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dividual against whorn nothing at all has been proved. We must leave it to his own conscience to straighten out what that may cost in personal suffering to the wife, children and friends of the person involved. yf tics uted we Other and serious issues have been raised. The hon, and gailant Member, io his conclusion, stressed that. apart from the general question of balance between liberty and security, there were the Pree: kms of whether or not there should be an investigation into ihe efficiency of the security services; and whether’ or not there should be further investigation into personnel aod staffing, promotion and «curily arrangements within the Foreign Service. The hon. and gallant Gentleman the Member for Brixton is in favour of both such inquiries. { differ from bim. T do not see that any case has been, made. out for either... Ph SLe be. There has been public agitation, and that public agitation is admittedly a’seri- ous factor. aftermath of the Press comments, ably stimulated, or followed, by the hon. and gallant Member, has given rise to a public uneasiness and—J agree—a public demand for some kind of action. But is action justified just be: cause there has been a good Press story? Has any stronger case been made out? Let us be very careful about the ground on which we are lo act. yrts epee = We know that public anxiety arising out of the Algar Hiss affair caused wide-/ ead uneasiness and was followed by isastrous sepercussions in the United States. It is very easy to say that it can- not happen here. In a very minor way this is our Algar Hiss affair, and the - remarks of the hon. and gallant Member have shown how near to the wind it is possible even for the House of Commons fo sah ogc: smite 4: oe oe ~ +t Let us'de quite sure before’ we embark oa investigations. . There are four quite’ Separate issues, and they have been con-_ fasion in the public mind and in the hon. and © gallant Gentleman's. statement. Firstly, there is the question of Burgess and Maclean being Soviet agents—ought it to have been found out earlier?- Then, that they had ceriain Communist contacts io the university—should more direct securi ion have been takea on those 2: Thirdly, there is the case that they were personally undesirable—hat Poa. | Gisecting public suspicion on to an in- | ! ee 1593 Former Foreign Ofc? T NOVEMBER 1953" Officials —Wisappearaice 1shh' ~~ en pel gO ra Pate raises the disciplinary aspect in’ ‘the’. - Foreign Scrvice. Finally, there is the” question of whether or not the Goverti= ment ought not to have said more, and, said it earlier in their statements,- 17 “ “A will try quite briefly $0 deal with -- each of these four headings. The first is: what is the ground Tor demanding at ths present stage that there should be an investigation into the security services? ~ Public interest hat been aroused, but lef ~ us to see this in proportion.” Surely, - what’ the ublic has sen is o1 on corner of the battlefield on which unceasing conflict between the rival intelligence services of the great Powers, They have seen one corner of one action, * and even in that we were not doing #6. badly. We have been told that 2 six thousand to one chance was just coming’ off. Out of 6,090 suspects, the security services were about to take action against one man to whom it had been narrowed eviewing the field asa whole, is the public interest in this sufficient grounds for demanding an inquiry into the security. _ services? te Caretery, Sines Can one envisage, without knowing. - whether we are doing well or badly?: - Indeed, how well we may be doing‘ ~~ nobody outside the smal! Possible - group ought to know. One sees from~ jet statement? that many prominent People, members of Communist Govern=” fen ments and the ike, who have fallen fromt’ f " popular favour have been, or are said to $ ave been, in touch with the allied or. 4 Western intelligence servicer, fven if’ ' 1 per cent, of that ig true, we are doing: al right." je: raat . Ir there hag or public outs 8 os. try of clamour about éspionage cases, . % should be a great deal more worried.” iP a) pothing had been heard of Soviet agents, - I should have thought that there might be" ~ . more cause for alarm. All this outcry "257". has arisen because in one case there WAS — 5 2. ¢:0 ‘a near miss. We have been told that the* ” trap was just about 40 close on these > ..--: ple. Af it had closed, it would have * oat @ great success dor us, because undeg r inter ion they might have divulged = great of valuable information about ‘the Russian security services. In fact, @ just missed and they got away. Is that Sufficient ground for demanding @ search+7- ing inquiry into the security ‘ do not think that it is. . , OE ERNE. senna steenns emmmeninemen amen +