Letter from John J. Hearne to Seán Nunan (Dublin)
(Secret)
with undated and unsent reply by Seán Nunan

I¹ have the honour to enclose a note dated the 7th February² from Mr. Brennan to me reporting a conversation which he had on that day with Lieutenant Colonel James J. Macken³ at present of the Department of Justice. Colonel Macken will probably soon be given a post with the Central Intelligence Agency. In the conversation with Mr. Brennan reported in the latter’s note to me Colonel Macken refers to an interview which he had recently with officers of the CIA in which they spoke of a clash between the United States and the Soviet Union this year leading to all-out war. Colonel Macken refers to the immediate use of the atomic bomb when the clash comes, and the taking over of ports in Ireland should that be necessary.

Colonel Macken called up Mr. Brennan on the evening of the 7th February at home and asked him to emphasise, when informing me of their conversation, the very great importance of the information which he had conveyed and the source from which it emanated.

[draft reply]

This is to acknowledge the receipt of your minute of February 9th, enclosing a note of a conversation had by Mr. Brennan with Lieut. Colonel James J. Macken immediately following upon an interview the latter had with officials of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Obviously, Colonel Macken was acting on instructions from the CIA in relating the gist of his interview to Mr. Brennan and it would seem that the Administration is wasting no time in putting into practice the new conception of ‘psychological warfare’. I could remark on the high moral principle of preferring to start a war which would devastate the whole world rather than face unemployment in the motor industry. The only comment I will make, however, is with regard to Colonel Macken’s ‘personal’ opinion that, in the event of war, if the Americans needed aerodromes in Ireland and were not freely accorded them, they would have no hesitation in seizing them, which I take to be the CIA’s first shot in the psychological war against us.

In this connection, the Minister feels that Mr. Brennan should take the earliest opportunity of letting Colonel Macken know that any attempt by the Americans to seize aerodromes here would be most fiercely resisted and that the resistance would not cease when the fight for any particular aerodrome had ended – no matter who was the victor. There could be nothing worse than the bad feeling and spleen of a man who has been wronged by one whom he always considered his best friend and, if the Americans were stupid enough to do what Macken suggests they have in mind to do, a feeling of hatred for America would be engendered in our people which would be greater than our hatred of the old enemy. The Americans would be forced to make an Oradour⁴ of every village in Ireland – and I don’t for a moment believe they want to do that!

In short, word should be got back to the CIA, through Macken, that psychological pressure will not have the desired effect on us. It was tried before by David Gray⁵ and didn’t work and it won’t work this time.