740.0011 European War 1939/19586: Telegram

The Acting Secretary of State to the Chargé at Tangier (Childs)

45. From Shaw. Your 84, February 19, noon. The scope of the work to be performed by the control officers has been carefully considered in consultation with the Coordinator of Information. While we are fully alive to the urgency of some of the requests for information which have been made or which may be made in the future, it has been definitely agreed that the vice consuls should engage in no activities which might endanger their position or result ultimately in their expulsion.

It is of course difficult to define the exact nature of the acts which might involve these risks, and to a considerable extent therefore we must rely on the judgment and discretion of the officers concerned. While every effort should be made to comply with requests for information, there should be no attempt to obtain information which might in any way jeopardize the continued functioning of the control officers or of our own career service in North Africa.

Repeat to Casablanca. [Shaw.]

Welles