03 November 1958: HYDRA Communication System

The result of this information-gathering was this brief on the HYDRA communications system. The brief summarizes the development of the HYDRA system, emphasizing National Defence’s contributions and improvements made to the facilities over time. Comparison is made between External Affairs’ annual contributions to the system (about $86,000, annually, and only since 1953) and the DND’s contributions to the system (about $500,000 annually). The report goes onto mention Crean’s unfortunate comments on the nature of HYDRA, and once again stresses that it is a cooperative venture. The brief concludes that the army should continue to operate HYDRA for communications intelligence purposes.