Evening star., 1947-04-06
Loyalty Probe Held
OF Doubtful vuIue

Of Doubtful vuIue
FBI Reports Cited as Evidence
Employe Checks Are Fallible
By Gerard D. Reilly
After the cooling Of the first flush Of
enthusiasm which greeted President
Trlman's order setting up machinery
to determine the loyalty Of Govern
ment employees, many sober minded
persons have raised the question Of
whether the remedy proposed may not
be worse than the disease. There can
be no quarrel with the purpose Of the
order. In view of the current tension
between this country and Soviet Rus
sia, no one will deny that the presence
of even small number Of Communists
in agencies where they have access to
military secrets imperils the national
safety. Nor Is it unlikely that efforts
have been and will be made to inf1l-
trate such agencies with persons who do
not regard the United States as their
first loyalty. Moreover, agencies with
regulatory powers over matters which
affect the economic life OF the country,
particularly those dealing with indus
trial relations, frequently attract per-
sons Of MARKHAM theology.
1t must be remembered, however, that
the number of these agencies is rela-
lively small. The elaborate procedure
established by the Presidents plan Is
not confined to these obvious sources of
danger. It requires investigation by
the Civil Service Commission of persons
hired in the future by any agency and
a check by the Federal Bureau of In
vestigation of the names Of all the in
cumbent employees in the executive
branch of the Government.
The weakness Of the plan, however,
Is that the Federal Government has
no investigative agency equipped to
draw discriminating line between real
subversives and those whose zeal for
particular causes may convey super
flcial appearance Of being party line fol-
lowers. Because Of the odd twistings
Of the Communist line in recent years,
it is not too difficult for persons versed
in it to draw fairly reasonable deduc-
tions from mans attitude at successive
periods on certain questions. This is
usually not the technique Of the inves-
tigators Of the Civil Service Commission,
however. Their reports are generally
based upon a summary of interviews
with neighbors, fellow employees and
acquaintance. As 1t is q natural
tendency on the part of the investigator
to attach weight to the sensational,
these reports are frequently encountered
with malicious and irrelevant gossip.
Since most of these investigators are
relatively inexperienced, they also tend
to rely naively on the comments of
group of Socialists in Washington who
are not only out to discredit their COM
munist rivals in their claim to be the
apostles of true Marxianism but also to
smear any higher official who Is not
impressed by their intrigues. The result
is that most of the derogatory informa-
ton obtained by these Investigators
comes from sources which are them
selves anything but trustworthy.
Contrary to popular impression-un-
fortunately shared by many Congress-
men and officials in the Executive
Branch-the FBI reports are not much
more reliable. Pursuant to appropria-
ton rider, the FBI from 194o-1942
expended several hundred thousand
dollars investigating Government en-
ployes. A large staff was hired and
numerous reports transmitted to the
various agencies. It would not be over
stating the matter to say that nine
tenths of these reports were worthless
from the standpoint of enabling the
agency to take any action.
X X X
The usual approach of the bureau was
to take the mailing list of certain
Communist front" organizations and
then undertake series of interviews
with the acquaintances OF any persons
whose name appeared on such lists
casually referred to as "active indices'D.
The employe investigated was then in
vited to come to the Office of the bureau
for an interview. Very seldom was he
interrogated about anything the inves-
tgator had been told. He was usually
asked whether he was Communist or
belonged to any organization which ad-
vocated the overthrow Of the Govern
ment by force and violence. Needless to
say, such questions rarely produced an
Affirmative response. The employe was
then asked if anything he had done had
ever given people reason to believe he
was Communist. Sometimes this would
lead the employe to guess, usually er-
roneously, at the incident which had at
tracted the attention Of the FBI to him
and he would give some explanation of
it. More frequently the question merely
stirred the employe to an indignant de-
fense of his own patriotism. A steno-
graphic transcript of this scarcely illumi-
mating examination, together with a
summary of the interview, was then
transmitted to the employing agency.
This was accompanied by a letter from
Mr.. Hoover, the bureau chief, request
ing information as to what action the
agency proposed to take, although the
report itself contained neither an evalu-
alton of the information contained in it
nor any appraisal Of its credibility.
The worst feature Of these reports was
the complete anonymity given the per-
sons furnished the information. The
first person interviewed was generally
identified as Confidential Informant
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