The scandal caused the Macmillan government considerable embarrassment, erupting as it did at the height of the Cold War, only a year before the still-more dramatic revelations of the Profumo affair. The Vassall Tribunal was held to inquire into whether the failure to detect Vassall earlier amounted to a failure of intelligence, as many British newspapers had claimed. It also investigated suggestions that the close relations between Vassall and Galbraith had been improper. However, in its conclusions it found no evidence for impropriety, and largely exonerated the government.