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a 4 ki “4 bd] é Jean 3 Parliament “y continued i from page ic and any previous employment before joining the Foreign Service. SYSTEM EXTENDED 1951 some 900 cases, involving the junior, and clerical branches of the Foreign Service, been examined. So far, there had been four cases the Foreign i i "s, cal activi- Seite hed ted to his leaving the serve “altogether. In some half dozen ‘other ca@es_ it had been considered prudent Sto move Officers lo other work of [ess im- @portance to the national security, oF to accept their resignations. ‘That positive * veuting” procedure was Not confined to the Foreign Service. - It was flow operated in aii Governmeni depaii- ments having access to classified material involving the gecurity of the State. Immediately “after the disappearance of Maclean and Burgess Mr. Morrison, then Foreign Secretary, set up a commitiee to look into all aspects of the secur’ ‘y arrange- ments-in the Foreign Service. The com: Mitlee was an official one, which was a wise act of Mr. Morrison, who chose Officials singularly well suited to their task, ith great_records of devotion to. the Since ‘senior, public service. The committee was presided over by ‘Alexander Cadogan, and Sir Nevile id Sir Norman Brook, Secre- tary te ‘were the olher members “The committee ‘reported in November, 1951, approving the security check, includ: ing the plans for positive “vetting” whic! ad already been prepared. I1 recommended that “" vetting " should be extended to all members of the senior branches and the senior grades. of the junior branches of ibe Foren P é Pi Of the Foreign Office went beyond that recommendation, since many more junior grades, which must inevitably be employed ‘on highly classified work, were positively vetted. CHARACTER DEFECTS nsidered not only politi- self, but the problem cal y of character defects wi might Jay an officer open to blackmail, or otherwise underming. bis_loyatty and sense’ of res- } ponsibility. Shortt after the disappearance of Mac- id before the adogan been issued by the Permanent Under-Secre- tary of the Foreign Office to heads of { missions and other senior 1s jmpress- ing on them the need to watch, in parli- cular, the forms of behaviour among their staff likely to sap an officer's discretion of sense of responsibility or his publ 1 OF 10 expose io undu e or blackmail, or to h his existing behaviour. . ¢ committee commented on those in- structions with approval. It_was sometimes said that recruitment for the Foreign Service was kept to a closed narrowly from one social group. The selection of recruits for all except the most junior grades had for a long time been in the hands of the Civil Service Commis- sioners. The Foreign Service was not a service renewing itself by co-option. It_was sometimes said that the Foreign Se he ‘of the Civil Service, ‘was a Sorttof closed shop, that its failures were protécted, and that there was no means of -getting rid of incompetent or unsuitable’ people. Since the introduction of the Foreign Service Act, 1943, members of the Foreign Service had not enjoyed the same degree of security as that of the rest of ihe Civil Se Foi Aci = duced arrangements more like those fighting Services, which provided for com- pulsory retirement of established members who did not make sufficient progress 10 justify their retention of promotion. Tt seemed that the case for a further inguiry into the recruitment and organiza~ tion of the Foreign Service bad noi be: te rn me VEE a circuit, and that its members were taken (00 | en | eventually narrowed it down 10 one, but in this case, unlike the Fuchs case, they were unable to obtain sufficient evidence to ustify a charge. This was to be regretted, wt the éiMiculties under the British system of law were very real. Of the skill, perseverence, and loyalty of the security service there could be no doubt. land he paid tribute to the fact that the Government were able to recruit lo-day ‘men of such high calibre and auditment: jRewards were not very large and respon bilities were very. great. ‘ _ Most people gained some satisfaction in life not only from doing a job well but also from the public acknowledgment success: these mien were cut off from. all that. They worked in secret. Most of their successes—and there were, indeed. successes —had to be kept quiet.” Only failure hit the headlines. For this service, then, not failure but patriotism was the spur and the reward. (Cheers.) BRITAIN'S REPUTATION Of the more general aspects of security, he was satisfied, and hoped the House would be satisfied, that the new arrange- ments had enormously strengthened the security system. He doubted whether any substantial improvernents could be made within the existing system of law, Unfortu- nately, it was not sufficient to satisfy them- selves’ that they had taken all possible steps. It could not be ignored that this inci- dent following upon oth in the world Britain’s reputation abroad, (Cheers. was inevitable. Many of the allegations made by irresponsible people were so exag- gerated that they carried with them their own refutation, nevertheless there was @ teal Ganger that a feeling might be spread among Britain's allies that Britain's relia- bility—hitherto regarded as a modei—was no longer to be trusted. It was of great importance to the coun- try's defence and safety that successive Governments should be known two have taken ail steps within their power to stop any loopholes and strengthen any legiti- mate methods of defending vital secrets. It was his belief that every practical means had been taken that was open to the executive, and he appealed to those con- cerned not to injure further the country’s interests by spreading abroad a false and still more outdated picture of the security system as it was to-day. DISTASTEFUL MEASURES There had been no dispute about the character of the régime since 689 in Eng- jand and 174$ in Scotland. Bitter as had been the political conflicts at certain times, there had been no question of serious acts of treachery to the country. had to go back to the wars of reiigion to find any paraflel with the new ideological conflicts which divided the world, and might con- tinue to divide it for many years. Ono could not imagine a state of mind which regarded spying as a virtue and treachery as a duty, which brought a new problem — that of public security in a free society— (Cheers}—during periods of intense ideo~ logical warfare. the Government could have reintroduced some methods or retaken powers which ‘were abandoned long ago, and which it was hoped had gone forever—even in a modified form—and these would have been very hel The story might easily have been wncavelled if Jess regard had been paid to the Jaw. He had been struck by a criticism which had appeared in a popular newspaper asking why Mrs. Maclean had not been prevented from leaving England ? The article said the authorities had stated they would have had ad B nig legal power to do so, and went ask if they could nor have found one. (Laughter,)) That was the very hub of the problem. “Hitler would have found one. Mussolini would have found one. Stalin had got one. (Laughier.) In time of war, Britain, too, was forced to ‘find new -maasurcsin-contralthe rights ‘of the individual, bur they had never been very much liked, and he did not suppose there. was, any product of wat more dis- | preserve it. (Loud cheers.) at any time in history, Nowadays not only the burcaucracy which ional secrets; perhaps more i rets were in the hands of of industry and the scientific With this extension of the problem, the Government were brought face to face with the fundamental quesyon of how the. in- teresis of security “could ‘be mi without damage to traditional ri At what point did reasonable and neces- sary security measures become the yepug: nant attributes of the police State? In short, how, in modern times, did one secure good security in a democratic society 7, The review he had given of the security measures taken in recent years would, hoped, convince the House that everything it was possible to do under the existing law had been done to protect the nation against (reason and subversion by Govern: ment servants or by others who had secret material. To the extent that security pr tices could be improved under the existing laws every effort had been made to achieve jt. He believed that_these measures made a recurrence of an affair such as this exceed- ingly improbable—he would not say im- ssible—but he must repeat that the before the sectic o} law. (( any fate, imitations of the existing Jaw were relaxed Parliament would have to weigh A Waw. (Cheers.) At the balance of advantage and disadvantage, for it would be a tragedy indeed if_ we were to destroy our freedom in the effort MR. MORRISON'S DOUBTS... . CALL FOR INQUIRY MR. MORRISON said that the House had heard a full and competent speech from the Secretary of State, and although agreeing with most of it he was not as fully satisfied as Mr, Macmillan was. Everyone felt that the Burgess and Mac- jean incident was a disgeace io ihe counizy. Ji was also an unhappy incident for the security services. But the House must keep a sense of proportion ; the number of cases of this kind among men employed in the public service was very limited. The evidence against these two men right up to their departure was insufficient to warrant decisive action on charges of espionage, If they bad been arrested and ultimately found innocent that would have brought discredit on the Forcign Office and the security services. He was inclined to think the poris ought It would have been useful to know imme- diately when they had gone and by what foule, and they might have been followed, but he did not think passports could be withdrawn, M ise | hat could have been done effectively. tor pa: s effectively to withdraw it, not possible The only effec Ne way would be to apply (o a court and ‘one would have to have evidence. Mr. Morrison said he was inclined to think that Maclean was tipped off by someone, because it was a remark E Oi ¢ thai he (Mr, Mi E have given. the order for. the questi ing of Maclean on May 25 and the two men were missing that night. He had received a letter from a_ friend, whose judgment of men and affairs he respected. He had asked for his name not to be given—though it was available to the Foreign Office if they wanted it—because he did not want to be pursued with pub- licity in this matter. His letter said:— 1 was very interested to read your remarks about Maclean and Burgess the other day, because | know them both and. actually lunched with Maclean the day before he diseppeared. The point 1 wanted to mention to you was that on the day I am sure he had no intention wef taaion jn the, wax be. did. Hes on count actior mine Offic M that servi Feass inqu acir top mist and quir epi bes M that ther crac pers i M ing for. of 3 M