Minutes of the Sixty-second Meeting of the Committee (Deputy Directors (O and S ) ) , Held In. Conference Room "G", at the Ministry of Defence, S.W.I, on Friday, 16th June, 1950, at 10.U5 a.m.

2. LEARNED SOCIETIES. RESTRICTED THE COMMITTEE had before them a minute+ by the Secretary covering a minute by the Secretary of the Security of Economic and Industrial Information Committee (S.E.I.C.) asking for the Committee's view on a statement which had been made at a meeting≠ of that Committee on the question of visitors sponsored by learned societies. MR. CAREY-FOSTER said that the Committee's view had been asked on a statement by the Ministry of Defence representative on the S.E.I. Committee concerning an approach to learned societies to warn them to exercise care in their introduction of foreign subjects to various firms and organisations. The foreigners chiefly concerned were Soviet and Satellite nationals, probably including Chinese and Yugoslavs. There were two points to consider, firstly whether or not these foreign visitors should be encouraged to come to the United Kingdom, and secondly, whether they should be introduced to various firms and organisations by learned societies. With regard to the first point, the Committee had already agreedØ that foreign scientists should be allowed to come to the United Kingdom in order that our scientists might be able to pick their brains. The Committee did, however, say that all applications for visas should be considered by the appropriate section of the Committee in order that arrangements for meeting and interrogating these scientists could be made. The Committee agreed≠ at a later meeting that the term "scientists" should be construed in its widest sense to include certain technicians. The present policy agreed by Ministers was that visitors from these countries should not be refused visas unless any particular individual was undesirable on security grounds. The Committee could not, therefore, now disagree that these foreign visitors should be encouraged to come to the United Kingdom. As regards the second point, the Ministry of Defence representative at the meeting of the S.E.I. Committee had said that because the learned societies had been asked for their help to encourage foreign nationals to attend conferences in the United Kingdom, they did not wish to confuse the learned societies by saying that they must not introduce such visitors to firms and organisations, or even exercise care in their introductions: the Ministry of Defence representative had stated that the Security Service contacts with the firms and organisations concerned would be a sufficient safeguard. The danger here was that the fact that learned societies had sponsored visitors might influence managers to disclose more information than would be desirable. In discussion, it was generally agreed that, whereas the present arrangements covering factories and organisations and the British Council provided certain security safeguards, nevertheless an approach to the learned societies might provide an additional safeguard and should therefore be considered. THE COMMITTEE:- Invited the Director of Scientific Intelligence to consider approaching the learned societies to warn them to exercise care in their introduction of foreign subjects to various firms and organisations. + J.I.C./1003/50. ≠ S.E.I. 50 2nd Meeting, Minute 5. Ø J.I.C. (50) 24th Meeting, Minute 5. ≠ J.I.C. (50) 46th Meeting, Minute 4. -2-