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~ detected that he Fe The question has been asked whether tho asso.iation of these two officars with each other did not give rise te suspicion. The fact is that althcuch we have since learned ‘thet Naclean and Burgess were acquainted during the unier~ praduate days at Cambridge, they gave no evidence during the course of the career in the Foreign Service of any asscciation other than would be nermal between two colleagues, When Burgess was appointed te tho Foreign Cffice, hiaclean was in “ashington ani at the time Burgess himself was appointed to Washington, Maclean was back in the United Kingdom awaiting .assignnent tc the American Deyartment of the Foreign Office, “It is now clear thet they were in communicaticn with each other efter the return cf Burgess from Washington in 1951 and been in such deaticn earlier, Their Femrk. 10, In January 1949, the security authorities received a roport that certain Forsign ffice infermaticn had leaked to i the Soviet authcrities*some years enTlicr, The report amounted to little mere than a hint asd it was at the time impcssible to attribute the leak te any particular individual, Nigmy secret but widespread and protracted enquiries were begun by the security autherities ami the field ef suspicicn had been narrowed by mid-April 1951 tc twe or three persons. By the ‘oopinning of May, Maclean hed erme to be reganied as the ‘principal suspect, There wis, however, even at that time, no legally admissible evidence tc suppert a prosecution unter the Official Secrets acts, Arrangements wore mde te ensura that informtion cf excepticnal seerecy and importance should not come into his hands. In ths neantine, the security authorities arranged tc investigate his activities ami erntacts in crder tx increase their backzroum knew ‘leige and 4f possible to obtain information wiicn ceaid be used as evidence ina fpresceuticn. On May 25 the then Seerctary of State, ar, Herbert lorrison, sancticned a proposal that the security authcrities should question Maclean. In reaching this decision it had to be borne in mird that such questioning might produce no confesston cr voluntary statement from Maclean sufficient to support a proseenticn, but might serve only to alert him and to reveal the nature and the extent of the suspicion against him. In that event he weuld have been free te make arrangements to leave the country ard the authoritics wowld have aad no legal power to stcp him. Everything therefore deyended on the inter~ view and the security authsrities were anxious to be a: prepared as was humanly possible. They were aise amxi) - Maclean's house at Tatsfield, Kent, shculd be Searched and this . was an additicna)l reason for *aelaying the proposed interview until mid-June when Mrs. Maclean whe was then pregnant was expected to be away from home. ii. x the authorities, Haclean must hove be beecne aware, ‘at some tine | before his disappearanec, thit he was under invastization. ne oxplanation may be that he observed that he was no longer recotv~ ing certain types cf sceret ytpers, It is also possible thit he s umler observations or he pay have been awarned, Scarchi quiries involving individual interregstions were mde into this last pessibility. Insufficient evidence was obtainable to form a definite conciusicn or tc warrant presecubion. / i2.