The Increment, MI6’s Secret Paramilitary Unit

I have always been fascinated by the covert work of Special Forces in particularly British Special Forces. We all know the SAS, SBS, SRR are considered to be clandestine elite units the government still maintains a never confirm or deny line on SF operations and the work of British Special Forces and our intelligence services are still covered by a DA-Notice (1). But I want to look at the units that just don’t exist, the units that most people have never heard of the secret of the secret. A number of top secret groups exist in the UK that fall under this category, the best known is called “The Increment” but there is also GB75, Group 13 and UKN. We don’t even know for sure if they exist, we don’t know what their names really are but I thought I would give it bash and see what I could find out about the Increment.

It is alleged that the increment is effectively the paramilitary side of SIS (MI6) much like the SAD unit of CIA only it’s a better kept secret. Apparently the increment is made up of member of the SAS’s CRW team’s, M squadron of the SBS with the addition of singles and personnel from the RAF, it is also likely that SRR are also heavily involved in providing intelligence. All members of the increment have at least 5 years of Special Forces work on their belt and resave further training from SIS and are conceded the cream of the UK SF community. The remit of the unit covers assassinations, false flag operations, extraction of agents from hostile states and covert military assistance to foreign states (2)

The exact history of the Increment is difficult to accurately establish as there is not official documentation however a document entitled “UK INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY REPORT AUGUST 2003” (7) did give some details however no credible sources to back up the historical account of the increment. It is reasonable to assume that the WWII special operations executive (SOE) who Churchill created to “set Europe alight” is the ancestor of the modern day increment (3). After the war SOE was dissolved, it was said the foreign office could not handle a paramilitary in SIS however many SOE operatives joined SIS after the war and the successes of SOE illustrated a need for a paramilitary unit within British intelligence. I think it is reasonable to assume that this need has evolved today into what is called the increment, this may not be the official name although other intelligence services have paramilitary units made up from special forces members.

The first time the increment became public knowledge was in 2001 when Richard Tomlinson published his book “the big breach” in Russia. Only after he was released from prison after being arrested in 1997 for breaching the official secrets act by sending a synopsis of his book to an Australian publisher. In his book he makes direct reference to the existence of the increment as being a paramilitary division of SIS made up of SF members. His most remarkable claim in relation to the increment was the connection he made between a 1993 plot to the increment to assassinate Slobodan Milosevic and the death of Princess Diana. Mr. Tomlinson claimed that a plan had been developed to assassinate Milosevic by using strobe lighting to blind the driver of his car long enough for a car crash to follow in a tunnel and thus kill their target. He points out how the press giving chase to Diana’s care caused the car to speed, through a tunnel, and that the paparazzi also would have gave cover for a increment team to use strobe lights to blind the driver of her car causing a fatal crash. In addition to this he also made claims that Diana’s driver was a SIS asset as was a member of staff at the hotel and that he had been given a demonstration of the strobe lighting technique by the SBS. (4).

Another controversial operation associated with the work of the increment occurred in Kuwait on August the second 1990, just hours after the start of operation desert storm British Airways flight 149 landed at Kuwait city airport rather than divert into safe airspace. As a result of this action 367 passengers and crew were taken as hostage by Iraqi forces and used as human shields. However before that flight even got of the tarmac something strange happened, 9 men unannounced joined the flight as it waited was delayed on the tarmac at Heathrow. The flight plan dictated that flight 149 would land in Kuwait for refuelling, during the flight the airline was told that it would be safe to do so by a embassy official, who later turned out to be a SIS station chief. Then to make things more interesting, when they touched down in Kuwait, the 9 men had disappeared. One man, Stephen Davis, wrote a book on these events in his book “The Secret of Flight 149” and in the guardian it was stated that. (5)

Mr Davis has detailed his findings in an upcoming BBC documentary and book, The Secret of Flight 149. He believes that the nine men on board BA149 were not serving members of the SAS, but a so-called "increment" team made up of former secret-service agents and special-forces troops recruited for missions for which the government needed complete deniability. "There is no doubt that valuable intelligence which saved lives was gained, but these people were put through a terrible time and governments have lied about it ever since," he said. "I think it is time it stopped

What is also interesting is that Liberal Democrat MP, Norman Baker has also taken a interest in this event pressing the British government for a explanation. He is the same guy who has written a very interesting book about the death of David Kelly, who may also have a connection to the increment. If one assumes that David Kelly was assassinated by operatives working at the behest of the British Government then it is surly a reasonable assumption to make that this was professionally done by the Increment.

It’s really quite strange, there is absolutely nothing to prove the existence of a paramilitary unit inside British intelligence yet there are a few stories that strongly suggest their existence. I would be very interested if other members o ATS could add their thoughts or won research into this topic on this thread.

1. www.dnotice.org.uk...
2. www.eliteukforces.info...
3. Inside British Intelligence by Gordon Thomas.
4. www.globalresearch.ca...
5. www.guardian.co.uk...

No takers....

Excellent thread

Originally posted by kevinunknown
It is reasonable to assume that the WWII special operations executive (SOE) who Churchill created to “set Europe alight” is the ancestor of the modern day increment (3). After the war SOE was dissolved, it was said the foreign office could not handle a paramilitary in SIS however many SOE operatives joined SIS after the war and the successes of SOE illustrated a need for a paramilitary unit within British intelligence. I think it is reasonable to assume that this need has evolved today into what is called the increment, this may not be the official name although other intelligence services have paramilitary units made up from special forces members.

I am sure, I think maybe last year, or the year before possibly, but definately in the last two years, that the PRO released documents that confirmed that SOE wasn't disbanded after the war. I have had a quick Google and couldn't immediately find a link, but I think I'll have a look and see if I can find it, because you've added a little context that might make that release a little more telling.

Again, great thread, much appreciated

Ah hah! ...should have checked my own threads...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Didn't exactly garner much interest though, so I can understand why I forgot...but still, I think there was a release after that that specifically and categorically, that SOE didn't disband. But I'll keep looking...and give you another bump if I find it...

BTW, in the thread, the Telegraph link to the story doesn't work, scroll down, The Guardian one does.

reply to post by KilgoreTrout


Yeah I think I know what article your reading about. After WWII many recognised that SOE would be useful for combating Russia and fought to keep it. However the decision eventually went to the Labour PM at the time who when he came into power ordered SOE to be dissolved within 48 hours because he didn’t like the idea of the Foreign office having that much power. That led to allot of SOE operatives leaving the intelligence world going back to their home land however a few hundred were integrated into SIS and became another unit (the name escapes me) who were responsible allegedly for planning the 1953 coup in Iran and the Suez Crisis.

i have read an article that rumoured that the Increment were behind the assassination of gereld bull, the canadian engineer who had somethign to do with a supergun, anyway at the time 1990, he was assassinated he was apparently building one of his superuns for saddam hussian.

reply to post by CRUSADER23


Hey,

Thanks for the additional information I don’t suppose you have the article I couldn’t really find anything other than a few lines on a random website but not much to back it up. I wouldn’t be surprised it if was true.

reply to post by kevinunknown


yep im pretty much in the same boat as you, however i did fing this out

when the situation was ongoing, the UK government found and held parts for the super gun in one of our docks. along with the crew.
so if we put two and two togther we can assume that the Police and intell services interviewed the crew and traced the parts. once they done this they could have followed the trail back to Mr.Bulls and then find out where he was and then send a team to get him. not forgetting however Mr.Bull briefed the UK on his weapons and their abillty.


www.damninteresting.com...

this has some usefull info, however its in small parts and you have to dig and make your own assumptions
i will try finding the exact web page that i read about the possible involvment of the incerment

a reply to: kevinunknown

You seem genuinely interested and benevolent so I will give you a little something. The increment most certainly did exist (its no longer called that) . I was a member of the unit, operational for 23 months prior to sustaining severe injuries in central Iraq. I joined the royal marines out of secondary school, 42 commando and in 1999, passed selection for the special boat service where I was an S/C for three years. The unit still exists, under a different name.