Minutes of the Thirty-thibd Meeting of the Committee, Held in Conference Room "G", at the Ministry of Defence. S.W.I , on Friday, 24th March, 1950 at 10.45 a.m.

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Minutes of the Thirty-thibd Meeting of the Committee, Held in Conference Room "G", at the Ministry of Defence. S.W.I , on Friday, 24th March, 1950 at 10.45 a.m.

TOP SECRET accurately represented the Committee's views and that therefore the Director of Naval Intelligence's argument did not hold good. It was a complete misinterpretation of the Committee's views to say that they had ever said that war would break out in 1956 - 1957 but since the Committee's appreciation examined the problem from the Russian point of view, the present appreciation, taking into account the increase in Russian strength advanced the date when the Russians would think that they were likely to be strong enough to risk becoming involved in war. CAPTAIN BAKER-CRESSWELL said that nevertheless the present appreciation might lead the planners to think that there was a greater danger of war than there was before. DR. BLOUNT emphasised that in fact there was a greater danger of war than before, particularly since the Russians were now in possession of the atomic bomb. He maintained that this point was correctly interpreted in the present appreciation and that the draft letter by the Director of Naval Intelligence was misleading. MAJOR GENERAL SHORTT said that he agreed that the danger date was to be interpreted as the date at which the Soviet Leaders might risk becoming involved in war and that therefore this had been advanced. This had been most clearly set out in the present appreciation. MR. REILLY and AIR VICE MARSHAL OGILVIE-FORBES agreed with these views. CAPTAIN BAKER-CRESSWELL said that since in the general view of the Committee the present appreciation had not been misinterpreted by the Directors of Plans, he would therefore withdraw the proposed draft letter. THE COMMITTEE:- Took note that, in the light of their discussion, the Admiralty did not wish to proceed with this matter. -2-
Collection ID
CAB159
Conflict
Cold War
Document Reference
CAB 159/7/35
File Reference
CAB 159/0007
Identifier
10.1080/swwf.cab159.0007.035
Keywords
Contingency Planning Assessing Enemy Strength Predicting Enemy Intentions Threat Of War With The Ussr Mobilisation Soviet Government Military Intelligence Defectors Embassies Diplomatic Officials Chemical Warfare Weapons Development Armaments Iron Curtain Attachés Soviet Satellite States Diplomatic Missions Consular Intelligence Sources Personnel Atomic Warfare Defence Military Strength Manpower Intelligence Requirements Intelligence Reports Intelligence Services Responsibilities
Pages
9
Published in
United Kingdom
Series
Ministry of Defence and Cabinet Office: Central Intelligence Machinery: Joint Intelligence Sub-Committee Later Committee: Minutes (JIC Series). Joint Intelligence Sub-Committee. Meetings 1 (0)-60 (0)
Themes
Military Intelligence and Operations Intelligence Operations Weapons Technology and Nuclear Warfare