The Secret History of MI6 - Keith Jeffery [207]
Whatever direction Neville Chamberlain may have been able to give to the work of the JIC, it was overtaken by further events on the Continent after the Germans invaded Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg and France on 10 May. Chamberlain resigned the same day and was replaced by Winston Churchill, whose ‘galvanic energy’ was to transform the central direction of the British war effort. Churchill’s longstanding interest in intelligence matters was underscored by the transfer of Desmond Morton from the Ministry of Economic Warfare to the 10 Downing Street staff and his appointment ‘to keep personal liaison’ between Churchill and SIS.24 On 3 June 1940 Morton attended the first meeting of what was called the Secret Service Committee. Also present were Cadogan, Hankey, the three service Intelligence Directors, Menzies, Lord Lloyd (Colonial Secretary) and Gladwyn Jebb. On the agenda was ‘the re-organisation of the S.I.S. machine’ necessitated by the German occupation of the coast-line from northern Norway to the English Channel, and ‘the means of continuing S.I.S. activities’ following the anticipated entry of Italy into the war (which actually happened on 10 June). Judging from the rather sketchy record of the meeting, in the event it appears mainly to have involved Menzies defending SIS’s wartime performance:
Colonel Menzies made a statement on the subject of communications with various organisations which he had now established behind the German lines from the extreme north of Norway to Belgium. He also described his organisation in Baltic ports, Finland and Sweden, together with the strengthening of his machine which had been accomplished in the Iberian Peninsula. Some mention was also made of the S.I.S. organisation in Italy, Greece and Turkey.
Various questions were asked of Colonel Menzies, notably in regard to the presentation of reports, the manner in which they reached the authorities concerned, the exact use made of intercepts and the way in which they are linked up with other information, and the functions of the Joint Intelligence Committee. Some discussion also ensued on the part which the S.I.S. might play in the event of an invasion of Great Britain.25
The co-ordination and processing of intelligence was clearly an important issue, which Hankey had evidently intended should be addressed by his proposed monthly meetings. But the Secret Service Committee never really got off the ground. It was eight months before a second meeting (in March 1941), and no further meetings were held that year. The scheme failed in the first place because of SIS’s traditional reluctance to become involved in any formal reporting structure. This was not just a matter of convenience (though it was undoubtedly that too); it stemmed from a desire to avoid what might readily turn into a mechanism for government departments merely to criticise the Service. There was also a genuine security aspect, in which the integrity and value of SIS was protected by its maintaining the lowest-possible profile, even within government itself. SIS, thus, could best keep up with its customers’ requirements by regular, informal meetings and liaison. The problem (as is inevitably the case with any secret intelligence organisation at any time) was how security, with its accompanying lack of institutional and individual definition, could best be reconciled with the efficient and effective integration of the Service and its functions into the wider