Evening star., 1942-01-05
Counterespionage
ByU. 5. Catches
6estapo Mapping
F. B. is Inside Job
Gove 1t Complete
Control Of Ring
By the Associated Press.

NEW YORK.-When the wars
last gun has sounded and the ink is
dry on al the new treaties, the ex-
perts will be able to at back and
talk frankly about the secret
weapons" developed for the most
fantastic forms Of warfare IN all
history.
The United States should walk of
with at least one blue ribbon for .
supersecret weapon new form OF
counterespionage. Some results Of
this defensive weapon were brought
out in the four-month spy trial in
Brooklyn Federal Court Of II de-
PENDANTS, convicted Of conspiring
to avoid registering as agents Of .
foreign government and OF con-
spring and delivering to Germany
vital United States defense secrets.
Americas streamlined counter.
espionage Is more advanced, appar-
emily, than the vaunted German
fifth column. It Is q sixth column
that completely dominated the nth
column, that bored from within"
the SPY ring until 1t controlled the
movements, communications, A.
nances and even the personal lives
of would-be traitors.
F.B. I. Man Heads Ring.
That is what the Federal Bureau
Of Investigation did in rounding up
those convicted in Brooklyn. Agents
and special spies say they know Of
no parallel in counterespionage
history.
The F. B. I. put its own man at
the head Of the ring, furnished him
with q powerful secret" transmitter
on Long Island and made him 70
successful IS q Spy" that other
spies gravitated to him or were sent
there by spy headquarters in Ham,
burg, Germany. Then things began
to happen.
Hamburg headquarters demanded
information on ship movements,
blueprints on certain American de-
tense devices, details of military
movements. It suggested tasks for
certain agents; 1t gave names and
addresses of its agents here and in
neutral countries.
It sent money and new men to
this country, pointed out weak
spots in American counterespdon-
age, and, generally, tipped its hand
on virtually all the who's, what's,
where's, why's and how's the r. B. I.
could ask. 1t was, In some respects,
almost as good As having No. / G.
man J. Edgar Hoover at the head Of
the Gestapo.
Spies Mostly Naturaised.
VINO are spies2 The trial has
shown that they often are bright
young men trained in . Hamburg
espionage school: mostly naturalized
Americans who accepted citizenship
as . requisite to making money
here (as contrastsd with loyal
Americans Of German birth who are
the handspring of F. B. I. counter
espionage.
Why are spies spies? Partly for
love Of their fatherland, but mostly
because Of promised rewards. Ger
man spies are promised estates In
the homeland according to messages
from Hamburg. They enjoy omcial
jobs in conquered countries. Their
families in Germany are well cared
for during their absence. But the
immediate earnings are small.
What do spies want? News of
ships sailings and Europe-bound car
goes. industrial production and ship
building figures. reports on plane
and tank performances. and data
that can be culled from newspapers
and magazines.
New Inventions Sought.
They also want information on
incredible devices: bombers directed.
to their objective by one ray while
another ray looses bombs above the
target; pillboxes that sink auto
matically into the ground and de-
stroy tanks as they rumble over
them; reports on tests Of bacterio-
logical warfare: gas-repellent uni
forms; range finders; electric eye"
anti-aircraft shells and other devices
which probably have not yet seen
service in the current conflict.
What secrets were delivered to
Germany before the F. B. I. took
over were not disclosed, but, judg-
ing from Hamburg's frequent COM
plants that microphotographs Of
blueprints and documents were too
blurred for use, Germany received
precious little after the r. B. I. took
charge of the NTH column.
"a, 900 from Hamburg.
Counterespionage Agent william
G. Sebold received about $40, 1000
from Hamburg for spy pay rolls. He
paid out little: most Of it is still in
the bank and will help pay the cost
Of fostering and then smashing the
spy ring. The evidence indicates
less than 5000 was spent by Ham,
burg on the 50 spies and suspects
during the 18 months the ring op-
Grated.
The F. B. I. learned through its
quarry about German spies in other
countries such gossipy tidbits as
the report the head German agent In
Lisbon, q Mr.. Duarte, used to photo
graph all London bound diplomatic
mail. His pictures were said to ar
rive in Berlin as soon as or sooner
than the original documents reached
London.
An agent said that when the ring
was rounded up late last June, the
Long Island "spy" radio transmitted
the bad news to Hamburg. Gestapo
headquarters expressed astonishment
at the Job done by the F. B. I. and
for days urged the arrested to sit
tight and say nothing.
Then, when it became known that
the r. B. I. itself had been operating
the transmitter, the Gestapo wire
lessed congratulations" It was
Hambury's last message to Long
Island.