Minutes of the Thirtieth Meeting of the Committee (Deputy Directors (O and S)), Held in Conference Room "G", at the Ministry of Defence, S.W.I, on Thursday, 16th March, 1950 at 10.45 a.m.

SECRET was a definite requirement and that they should be formed in sufficient time to enable emergencies to be forestalled rather than that they should be established only after a state of emergency had already arisen. WING COMMANDER BALDEN agreed with the foregoing but emphasised the necessity for timely intelligence being supplied to the Service Departments in London in all cases where the employment of the Armed Services was involved. MR. BARTON said that it was the responsibility of the Colonial Office to ensure that adequate and timely intelligence affecting the employment of the Armed Forces was passed to the Service Departments in London and that it was also the responsibility of the Colonial Office to ensure that such intelligence was obtained from the Governors concerned. In cases where the Committee or regional Joint Intelligence Committees required intelligence appreciations affecting particular Colonies where local intelligence committees had not been established, such appreciations could always be obtained from the Governors concerned through the Colonial Office. MR. CAREY-FOSTER said that the Foreign Office agreed with the Colonial Office views that there was no necessity for the general establishment of local intelligence committees throughout all Colonial territories. They should, however, be established whenever there was a requirement for timely co-ordinated appreciations to be prepared under circumstances affecting our military interests but that each case should be considered on its merits. The importance of local intelligence committees under such circumstances had been shown in the Far East. CAPTAIN MOORE said that the interest of the Joint Intelligence Bureau in this matter was chiefly that it would be convenient for local intelligence committees to be established in the Colonial territories to which matters in connection with the Joint Intelligence Bureau questionnaire could be referred. This was not, however, intended to be a strong argument for the establishment of local intelligence committees and he pointed out that the report had been drafted by the Joint Intelligence Bureau only since they had had a representative recently returned from the Far East with experience of the functioning of such organisations. After further discussion, the Committee expressed the view that whereas they endorsed the value and necessity of local intelligence committees in certain areas, there was no requirement for the general establishment of local intelligence committees in all Colonial territories. If at any time the Committee considered that they were obtaining inadequate intelligence on any particular area or that such intelligence could not be obtained in the right form or at the right time then they should consider the establishment of a local intelligence committee to meet each particular requirement. They noted the Colonial Office responsibility for providing intelligence from Colonial territories to the Service Departments in London and agreed that in all cases where such channels did not appear to be satisfactory the matter should be raised with the Colonial Office accordingly. THE COMMITTEE:- Agreed not to proceed further with the draft report on the establishment of local intelligence committees throughout the Commonwealth, in the light of their views expressed in discussion. -2-