The UNIT Dossier

The United Nations Intelligence Taskforce is a covert paramilitary organization that operates in plain view of the public, yet seems to arouse no suspicion.  It is funded in the United Kingdom by the British taxpayer, yet is directly linked to the United Nations.  It draws its troops from the regular British armed forces, yet seems to have no liaison with NATO or the objectives of NATO.  And it has been involved with most of the great crises to face Britain in the past five years while remaining virtually anonymous.

You will rarely, if ever, see the name UNIT published in any newspaper report, nor hear it broadcast by any radio station or television network.  This intelligence taskforce seems to operate from the shadows of British society, while the repercussions of its actions have affected every man, woman and child in the country.

Origins: the Intrusion Counter Measures Group

UNIT has its roots in the Intrusion Counter Measures Group, which was formed in 1961.  The ICMG was charged with the task of protecting the UK from covert actions by hostile powers, and with mounting intelligence operations against such a threat.  The person given the job of making this role a realistic and attainable goal was Group Captain Ian 'Chunky' Gilmore, seconded from the newly formed Royal Air Force Regiment.

A no-nonsense forces man, Gilmore had spent the war flying missions over enemy territories.  He had witnessed the obliteration bombing of Dresden and tried to push it to the back of his mind.  Those who served with him say he believed in Queen and country, and in doing what was right.  A stiff upper lip and a trusty service revolver could see you through most crises.  An authority figure and pure Establishment, he was sometimes a figure of fun amongst his men who christened him 'Chunky' for no reason that was apparent to Gilmore himself.  Tall and upright, he maintained a well-trimmed flyer's moustache and was never to be found with a button out of place or unpolished on his uniform.

Gilmore spent most of 1962 and 1963 preparing his troops for the unknown, and drafting in certain specialists to assist the ICMG, using the Peacetime Emergency Powers Act when necessary.  Among those he hand-picked to aid him was Professor Rachel Jensen.  Hardly known outside the scientific community, Jensen is only now being recognized as one of the leading figures of her time.

Part of the Cambridge Group, she worked with Turing on code breaking and ciphers during the Second World War.  Later she moved to the British Rocket Group, where pioneering work was being done on propulsion systems and rocket guidance arrays.  Then, in November 1963, Jensen was pulled out of Cambridge and forced to travel to London to join the ICMG as senior scientific adviser.

Her autobiography, The Electrical Dreamer, makes plain her dislike for all things military, so it is doubtful that she went to the ICMG without protest.  But the same volume makes no mention of her time with Gilmore's group and is curiously vague about her reasons for retiring in 1964 while still in her early forties.