CDIW00005. 29 November 1954. Letter to Patrick Dean from G.G. Crean

This letter from G.G. Crean, Chairman of the Ottawa Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) to his British counterpart, Patrick Dean of the London JIC, discussed the “problem of ‘alerts." Both the British and the Canadians were left “concerned and confused” after receiving a series of COMINT alerts from the NSA in Washington. Crean told Dean that the Canadians were worried about “getting through Comint channels intelligence information which we do not receive on any direct channel from other intelligence agencies and users in Washington.” Crean asked Dean how he viewed the current American system and how the British would act with respect to the Ottawa JIC if they received “hot” information from non-COMINT sources. He suggested that if the London JIC received information that would necessitate a “crash meeting”, this information should be rapidly passed to the Ottawa JIC.