◆ SpookStack

H j i ~Foreign Offre. publishes inj} ; before the j that i keeping from i documents \OPIRIO! WHO ARE THE | GUILTY MEN? T is insulting’ document that the an the tase of Maciean and Burgess. An insult to any reasomable man’s intelligence, Far from restoring, confidence in the security organisation of the Forsign| Qiice, it will have the! opposite effect, ui For here, for the first) tifne, 1s. the admission that. the authorities were aypre: two years and three month disappearance bding Secrets were SHEN. The White-paper relates: how suspicions were gradually narrowed to two ov three people. Then the! mistake was made of; Maclean: hich he would mornialiy receive. 4 To catch a spy... ' NY schoolboy wauid! know that if you want. to catch & spy you do nat) sound an alarm bef hand. But that was only the beginning of the ; bengling. Mr, Morrison, Foreign] Secretary at the time, gave: the signal for Maclean to be: gpestioned on Frftay, Mpy 25, 1951, That wag the vdry day on which Macean this| agd Burgess left eountry. Maclean had asked earller foy the following Saturday mgming off. Bid dob Sefurity know about that? It} should have beg elementary to Keep a chee: on the movements of thi suspected man. Nothing of the sorb was done, Ii was not even! Known that he was missing until he failed to show up on the following Monday. _ Hushing if up JeRsED by this account, i the security authorities, | @id not appear to trest matter very seriously How else can such digence be explained? | ie afterwards, what) the attitude of the} Foreign Office? Mr, Anthony Nutting, Minister of State,: brushed aside a demand! for action, His airy answer was: “Tam not prepared to lend myself to a witch~ hunt” i But it appears that this: gtrogant young Minister, was quite prepared to lend: himself to the suppression! of information, For, iromj then on, the object of the! Foreign Office was to jnush, ‘up the whole affair, t The old excuse i E Foreign Office con~) sistently did its f best; tp discount facts published: the Daily Expresq. In! o¥ner quarters the Express attacked and denigrated| for its disclosures, Now the Expres rdvelations--the payment of\money to Mrs. Macleay, tha long association of tf tee diplomats with Com) munism, the informatio @iven. by Petroy to the: authorities—are all! conftiruted. | Yet sti the Foreign: Office keeps stent on many important aspects of the! ease. | The White -paper, explains that security con-; siderations “still apply."! Answer these questions’ Muar excuse will hot Satisfy public opinion! that all she necessary action! hks been taken to overhaul, tHe security set-up in, the; country. Nor will the s@te- mint by Mr, Macmillan that) as Foreign Secretary hp is responsible for any Taixire, and should take the fall! biame, i Ministers must depend on} the advice and actions of| their experts, Who were the men in the key posts at thectinie ? Have they been brought to account? Are they still carrying on in the same positions of trust ? These are questions affecting not only the nation’s {nternal security ; bub her vital affairs with other countries. They must be_ answered, _g The bungling revealed in he White-paner, the fgcta i omits, reinforce emand for the immedihte ecall of Parliament.