NAVAL INTELLIGENCE. The Office of Naval Intelligence is charged with the collec tion and dissemination of such technical infor mation at home and abroad as will be useful to the various bureaus of the Navy Department in the formulation of plans for war and in the development of personnel and material. The exigencies of war impose new and important duties upon naval intelligence. In peace the function of this agency is to keep in touch with naval problems, naval expansion and naval interest in all the countries of the world, so that the President, the naval administration and the responsible naval leaders in Congress may have access to the latest information with reference to naval affairs abroad. Its reports from naval attaches in the leading countries and from other sources furnish the General Board, the Chief of Operations and the bureaus data which give them the benefit of what has been learned or put into practice in other countries. During war its duties increase many fold — in touch with the naval districts and branch offices—it does a most important work in protecting naval and other plants making war material, preventing sabotage and in keep ing an eye on alien enemies or others with a destructive propensity. A staff of vigilant and discreet confidential officers and civilians are on the alert to ferret out spies and other dangerous characters and secure their arrest. Close co-operation is had with the Department of State, War, Justice, Treasury and Labor, and, in addition, with the War Trade Board, the United States Shipping Board and the Alien Property Custodian. The interchange of
information and the results of investigations with these departments of the government are most effective and valuable to the prosecution of war.
A detailed account of the work of this office should not be stated as it is of a highly con fidential character, but, generally speaking, the scope of its activities include observation, in vestigation and report of all subjects affecting the navy and the prosecution of war from a naval point of view. It includes naval oper ations at sea and on land, the status, changes and progress of the material and personnel of foreign navies and a close counter espionage watch at home. This latter includes the inves tigation of unauthorized radio stations of alien enemies and suspects, of matters connected with the cable and mail censorship which affect the navy, the protection of water fronts and ves sels, and of plants having contracts with the Navy Department, with a view of safeguarding those plants against sabotage. The guarding of ships while in port and the guarding against the danger from enemy agents among the pas sengers and crews are largely performed by the Office of Naval Intelligence. See NAVAL