Committee of Imperial Defence

M. Hugh-Jones, Wickham Steed and German Biological Warfare Research , Intelligence and National Security, vol.7, no.4 (1992), pp.379-402 see also the reports in Committee of Imperial Defence Sub-Committee on Bacteriological Warfare, 1936-8, PRO, CAB 16/166 and CAB 16/167. 

Refurbishing an offensive capability proved a more ponderous process. To facilitate the possible use of gas as a retaliatory weapon required, in the first instance, political backing. In Britain this came from the Committee of Imperial Defence when it met on 10 July 1936 to approve the request of the Chiefs of Staff for the manufacture and storage of reserves of poison gas. Five months later Duff Cooper, the Secretary of State for War, reaffirmed this commitment. He assured Sir Cyril Deverell, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, that... 

Committee of Imperial Defence, The Use of Gas by Italy in the War with Abyssinia , Memorandum by the Chiefs of Staff Sub-Committee, 1 April 1936, PRO, CAB 4/24. 

Official papers consulted in the preparation of this book included those of the Admiralty, War Office, Air Ministry, Cabinet, Committee of Imperial Defence, the Prime Minister, Chiefs of Staff Committee and the Foreign Office in the Public Record Office. The other manuscript collections consulted were ... 

TNA, CAB4/24, Committee of Imperial Defence, Policy with Regard to the Possible Use of Gas as a Retaliatory Measure in War , 8 July 1936 ako Historical Survey 2006, p. 209. 

---