Origin of the "cell system"

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  • Origin of the "cell system"

    Any Intelligence/Spy buffs know the historical origin of the "cell system"? Is it from the Mafia or the 'ndrine of the 'Ndrangheta?

    Or is it just a convenient-sized group for keeping secrets?

    I couldn't find anything on Google or the literature I have where it appears by name before Lenin and the communists. Seems like secret organizations would have used it long before then.

  • #2
    Re: Origin of the "cell system"

    I'm looking up all the stuff you've already posted.


    From my own studies over the years: The Roman Catholics used something like cells when it first got started. The Romans didn't allow assembly. The Catholic Jesuit priests to this day write up daily reports, which are basically intelligents summaries that end up somewhere in the Vatican.


    You could refer to Pythagoras' secret sect as a cell?


    Good Luck
    Last edited by Mark Somers; 03-23-2011, 10:46 PM.
    TRIAL FORUMS


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    • #3
      Re: Origin of the "cell system"

      I first came across the term "cell" in this kind of context as denoting groups of Communists in the U.S. -- a "communist cell".

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      • #4
        Re: Origin of the "cell system"

        Originally posted by organicbananagirl View Post
        Any Intelligence/Spy buffs know the historical origin of the "cell system"? Is it from the Mafia or the 'ndrine of the 'Ndrangheta?

        Or is it just a convenient-sized group for keeping secrets?

        I couldn't find anything on Google or the literature I have where it appears by name before Lenin and the communists. Seems like secret organizations would have used it long before then.
        Cells go back at least 2000 years to the Zealot fight against the Romans. History does not always describe the groups of that period or earlier as "cells" and the term does not become common until the Nazi era. This is likely because "cell" is commonly associated with modern terrorist and counterintelligence organizations.

        However, there are examples far earlier, into BCE times. Whenever a commander sent more than one group with little knowledge of each other's mission to perform attacks, assassinations, or spying, they were in cells.

        The purpose is to provide decentralization and compartmentalization of personnel and intelligence. It fosters creativity because each cell can devolope its own tactics and plans. It provides security because if someone is captured, the damage he can do under interrogation is limited to his cell.
        www.silvercop.com
        If we don't get the information, and if we don't get the leads, we can't track down the killers.

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