Ministerial Responsibility .
73. The centralised intelligence machine described in the preceding paragraphs will be a fairly large organisation, and it will be necessary for its expenses to be carried on the vote of some Department, though we believe that some of its expenses may be met from revenues produced by itself and that, in any case, its creation should result in some saving. Much will depend on the organisation of which the Joint Intelligence Sub-Committee itself forms a part. If we revert to a system similar to that which existed before the present war, with no central defence organisation other than the Committee of Imperial Defence and its sub-committees and secretariat, it would perhaps be most convenient for the Treasury vote to carry the unified intelligence organisation. The Treasury carries the vote for His Majesty’s Stationery Office, which is an existing semi-autonomous Government agency. On the other hand, if a Defence Ministry were created, it would be logical for the intelligence organisation to form part of that Ministry.
(Signed)
V. CAVENDISH-BENTINCK.
DENIS CAPEL-DUNN.
Offices of the War Cabinet ,
10th January, 1945.
ANNEX A.
GENERAL SURVEY OF ACTIVITIES OF THE INFORMATION AND RECORDS BRANCH ,
IMPERIAL CENSORSHIP .
The main function of this Branch is to ensure that basic intelligence material from the public communications system is properly selected and made available for use in the Government Departments served by this Branch with the minimum possible delay.
Military, Naval, Air Force and financial material is handled by specialist sections, which are not included in the organisation of I.R.B., but which work in close liaison.
In order to carry out this function, I.R.B. has to ensure that—
(1) The Requirements of user Departments are properly disseminated to and understood by various branches of Censorship.
(2) The channels along which the material flows are clear and defined.
(3) The material is adequately recorded.
I.R.B. is not an intelligence section, that is to say, they do not collate the material, except in certain specially defined categories, where experience has proved that collated reports provide the most economical result, e.g ., conditions in enemy and enemy-occupied territories, and other similar categories of material.
Information material arrives in I.R.B. in the shape of—
(1) Letter submissions, reports and information slips from United Kingdom Postal, British Dominions, British Colonial and Allied Censorships.
(2) Telegrams from United Kingdom Telegraph Censorship, Dominion, Colonial and Allied Censorships and from the organisation responsible for monitoring commercial radio communication circuits.
(3) Reports of telephone conversations.
In order to deal with this the following organisation has been evolved:—
1. Cable Section (the full title of this is “Translation, Scrutiny and Sorting of Telegrams Section”).
The three principal classes of telecommunications are handled:—
(1) Terminal Telegrams .—These are screened by the censor on duty in the telegram office before being forwarded to I.R.B.
(2) Transit Telegrams .—All transit telegrams are sent to I.R.B. They are then scrutinised against Watch Lists and examined.
(3) Copies of all monitored Radio Intercepts .
Material of interest under (1), (2) and (3) is passed to the appropriate liaison sections for allocation to Government Departments.
NOTE .—The total traffic through the Cable Section amounts to about 75,000 items a week. These are handled by some 60 linguists and cablese experts.
Overseas stations screen messages before sending copies to I.R.B.
NOTE .—In most urgent cases the routine can be by-passed by Senior Officers, and the copy passed direct to the Department or Section interested.
2. Liaison Sections (Trade and General).
These two Sections deal with the information liaison between Censorship and Government Departments and are responsible for the final allocation of information material.
They are divided into the Trade Liaison, which deals with all the Government Departments responsible for Trading Controls, and the General Liaison Section, which deals with all Government Departments of a non-trading nature. There is inevitably some overlap in certain categories of information and officers of the Trade and General Sections exchange opinions and determine between themselves which will handle borderline cases.
The material handled by these two Sections includes letter submissions from British Dominion, Colonial and Allied Censorships, telegram copies passed to them by the Cable Section and reports of telephone conversations.
United Kingdom Postal Censorship submissions are allocated direct by Postal Censorship and only come to I.R.B. for mechanical distribution in Records Section (see 6 below). Each Liaison Section is in charge of an Assistant Censor. Each Section has its own Reports Sub-section.
Senior Officers of these sections act as liaison officers and establish and maintain personal contacts with their respective Government Departments.
They are responsible for seeing that the Government Department is satisfied with the information which has reached it, and that Censorship is satisfied that the requirements of the Government Departments are fully understood and being acted upon.
A consistent and persistent effort is made to keep the information requirements of Government Departments within bounds.
It has been found by experience that Government Departments are inclined to make use of the Censorship machine as an administrative convenience regardless of the nature of the Censorship’s limitations.
It is therefore one of the responsibilities of liaison officers to protect Censorship from undue demands by Government Departments.
The Trade Section is staffed with gentlemen experienced in foreign and home trading affairs.
The General Section, whose interest can be divided into:—
(1) The Security Services;
(2) The Propaganda Ministries;
(3) The Domestic Ministries, i.e ., Home Office, &c.;
(4) The Ministries for Colonies, Dominions and the Foreign Office;
(5) The Services;
is staffed with ladies whose background knowledge enables them to deal with questions relevant to their work. The General Section also compile reports on home opinion and conditions in enemy-occupied territory, and other matters derived from the information passing through this Section.
3. Requirements Officer .
This gentleman is the Secretary of the Allocation Committee, which, in turn, is composed of:—
(a ) The Requirements Officer,
(b ) The A.C. of the Trade Liaison Section,
(c ) The A.C. of the General Liaison Section,
(d ) The A.C. of the Control Section,
(e ) The Chief Postal Censor’s representative,
(f ) The representative of the Chief of the Overseas Section, Secretariat. (The Chief of the Overseas Section, Secretariat, is the channel for correspondence with Overseas, Dominion, Colonial and Allied Censorships. It is a separate organisation within Imperial Censorship and is responsible to the Director-General through the Secretary.)
The Requirements Officer clarifies requirements received from Ministries, and consults with other members of the Allocation Committee as to the form in which requirements are passed on to examiners through the Allocation List. His work is internal to Censorship, outside contacts being maintained by the Liaison Sections. Informal consultation is maintained in the interval between Committee meetings. The Requirements Officer depends directly from Liaison Censor, who is ex officio Chairman of the Allocation Committee, at the same level as the A.C.’s of the Trade Liaison Section, the General Liaison Section and the Cable Section.
4. Control Section .
This Section reviews all the products of Censorship received by I.R.B. from whatever source they may come, and assesses their
value, with the object of estimating the efficiency of the Censorship machine, particularly in its information aspect. It divides its activities geographically into regions.
(1) The United Kingdom. (Control and review is maintained by correspondence supplemented by personal contact.)
(2) The Eastern Hemisphere. (This includes all territories in which Imperial Censorship operates or has affiliates, in Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia.)
(3) The Western Hemisphere. (Including the United States, Canada, British Colonies and the Independent American Republics.)
The activities of this section have to do with control in the broadest sense. The work of Censorship is kept up to the standard required by means of advice contained in reports and memoranda. This section depends directly on the Deputy Chief Officer and has a finger in practically everybody’s pie.
5. Central Watch List Section .
This Section is a clerical Section whose function is to produce names supplied by the Departments for Watching in the form most suitable for the work of the Department.
Names suspected by Censorship are always checked back with Government Departments.
1. Watch List Names comprise—
(a ) those contained in M.E.W.’s War Trade List (about 20,000 names) and Supplements;
(b ) those submitted by Ministries, Departments, …} Services … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …} approximately
(c ) those submitted by Chief Postal Censor… … … …} 5,000.
(d ) those submitted by “Security” … … … … … … … …}
2. All names are issued, in the form of lists or otherwise as experience has found to be the most convenient form to:—
(a ) Sorters at P.O. centres;
(b ) Postal Censorship;
(c ) Telegraph Censorship;
as follows, viz.:—
(a) For Sorters .
Duplicated copies (from a stencil) containing all names listed in paragraph 1 are supplied on foolscap sheets, about 30 names to a page; these sheets are known as “Masters” and are stuck on thick cardboard at the P.O. centres for convenience of handling. A separate “Master” is maintained for each country. The letters picked out are passed to a special scrutiny room where they are bundled and passed to the Censorship Section concerned, i.e ., Trade, Private, Security or Services. These “Masters” are kept up to date by manuscript from Supplements issued by Central Watch List Section and when any sheet or “Master” becomes too congested it is restencilled. The “Masters” used by the sorters in the first stage give no indication whatever as to the Ministries, &c., for which the names are on watch; the copies of the “Masters” used in the special scrutiny room referred to merely have a code letter against each name, to indicate the class of mail into which the letter falls, i.e ., Trade. Private, Security, War Trade List, &c.
(b) For Postal Censorship .
Four lists are issued, viz.:—
(1) The printed War Trade List and Supplements
(2) The T.M.L. (Trade Miscellaneous List) and Supplements.
(3) The P.M.L. (Private Miscellaneous List) and Supplements.
(4) The Security List and Supplements.
In addition to these four main lists, Postal Censorship receives the following advance notices of names which are coming on “watch,” which notices give the “story” connected with the watch and enable Examiners to recognise the type of correspondence required from the body of the letter, viz.:—
W.L.M.’s (Watch List Memoranda) on names submitted by Ministries, Departments and Services. Issued by I.R.B. H.Q., who receive the requests.
S.L.A.N.’s (Security List Advance Notices). These concern Security names only. Issued by Central Watch List Section.
M.L.A.N.’s (Miscellaneous List Advance Notices). Refer to names submitted by C.P.C. and are issued by C.P.C.H.Q.
The T.M.L., P.M.L. and Security Lists do not contain the full stories as given by the Advance Notices, but reference numbers to the latter are given against the entries on the list. (Q) appearing after the W.L.M., S.L.A.N. or M.L.A.N. reference number indicates to the Examiner that the respective Advance Notice must be consulted, whereas (U) placed after the number signifies that there is no need to consult the Advance Notice, since all letters are wanted without any restrictions. (The W.L.M.’s are issued in the form of copies made by the “Banda” process. S.L.A.N.’s and M.L.A.N.’s are duplicated copies from a wax stencil).
On the four main lists is indicated against each name the Ministry, Department or Service for whom the watch has been put on. Recently, for Trade Tables only, of Postal Censorship, a card index has been introduced, which contains all names on the T.M.L., P.M.L., Security List and Supplements to the War Trade List. This index is being issued, as an experiment, in place of those separate lists and Supplements.
A further change which will take place in the near future is the amalgamation into one combined list of the P.M.L., T.M.L., and Security List, for use on Postal Censorship Tables, other than Trade, instead of those three separate lists.
(c) For Telegraph Censorship .
(1) A “Kalamazoo” Binder containing names (on strips) from Ministries, Departments, Services and Security.
(2) Main War Trade printed List.
(3) A supplementary “Kalamazoo” Binder for names from War Trade Lists Supplements pending their inclusion in the main List.
(The strips on the “Kalamazoo” Binder (1) have brief notes of any qualifications to the “Watch,” thus obviating the necessity which would otherwise exist, of referring to W.L.M.’s and S.L.A.N.’s.)
6. Records Section .
1. Receipt and Release Section .—(This includes also (A) Distribution and (B) Records Sections.)
Receipt and Release is divided as follows:—
(1) Mail In Table .—Handles all incoming letter submissions.
(2) Ministerial Returns Clerical Table.—Handles, on return, all submissions and/or originals sent to Ministries for action. Transcribes the action given onto Records copies.
(3) Ministerial Releases Examiners Table .—Central point for the release, condemnation, &c., of letters emanating from any British Censorship Station which have been submitted to, and returned with, action by Ministries. All letters are examined for Censorship violations which might conflict with Ministerial decisions.
(4) Ministerial Reminders Clerical Table .—Handles matter of “reminding” Ministries of outstanding submissions requiring action. Reminders are sent weekly.
A. Distribution Section .
1. Letter Distribution divided as follows:—
(a) Main split of records into five (5) main Ministries, for convenience in handling only.
(b) Trade and General. This is also sub-divided for Foreign Office, B.B.C., Ministry of Information.
2. Cables and Reports Distribution (also reports from overseas stations).
3. Photostat Section .
4. Re-submission to Ministries Sections .
5. Dispatch to Division of Reports .—Washington to Ottawa and other main Censorship Agencies.
B. Records Section .
This Section has three main files:—
(1) Sender file;
(2) Numerical file;
(3) Card index of addresser.
The Records Section receives two copies of each submission. One of these is filed by sender, the other by records number which is put on the submission by the originating unit.
Prefixes are used by different units and consist principally in groups of 3 letters (for example, a submission from Palermo, Italy, might be numbered ITA/PAL 234), i.e ., the submission originates in Italian Censorship, the Palermo station. A card file for addresses is cross-indexed to the sender file.
Notes .—Some subject matter folders are maintained for submissions which are of purely temporary interest and will be referred to only for the preparation of reports. Submissions regarding letters of complaint about the slowness of the mails at Ch
ristmas time is one example of the material contained in the Subject Matter folder. (Registered letters and originals are never put in Subject Matter File.)
Third Party Files .—No attempt is made to maintain Third Party Files.
Action copies of submissions of held originals are kept in Receipt and Release Section. Numerical receipts are filed in Records Section.
Ministries’ and Departments’ actions in regard to submissions are forwarded back to unit originating submission for their information. (This is a matter of morale. For the same purpose D.A.C.’s occasionally visit I.R.B.).
Cables filed only by numbers. These are sorted into terminals, transits, wireless intercepts (received from monitors) and cables received by mail (from Ottawa, Malta, &c.). Cables can be located only by number, and consequently requests for copies can come only through some Ministry or Department to which an allocation of that same cable has been made.
Telephone intercepts are handled in the same manner as cables.
Reports are filed by stations preparing them and by number. Captured Mail is filed separately. It is divided into Italian and German . This mail is received in bags which in turn contain bundles of letters. Each bundle is numbered in London.
When a numbered bundle is sent to files, it is called a Transfer. Reference to letters in different bundles is therefore made by “Transfer Number.” All letters bearing the same transfer number are filed in the same file. The Control Section’s reviews of stations’ work is facilitated by this filing system.
Alphabetical Filing Guides .—Underline names of addressor and addressee as guides for the filers, and is therefore responsible for seeing that all correspondence relative to individuals or companies is properly filed together. This is important, especially in the case of individuals and companies operating on an international scale, where some variation in name occurs, as between one country and another (for example, Svenska Tandstiker becomes Swedish Match Company in English). All their correspondence is filed together.
COUNTER -ESPIONAGE SECTION .
This Section was established as a result of a Conference held at Miami, Florida, in August 1943.
It works under the executive control of the Chief Officer, I.R.B., who is Chairman of the Censorship Counter-Espionage Committee which consists of Chief Officer, I.R.B., the Deputy Chief Postal Censor and the head of the Secretariat.
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