WA-4282 Peter Wilson to Herbert Norman, Transmitted by Cypher Message from Tommy Stone, 14 August 1945

Between the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Japan's surrender, British and American intelligence officials considered problems of postwar "counter-espionage" against defeated enemies. British Security Coordination (the Secret Intelligence Service's proxy in the United States) officer Peter Cecil Wilson and US military intelligence officers like General Carter W. Clarke believed it would be an "enormous advantage" to assign Herbert Norman to counterintelligence work in Japan. Wilson was not sure the "project" would materialize. He singled out General Douglas MacArthur as the "chief obstacle" to his plan. His interlocutors in the American intelligence community raised concerns about MacArthur's independence from Washington.

This communication is a window into the nature and complexities of Allied relationships in the field of intelligence. An officer of the British Secret Intelligence Service (Wilson) volunteered a Canadian diplomat/intelligence officer (Norman) for service in a postwar American counterintelligence unit. This was made possible by personal relationships between Wilson, Norman and senior members of the US intelligence community in Washington. One of Wilson's underlying goals was to "influence American policy considerably in our particular field."