25 July 1961: Leased Landline Circuits Priority of Restoration

The importance and high priority of the “Alerts” circuits is underlined in this forwarded letter from J.K. Starnes (External Affairs, Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee). Starnes notes that the Canadian Government’s commitment to the Tripartite Intelligence Alerts Agreement requires the rapid exchange of “intelligence and assessments” on the likelihood of “any Sino-Soviet military threat in any part of the world.” The Alerts traffic is a forewarning of hostilities, and as such, “it is important that we give the traffic concerned the highest priority.”