Force Research Unit

The Force Research Unit or Field Reconnaissance Unit (FRU) was a covert military intelligence unit of the British Army that was active during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. It was established in the early 1980s and was a successor to similar units such as the Military Reaction Force and Special Reconnaissance Unit. Like its predecessors, the FRU was found to have colluded with British loyalist paramilitaries in the murder of civilians. The FRU was part of the British Army's Intelligence Corps. From 1987 to 1991, it was commanded by Gordon Kerr.

The FRU recruited double agents from paramilitary groups. Its existence was revealed in the 1990s by the Stevens Inquiries. The inquiries found that the FRU had agents from loyalist paramilitaries murder civilians. This has been confirmed by some former members of the unit.

In the mid 1980s, the FRU recruited Brian Nelson as a double agent inside the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). The UDA was a legalUlster loyalist paramilitary group that had been involved in hundreds of attacks on Catholic and nationalist civilians, as well as a handful on republican paramilitaries. The FRU helped Nelson become the UDA's chief intelligence officer. In 1988, weapons were shipped to loyalists from South Africa under Nelson's supervision. Through Nelson, the FRU helped the UDA to target people for assassination. FRU commanders say their plan was to make the UDA "more professional" by helping it to kill republican activists and prevent it from killing uninvolved Catholic civilians. They say if someone was under threat, agents like Nelson were to inform the FRU, who were then to alert the police.Gordon Kerr, who ran the FRU from 1987 to 1991, claimed Nelson and the FRU saved over 200 lives in this way. However, the Stevens Inquiries found evidence that only two lives were saved and said many loyalist attacks could have been prevented but were allowed to go ahead. The Stevens team believes that Nelson was responsible for at least 30 murders and many other attacks, and that many of the victims were uninvolved civilians. One of the most prominent victims was solicitor Pat Finucane. Although Nelson was imprisoned in 1992, FRU intelligence continued to help the UDA and other loyalist groups. From 1992 to 1994, loyalists were responsible for more deaths than republicans for the first time since the 1960s.

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