Confidential report from Michael MacWhite to Joseph P. Walshe (Dublin)
(Confidential) (Copy)

The shyness of Italian diplomats whom I have met here after previously experiencing their cordiality and friendship in Europe and America has been a source of some surprise to me since my arrival in Rome. It is only with difficulty one can get them to accept an invitation and even at table they appear ill at ease.

Recently, however, I have learnt that only a very small number among the higher officials of the Italian Foreign Office are permitted to frequent Embassies or Legations or to accept the hospitality of foreign diplomats. Those not included in this restricted group who cultivate the friendship of diplomats have a special mission to fulfil the successful outcome of which must be of particular interest to the Italian Government. Any other officials who associate with foreigners would soon find themselves facing a Courtmartial and consequent punishment.

Every Embassy and Legation in Rome has a special guard of at least two gendarmes either in full uniform or in plain clothes. The Soviet Embassy has two at each of its four corners and the French Embassy is, at the moment guarded by only about fifty men. The object of this guard is ostensibly to protect diplomats from molestation but it has also to note and describe callers. After my arrival here a couple of plain clothes men were always in the hotel corridor outside the door of the apartment. The Belgian Ambassador who occupied a suite on the same floor had also his guard. I am convinced that in our absence these men entered our rooms either in the guise of valets or waiters because on one occasion the Dial of a small radio we brought from America was unscrewed and replaced the wrong side up. This happened while we were at dinner. They thought probably it had a secret transmitter. After this, we always kept the Messenger in the Office while at meals - even on Sundays.

After moving into this Flat our guard moved with us. One of them rarely goes more than fifty or sixty yards from the main entrance. If anything escapes him the Concierge who is always on hand will be able to keep him posted, for no Concierge of an Apartment house can hold the job unless he is a member of the Fascist Party and he is sworn to give information to the police about the inhabitants, their movements, habits, visitors and guests. Every person who spends a night in any house in this country must produce an identity card or Passport for registration either with the Porter or the head of the Household both of whom are liable to fine and imprisonment for neglect of duty in this respect. It would not therefore be possible for a person in Italy native or foreign who sleeps in a habitation to escape the surveillance of the authorities for much more than twenty four hours.

I have been assured by some of my colleagues that Diplomatic pouches, out and inward bound, have from time to time been tampered with. The British, French and some of the more important Missions have their own Couriers travelling to and from Rome with their dispatches. The others, like ourselves, use the ordinary postal channels. It would not be a difficult task for an expert to make duplicate keys and seals, but it is much easier to rip the side of the Pouch and have it restitched with the same kind of thread. A high church dignitary told me that dispatches from the Papal Nuncio at Berlin were secured on this side of the Austrian border and copies conveyed to the German authorities. By this means, it is believed, the Nazis obtained immediate and first hand information of the plans of the hierarchy for Catholic defense in Germany.

A retired newspaper man who had relations with the Italian police assured me that the special Post Office branch had photostatic copies of most of the private correspondence which Ambassadors and Ministers confide to the mails. Letters from Italians to one another are also investigated as a result of which indiscreet writers find themselves frequently in trouble. Practically all letters going abroad are suspected to contain notes or cheques and are therefore subject to examination. This system of espionage has been known in Italy for generations but to-day it has been reduced to a fine art.