28 May 1962: Hydra Communications System

External Affairs did indeed write to the Foreign Office. In this letter to Hugh Stephenson (U.K. Foreign Office), John Starnes apologizes for not writing earlier to explain the plans for protecting HYDRA, which involved incorporating the system into an automatic message switching system. Starnes notes that Tait “as an engineer is not aware of all aspects of the HYDRA operations,” and assures Stephenson that even when HYDRA is incorporated into the STRAD, it will be handled “in a separate part of the automatic equipment” and there will be no disruption to existing arrangements.