The first meeting on establishing a joint action plan in the event of a German invasion was on 24 May 1940. The meeting was held in London and had been convened to explore every conceivable way in which the German forces may attempt an invasion of Ireland. At the meeting were Joseph Walshe, Irish secretary of External Affairs, Colonel Liam Archer of Irish Military Intelligence (G2), and officers from the Royal Navy, British Army, and the Royal Air Force. The War Office wanted direct liaisons between the Irish military authorities in Dublin and the British General Officer Commanding in Belfast. Walshe and Archer therefore agreed to fly in secret to Belfast with Lieutenant Colonel Dudley Clarke. In Belfast, two British Army staff officers were collected and the group travelled back to Dublin by rail. This meeting was held underneath Government buildings in Kildare Street and included a number of Irish Army officers. The meeting was informed that General Sir Hubert Huddleston, the General Officer Commanding (GOC.) Northern Ireland, was already under orders to take a mobile column south of the border to help the Irish Army if the Germans invaded.