The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-12-09

wa.. sibility of the
 censorship is therefore the suppression of infor- nation endangering the American national security. That much is easy. With pair of scissors the censor can cut out any textual matter which should not be passed, CT he can break any cable or radio circuit transmitting such informa- ton.
 The second but practically un- known duty of the censor is to relay to proper authority of the United States government information which will aid in the prosecution of the Americain war effort or help protect U. s. lives and property. Here is the censor's greatest respon- sibility. For let any of this private information fall into improper hands and the purpose of censor ship under American ideals is de- feated.
 NO BED OF ROSES
 Frankly, the U. s. Office of Gen. sorship as set up under the direc- ton of Byron Price is not particu- larly happy about this responsible ity, but since it has this duty, OOC is doing its best to see that this sanctity of privacy is protected, The last thing the censors want to do is permit any growth of the idea that they are snooping, reading private mail just for the juiciness ot it, devling into family secerts or ferreting out and relaying to com- mercial competitors or to the gov- ernment matters of a confidential business nature. But because the Offlce of Censorship is so jealous to preserve not only its own integrity but also the confidence of the people of the United States, it is possible to disclose here some of the inner workings.
 There is an Office of Censorship controlling the movement of com munications to and from every U. s. port or border point of entry. To make the example simple, take the case of mail. There are 10000 U. S. mail censors, and in this force are men and women reading nearly every language. These cen sors work in groups at tables, and there is head censor at every table. When one censor comes across a communication containing anything at all unusual, it is passed to the head of the table.
 Every head censor has the power to rule matter passable, or If he questions it, he may pass it to the chief of the office. No copies of any communication are made at any local office.
 At the headquarters of the Office of Censorship, all these suspect intercepted communications are subjected to the most responsible editing which the Office of Gen. Sorship can inmpose. But If this small staff of carefully selected chief censors decides that con- munication contains information Of military value, they will order that there be prepared what has been known as an Intercept"
 Needless to say. an intercept Is considered one of the most secret of all government communications. IL is not coded, but its conflden- tial nature is clearly indicated.
 WHERE INTERCEPTS GO
 If an intercept concerns a ship movement. it may go to ONl, the Office of Naval Intelligence. If troop movement. it goes to G-2. the Intelligence section of the Army General Staff. If it contains c.ew to the sabotage of shipyard It may go to Maritime Commission. If it is an invisible ink job or code message, it will go to FB1. II some crooked dealer is trying to sell a hoarded stock of telephones to someone in South America. War Production Board and the Army are given the information and they move in to acquire the stock, for new telephones now are almost priceless.
 The importance of the intercept as a secret weapon ot counted es Iionage is obvious, but the point of interest is that there is no wholesale rebroadcasting or copy ing of intercept communications. For the law-abiding citizen or the business firm conducting only le- pgitimate business. there IS no copying at all.
 If there should be a breakdown in this system of safeguards set up to protect the rights to privacy. II some government officia! should copy. show or misuse an intercept in any way, that would be viola tion of public trust and derelic- tion of duty impossible to excuse.
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