Letter from Lieutenant General Peadar MacMahon to Seán Nunan (Dublin)
(Secret)

As you probably know, we had during the war years and, indeed, at intervals since then varying degrees of liaison with both British and American security officers. In August, 1951, Colonel Bryan (then Director of Intelligence) had a letter from General W. Bedell Smith,¹ Director, US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) saying that it was their intention to post a CIA representative to their Embassy in Dublin. On the then Minister’s direction Colonel Bryan replied that after full consideration of the matter by the authorities here it was felt, particularly in view of the existing good relations with the Service Attachés, that the present arrangements were more suitable to our circumstances and that we desired that they should be continued.

On the 19th November last Colonel Callanan, now Director of Intelligence, had a visit from a Mr. De Bardeleben,² the CIA representative attached to the US Embassy in London. After referring to the 1951 proposal regarding the appointment of a CIA representative in Dublin and saying that they fully appreciated the circumstances which obliged the Irish authorities to withhold consent to it, Mr. De Bardeleben went on to say that the present Director of CIA (Mr. Allen W. Dulles)³ was anxious to establish some measure of liaison between the CIA representative in London and our Military Intelligence. He emphasised that they were not interested in Military Intelligence as such and that any liaison that might be approved would confine activities entirely to (1) Counter-espionage and (2) Communist subversive activities. He stated that Mr. Dulles was preparing a communication seeking this facility and wished to know to whom it should be addressed. Colonel Callanan suggested that it could be addressed to the Minister for External Affairs.

We think it well that you should be aware beforehand of our views in the event of such an approach being made formally to you by the US Authorities. We feel that, for many reasons, which I need not go into now, liaison with CIA would be to our advantage. We think, therefore, that an arrangement on the lines suggested should be approved. Furthermore we are of opinion that if the present proposal is not accepted the previous idea of appointing a CIA representative to the Dublin Embassy will be revived and we are anxious to avoid that happening if we possibly can.⁴

There is a Military Intelligence file on this subject which I can let you see if you so desire.