Scholar, diplomat, Intelligence pioneer: Herbert Norman and Canada’s Special Intelligence Section, 1942-1945

ABSTRACT

Using recently declassified documents, this article examines the wartime work of Canada’s Special Intelligence Section under diplomat Herbert Norman. This was the first experiment with all-source strategic intelligence analysis in Canada. The SIS scrutinized intercepted Japanese and French communications, and prepared regular intelligence reports on enemies’ conduct of the war. Its analysis sometimes veered into prescriptions of Allied policy and grand strategy for the benefit of readers like Prime Minister Mackenzie King. During the Second World War, Canada’s SIS demonstrated that intelligence personnel with deep expertise could produce insightful analyses of key global developments for strategists and decision-makers.

Acknowledgements

The author is grateful to Tim Sayle and Alan Barnes for providing feedback on earlier drafts of this article, and to the editors and reviewers of this journal for their advice. The article would not have been possible without the work of the ATIP team at Library and Archives and the Canadian Foreign Intelligence History Project. Digital copies of Special Intelligence Section documents released under Canada’s Access to Information Act were made available through the CFIHP database. See https://carleton.ca/csids/canadian-foreign-intelligence-history-project/.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Bryden, Best-Kept Secret & Wark, “Cryptographic Innocence”, 639–665.

2. Robson, “The Third Eye”, 954–969.

3. S.H. Gould and J.F. Bartlett, Chapter VII, ‘Japanese Military Section’, G. de B. Robinson (ed.), A History of the Examination Unit, 1941–1945, July 1945, RG24 Vol. 29166 File WWII-31, 184–185, Library and Archives Canada.

4. In this article, the acronym SIS is used in reference to Canada’s Special Intelligence Section, rather than the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6).

5. Signals intelligence work began before the formal outbreak of war between Canada and Japan in December 1941. Wilford, Canada’s Road to the Pacific War, 35.

6. Allegations of espionage are made most energetically in Barros, No Sense of Evil. The case for innocence can be found in Roger Bowen, Innocence is Not Enough. Norman was posthumously cleared by an official investigation commissioned by Canada’s Department of External Affairs: see Peyton V. Lyon, ‘The Loyalties of E. Herbert Norman’, 219–259.

7. Sayle, “Maintaining Innocence”, 218–237.

8. Arthur Menzies, Notes of Interview with John Bryden, ‘Examination Unit’, 20 August 1991, R15615, Vol. 51, File 4, LAC; Tom Earle, ‘Typed Interview Transcript’, R1026-213-6-E, Vol. 2574 & Harjit Virdee to Arthur Menzies, Oral History Interview ‘Questions and Transcripts’, Email, February 3, 2004, R15615, Vol. 51, File 4, LAC. Menzies remained unsure if he could speak candidly about his wartime intelligence work as late as 1996. Menzies to Wark, Ottawa, 19 August 1996, R15615, Vol. 51, File 4, LAC., Thailand

9. Barnes, “First Steps”, 37.

10. E.H. Norman, ‘Is Japan Preparing to Attack the Soviet Union?’ 22 January 1943, RG25 BAN 2016–00,628–5 Box 6 File AD-2, LAC, CDSI00004. All records cited with a ‘CD’ number are available online at Canada Declassified. To view a document, proceed to https://declassified.library.utoronto.ca, click the magnifying glass symbol, and search for the Canada Declassified identifier, i.e., ‘CDSI00004’.

11. The pattern of intelligence reaching Canadian policymakers through analytical products persists today. Carvin and Juneau, Intelligence Analysis and Policy Making, ‘Introduction’.

12. E.H. Norman, “Japanese Prospects and Policy”, 29 March 1943, RG25 BAN 2016–00,628–5 Box 6 File AD-2, LAC, CDSI00005.

13. See David Priess, The President’s Book of Secrets: The Untold Story of Intelligence Briefings to America’s Presidents (New York: Public Affairs, 2016), viii.

14. Charles Taylor, Six Journeys: A Canadian Pattern (Toronto: Anansi, 1977), 123–24.

15. Remer was an economic historian of China who led the OSS’s Far Eastern Division. C.F. Remer, OSS to W.R. Langdon, State Department, ‘Dr. E. Herbert Norman’, 21 July 1942, FOIA Collection, CIA Records, Document 0001365868: https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/0001365868.

16. Reischauer, “Herb Norman”, 4. Norman’s lifelong interest in Japan’s rural populace is captured in works like Soldier and Peasant in Japan.

17. CIA Document 0001365868.

18. Norman A. Robertson, Memorandum for Mr. Beaudry, Mr. Wrong, Mr. Read, and Dr. Keenleyside, ‘Creation of DEA SIS’, 25 September 1942, RG24 Vol. 29165, File WWII-15 Part 4, LAC.

19. Barnes, “First Steps”, 6.

20. Letter from Lester B. Pearson to O.D. Skelton, 23 February 1939, MG26 N1, Vol. 14, 1939–40, LAC. Quoted in Jensen, Cautious Beginnings, 31.

21. The catalyst may have been fears of Vichy subversion and sabotage. Wark, ‘Cryptographic Innocence’, 642.

22. A.F. Hart, Interview with George Glazebrook, ‘Wartime Intelligence and Security’, Toronto, 11 January 1977, Global Affairs Canada ATIP A-2018–91983.

23. Robinson, A History of the Examination Unit, 17.

24. 50 was the maximum size of the Examination Unit staff at any one time. By contrast, Bletchley Park had a staff of almost 9,000. Pepall, Canada’s Bletchley Park, 18.

25. Jensen, Cautious Beginnings, 59–60.

26. Barnes, “First Steps”, 7.

27. Don Page, “The Arcana of Diplomacy”, Unpublished chapter for an official history of Canada’s Department of External Affairs, 1981, RG25, Box 32, File 7-5-2, Part 1, LAC, CDSI00041.

28. Virdee, Oral History Interview with Arthur Menzies, 2004.

29. John Hilliker, Canada’s Department of External Affairs Volume 1: the Early Years, 1909–1946 (Kingston & Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1990), 257–258.

30. E.H. Norman, “Special Intelligence Section of the Department of External Affairs”, in Robinson, History of the Examination Unit.

31. Parks Canada, ‘The Examination Unit (1941–1945): National Historic Event’, 2021: https://parks.canada.ca/culture/designation/evenement-event/examen-examination.

32. Pepall, Canada’s Bletchley Park, 13.

33. In later years, Menzies cautioned scholars that he could not ‘remember the juicy details that might add verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and uninteresting story’. Menzies to Wark, Ottawa, 19 August 1996.

34. Diaries of William Lyon Mackenzie King, Item 2681: 24 October 1944, MG26-J13: http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=diawlmking&id=26181&lang=eng.

35. Norman, “Japanese Prospects and Policy”, 29 March 1943, CDSI00005.

36. Virdee, Oral History Interview with Arthur Menzies, 2004.

37. J.L. Granatstein and David Stafford, Spy Wars: Espionage and Canada from Gouzenko to Glasnost (Toronto: Key Porter Books, 1990), 41.

38. Norman, “Special Intelligence Section”, History of the Examination Unit, 57 & Page, ‘The Arcana of Diplomacy’.

39. Thomas A. Stone, DEA to Allen Dulles, OSS, 28 October 1942, US National Archives and Records Administration Box 1358 & Lester Pearson to Colonel William J. Donovan, Director, OSS, 5 November 1942, RG226, Microfilm 1642, Frame 463, NARA.

40. The liaison officer was most likely Charles Burton Fahs, who became the OSS’s Chief of Research and Analysis (Far East).

41. Frances Robinson Bryce to J.L. Granatstein, Draft Comments on ‘A Man of Influence’, Ottawa, 30 August 1981, R4583, Vol. 14, File 8, LAC.

42. Washington DC to the Minister and Undersecretary of External Affairs, “US Senate Internal Security Testimony of Shigeto Tsuru, March 26 and 27”, 10 April 1957, R4583, Vol. 19, File 25, LAC.

43. Barros, No Sense of Evil, 21.

44. Knight, How the Cold War Began, 252.

45. “Material Relating to the Repatriation of Americans, British and Canadians from the Far East, 10 October 1942; ‘New Delhi Telegrams’, 16 January 1943, CDSI00003; ‘New Delhi Monitoring Digest (Extracts from Broadcasts)’, 19 January 1943, CDSI00003; ‘Summary of Intercepts from Argentine to Japanese Stations’, 24 January 1943, CDSI00002, RG25 BAN 2016–00,628–5 Box 6 File AD-2, LAC.

46. Virdee, Oral History Interview with Arthur Menzies, 2004.

47. Norman, ‘Is Japan Preparing to Attack the Soviet Union?’ 22 January 1943, CDSI00004.

48. Ibid.

49. Ibid.

50. Norman, ‘Special Intelligence Section of the Department of External Affairs’, in Robinson, History of the Examination Unit, 52.

51. Norman, ‘Is Japan Preparing to Attack the Soviet Union?’ 22 January 1943, CDSI00001.

52. Ibid.

53. Norman, “Japanese Prospects and Policy”, 29 March 1943, CDSI00005.

54. Norman, ‘Is Japan Preparing to Attack the Soviet Union?’ 22 January 1943, CDSI00004.

55. Ibid.

56. Mazower, Governing the World, 187–188.

57. Norman, ‘Japanese Prospects and Policy’, 29 March 1943, CDSI00005.

58. Ibid.

59. Ibid.

60. Ibid.

61. Norman, “The Recent Change of Japanese Foreign Minister and the Course of Japanese Policy”, 23 April 1943, RG25 BAN 2016–00,628–5 Box 6 File AD-2, LAC, CDSI00008.

62. Norman, “Japanese Prospects and Policy”, 29 March 1943, CDSI00005.

63. Ibid & Norman, “The Recent Change of Japanese Foreign Minister”, 23 April 1943, CDSI00008.

64. Norman, “Japanese Prospects and Policy”, 29 March 1943, CDSI00005 & Chapnick, The Middle Power Project, 36.

65. Report of Confidential Agent, “Changes in Japanese Policy as a Result of Conferences Among High Japanese Military Leaders”, 9 April 1943, RG25 BAN 2016–00,628–5 Box 6 File AD-2, LAC, CDSI00006.

66. Menzies, “Japan’s Economic Position”, 1 November 1943, RG25 BAN 2016–00,628–5 Box 6 File AD-2, LAC, CDSI00018.

67. Norman, “The Recent Change of Japanese Foreign Minister”, 23 April 1943, CDSI00008.

68. See Motadel, “The Global Authoritarian Moment’ and the Revolt Against Empire”, 843.

69. Norman, “Memorandum on Subhas Chandra Bose”, 6 July 1943, RG25 BAN 2016–00,628–5 Box 6 File AD-2, LAC, CDSI00011.

70. Menzies, “Burmese Independence”, 2 August 1943, RG25 BAN 2016–00,628–5 Box 6 File AD-2, LAC, CDSI00012.

71. Norman, “The Japanese in the Netherlands East Indies”, 16 October 1943, RG25 BAN 2016–00,628–5 Box 6 File AD-2, LAC.

72. Menzies, “East Asia Charter and Bougainville Victory”, 22 November 1943, RG25 BAN 2016–00,628–5 Box 6 File AD-2, LAC, CDSI00020.

73. Ibid.

74. Norman, “Japanese Reaction to the Surrender of Italy”, 21 September 1943, RG25 BAN 2016–00,628–5 Box 6 File AD-2, LAC, CDSI00016.

75. Menzies, ‘Burmese Independence’, 2 August 1943, CDSI00012.

76. See Overy, Blood and Ruins, 12–13.

77. ”List of Japanese Personalities of Current Interest”, 18 August 1943, RG25 BAN 2016–00,628–5 Box 6 File AD-2, LAC, CDSI00013.

78. Barnes, “First Steps”, 9.

79. ‘List of Burman Personalities of Current Interest’, 26 August 1943, CDSI00014 & ‘List of Europeans and Other Foreigners Residing in Japan or Japanese Occupied Asia of Current Interest’, 3 September 1943, RG25 BAN 2016–00,628–5 Box 6 File AD-2, LAC, CDSI00015.

80. Norman, ‘Morale in Germany and Opportunities for Political Warfare’, 26 October 1943, RG25 BAN 2016–00,628–5 Box 6 File AD-2, LAC, CDSI00017.

81. Ibid.

82. Stanzel, “German Prisoners of War in Canada”, 13.

83. Norman, ‘Morale in Germany’, 26 October 1943, CDSI00017.

84. Menzies, “Japan’s Economic Position”, 1 November 1943, CDSI00018; ‘Japanese Parachute Troops’, 2 November 1943; ‘East Asia Charter and Bougainville Victory’, 22 November 1943, RG25 BAN 2016–00,628–5 Box 6 File AD-2, LAC, CDSI00020.

85. Norman, ‘Report on the Gripsholm’, 14 December 1943, RG25 BAN 2016–00,628–5 Box 6 File AD-2, LAC, CDSI00021.

86. Ibid.

87. US OSS Report, “Morale and Social Conditions in Japan and Occupied Areas as Reported by American Repatriates”, 23 March 1944, Canada’s Department of National Defence (DND) DHH 322.009 (D157).

88. Norman, “Special Intelligence Section of the Department of External Affairs”, in Robinson, A History of the Examination Unit, 1941–1945, 53–55.

89. Ibid.

90. Norman, “Situation Critical in Bulgaria”, May 1, 1944, RG25 BAN 2016–00,628–5 Box 6 File AD-2, LAC, CDSI00037.

91. Norman, “Special Intelligence Section of the Department of External Affairs”, in Robinson, A History of the Examination Unit, 1941–1945

92. Menzies, Book Review of Bowen, E.H. Norman, July 1984, R15615, Vol. 50, File 1, LAC.

93. Menzies to Roger Bowen, 22 June 1978, ‘Dr. Herbert Norman’, Beijing, R15615, Vol. 50, File 1, LAC.

94. G.W. Hilborn, “Visit to Algiers of Willson Woodside and Joseph Barnard”, 7 February 1944, CDSI00024; ‘Recent Anglo-American Negotiations with Spain’, 23 March 1944, CDSI00032; ‘Financial Assistance Given to French Institutions in Canada’, 6 October 1944, CDSI00038, all from RG25 BAN 2016–00,628–5 Box 6 File AD-2, LAC.

95. Norman, “Moulmein-Bangkok Railway”, 23 February 1944, RG25 BAN 2016–00,628–5 Box 6 File AD-2, LAC, CDSI00028. The construction of the railway is the historical setting for the Academy Award-winning 1952 epic war film The Bridge on the River Kwai.

96. Norman, “Recent Changes in Japanese Cabinet and High Command”, 29 February 1944, RG25 BAN 2016–00,628–5 Box 6 File AD-2, LAC, CDSI00030.

97. Norman, Note on German Rocket Gun Development, 31 March 1944, RG25 BAN 2016–00,628–5 Box 6 File AD-2, LAC, CDSI00034.

98. Norman, “Chungking Policy Towards Chinese Puppets”, 21 February 1944, RG25 BAN 2016–00,628–5 Box 6 File AD-2, LAC, CDSI00026.

99. N.A. Robertson to Lester B. Pearson, Ottawa, 12 October 1944, RG24, Vol. 29166, File WWII-30, LAC.

100. George de T. Glazebrook, ‘Memorandum for Mr. N.A. Robertson’, Ottawa, 19 October 1944, RG24, Vol. 29166, File WWII-30, LAC.

101. Bryden, Best-Kept Secret, 251 & Barnes, ‘First Steps’, 13.

102. Robertson to Dean C.J. Mackenzie, Ottawa, 11 January 1945, RG24, Vol. 29167, File WWII-33, LAC.

103. Glazebrook, “Memorandum for Mr. N.A. Robertson” 25 August 1944, RG24, Vol. 2916, File WWII-8, LAC.

104. T.A. Stone to Glazebrook, “Organization of Intelligence”, Canadian Embassy, Washington, 9 June 1945, Global Affairs Canada Special Registry File 29-1-1 Part 1.

105. ‘Developments in Indochina’, 24 September 1945 & ‘Developments in Thailand’, 26 September 1945, RG24, Vol. 29167, File WWII-33, LAC.

106. Menzies, Book Review of Bowen, E.H. Norman, July 1984, LAC.

107. Menzies to Bowen, 20 February 1978 & 22 June 1978, Beijing, R15615, Vol. 50, File 1, LAC.

108. Taylor, Six Journeys, 127.

109. Virdee, Oral History Interview with Arthur Menzies, 2004.

110. See Arthur Menzies fonds, R15615, Vol. 50, File “Herbert Norman Case – Japan – Articles & Notes”, LAC.

111. Menzies to Gordon Cullingham, Editor, International Perspectives, Cover Note, ‘Review of E.H. Norman: His Life and Scholarship’, R15615, Vol. 50, File 1, LAC.

112. Lyon, “The Loyalties of E. Herbert Norman”, 219.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sam Eberlee

Sam Eberlee is a PhD Candidate in the University of Toronto’s Department of History. He previously worked as a Special Assistant in the Office of Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science & Industry. His work has most recently appeared in The Canadian Historical Review.