Force Research Unit

synonyms: Force Reaction Unit (FRU) Force Research Unit (FRU) was a special unit of Military (Army) Intelligence that was probably set up during 1979. FRU was a highly secret unit which sought to identify and recruit members of Republican and Loyalist paramilitary groups who could be persuaded to work as double agents on behalf of Military Intelligence. The existence of FRU only became public when Brian Nelson, then a British Army agent and an Ulster Defence Association (UDA) intelligence officer, pleaded guilty on 22 January 1992 to conspiracy to murder. This plea prevented any cross-examination of Nelson. Nelson was believed to have been involved in at least 15 killings, 15 attempted killings, and 62 conspiracies to kill, during the two years that he was handled by FRU (Taylor, 2001; p.294). Republicans claimed that FRU was one of the agencies that had been involved in collusion with Loyalist paramilitaries. Reading: Taylor, P. (2001) Brits: The War Against the IRA. (See also: Military Intelligence.)