◆ SpookStack

'o take a topical instance, it was years before the security aufhorities could be persuaded to allow a film of The 1 Busters to show (as the book had not been allowed to shop) how the dans were attacked; and the director was forbidden - to show how the bomb was actually launched from the aircraft, This information had been given to the Russians at the time, and was common gossip in RAF messes subsequently; the genesaS principle of the bomb release, too, could be guessed by anybody with a knowledge of ballistics, on seeing the film, Yet this information is still on the secret Hist. The reason is simple: the security authorities depend for their livelihood on having a good supply of information to keep secure, They do not want to make themselves redundant by admitting that the whole paraphernalia is a farce. . But it is. Security now exists, in the main. for two purposes, Primarily it is designed to appease US public opinion. As the admirable leading article in Weduesday’s Manchester Guardian shows, this is largely time wasted. If Americans want to believe that Burgess and Maclean were responsible for China’s decision io atiack in Korex, they will—tike Mr. David Lawrence, of the US News and World Report—continue to believe it, even to inventing facts and ignoring dates to their own taste, The other is to act asa national patent office, to ensure that new ideas are noy scooped up too quickly by foreign rivals—a commercial Wel a3 8 miliary transaction. The point is that the day @f sechrity as a mystique is over. To worry about it to the exteht of Witch-hunting is not merely Miberal; it is downright silly, hve