CDFB00098: Undated. Featherbed Concept Report.

This report examined and defined the objective of Featherbed and formalized Sweeny’s 11 September 1959 memorandum (CDFB00006, as seen in Section 1). In light of the exposure of successful Soviet penetration into the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom, along with Gouzenko’s earlier disclosures, Canada clearly faced the same threat. Common identifying features of Soviet agents in the United States were used as a starting base to uncover and "neutraliz[e]…R.I.S. (Russian Intelligence Services) penetration" within the Canadian government. While there were “dangers of a McCarthy-like witch hunt,” the very real prospects of Soviet penetration of the Canadian government warranted research and investigation.