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Re CA Ree a HETIL dee ky ee Ve perenne + ete AES gle a “pier nenla(e: Se ee aL ee ces On nes see aoe ee a ee ec ec Wien nile ute me kee . . - * . 4 an iM ~ eet ot at vt eh, nae Me eee me rom da ed eee. i Sancta 1 kate WA wee | Ee ’ M ‘ : ($25 Former Forcign Office 7 NOVEMBER 1955 Officials —.®-ap pearance 1526 2 :. Privy Councillors, representing both As head of the counter-Communist ewr.- -- | eae o-- des of the House, and with experience intelligence in Bonn, John would have = ws cee bhich makes them specially qualified in received information from British and Te AB fhese matters but inquiry there must be. United States sources. it is known that -.. .- ae We are up against @ new problem in these he was in touch with a number of what - ie atiers. The country will not be satis- might be called double agents, agents .. .. | eue ed without an inquiry of some sort, working each way. Did Otto Joho main- we oO Sovering an adequate field, for our coun- tain his coalact with Burgess’ Lf he did, cyssee. DEE - ty has a right to know that adequate he could have been very useful indeed to © ng action is being taken arising out of an him and Maclean, and possibly also to -..c0--. pxee—- = sxperience which is disturbing 1 and worry Mrs. Maclean. I believe that the Govern- - a ng to us aft oo ment have the information that can: "T7—" Pa, en SI es answer this question, and I hope that if — x ae §.27 ssible, if securit will permit, somethi _ ec +, Colonel! Alan Gomme-Duncan {Perth ray be said on that point. oS ay a aa ee and East Perthshire): The two speeches iA? so which we have Jistened this afternoon will undoubtedly bave impressed the House. Although we may not agree with leverything that has been said, 1 think it tmost desirable that the debate should open with auch thorough speeches, one from each Tt seems to me that there are three main 73s ssucs before us. The first 1 do not think tha as been mentioned so far in Parliament jor in the Press, but it may be a vital f Tink in che whole story, or mystery. What : connection is there between Guy Burgess fand Dr. Otto John, the West German y security chief, who defected to the Com- munists in 1954? Otto John was chief legal adviser to Lufthansa before the war and became a member of the Canaris Group, which plotted the death of Hitler. When that went wrong his brother was executed by the Gestapo and he escaped { through Spain and came to London about j the end of 1944. In the last months of | that year he worked for the B.B.C, Later he was employed in the Foreign Office and afterwards by a London law firm. He returned to Germany in 1949 and was appointed president of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution-—~ which is a high falutin’ way of saying, the g security” machine- ‘watching and reporting j on neo-Nazi activities. That appointment was made with the consent of the British and American Goveroments.. .. . . “Ys ita fact—my information is that tt is in the Bi B.C. offices and, Jater, in the thas a Foreign Ofice—that tnere [bd information to the effect that Otto John was a close thaee ie zssociate of Guy Burgess? I hope that my right hon. Friend will answer that. if he can, when he replies. They certainly had all too much in common outside thetr public duties. - + | . s1¢C , et at eer pera Ta Bd ge Be WAVES The second vital issue affects the inter ae rae nal administration of the Foreign Office, | _ to which both right hon. Gentlemen who ae have spoken have already referred in . some detail. I should like to say straight- — wee ee away that I have not the slightest reflece tion to make on any of the right hon. Gentlemen who have held the important —---~- and difficult office of Secretary of State ~~" -~ for Foreign Affairs. In spite of anything ~—---- - that J may say, I hope that that is fully realised. 5.4 gr 7.47 epee neh The Fighting Services have a system ad... regular confidential reports on officers. They are made annually—in the Navy, | es ‘believe, it is sometimes six-monthly> - ~ ‘and they give their seniors a clear picture ~ not only of their ability, but also of their .. ... moral charagter and bebaviour ; aod that is very important. Excessive drinking i -* 7 eee be weakness that would be recorded. "si * ‘The Foreign Office, I understand, has _ & Similar system of reports. J asked my — right bon. Friend the Foreign Secretary Auras in two Questions the other day if be wanld mlace in the Library a these forms,’ which he very Kindly Pat - But I also asked whal arran ements pat t ” exjsted in his Department for sub- oa. mission ‘of confidential reports on pete ot sonnel. On behalf of the Foreign Sect my right’ bon. Friend the Joint ~ teetioe. A cuaat tary. Under-Secretary replied. ~ “The beads of Foreign Service missions -et-c-cas. abroad and of departments in the Foreign *---- -- Office report regularly on their staf_ls on printed - --. forms which vary fo: each branch of the Ser + ~~ vice. . A repon on cach member ci the senior branch of the Service is sent in af Teast every two years. For new entrants to the . branch reports are eubmitied every six months Tae during the period of probation. Repors on ~ all other branches are sent in al least once & © _ year “aera Report, 26th October, 19535 ~ogote: Vol 345, 6 35] 0 wee. apt aa fe. eq: ae oe ter eer 5s oO EIN Oe RIK POPE ee ES: me —_ “iv 7 1 tah . ~~ 14 ‘We tm i ? % rays mds!