Evening star., 1939-06-18
J. Edgar Hoover Reveals Alarming Increase
of Spy Activities; Secrecy Often
Defeats Its Own End

Much of the development of avia-
ton, for example, is carried on in
private aircraft plants. The record
of Improvements in aeronautical
technique is carried in various tech
nical journals which can be pur-
chased on neWsstands or subscribed
for without restriction. The Jap
anese Embassy has the largest staff
in Washington. many of its members
engaged in translating without the
slightest violation of law or custom
technical articles on military and
commercial subjects. The same is
true of the embassies of other ma
tionS.
Publications Fruitful.
Even in Fascist Italy and Nazi
Germany, whVre both press and
radio are censored. military authori-
ties find that publications of one
type or another are the most pro-
life source of important military
information, although expert an
alysts are required to evaluate it.
Few. indeed. are the examples of
military secrets which have sur
vived war, the one notable case
being the huge. long-range gun
known as the Big Bertha" with
which the Germans bombarded Paris
during the World War. No trace
of it was ever found after the
Armistice and its construction, even
the principle on which it operated,
remains a speculation today.
The field of public relations in this
country is merely the process of
accounting, as far as possible from
military point of view, for public
funds spent on the military estab-
lishment. Army and Navy officials
in general have taken the view
that the public is entitled to know
how its money is spent. In Europe,
however, where various crises have
followed one another during the last
few years, this branch has been
highly developed and frequently en-
ployed. Some military authorities
are of the opinion, for example,
that the German Army plan for
subduing gCzecho-Slovakia in IA days,
suddenly disclosed during the pre-
Munich crisis last year, was an
intentional leak" designed for ef-
feet not only on the Czechs, but
on their prospective allies. Admit
ting its careful conception and pos
sibly its efficacy, it was also recalled
that similar plan for capturing
Paris in 1914 miscarried. In this
same category might. be included
the sudden and obvious revelation
Of German air power Immediately
before and after the Munich con-
ference last September, designed
more, perhaps, for effect on civil
populations than military authori-
ties. The most forceful propaganda
dealt with masterful hand.
Radio Compass Sold.
In carrying out the new prepar-
edness program, then, military au-
thorities realize that secrecy must
be risked to degree. The best that
can be done is to insure secrecy
for new developments until they are
ready to be put into service, thus
giving this country an invaluable
head start on foreign nations. An
instance of this can be found in the
radio compass developed at the Air
Corps Materiel Division at Wright
Field. Manufactured in greatest Sc
crecy, so that probably less than
half a dozen officers knew all the
details of its construction, it was
installed on the Winnie Mae for
Wiley Posts solo flight around the
world in 1888 in its first extensive
field tests. Only two years later,
however, the Army released It for