◆ SpookStack

fo security. Thereafter steps must be taken to see that secret information 4: . .. is not handled by anyone who, for ideological or other motives, may > betray it. ! a NS te . 7. Her Majesty's Government 3 agree with this broad analysis and will ~ continue to base their policy on preventing persons of this nature from having access to secret information. 8. Against the background of this general analysis, of which only a. very brief outline has been given, the Conference address themselves to an * examination of the Government's security arrangements. Their main conclusion is that there is nothing organically wrong or unsound about those “*’ arrangements. They make. however. certain recommendations, the purpose of which is to strengthen the system in some respects. Her Majesty's Government propose to give effect to all the tecommendations which the Conference have made, 9. The Report of the Conference deals with the public services generally. ue But it is implicit in the Report that the Conference recognise that in certain ~:~ areas of the public service—notably in the Foreign Service, the Defence . ficld and. the Atomic Energy Organisation—the need for stringent security precautions is greater than elsewhere, Her Majesty's Government accept this view. 16. Some of the recommendations of the Conference deal with what ~ may de culled the relation between security risks and defects of character and conduct. The Conference recognise that to-day great importance must be paid to character defects as factors tending to make a man unreliable or expose him to blackmail, or influence by foreign agents. There is a duty on Departments to inform themselves of serious. failings such as drunkenness, addiction to drugs. homosexuality or any loose living that may seriously se aflect a man’s reliability, . Ll. There is a natural reluctance to make adverse feports on colleagues . and nothing could be worse than to encourage tale-bearing or malicious gossip. Nevertheless, it is important to impress not only on Heads of ~~ Departments but on supervisory officers gencrally that it 1s their duty te ~ know their staff and that they must not fail to report anything which affects ~ security. This covers both evidence which suggests Communist associations °° ae or sympathies. and also serious defects or failings which might jeopardise the security of the scclion of the public service in their charge. The Government accept this recommendation, alihough they recognise that the Measures necessary to give effect to it will require very careful consideration. 12. While confining themselves to the security aspect of these defects of character and conduct, the Conference also record the view that in ~ individual cases or in certain sections of the public service. a serious character SOFT eT defect may uppropriaicly be the determining factor in a decision to dismias 3 a particular individual or to transfer him to other work. 13. The Conference also recommend that it should be recognised ‘that the fact that a public servant is a Communist aot only bars his employment on secret duties, but may also in some Departments | have an unfavourable effect on his prospects of promotion. 44. The Conference also make a series s of recommendations which turn on the risk presented by those in regard to whom there is no evidence that they are themselves members of the Communist Party. but evidence exists of Communist sympathies or of close association Bith members of the - Communist Party. - -: a nite