Dearg code telegram from Joseph P. Walshe to Robert Brennan (Washington)
(No. 96)

What most annoyed people here was fact that American Note came as bolt from blue. Our contact with the American Security people never gave us the slightest hint that anything was wrong. Quite the contrary. We now believe there can be no liaison between State Department officials dealing with our affairs and the Security section concerned. Otherwise such a hostile Note could not have been written.

This state of affairs particularly dangerous since Gray is recognised even by his best friends as a pathological spy maniac. He has produced a new rumour almost every day since the crisis. German meteorological planes which the British tell him appear sometimes 150 to 200 miles off west coast are converted by him into daily visits over our territory. He listens to every word Haw-Haw says for evidence of secret wireless though every fool knows that secret transmitters would not be used for transmission of propaganda. Haw-Haw's Irish news comes from Press agencies through Stockholm, Lisbon and Berne.

You should talk to your close friends about this state of affairs which could so easily cause disaster between us.