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Cambridge Five Spy Ring — Part 36
Page 113
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15. The Conference is of the opinion that in deciding these difficuhk and -
often borderline cases. it is right fo continue the practice of tilting the balance
: in favour of offering greater protection to the security of the State rather than
in the direction of safeguarding the rights of the individual. They recommend
. that an individual who is living with a wife or husband who is a Communist
oo or a Communist sympathiser may, for that reason alone, have to be moved «..
. from sceret work, and that the same principle should be applied in other
cases of a like nature, “.- ae Bate oo . oo
so > sss 16 The Conference recognise that some of the measures which the _
State is driven to take to protect its security are in some respects alien”
to our traditional practices. Thus, in order not to imperil sources of ~~
" information, decisions huve sometimes to be taken without revealing full
details of the supporting evidence, A; it is sometimes necessary to refuse
to employ a man on sceret duties, or in those cases where no alternative
work can be found for him in the public service, to refuse to employ him at all, ”
becuuse after the fullest investigation doubts about his seliability remain, - / -
even although nothing nay have been proved against him on standards
which would be accepted in u Court of Law. The Conference agree
regretfully that these counter-measures, although they are distasteful in some *~ ~
Tespects, are essential if the security of the State is to be ensured. But they -
recognise that it is afso important to convince public opinion that the measures.
taken and the procedures in force will not be exercised unreasonably. For
this reason the Conference upprove the Tribunal (commonly known as the
Three Advisers) set up in 1948 to hear appeals from civil servants threatened
on securily grounds with transfer from secret dutics or, when that is not
practicable, with dismissal from the Service. This machinery should .
continue; and the person whose continued employment in Government
Service is called jn question on account of Communist association or -
sympathies will be able to have his case considered by it. The Conference
also recommend that the terms of reference of the Three Advisers
should be widened so as to enable them to present a fuller report to the
responsible Minister. .
‘» _ 17. The measures necessary to carry out these recommendations will
involve alterations in existing procedures. These alterations will be notified -
to the staff associations concerned and an opportunity given for representation
to be made before the alterations are promulgated in full. This paper is
therefore confined to giving the broad details of the decisions reached
those recommendations which can be properly made public. wee
18. Two other matters should be mentioned. The first-is that th
Conference considered whether additional statutory powers should be sought
to enable the Government to detain suspects or prevent them from Icaving
the country.
19. The Conference point out that, while an individual can be arrested”
‘on suspicion that he is about to attempt to convey secret information to a
foreign Power, he must be brought before the courts on a charge without
delay. The time required to collect evidence upon which a charge can be _
based is often long, and the Conference dismiss any suggestion that er
should be sought to detain persons for an yntimited period without pi eferring
charges against them, on the grounds that this would run counter to this
county's traditional principles of individual freedom, and would be most
unlikely to be approved by Parliament in time of peace. They also come
to the conclusion that legislation which would permit arrest and detention,
without a charge being preferred, for a short specified period, say, fourteen *- =~~
days, would not be much help. The Conference also consider that the
qc” cate
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