Chief Intelligence Officer

With a hat tip to Kent's Imperative, here's an interesting doctoral dissertation from the History Dept. at FSU:

In the Company's Secret Service: Neil Benjamin Edmonstone and the First Indian Imperialists, 1780-1820

Quote:

---

Neil Benjamin Edmonstone held many important positions in the East India Company's Indian service during a career spanning 34 years, from 1783 to 1818. He was at various times Persian Translator to Government, Chief Secretary to Government, Secretary of the Secret Foreign and Political Department, Vice President of the Supreme Council at Calcutta and acting governor-general on two occasions. He served as the Company's chief intelligence officer for more than twenty years, taking on espionage occasionally himself, but more frequently directing the activities of others. He was thereafter a member of the Company's chief governing body, the Court of Directors, from 1820 until his death in 1841....

---

(The document is sectioned into 4 separate pdf files for download)