Statement of Quartermaster Intelligence Interest, August 1960

Authors

Office of the Quartermaster General, Department of the Army
Robert Bolin , depositor, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

8-1960

Document Type

Article

Comments

The document digitized is a xerographic copy of a document supplied to the depositor by Quartermaster Corps historian Steven Anders in 1992.

This statement was issued shortly after Special Text, ST 10-120-1, Quartermaster Intelligence: organization and procedures, December 1959, which explains Quartermaster intelligence in a systematic manner. ST 10-120-1, 1959, is available at:

http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dodmilintel/50/

Appendix II to that text book contains a much less detailed statement of Quartermaster intelligence interest.

Abstract

According to the forward, the “Statement of Intelligence Interest reflects the over-all interest of the Office of the Quartermaster General in intelligence data and is intended as an aid to persons engaged in the collection, processing, and dissemination of Intelligence. “

In 1960, the Quartermaster Corps was one of the technical services of the Department of the Army. The Army technical services were bureaus providing the Army with supplies, equipment, training, and services. Each was headed by a chief. The Quartermaster General was the chief of the Quartermaster Corps. The Quartermaster Corps was responsible for the procurement, storage, and distribution of food, clothing, fuel, and other materials of a nonmilitary nature, and for conduction research in the fields of food and nonmilitary supplies; also the burial of deceased military personnel, the maintenance of national cemeteries in the United States and abroad and the repatriation of deceased military personnel.

Each technical service was responsible for intelligence pertaining to the principles of design and operation, nomenclature, physical characteristics, performance, operational capabilities and limitations of foreign material and facilities used by or for the support of military forces. In a broad sense, technical intelligence may also embrace the manufacture, storage, installation, maintenance, and operating aspects of foreign materiel and facilities, including the effects of weather, terrain, other environmental factors, and military action thereon, as well as the nature, organization, and activities of foreign agencies having the functions analogous to those of the technical service in the United States Army.

This is a detailed listing of subjects of interest to the Quartermaster Corps, including:

Information about organizations that perform missions similar to the US Quartermaster Corps in foreign armies.

Information about equipment and rations used by foreign forces.

Information about quartermaster industries, foreign trade, and agriculture in foreign countries.

Information about storage facilities and practices for food, fuel, and supplies in foreign countries.

Information about the physical geography of foreign countries that might affect quartermaster activities in US forces in the field.

Information about sociological factors which might affect quartermaster activities in US forces in the field.

Information about transportation facilities of various types for the full range of quartermaster supplies and equipment in foreign countries.

Information about quartermaster-related research in foreign countries.

Note that the interests in transportation facilities overlaps with the interests of two of the other technical services, the Corps of Engineers and the Transportation Corps.