Evening star., 1947-07-10
Atom Seeks
To Increase Check on
Protection Of Secrets
BY fhe Associo.ed Press


BY the Associated Press
Chairman Hickenlooper said
today the Senate House Atomic
Energy Committee hopes to
double its staff assigned to study
ways of protecting atomic bomb
secrets.
The Iowa Senator said his dis
closure yesterday that highly secret
papers had been hlched from the
Los Alamos IN. Mex atomic test
ing station had no bearing on the
matter.
But he said the committee now
has three experts inquiring into
security practices of the Atomic En-
ergy Commission and the number
may be raised to six if the commit
tees pending $225, 900 budget wins
final congressional approval.
The Senate Appropriations Com
mittee approved that sum yester-
day after the House had voted the
joint group only $4,000 of the 1854,
600 it asked for the year which
began July l.
In this connection, testimony by
Senator Hickenlooper before the
appropriations group added an air
of mystery to the Atomic Com
mittee's activities which the chair
man steadfastlv refused to clarity.
Stresses Change in Circumstances.
When he appeared before the ap-
propriations group July 2, Senator
Hickenlooper told members:
within the past 10 days. and
since the submission of the estimate
TO the House Appropriations Com
mittee, a number of circumstances
have arisen in connection with the
responsibilities and duties of the
joint committee.
These circumstances and condi-
tions are national in scope and
some, in fact, are international. 1t
is now apparent that if the joint
committee is to perform its full
duties, that additional responsible
ties, studies and investigations must
be undertaken in some detail. =.
1t also appears that the joint COM
mittee of the Congress may be the
only co-ordinating medium involv-
ing a number Of phases of the en-
tire program"
No Connection With Theft.
Other than to insist that this had
no connection with the Los Alamos
incident, Senator Hickenlooper re-
fused to elaborate.
The action of two demobilized
Army sergeants in taking as "souve-
Mrs" some secret files when they left
the New Mexico station may be dis
cussed further when the committee
meets tomorrow with the Atomic
Energy Commission. The Senate
House group scheduled a meeting
today with some of the commission's
experts, but Senator Hickenlooper
said this involved only routine
matters.
| Meanwhile, President Truman de-
scribed Senator Hickenlooper's
statement on the removal and re-
covery of atomic energy files as
clear explanation of what happened.
The subject came up at news
conference when reporter asked
Mr.. Truman if any other papers
were missing besides those taken
from Los Alamos.
Says Situation Was Explained.
The President replied that Sena-
tor Hickenlooper had clearly ex-
planned the situation to the Senate
yesterday.
In the House, Representative
Rankin, Democrat, of Mississippi
voiced demand that Congress be
given the names and backgrounds
of the two Army sergeants involved.
"It is simply silly to say the NJ
took the files as souvenirs, Mr..
Rankin told the House. why didn't
Benedict Arnold and his crowd think
of that?"
In his report to the Senate, Sen
ator Hickenlooper said the COM
mission told the joint committee 1t
had discovered more than a month
ago that some important and clas-
sified" files had been missing from
the Los Alamos station since March,
| l946.
AS Federal Bureau of Investi-
CATION inquiry was pursued, Sena-
tor Hickenlooper said, the COM
mission later reported that two
former Army sergeants had been
located with the files in their pos
session.
Denies Breach Of Security.
Describing the former servicemen
as souvenir hunters" the Iowa
Senator said the FBI was satisfied
that the files had not been seen
by any outside person since their
disappearance and that there was
mo effective breach of security"
The FBI said the former SER
geants-Whose names were with
held-are not in custody and no
charges have been placed against
them.
Attorneys of the Department OF
Justice have been conferring with
the Atomic Energy Commission staff
with regard to the further course
of action to be taken," an FB1
statement said.
Senator Hickenlooper told the
Senate his committee has mo rea-
son to believe" that any files were
taken from the Oak Ridge tTenn.)
atomic plant as reported in New
York Sun story yesterday.
con Nnuare Saue afinn