. . "The Committee of Imperial Defence was an important ad hoc part of the government of the United Kingdom and the British Empire from just after the Second Boer War until the start of the Second World War. It was responsible for research, and some co-ordination, on issues of military strategy. Typically, a temporary sub-committee would be set up to investigate and report at length on a specific topic. A large number of such sub-committees were engendered over the decades, on topics such as foreign espionage (a Committee report in 1909 led to the founding of MI5 and MI6), food rationing, and aerial defence."@en . . . "Committee of Imperial Defence"@en . "The Committee of Imperial Defence was an important ad hoc part of the government of the United Kingdom and the British Empire from just after the Second Boer War until the start of the Second World War. It was responsible for research, and some co-ordination, on issues of military strategy."@en . . . . .