Following for Mr. Drury from W.R. Wright, for delivery first thing Wednesday morning.

1. At the meeting on civil defence which took place on November 21st, it was agreed to issue a statement to the press here at about 10 a.m. on Wednesday, November 22nd, to be marked "for immediate release". The text of the press statement is given below.

2. The most important recommendation of the conference on civil defence was that a small joint civil defence planning group should be established, subject to approval by both Governments. The group would explore the problems involved in civil defence co ordination between the two Federal Governments and the States and Provinces. It was thought that they should delegate such matters as customs and immigration, movement of doctors and nurses across the border, etc. to working groups of experts of the two countries who would report their findings back to the planning group.

3. It was also agreed that it would be useful to arrange the exchange of permanent civil defence officers, as is presently done by the three services. Worthington, on further consideration, believes he can usefully make someone available for assignment to the Civil Defence Office here. Similarly a United States civil defence officer would then be assigned to Ottawa.

4. There was a general and informative interchange of views on particular problems, such as the stage reached in the civil defence planning in particular fields by both countries.

5. Throughout the discussions, we took care to make no commitments which might fall within the competence of the Provinces, and it was agreed that the planning group, if set up, would go more thoroughly into the constitutional problems involved in civil defence coordination between the States and Provinces.

6. Following is the text of the press release:

Civil defense officials of the United States and Canada today recommended the establishment of a planning group to study civil defense problems shared by both countries.

Consideration was given to interchanging civil defense information, and plans, and a proposal to exchange permanent liaison officers.

The meeting was held in the Executive Office Building here between the top civil defense officials of both countries. It arose out of the series of conferences which have been held between civil defense representatives on the lower level. The United States group was headed by James J. Wadsworth, Acting Director, Civil Defense Office of the National Security Resources Board. The Canadian delegation was led by General F.F. Worthington, Civil Defense Coordinator.

Various aspects of civil defense were discussed by the conferees. Concerning problems common to both countries, it was agreed to recommend the creation of a special group to study such matters as coordination of mutual aid, standardization of equipment, organization of personnel and procedures to be followed.

Besides General Worthington, those in the Canadian group included A.L. Wright, Civil Defense Liaison; W.D. Matthews, Minister, Canadian Embassy, Washington; B.A. Wallis, Second Secretary, Canadian Embassy, and W.R. Wright, Department of National Defense, Ottawa.

In this United States group, besides Mr. Wadsworth, were Col. Barnet Beers, Assistant for Civil Defense Liaison, Office of the Secretary of Defense; H. Merrell Benninghoff, Officer in Charge of Dominion Affairs, Bureau of European Affairs, State Department; Hubert R. Gallagher, Head of State Local Relations Group, Civil Defense Office; Samuel H. Sabin, Associate General Counsel, NSRB, and Frederick P. Hobart, Congressional Liaison, Civil Defense Office. Text ends.