Formal intelligence gathering within the island started in the 19th century by the British colonial government of Ceylon with the enactment of the Police Ordinance No.16 of 1865 which gave the Ceylon Police Force provisions to "collect and communicate intelligence affecting the public peace".
[1] HMS Anderson remained operational as a listening station after the war, moving to a new facility in Perkar north of Trincomalee until it was shut down in 1962 after it was handed over to the Royal Ceylon Navy.
[2] Following Ceylon's independence in 1948, the police department came under the Ministry of External Affairs and Defence and the CID continued its traditional role in domestic intelligence gathering as the security agency.
A short lived Ministry of Internal Security was established by Prime Minister Wijeyananda Dahanayake operating from 1959 to 1960 following the Bandaranaike assassination.
The Special Branch was created as part of the CID in 1966, however it was disbanded by Sirimavo Bandaranaike after she was elected as prime minister in 1970.
[4] The police with the armed forces carried-out internal security operations to identify JVP carders and sympathizers in the community and within the government.
[7] Significant intelligence triumphs during the war included the defection of Karuna amman; capture of Kumaran Pathmanathan aka KP, who was involved in arms procurement for LTTE, was captured in Malaysia and moved to Sri Lanka via Thailand by the SIS; interception of LTTE arms supplies in the high seas and killing of S. P. Thamilselvan by an airstrike.