Files released in September 2019 indicated that Houghton, and perhaps Gee, could have been arrested in 1957 but that MI5 ignored warnings from Houghton's spouse as the "outpourings of a disgruntled and jealous wife." Mrs. Houghton had advised the admiralty in 1956 that "her husband was divulging secret information to people who ought not to get it". The Security Service finally acted only after it received a tip from a CIA agent who was a mole in the Polish intelligence service.