1 The SMrtte27f Following the decision at the Joint Staff tilssion Booting on the 4th ::ovGjaber thr.t I shovld proceed to ex lore the possibilitiee of recruitment of technical cfficcrs in accordance with the rooedurc recorded on page 2 of the nlnutes of the recti nn the following development* an rr. Conant and ¦ r. Bailey on - ¦ (a) the precise fore of assistance the Conant Sob (b) the feasibility of materlcal expaaaion of the existing aohene (covering the three classes of CosBur.lcations Office re and known ae the Jllectronics Battalion) and of extending the .scope of the schenc to include other claaeee (Engineer, Arraaient and Civil Engineering Offioere). Kith regard to (a) r>r. Ccnent explained that the genesis of the swhene vaa thai he had ranged to secure the interest cf the resident in a proposal to cosadaaion 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 iresident enthusiastically supported the proposal especially in view cf the importance of developing and maintaining radio locator technique, and instruoted the Chief of the signal Corps to fom a body of officers who wovld be available for service in the U.K. 'wing to political difficul- ties these office. s could only be nade available to us in the capacity of Observers for a United period of service which was ultlrately fixed at eight months. Dr. vo-ant stated that it had been dearly understood that no objection would be raised to the eptploysiant of these office e in a useful constructive capacity and in substitution, if necessary, for Service officers. The only stipulation wade was that they shovld not be employed on air borne duties, lie advised, however, that we should not seek official ondorsemont of this view, but that we should siicply proceed tc act on that estnsaption. As regards the extension of the period of service Dr. Conant expressed the personal view that before tan tins arrived to consider the withers*! of these offioera, the position of the I sited States in relation to the war would have changed so naterlapy as to have produced a situation in which a solution wovld present no difficulty. ror that reason, he advocated that m should not at this stare cake any approACh to the U.S. anthoritiea on the question of extensl r. of the tiao liadt. Z sng0»ot that we should lnforr. London accord! gly, and that we should re their tc regard Conant officerc as likely to be available >>cyond the prescribed period* Ob the question of metrical expansion and exle eion of the 00^0 of the aches* he was frankly not sen uine of producing spectacular results. Re was, however, prepared to place his services at our disposal with a view to securing such measure of assistance as covld be obtained in face of the increswan% anends on the U.S. War and Mavy Eepertnents for technical officers drawn fron the sens lifted reservoir. He sugescted, however, that the nost effective basis cf approach to the : roblen would be to obtain two cobles fron the I'ankey Ccavdttee, one dealing vita the Question of expansion of the existing scheae associated with she Signal Corps, and the other seeking assistance in the new field covered tgr the other represents* With regard to tlio first cable he suggested that its terra shovld include the following points!• (a) a reference to the excellence of the officers already sent to the U.K. (b) an indication that they acre proving of the v.tnost assistance tc the British Government am!, by reason of the experience they were gaining, would acquire greater value to the U.S. Govemrent. (O)/ (o) to view of the urgency of our need 1: the iwnediate future a request to explore the possibility of accelerating the provision of these offloers so as to double the numbers available within the next few r-cothe. (d) a Bore precise statement of the actual nature of the duties on ehioh the offloers would be ewployed with the various Forces. Dr# Conant suggested that the second cable should consist of e request for asaisiar.ce lr the reeaining categories giving tea particulars of maters required for the services and a short but adequate description of the specific duties for which their services MM required. T>ie reqittnt should conclude with a direction to pursue the possibility of establishing an organisation on lines parallel to that of the existing riectronica battalion in order to aeet the need for officers which could not be set through the 2*di«a cf the U.S. Signal Corps. Turning to the question of the requireneuts of tr& supply i-epartrients, I«r# Conant expressec' the view that we shculd be unlikely to secure any material nunbers of the highly trained types wo sought. He agreed, however, that if the proposed American Civilian Technical Corps raterialiaed we a*gnt well approach the U.S. authoritiee with tie suggestion that an Officers Secti-n should be forced to deal with the rdscellany of technical officers required. kv« £&iloy steted that tap had already been engaged, at the request of the • skusc y . ;-• oxhiua few search for thi reseexci. so entists required y the ~up ly : ovartaents notified in Foreign Office letter cf the 15th August, 1941, but up to the present bal been unable to secure a single candidate. I attach a draft of a cable which it is sugj-estad should be sect freer the Joint staff SSesion to Lord tlaakey'e Oosrittee. Copy toi fcr. W.G.Hayter, British Embassy. ^