. Pirie-Gordon served in an intelligence capacity at Gallipoli before returning to Cairo to work with David Hogarth. In 1916 he was involved with the occupation of Makronisi (Long Island) in the Gulf of Smyrna. Later that year he took charge of the EMSIB operation at Salonica until its purge in early 1917. Pirie-Gordon returned to the Arab Bureau in Cairo and took part in the Palestine campaign.

[On-line]