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Se ee ne 4 t . * er 4 : : fide net aati Te ree ety arin & t directing public suspicion on to an in- dividual against whom nothing at all has deen 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. ay 2 fc, -utte we “Other and serious issues have been raised. The hon. and gallant Member, in his conclusion, stressed that. apart from the general question of balance between liberty and security, there were the prob: kms of whether or not there should be aa investigation into ihe efficiency of the security services; and whether or not there shonld be further investigation into personnel aod staffing, promotion and acurily arrangements within the Foreign Service. The hon. and gallant Gentleman the Member for Brixton is in favour of both such inquiries. J differ from bim., I do not see that any case has been, made out for either. bog te pacir ne. There has been public acitation, and that public agnation is admittcdly a‘seri- ous factor, The aftermath of the Press comments, ably stimulated, os followed, by the hon. and gallant Member, has given rise to a public uneasiness and—] 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 We know that public anxiety arising out of the Algar Hiss affair caused wide-7 spread uncasiness and was followed dy disastrous repercussions 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 ie possible even for the House of Commons $o sai cs eit ol 2d tht .. +t Let us be quite sure before we embark on investigations. . There ace four quite’ separate issues, and they have been cone. fusion in the pubjic mind and in the hon | etiam ee 0 ee ee eee aS ee a Sa OS epee asaaets erence usandbuiniastapiaatoee on Pe tee ae ee Be toe Beta tO al ee. an oé es : ee tears tA Me be soso gat art ~ TF ta a Me . . . : ro =. me om _ ‘a mille i a Lal ll ee te 1593° Former Foreign Ofc? © T NOVEMBER 1953" a” isi” faises the disciplinary aspect to ‘the’. - Foreign Scrvice. Finally, there is the’ question of whether or not the Governic ment ought not to have said more, and, said it earlier in their statements,- 9-97" > ** I wilt try guite briefly to deal with..~. each of these four headings. The first is: what is the ground for demanding ‘at-—="=" (fh: present stage that there should be an investigation into the security services? ; Public interest has been aroused, but lef ~~” ‘ us try to sce this in proportion.” Surely, ---+--- |} what the public thas seen is only on coe | corner of the battleficid on which there 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 80. badly. We have teen told that a ix 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 Mewes ete fase Oe a Om Pare oy Reviewing the field as a whole, is the ublic interest in this sufficient grounds —__ or demanding an inquiry into the security | _ services? rn we eh tae gag Pa Can one envisage, without knowing. . whether we are doing well or badly?: - . Indeed, how well we may be doing’ ~~ nobody outside the smialfest possible... -. group ought to know. One sees from~ ~~ Soviet statcmentt that many prominent ~~’ people, members of Communist Govern’ ments and the like, who have fallen front’ pular favour have been, of are said to ave been, in touch with the allied or. }- 2 Western intelligence services, Even if 1 per cent, of that i¢ true, we are doing* ¢-* *- i. _ If there had been no secent public oufe. bas ‘7 or clamour about éspionage cases,. he Should be a great deal more worsied.. rt I vee i nothing had been heard of Soviet agenta,- -=*::... $: J should have thought that there might be’ more cause for alarm. All this outcry #7.” F: has arisen because in one case there was agg ~ a ‘a near miss, We have been told that the” "> g. rap was just about fo close on these: ..--:- f and ~ gallant Gentleman's. statement: ple. if it had closed, it would have *"” * Firstly, there is the question of Burgess Pech @ great success dor us, because undef ry c.-»..- b's and Maclean being Soviet agents—ought interrogation they might have divulged @ - °°. it it to have been found out earlier?- Then, great deal of valuable information about* Se" HT. that they fiad ceriain Communist contacts the Russian security services. In fact, @- ef in the university—-should more direct just missed and they got away. Is that. = --" #t- security action have been takea on those — sufficient ground for demanding a searcheT.) “= ¢ a! grounds? : Thirdly, there is the case that ing inquiry into the security fees? ge bat > fe. they were personally undesirable—that do not think that it is, -¢ cau« nid brett. job -