Ireland's Directorate of Military Intelligence, a.k.a. J2, is one of the most secretive units in Europe and the main intelligence branch of the Defence Forces.

It’s been monitoring suspected Russian spies at Moscow’s embassy in Dublin since the compound opened in 1973 and deploys alongside Irish forces on international duties, but what else does J2 do? Here’s our debrief on J2’s history and operations.
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What is J2? 

J2 is the national intelligence service of the Irish Armed Forces operating domestically and internationally. Traditionally, J2’s work in Ireland has focused on suspected terrorists and terrorist sympathizers but J2 also gathers intelligence from UN mission reports and other sources that would be helpful to Irish peacekeeping forces abroad. Ireland’s secret service retained its €2m ($2.18m) annual funding as part of the 2024 Budget, reportedly up from €750,000 in 2019.

Staff are drawn from the Army, Naval Service, and Air Corps. The service is under the command of a Colonel, known as the Director of Military Intelligence, who provides a monthly intelligence briefing to Ireland’s Minister for Defense. J2’s current director is not named. 
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Does J2 operate alone? 

Internally, J2 works with Ireland’s national police counterterrorism and counter-espionage unit known as the Garda Síochána (Guardian of the Peace) Special Detective Unit. Externally, J2 liaises with foreign intelligence agencies like the CIA, as well as government and non-governmental agencies.  
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What’s the difference between G2 and J2? 

While the names are sometimes used interchangeably there is a difference.  

G2 - The Office of the Directorate of Intelligence began in the 1920s as the intelligence arm of the Irish Army following the Anglo-Irish Treaty, a designation used to refer to an Army intelligence, security, and information branch.

J2 - The Directorate later became the intelligence service for the entire Irish Armed Forces, and J2 now refers to joint services for the Army, Naval Service, and Air Corps, as well as its national security roles.

Known G2-J2 operations

Intelligence units keep a low profile but their operations are noted in the media from time to time including:
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WWII Nazi spies & codebreaking, 1940s

While Ireland was militarily ‘neutral’ in WWII, G2 had secret agreements with Britain’s MI5 and the US Office of Strategic Services (the predecessor to the CIA). G2 intercepted German naval and aerial communications through Irish listening stations and apprehended more than a dozen Nazi spies including notorious spy Hermann Görtz. Ireland also broke German codes during the war, under the supervision of cryptologist Richard J. Hayes.

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Spuds for Secrets, 1943

Army officers reportedly headed to Portugal in 1943 posing as Red Cross officials delivering supplies (including 52 tons of potatoes) to neutral Portugal for refugees in Spain. Their real mission - dubbed Spuds for Secrets by the Irish media - was to gather intel on Irish minister Leopold H. Kerney in Madrid. Kerney had met with Edmund Veesenmayer, one of the Nazis involved in plotting secret German ops in Ireland. G2 contacted British spies in Lisbon and Madrid and had a good look around but eventually concluded Kerney was neutral.
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'The Troubles' in Northern Ireland

From the late 1960s to 1998, G2 was said to be involved in intelligence-gathering operation during ‘The Troubles’, the decades-long conflict drawn largely along religious lines between Catholics and Protestants. G2 officers crossed the border into Northern Ireland on intelligence-gathering missions from 1969.

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Cold War KGB scandal

‍J2 military intelligence had their hands full monitoring the comings and goings at the Russian Embassy in Dublin, established in 1973. Within a decade, Ireland expelled three suspected KGB spies. Five decades later, J2 is still at it, The Irish Times reports. J2 conducts limited work in the embassy area, sometimes using the Army Ranger Wing to carry out surveillance.
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Post Cold War‍

J2 deploys alongside Irish forces on peacekeeping duties globally, mainly to ensure the safety and security of Irish troops, but also to provide intelligence on hostile forces. After 9/11, the Directorate of Military Intelligence expanded internal and external operations to better analyze intelligence threats related to al-Qaeda and its affiliates.

The kidnapping of journalist Rory Carroll, 2005‍

Arabic-speaking J2 officers were reportedly deployed in Iraq following the kidnapping of Irish journalist Rory Carroll in Baghdad by militants. With J2 working alongside the British and American governments, Carroll was released unharmed and returned safely to Dublin.
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Lisa Smith repatriation, 2019‍

J2 reportedly drew up a plan with US military intelligence to extract Lisa Smith, a former Irish Army soldier who converted to Islam and allegedly joined ISIS militants. According to some reports, J2’s extraction plan was rejected by the Irish government but Ms. Smith was brought back to Ireland in 2019 and charged with terror offenses. Ms. Smith denies the charges.
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Focus on Russia, 2023

In 2023, the Irish military launched a recruiting campaign to hire Russian language and cultural analysts to work with intelligence officers - Arabic and Chinese specialists have already been hired. The Journal reported that the job would feed into data gathered by J2.