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253. Then came the Cuban crisis. The Russians were carrying suciear arms to Cuba and the United States were about to intercept the shipa. The critical days were from Wednesday, 24th October, 1962, when the Ripssian ships were heading for Cuba until Sunday, 28th October, 1962, wheat they turned back. During this time Ward made frantic efforts at Ivanov’s request, to get the United Kingdom to. intervene. He wanted Her Majesty's Government to take an independent initiative and summon a summit conference. (viii) Ward is not to be Trusted , 254. By this time the Foreign Office were becoming very suspicious of Ward and asked the Security Service for information about him. On Qnd November, 1962, the security officer (the same one who had always seen Ward) told the Foreign Office that he ae ‘ “has a number of titled and influential friends and patients, including several members of the Cabinet. It was this fact which led us to pay some attention to him because we felt he might acquire delicat information from them which would find its way to Ivanov. Ward is a talkative extrovert; he looks upon Ivanov as a real friend; he is also a man of few morals and is said to have provided some of his influential friends with highly satisfactory young mistresses. It is not easy to assess Ward's security reliability but we believe he is probably not a man who would be actively disloyal but that he is so under the influence of Ivanov that it would be most unwise to trust him.” ~ ; . cot 255. It is quite plain to me that throughout 1962 the Security Service were keeping a close watch on the activities of Ward and Ivanov and were keeping the Foreign Office very properly informed on the matter. 85