AMEX.
Note by Mr. W.C.G. Cribbett, R.A.F. Delegation
to the Secretary, Joint Staff Mission in
Washington,
Following the decision at the Joint Staff
Mission meeting held on the 4th November^ that I
should proceed to explore the possibilities of
recruitment of technical officers in accordance with
the procedure recorded on page 2 of the Minutes of the
meeting' the following developments are reported
1.     Recruitment for the Defence Forces,   The Clayton
Knight Committee confirmed that the prospects of
securing officers of the calibre required for the
Services are remote even in the case of the Ifavy which
is prepared to offer the rank of Lieutenant on entry,
and almost hopeless for the other Services who are not
prepared to offer equivalent rank.     Nevertheless, we
propose to ask them to use their best endeavours to
assist us.
Discussions have also taken place with
Dr. Conant and Mr, Bailey on -
(a) the precise form of assistance the
Conant Scheme offers,
(b) the feasibility of numerical expansion of
the existing scheme (covering the three
classes of Communications Officers and
known as the Electronics Battalion) and
of extending the scope of the scheme to
include other classes (Engineer, Armament
and Civil Engineering Officers).
With regard to (a), Dr. Conant explained
that the genesis of the scheme was that he had managed
to secure the interest of the President in a proposal
to commission into the U.S. Signal Corps a number of
officers who would be available to proceed to the U.K.
for radio and signals work.     The President
enthusiastically supported the proposal especially in
view of the importance of developing and maintaining
radio locator technique, and instructed the Chief of
the Signal Corps to form a body of officers who would
be available for service in the U.K.     Owing to
political difficulties these officers could only be
made available to us in the capacity of Observers
for a limited period of service which was ultimately
fixed at eight months.     Dr. Conant stated that it had
been clearly understood that no objection would be
raised to the employment of these officers in a useful
constructive capacity and in substitution, if necessary,
for Service officers.     The only stipulation made was
that they should not be employed on air borne duties.
He advised, however, that we should not seek official
1
endorsement of this view, but   that we should simply
proceed to act on that assumption.     As regards the
extension of the period of service Dr. Conant
expressed the personal view that before the time
arrived to consider the withdrawal of these officers,
the position of the United States in relation to the
war would have changed so materially as to have
produced a situation in which a solution would present
no difficulty.     For that reason, he advocated that we
should not at this stage make any approach to the U.S.
authorities on the question of extension of the time
limit.
I suggest that we should inform London
accordingly, and that we should recommend them to
regard Conant officers as likely to be available
beyond the prescribed period.
On the question of numerical expansion and
extension of the scope of the scheme he was frankly not
sanguine of producing spectacular results.     He was,
however, prepared to place his services at our disposal
with a view to securing such measure of assistance as
could be obtained in face of the increasing demands on
the U.S. V/ar and Navy Departments for technical
officers drawn from the same limited reservoir. He
suggested, however, that the most effective basis of
approach to the problei.i would be to obtain two cables
from the Hankey Committee, one dealing with the
question of expansion of the existing scheme associated
with the Signal Corps, and the other seeking assistance
in the new field covered by the other requirements.
With regard to the first cable, he suggested
that its terms should include the following points
(a) a reference to the excellence of the
officers already sent to the U.K.
(b) an indication that they were proving of
the utmost assistance to the British
Government and, by reason of the
experience they were gaining, would
acquire greater value to the U.S.
Government.
(c) in view of the urgency of our need in
the immediate future a request to
explore the possibility of accelerating
the provision of these officers so as to
double the numbers available within the
next few months,
(d) a more precise statement of the actual
nature of the duties on which the
officers would be employed with the
various Forces.
Dr. Conant suggested that the second cable
should consist of a request for assistance in the
remaining categories giving the particulars of numbers
required for the Services and a short but adequate
description of the specific duties for which their
Services were required.     The request should conclude
v/ith a direction to pursue the possibility of
establishing an organisation on lines parallel to that
of the existing Electronics Battalion in order to meet
the need for officers which could not be met throurh
the medium of the U.S. Signal Corps.
2
Turning to the question of the
requirements of the Supply Departments, Dr. Gonant
expressed the view that we should be unlikely to
secure any material numbers of the highly trained
types we sought.     He agreed, however, that if the
proposed American Civilian Technical Corps
materialised we might   well approach the U.S.
authorities with the suggestion that an Officers
Section should be formed to deal with the miscellany
of technical officers required.
Mr. Bailey stated that he had already been
engaged, at the request of the Embassy, on an
exhaustive search for the research scientists required
by the Supply Departments notified in Foreign Office
letter of the ljth August, 1941, but up to the
present had been unable to secure a single candidate.
I attach a draft of a cable* which it is
suggested should be sent from the Joint Staff :&ssion
to Lord Hankey's Committee.
(Signed)   Y/.C.G. CRIBBETT.
6th November, 1941.
*   Enclosure to Annex.
ENCLOSURE TO ANNEX
DRAFT OF PROPOSED TELEGRAM FROI.I THE JOINT
STAFF MISSION TO LORD HAWKEY'S COMMITTEE,
Following progress has been made v;ith the
co-ordinated statement of requirements of technical
officers for the fighting Services and Supply
Departments:
1, Recruitment for Defence Forces. Prospects
of securing officers of the calibre required for the
Services are slender, especially for the R.A.F. and
Army who are not prepared to offer rank on entry
equivalent to that of Lieutenant Navy,
Clayton Knight Committee (Canadian Aviation
Bureau) however is being asked to pursue possibilities.
Discussions have taken place with Dr, Conant
and we understand that no objection will be raised to
the employment of officers provided under his scheme
in useful constructive capacity.   He confirms the limit
of eight months service in the U.K. but personally
considers that before officers are due for with-
drawal the position of the U.S. .in relation to the
war will enable solution to be reached without diffi-
culty.   He therefore advises that we should not take
official action at this stage to seeking the removal
of the time limit.   With regard to prospects of
securing additional numbers and classes of technical
officers, he considers that we should be unlikely to
secure the numbers we sought in view of the increasing
demands on the same sources by the U.S. Forces, He
is prepared, however, to assist us in approaching the
U.S. authorities for additional officers"but strongly
advocates that the basis of approach should be two
cables from you, one dealing with the question of
expansion of the exisiting scheme which is exclusively
associated with the Signal Corps and the other seeking
assistance in the new field covered by other require-
ments.   He suggests that the first should embody
following points:-
(a) reference to the excellent quality of the
officers already sent to the U.K.
(b) a statement that they were proving of the
utmost assistance to the British Govern-
ment and, by reason of the experience they
were gaining, would acquire greater value
to the U.S. Government.
(c) we are grateful for the steps already taken
to increase the rate of flow, but in view
of the urgency of our need in the imme-
diate future a request to explore the possi-
bility of accelerating the provision of
these provision of these officers so as to
double the numbers available within the
next few months,
(d) a more precise statement of the actual nature
of the duties on which the officers would be
employed with the various Forces,
The second cable should consist of a request
for assistance in meeting deficiencies in the
remaining categories giving particulars of numbers
required for the three Services and a brief but ade-
quate description of the specific duties for which
their services were required.   The request should
conclude with an instruction to pursue the possibility
of establishing an organisation on lines parallel to
that of the existing Electronics Battalion in order to
meet the need for officers which could not be met
through the medium of the U.S. Signal Corps.
Dr. Conant thought that we should be unlikely
to secure many of the highly trained types we sought
for the Supply Departments.   Exhaustive endeavours
already made to obtain the research scientists notified
in Foreign Office letter of the ljth August, 1941, had
so far not yielded a single candidate.   Conant agreed,
however, that if the proposed American Civilian
Technical Corps materialised we might well approach
the U.S. authorities with the suggestion that an
Officers Section should be formed to deal with these
requirements.