740.00112A European War, 1939/34254: Airgram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Ecuador (Scotten)
A–610. Reference your despatch 250, July 19, 1943. Although Department recognizes the merit in the suggestion of the Consulate General at Guayaquil that there appears no further need for recommendations to the Department for Confidential List action, the Department is unable to consent to this suggestion at this time. As stated in the Department’s circular instruction of March 157 entitled “Confidential List of Unsatisfactory Consignees, Supplement no. 1”, the ancillary uses to which the Confidential List is put warrant its continuance for an indefinite period. The list is distributed to various agencies in Washington and serves as a signal of undesirability in such operations as the investigation of financial transactions by the Treasury Department and control of communications by the Office of Censorship and may be taken by them as the basis for further investigation. The Ministry of Economic Warfare in London uses the Confidential List for the purpose of checking navicert applications covering shipments from the American republics. The list is also used in Washington to inform American firms upon inquiry or upon rejection of import recommendations concerning the desirability of such firms or individuals as business connections. As noted in the Department’s circular airgram of April 23, 6:30 p.m.7 this practice to some extent reduces the number of import recommendations involving Confidential List names and should eliminate to this extent embarrassment with the local country agencies.
It is believed that the procedure described in the Department’s circular airgram of July 24, 19437 authorizing the missions to reject [Page 211] or approve import recommendations prior to the actual listing or delisting of a consignee in the Confidential List eliminates the possibility of delay you refer to.
The policy described under point 3 of the despatch under reference is satisfactory. In this connection, however, it is important that the Department be informed whenever a consignee’s status becomes satisfactory.