Minutes of the Ninth Meeting of the Committee, Held in Conference Room "G", at the Ministry of Defence, S.W.I, on Friday, 20th January, 1950 at 10.45 a.m.

TOP SECRET MR. JAMES said that there were already some 30,000 displaced persons of the intellectual category at present in camps in Germany under the auspices of the International Refugee Organisation. There had been an almost complete lack of success in finding employment for such displaced persons so that he viewed the prospects of large numbers of additional refugees coming in with some alarm. It was interesting to note that the more highly qualified the displaced person, the more difficult it seemed to be to find employment for him on ordinary terms. It would require a major change of policy before higher direction could be given to employment agencies to give employment to such individuals on a higher priority than British nationals. DR. BLOUNT said that our propaganda to encourage defectors would be most effective among the higher placed Soviet nationals since such individuals were both in a better position to listen to the propaganda and also to leave Russia. He considered that it would be most unlikely that large numbers of refugees would result from our propaganda, even if it reached the lower levels in Russia, since under the present regime it was most improbable that such persons would have the inclination or ability to leave Soviet controlled territory. MR. REILLY said that whereas it might be difficult to frame our propaganda so as to encourage only useful people to defect it would be of advantage if all possible steps could be taken to direct propaganda only at such desirable individuals. It was, nevertheless, important that arrangements for the disposal of refugees should be satisfactory both on grounds of encouraging defectors and also since we could not face the prospect of having to support indefinitely individuals for whom no satisfactory disposal arrangements could be made. MR. WALSH ATKINS said that the Government of Australia had instituted rehabilitation and holding organisations in Australia and had devoted considerable attention to the problem of absorbing non-English speaking refugees. He undertook to obtain more details of the Australian arrangements for the information of those who may be concerned with possible arrangements in this country. In discussion, it was generally agreed that it would be appropriate for a sentence to be inserted in an appropriate place in paragraphs 9, 10 or 11 of the Annex to the effect that care should be taken if possible to direct our propaganda efforts only at those individuals whom we wished to defect. Disposal recommendations THE JOINT INTELLIGENCE STAFF said that details of the arrangements necessary for the disposal of defectors and their absorption into Western countries had not been included in the report since it was considered more appropriate for such matters to be examined in detail by a Working Party from all Departments concerned, preferably under the Ministry of Defence. The responsibility of Departments for the administrative and financial arrangements for such disposal could then be determined. There was general agreement with this view. -2-