Directorate General of Forces Intelligence

The Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) is the main Military Intelligence agency of Bangladesh. Along with the National Security Intelligence (NSI) and Special Branch (SB), these three agencies are presumably the main components of the country's intelligence community.

History

It was reformed by then President of Bangladesh Lieutenant General Ziaur Rahman in 1977 as the Directorate of Forces Intelligence (DFI). It was renamed to "Directorate General of Forces Intelligence" (DGFI) afterwards. Its first Director was Air Vice Marshall K.M. Aminul Islam Khan from Bangladesh Air Force, batchmate of then BAF Chief of Staff Air Vice Marshall A. K. Khandker, current Minister of Planning of GoB. After Mujib's assassination, he was removed promtly, along with Khandker and then Army chief of staff K M Shafiullah, and the entire organisation was renamed and restructured. It was alleged that AVM Aminul Islam was serving personal interests and vandetta's of his and his air force coursemate AVM Khandker instead of emphasising on intelligence activities, reorganising and restructuring of the department.

The organizational headquarter is just outside Dhaka Cantonment. The headquarter is code named Key Point Installation. The Director General (DG) directly reports to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh. The agency has around 64 district based field offices. The high ranking officials are recruited from the Bangladesh Armed Forces. The DGFI has seven different bureaus through which it carries out the directives of the Government. This intelligence outfit can work in all strategic, operational and tactical levels. It has the capability to operate both domestically and internationally.

The present Director General of the DGFI is Major General Sheikh Mamun Khaled. He succeeded [Lieutenant General Mollah Fazle Akbar in (2011)].

The organization has five individual and three combined desks. The Counter Terrorism Bureau of this organization works jointly with the RAB, an elite anti-crime and anti-terrorism unit of Bangladesh Police and the Special Branch of Bangladesh Police. It also has operational links with agencies of other countries. It has got secret agents all over the country specially in cantonment areas.

Structure

The agency is structured by its own rights. The Director General of the agency is a Lieutenant General. He is assisted by seven Directors, each are Brigadier General or equivalent.