194
CONFIDENTIAL
!
Mr Jackson
Defence Department
DEFENCE REVIEW:
1.
NON-NATO COMMITMENTS
Дж
1942
孔
19/11
17. Din fuddy I have told M. Jacksons
BA
A that this
not
Jo
И
PA
Kos
Des 19/1
In the light of your minute of 12 November, and subsequent discussion in the weekly office meeting of Heade of Dependent Territory Departments with Mr Larmour yesterday, I attach a draft telegram to the officers administering all dependent territories to forewarn them of the ministerial statement on 3 December. They will, of course, all receive the text of the statement itself in the verbatim series after the event; they all ought also to receive the fullest possible guidance on the Defence Review in advance, before 3 December (I should be grateful if we could have advance sight of the draft of any such guidance; we may well have suggestions to make for inclusion in it for the benefit of our dependent territory customers). Governors of territories not primarily affected by proposals in the Defence Review should need no further briefing at this stage.
2. Separate telegrams, to be initiated in the first place by the geographical departments concerned, will however also be required in order to give the Governors of territories which will be affected by the Defence keview advance information of proposals which will concern them, before 3 December. When we spoke yesterday on the telephone you were content to leave it to our judgement whether these telegrams should go only to Governors of territories specifically mentioned in the statement, or whether they should go to all Governors whose territories are likely to be affected by the Defence Review itself. I see advantage in adopting the latter alternative, if only to preempt subsequent agitated enquiries from the territories.
!!
3. If you are content with the draft telegram referred to in paragraph 1 above, this could I suggest issue without further ado, but the drafting of the individual telegrams on proposals affecting specific territories, as proposed in paragraph 2 above, cannot I think be put in hand before we see the text of the statement as finally approved. In the meanwhile, however, by way of illustration of the sort of telegram which I think will be needed, I
1
CONFIDENTIAL