1) Mr. Acheson (at his meeting in London) has informed Foreign Secretary that United States Government have agreed to suggestion for appointment of a Deputy Chief of Staff for operations in Korea at General Clark's headquarters but would like this officer to "represent interests" of other Commonwealth Governments concerned as well.

2) We would greatly welcome an arrangement under which United Kingdom officer for this post would be a "Commonwealth" appointment and very much hope that Mr. Acheson's proposal will commend itself to other Commonwealth Governments with forces in Korea (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India). It should improve contacts between the Commonwealth and the United Nations Command on the purely military side and thus prove of value to our collective effort in Korea.

3) In debates in both Houses on 1st July it is contemplated that Minister of Defence and Minister of State will make statements about their visit to Korea and we would wish to make appropriate announcement about Deputy Chief of Staff appointment then. Ends.

2. You may say to the United Kingdom authorities that for our part we would welcome the appointment of a United Kingdom officer as Deputy Chief of Staff to General Mark Clark and think that this may prove a very helpful development. It would certainly be useful from our point of view that this officer should bear in mind the interests of other Commonwealth countries with forces in Korea and we would appreciate an arrangement of this kind. For your own information, we have some doubts as to how far a Deputy Chief of Staff could go in representing Commonwealth interests. His first loyalty would, of course, have to be to General Mark Clark and through him to the United States Chiefs of Staff. In view of his position on General Clark's staff, he could not in practice, it seems to us, be a channel of communication to the Commonwealth military liaison officers. Despite these inevitable limitations on his usefulness in improving our contacts with the United Nations Command, we can see advantage from our point of view in his appointment, particularly if an officer is chosen who possesses sortie sensitivity to political developments. Such an officer could no doubt call to General Clark's attention from time to time the necessity for consultation with authorities of Commonwealth countries on operational decisions having a political or semi-political content. In this connection we should like to see a copy of the directive if issued by the United Kingdom Government to the Deputy Chief of Staff.

3. With regard to the suggestion that this should be a "Commonwealth appointment" you should say to the United Kingdom authorities that we are quite a little puzzled by such a description of the nature of the appointment. In our view the appointment of a Deputy Chief of Staff to General Mark Clark would obviously be a United Nations appointment. The decision to appoint a Commonwealth officer to this post is surely one for the Unified Command. As already explained, we would welcome the appointment of a Commonwealth officer to the post but we feel that it should be made clear in any United Kingdom Government statement in the House of Commons that this appointment is made by the Unified Command on behalf of the United Nations.

4. You will recall that during the discussions relative to the formation of the First (Commonwealth) Division, the Canadian Government, while welcoming the formation of the Division, for operational purposes felt that it was essential that the title should be approved by the Unified Command. As reported in United Kingdom Army message from Kure, Japan, No. Z 8233 of April 29, 1951, "specific concurrence of Unified Command has been obtained 'First (Commonwealth) Division, United Nations forces.' " You may wish to draw this telegram to the attention of the United Kingdom authorities as precedent.