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eo A - oe .. ete ww gern ea age nee oe ee ee, f. 0.4 1503) Former rf. an Office a | » EMR. MACMILLAN.) 27 6. ete ot ~ zt country or heft made little difference. She wif could do no particular good in England; ; i she could do no particular barm abroad. . Again, the over-riding fact semains that ars there is no power under the law of eT oee England to prevent her from leaving this tyne: et - COUNLTY. ~. 5-5. - Of ge te gene ed . Po, Hon. Members will ask what fessons fe = Ferbrite-- have been learned and what steps have kek been taken-—hat really is the vital point ee gr aes —-to try to ensure that there can be no a a ee repetition of such a deplorable story. foe is rti This leads me to the question of security 7 O0G checks. Since 1945, a check has regularly to n made on all new entrants into the wl. Fo dbs Foreign Office and all new temporary Po Bde employees. This check is made to ensure panes Beeps that no adverse security record is held poe RS GTS against candidates for employment. _ ee be See Since 1945, all officers already em- Vor. (aca. ployed have been so checked, but it is _. x toe. acknowledged that this check is not ade- Pe Sere quate—what is called the negative check z ~—since it will only reveal persons who | ae? ‘ have already come to the notice—un- wee MQ es favourable notice, if you like—of the ane security authorities, Indeed, when applied 1o Maclean and Burgess, it re- vealed nothing about ithe subversive political associations of their early days. rom 1951 onwards, it was recognised that more must be done to check the reliability of persons holding important Positions in the public service, __. 4 At the beginning of 1952, a regular system of positive vetting was introduced. This procedure entails detailed research iT 1 ¢ ang a OL al ™ 7+ Ch ep yesies rien ng watt wrt 1 i ‘ ar ee, into the whole background of the officer ere conceracd, including his school and uni- | eae an versity caceer and any previous employ- kh. _ ment before joining the Foreign Service. es an In a large number of cases, personal in- a Quiries are made of university tutors, past yo eB ie employers and others who have personal i fe knowledge of the candidate, Since 1952, enataied about 900 cases, involving the senior, pe eS junior and clerical branches of the = orcign Service, have been examined. So & RO far, there have been four cases in the Pr orn tical activities and associations have led bares betas to his leaving the Service altogether. In focnes about half-a-dozen other cases it has been ae: considered prudent to move officers to i. other work of tess importance to the t national security, or 40 accept their t. resignations, _ eur ot tact oope t This Positive vetting procedure is not f- confined to ihe Foreign Service. Ih is r . f 7 NCwe ne = fn . ber + oer ed 4 ma ee eT ee oe ee ee ee eee Jprreerer tye oa a wok . Wy I t a gm ee me me al tee ss _ ow oe ne) aa ee ee 7 NOVEMBER 1955 Maclean and Burgess. and before the behaviour among their staff likely to sap ¢ -sibility of his public dut}, or to expose ae a ee eee er ee — meee ee Ree a3 en im af (Ely ietlg SL Cae ST a ar era ee es oe par > ager gp cee ae Officlals pearance ont now operated in al! Government Depart-} ments Taving access to classified material: involving the security of the State. Imme- 7 diately after the disappearance of Maclean’; and Burgess, the right hon. Gentleman the). Member for Lewisham, South, who wast then Foreign Secretary, set up a com é mittee to Sook into all aspects of the>, security arrangements in the Forcign . Service. The committee was an official one, and it may perhaps be criticised on J! that account, but 7 think that it was a wise act of the right hon. Gentleman, who | chose officials singularly well suited to, their dask—-men with great records of” devotion to the public service. The com-! mittce was presided over by Sir Alexander j Cadogan, and Sit Nevile Bland and Sir: Norman Brook, Secretary to the Cabinet. were the other member” 7 The commitice reported in November, ; 1951, approving the security check, in- ” cluding the plans for positive vetting - which had already been prepared. It - recommended that veiting should be, extended to all members of the senior |: branches and the senior grades of the | junior branches of the Foreign Service. In fact, the present practice of the - Foreign Service goes beyond that recom- - mendation, since many mote junior © grades, which must inevitably be em- ~ ployed on highly classified work, are * positively vetied. The committee con- « sidered not only political unreliability im 3 itself, but the problem of character ~ defects, which might lay an officer open ¥ to blackmail, of otherwise undermine his loyalty and sense of responsibility. -- ee IT meee “4 ™ ata ove. + . Cadogan Committee reported, fresh in structions had been issued by the Perma- nent Under-Secretary of the Foreign | Office to heads of missions acd other senior officials impressing upon them the need to watch in particular the forms of a re an officer's discretion or sense of respon- him to undue influence or blackmail or to heighten in undue measure the tension of his existence. commitice com | mented on these instructions with approval and emphasised that not only * the heads of missions but some jusios < officers in charge of sections throughout the Forciga Service, and, indeed, in other re ee ee iy ‘woe . ae ed 0 wee Cede ee ee per wo | + woe Li rt. . eee ero