Army Intelligence suggested that Col Michael Hefferon might have been "party to a plot" unknown to the Army leadership immediately after he had given evidence to the first Arms Trial implicating Mr Jim Gibbons in the affair.
In the short period between the first and the second Arms Trials, Army Intelligence and the minister for defence, Mr Jim Gibbons, quickly produced detailed rejections of the colonel's evidence. These were supplied confidentially to the prosecution before the second trial.
Both Army Intelligence and Mr Gibbons sought to provide the prosecution for the second trial with ammunition to discredit the colonel in the witness box. Both documents - the Army paper labelled "Top Secret" - have been released under the 30-year rule.
Col Hefferon had surprised prosecution lawyers by telling the court he had informed Mr Gibbons of the progress of the attempted arms importation at various times, and that Mr Gibbons had acquiesced in it.
This evidence was not in the version of Col Hefferon's statement in the book of evidence given to the prosecution. It emerged this week this was because Col Hefferon's initial statement was "doctored" by a person or persons unknown.
The claim by the director of military intelligence that the minister for defence acquiesced in the plan to import arms served to undermine the prosecution case that the operation was illegal. It also raised the question of whether it was appropriate for the minister to be a key prosecution witness. However after this evidence was given unexpectedly by the colonel in the first trial, Army Intelligence and Mr Gibbons moved quickly to challenge the evidence and undermine Col Hefferon's credibility. Ultimately the prosecution chose not to call Col Hefferon in the second trial, but he was called by the judge and gave evidence in line with his original unaltered statement.
Before the second trial, in a five-page document marked "Top Secret", Army Intelligence gave a detailed critique of the evidence of its former director, who had retired just over six months earlier. The document is dated October 1st, just days after the first trial collapsed due to the withdrawal of the judge.
A second document - hand-written and unsigned - is also on file from this time, giving a separate critique of the evidence. Although the document refers throughout to Mr Jim Gibbons in the third person, a comparison with another document on a separate file signed by Mr Gibbons indicates that Mr Gibbons wrote it.
The Army Intelligence document challenges its former director's evidence point by point. It disputes the colonel's evidence that Capt James Kelly, a key figure in the attempted arms importation, had been acting under Mr Gibbons's orders. It asks why the colonel allowed Capt Kelly "to be a party to a procedure for the procurement and custody of arms so far out of line with the known and proper method as laid down in regulations".
On another aspect of Col Hefferon's evidence - that he sought to put Capt Kelly on standby should the minister for defence decide to distribute to nationalists the 500 rifles he (Mr Gibbons) had ordered be sent to Dundalk - the document asks: "Who authorised Col Hefferon to plan for the distribution through Capt Kelly of these arms to civilians in Northern Ireland? Was he party to a plot unknown to the general staff?"
The document also says "Col Hefferon was due 28 days' pre-retirement leave but did not take it". Instead, he remained in control of Army Intelligence up to and including April 10th, 1970, a week before the failed arms importation. The document draws no inference from this but says it "may be of use to prosecuting counsel".
Mr Gibbons's eight-page document, also apparently written between the two trials, describes as "totally untrue" parts of Col Hefferon's sworn evidence implicating Mr Gibbons in the plan. He says Col Hefferon did not report the expected shipment of arms or any detail of it to him.
In the document Mr Gibbons does not fully deny Col Hefferon's sworn evidence that he had informed Mr Gibbons that Capt Kelly had gone to Frankfurt "for the purpose of vetting arms". He admits that Col Hefferon told him Capt Kelly may have gone to Frankfurt for that purpose, but says this was "a marginal suspicion".
He says he asked Col Hefferon about this, and was told "the trip could be perfectly innocent . . . The minister did not know in fact if Kelly ever made the trip." It was "totally false and untrue" for Col Hefferon to say he had asked Mr Gibbons to have Capt Kelly excused from normal duties to allow him travel to Germany in connection with the importation or inspection of arms.
A separate document reveals that the book of evidence in the case - containing the version of Col Hefferon's statement with the references to Mr Gibbons's knowledge omitted - was typed up by Garda detectives on Garda premises. This was a departure from the usual practice of having the book typed by staff either of the Chief State Solicitor's office or the office of the Attorney General. This appears to have been done to ensure secrecy.