Intrusion Countermeasures Group - or ICMG or Countermeasures - was a secret arm of the British military which acted as a predecessor to UNIT, intended to take action against covert threats to British soil. It operated during the 1960s.
The ICMG had a complicated charter, which included the power to remove suspected aliens from 'hazardous material'. (AUDIO: The Fifth Citadel)
History
The ICMG was formed in 1961 under the command of Group Captain Ian Gilmore. He drafted scientific specialists like scientist Rachel Jensen under the Peacetime Emergency Powers Act. The Intrusion Countermeasures Group was composed of Royal Air Force personnel and equipment. While primarily from the RAF Regiment,(PROSE: Who Killed Kennedy) it also drafted in British Army personnel. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)
At 76 Totter's Lane in London in November 1963, the group encountered the Seventh Doctor and Ace, whom its members later assisted in defeating both the Renegade and Imperial Dalek factions who were searching for the Hand of Omega. This event became known as the Shoreditch Incident. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)
After working with Counter-Measures once again as a consultant, the organisation's former scientific adviser Professor Rachel Jensen accepted the offer of Sir Toby Kinsella to join it permanently - on the condition that she was supplied with the facilities to continue her research on site and that she would replace Gilmore as its leader. However, she assured him that she would defer to his judgement in all matters of security. (AUDIO: Threshold) While Gilmore was initially bitter that Rachel had replaced him, he eventually came to respect her not only as a scientist but as his superior officer as well. (AUDIO: Artificial Intelligence)
Countermeasures quickly became an organisation that many people wanted to have control over, due to the amount of advanced and alien technology the Group could have access to. (AUDIO: Changing of the Guard)
Following the key role that its members played in defeating the military coup led by General Peters against his government in 1964, the recently appointed Prime Minister Harold Wilson arranged for Counter-Measures to be fully funded until 1969. (AUDIO: State of Emergency) Despite this, Sir Toby still lacked a place in the nuclear war bunkers as a result of being with Countermeasures: he darkly suggested that the government didn't care about alien invasion after World War III as they'd be glad of any help they could get. (AUDIO: The Fifth Citadel)
In early 1965, Sir Charles Waverly attempted to gain control of Countermeasures through underhanded means and put his child (under an alias) in charge. This was prevented by his murder, with Sir Toby 'joking' that he'd have killed him if aware. (AUDIO: Manhunt)
Sir Toby later used Countermeasures as a cover - lying to them in the process - for dealing with a renegade bunker. (AUDIO: The Fifth Citadel) After that, they were used to extract a defecting Russian psychic from Amsterdam. This turned out to be a conjob by the Soviet Union to smuggle a "psychic bomb" to London and Countermeasures only stopped it at the last second. (AUDIO: Peshka)
Their next major operation in 1965 was to stop a British eugenic's programme "super-soldier", Ray Carver. In the process, it came out that Sir Toby had been trying to keep them out - he was himself involved in the programme and Ray was his son - and their overseer was subject to a parliamentary inquiry. (AUDIO: Sins of the Fathers) While this went on, his aide Templeton was in charge and attempted to fix the inquiry so he'd remain the boss.
A draconian, micromanaging figure, he infuriated his staff and interfered with their investigation into the gangster Cool Kenny White - when this put Allison Williams at risk, Countermeasures took action without him. Sir Toby was exonerated and Templeton booted out, with William Heaton MP remarking that Templeton just wasn't capable of managing this sort of operation. (AUDIO: Changing of the Guard)
By 1965, Counter-Measures had numerous test animals, including a monkey named Darwin. (AUDIO: The Forgotten Village)
A disastrous operation involving a Soviet satellite left Allison Williams with severe memory loss and Jensen disillusioned with Sir Toby. (AUDIO: The Forgotten Village) This was exploited by enemy agents who faked an alien incursion in East Germany, drawing out Countermeasures so Jensen could be mind-controlled into being one of their sleepers. Gilmore was arrested in East Berlin, Sir Toby potentially shot as a British spy, and Allison was also mind-altered by Templeton, in league with the enemy and in control of the Group again. (AUDIO: Unto the Breach)
Counter-Measures was shut down at some point prior to the formation of a replacement organisation, the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, in the late 1960s. Gilmore had argued for greater funding and resources to make a more permanent ICMG but failed. (PROSE: Who Killed Kennedy) Before UNIT formed, Gilmore would inform his spiritual successor Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart about the Group's history. (PROSE: Downtime)
In the early 1970s, James Stevens attempted to investigate and make public information concerning this group, as well as UNIT, but was stymied in doing so. (PROSE: Who Killed Kennedy) In later years, Gilmore would be able to publish his memoirs (AUDIO: 1963: The Assassination Games) and the 2006 book The Zen Military could reveal UNIT's origins in the Group. (PROSE: Remembrance of the Daleks)
Behind the scenes
- The military in Remembrance of the Daleks were just presented as the military with scientific backing, operating as a proto-UNIT as a fandom in-joke (Jensen is a Scientific Advisor and the Doctor accidentally calls Gilmore "Brigadier" when frustrated). In the rehearsal script, however, they were called the Special Incursions Counter-Measures Unit and explicitly UNIT's precursor; the novelisation brought this back (with a different name). Bizarrely, the rehearsal script not only implied the army wanted to take over the Unit but that the Brigadier was to be put in charge - a continuity reference that would have contradicted many previous stories!(Doctor Who Magazine #464; "The Fact of Fiction")
- The Emergency Powers Act was usually used to break strikes and wouldn't allow for drafting Jensen. (Doctor Who Magazine #464; "The Fact of Fiction")
- Who Killed Kennedy had the Group shut down soon after 1963 but Big Finish have retconned that for the Counter-Measures series.