Intel Insights: U.S. Intel Began with George Washington

Successful military campaigns depend on a foundation of good, reliable intelligence. This has been true ever since the advent of organized armies. While many of the means by which reliable intelligence is created have changed, the underlying need that commanders have for such information has remained basically constant throughout history.

Two hundred and thirty years ago a concerted intelligence effort was about to reap the ultimate military reward right here in Virginia. The Continental Army and its French allies were just beginning their siege of the British Army encamped at Yorktown. They had marched from Rhode Island and New York, across New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland. They traversed innumerable streams and rivers, the Potomac and Occoquan among them, on their way to their final rendezvous with Lord Cornwallis’ Red Coats.

George Washington, the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, had imperfect information on the disposition of British forces and what their leaders’ intentions were. Yet he had enough information to make the educated assumption that Cornwallis’ forces were vulnerable. In consultation with his French allies, Washington decided to risk the entire Patriot cause on the possibility that a single, decisive victory over the British would assure the independence of the fledgling United States.

That the Continentals were able to pull off such a feat was simply a miracle of logistical organization, intrepid spy-craft, and an iron will. Washington himself wrote that “posterity will bestow on (our) labors the epithet and marks of fiction; for it will not be believed that such a force as Great Britain has employed for eight years…could be baffled … by numbers infinitely less, composed of men oftentimes half starved, always in rags, without pay, and experiencing, at times, every species of distress which human nature is capable of undergoing.”

Washington realized early in his tenure as Commander-in-Chief that in order to survive against the militarily superior British forces, he would have to establish a reliable spy network. His first entry on his expense sheet upon taking command of the Continental Army was for $333.33 to establish a spy network in British-occupied Boston. That network provided him with the intelligence that the American blockade was actually working against the British garrison. The town was starving and the British were soon forced to withdraw their forces.

When the British occupied Philadelphia, Washington used the farmers’ trade with the Red Coats to camouflage his espionage activities. Not only did the farmers themselves often report on British activities, but townspeople from washerwomen to upper class merchants served as Washington’s “eyes and ears” in a high stakes game of cloak and dagger intrigue.

In New York, the owner of the famous Fraunces Tavern was a spy for Washington. His reports enabled Washington to know what the British were planning to do and may have paved the way for Washington to move away from encampments near New York and take the Yorktown gamble.

Of course, Washington’s espionage efforts did have setbacks. The British caught and executed Nathan Hale, the man who regretted he had “but one life to give for his country” as the Americans were about to lose New York.

The British also played the spy game well. One of their successes was Benedict Arnold’s treason, which shook Washington’s inner circle to the core.

But the British were not native to America and they did not enjoy the sympathies of most of the population. On the other hand, over time, the Continentals did gain popular support. The result was that Washington’s spy networks grew ever larger and more effective. Eyes and ears sympathetic to the Patriot cause were everywhere and Washington did not hesitate to pay for the intelligence these sources gave him. He was also very good at deceiving his enemies.

That is, perhaps, why the British did not try to stop Washington’s march to Yorktown. They simply did not understand his plan until it was too late.

This region saw its share of intelligence activity back in 1781. It is only fitting that the route Washington’s army took is within sight of the new headquarters of today’s National Geospatial Intelligence Agency. The spymaster of the Revolution would marvel at what the people of that agency can do. But he would realize that he helped pave the way for their successes 230 years ago.

Cedric Leighton lives in Lorton and is the Founder and President of Cedric Leighton Associates, a Washington area strategic risk and management consultancy.