Type Garrison In use 1936 - present Year built 1936 | Controlled by Joint Services Phone +44 1462 752116 Owner Ministry of Defence | |
Address Chicksands, Shefford SG17 5PR, UK Occupants Royal Navy, Intelligence Corps, Royal Air Force | ||
The Joint Intelligence Training Group (JITG) is the location of the headquarters of both the Defence College of Intelligence and the British Army Intelligence Corps. It is located at Chicksands, Bedfordshire, approximately 35 miles (56 km) north of London. The site was formerly known as the Defence Intelligence and Security Centre (DISC) since its move from Ashford in 1997. The site was renamed as JITG on 1 January 2015.
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Site History
Chicksands was the site of RAF Chicksands, an RAF signals collection station during and after the Second World War; during the war, it was one of the "Y-Stations" which sent intercepted signals to the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park, where ciphers and codes of several Axis countries were decrypted, most importantly the ciphers generated by the German Enigma and Lorenz machines. The station was used by the United States Air Force from 1950 to 1995, also for signals collection, being the location for its first 1,443 feet (440 m) diameter FLR-9 direction finding antenna, commonly known as the Elephant Cage, from 1963 to 1995. The site was closed as an RAF station in 1997, then handed over to the Intelligence Corps allowing the Corps Headquarters and training delivery to re-locate from Templer Barracks in Ashford, Kent.
Defence College of Intelligence
The Defence College of Intelligence (DCI) is responsible for delivering training in intelligence and security to members of the British Armed Forces, police and other public sector staff as well as international partners. Training is delivered over three sites, Chicksands, the Defence Centre for Languages and Culture, MOD Shrivenham and the Defence School of Photography at the Defence College of Aeronautical Engineering at Cosford.
HQ Intelligence Corps
The Headquarters of the Intelligence Corps is located on site, with all core training for Intelligence Corps soldiers and officers being delivered through the DCI.
HMS Ferret
HMS Ferret is a training unit of the Royal Naval Reserve which delivers intelligence-related operational capability.