Irish embassy in London ordered to pass on secret information
By James Downey
Irish Independent
December 29, 2007
So, there was a formal link between the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Irish Military Intelligence, known as G2.
This emerges in State papers, formerly secret, now opened for public viewing from January 2 under the 30-year rule.
It is not unusual for papers of a much earlier date, especially if exceptionally confidential, to appear publicly for the first time in these files.
External Affairs Minister Liam Cosgrave, afterwards Taoiseach from 1973 to 1977, made an agreement with the CIA director, Allen Dulles, after which he ordered the Irish embassy in London to facilitate the passage of information between the London CIA station and the G2 chief, a Colonel Callanan.
The messages were delivered by Ambassador Dr FH Boland’s secretary, a Miss Collins.
In a passage of a letter, he said Miss Collins, “like her predecessor, has always handled messages of a similar kind passing between Col Callanan and another governmental agency”.
Given the context, it might be assumed this referred to another US body, perhaps the FBI. But, it could equally well mean one of the British intelligence agencies.
It is well known that there was intense collaboration at more than one level between G2 and British Intelligence during the Second World War. It could be that the contacts, and some of the methods of passing on the information, had since been maintained seamlessly.
The ambassador’s close involvement must certainly raise eyebrows. It was presumably attributable to a desire to ensure that anybody in on the secret was completely trustworthy.
“Mr Cram”, a former US naval officer and a student in Trinity College Dublin, was appointed to deal with Ireland. His superior was a former American cavalry officer, Daniel De Bardeleben.
The Irish ambassador explained part of the modus operandi in the letter to the Department of External Affairs (now Foreign Affairs): “When Mr Bardeleben has something to send, it will be brought down here by special messenger and handed to Miss Collins. It will be in an envelope addressed to Colonel Callanan. Miss Collins will put this in a covering envelope marked ‘Secret’ and addressed to you, and dispatch it in the bag the same evening.”
But another Boland comment takes innocence to extremes: “Knowledge of matters of this kind should be confined as far as possible to a single individual.”
The arrangement has remained a secret for over half a century. It ties in neatly with the publication, in the same batch of State papers, of the disclosure that in the 1960s the Irish authorities searched Cuba-bound planes at the behest of Washington.
Intelligence agencies have to get their information somewhere. And Irish governments do not like to refuse American requests. But the same Irish governments call this country “neutral”.
- James Downey
