 In 1955, the Secretary of the Department, Arthur Tange, even wrote to the Solicitor-General asking if there were grounds for having Throssell dismissed from the Public Service; the reply said that "no charge against Throssell could possibly succeed".Nevertheless, the smears and suspicion continued unabated and Tange maintained a correspondence with ASIO about Throssell.However, he played an important role in administering the Colombo Plan, and in 1962 led the formation of the department's Cultural Relations Branch.