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13. As regards (ii), the Representatives on the Committee must be an integral part of the High Commands' organisations. An attempt was made to meet this in the past by making the British Military Representatives collectively a sub-committee of the Chiefs of Staff; but this was never seriously treated, as they were not also a part of the General Staffs themselves, as..are other sub-committees of the Chiefs of Staff.
Hence, the only conclusion I can come to is that, for the British part, the Representatives should hold definite positions within their respective Minis tries. As I am still convinced that the rank of the officers on the Allied Military Committee should be above that of Colonel in order that the discussions should be directly representative of the Chiefs of Staff, the Representatives should also hold the post of Assistant Chief of Staff and function as such in their own Ministries.
14.
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The above is quite practicable. The British Representatives on the Allied Military Committee would then function in committee in precisely the same way as the Directors of Plans now function in the Joint Planning Sub-Committee. They would have their departmental responsibilities and also their responsibilities as a corporate body. One would imagine that their duties within the Defence Departments would be largely concerned with aspects of the conduct of the war in which the allies were involved,
15. The Secretariat would be responsible for calling meetings of the Committee as necessary, to consider subjects raised either by the British or the Allied authority. Briefing of the British Representatives, where necessary, would be provided by the Joint Planning Committee, just as had been intended in the past.
16.
To sum up:
(a)
(b)
Should we again wage the war in
collaboration with an ally of equal standing, we shall require an Allied Military Committee organisation to provide a machine through which subjects of Allied military policy can receive preliminary discussion and ventilation, on an equal basis as between the Allied Staffs.
The organisation provided to date was
theoretically sound, but to ensure that in the future the British representation possess proper standing it would seem desirable that the British Representatives individually also hold a responsible post inside their respective Defence Ministries (for example, that of Assistant Chief of Staff).
(c) The terms of reference and the functions of the
body should be widely known and fully understood. (A suggested draft of such instructions for the British Representatives is attached herewith as an annex. The Allied Representatives should receive instructions in similar terms),
* Annex 3.
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