Evening star., 1948-08-04
4 Major Weaknesses
Hinder America S Spy.
Defense, Experts Hold
By Wallace R. Deuel.
Chicago Dolly News Correspondent

American defense against foreign
spies suffer from four major weak.
nesses, experienced intelligence anc
counterintelligence officials agreed
here today.
The weaknesses are:
l. A shortage of trained, skilled
counterintelligence agents and Other
kinds of Investigators.
2. A lack of understanding amone
the public of the nature and impor.
tarlce of intelligence and counter.
intelligence. This often causes citi.
5ens to fail to cooperate effectively
with investigators.
8. Ignorance among Civilian of
f1cials and members of the armed
services of the difficult art of how
to keep secret.
4. Failure of security officials anc
agencies to cooperate with each
other.
Weaknesses Come to Fore.
These weaknesses are coming more
and more to the fore in discussions
among intelligence and counter-in-
telllgence officials which have beer
inspired by stores of wartime es-
pionage now being told by self
styled former Communist agents.
The shortage of good Investigate
ors was particularly acute during
the war.
The need for Investigations grew
by leaps and bounds after Pear
Harbor as the number of people
handling secret information muSh-
roomed and as it became more ano
more important to protect secrets
At the same time, it became harder
and harder to find good agents.
America had never had very many
and now there we're imperative
needs for all men in other parts OF
the war effort.
Old Agencies Handicapped.
AS a result, even old, established
agencies like the FBI had to use
agents lacking in expert knowledge
of the enemy and his methods, ano
trained only in criminal police work
which is a very different sort OF
even harder time recruiting gooo
men. Credit inquiry agencies were
sometimes called in to conduct
counter intelligence Investigations
of a sort of which they had nc
previous knowledge or experience.
The shortcomings of investigators
did nothing to inspire public under
standing, confidence or co-opera-
ton.
Official inquiries in the private
affairs and political attitudes of ap-
parently respectable citizens were a
novelty in the United States, and a
good many people found them re-
pugnant,
Citizens Failed to Cooperate.
Such investigations seemed to
some citizens to constitute an un-
warranted violation of legitimate
personal privacy. and the citizens
failed to cooperate with agents
These activities smacked of secret
political police methods, some felt
and they didn't like it and wouldn't
help.
Other members of the public
couldn't or wouldn't understand
what sort of information was need
ed, and therefore didn't provide it
Still others. tried to vent grudge!
against personal enemies and pouree
out tales of spite and malice, ~
A certain number used securit!
Investigations to play practical joke:
on their friends-and on the agents
making inquiries-by dreaming W
wild and purely imaginary scandals
about persons being investigated
and telling these to agents as goSpe
truth
Precautions Gave Away Secrets.
Sometimes officials handling Sc
cret information also failed to take
anything like adequate precautions
to protect the data. A good many
officials seemed to think all they
had to do to protect secret papers
and installations was to keep theil
mouths shut and post lot OF guards
with tommyguns. Sometimes pre-
cautions like these gave away Sc
crets. instead of preserving them,
Keeping your mouth shut at the
wrong time. and posting guards
may prove that you have a partlcu-
lar secret to preserve, and this IN
itself may constitute valuable IN
formation to a spy.
The art of keeping secrets is
IjHclllt The most
important part of it is not just sup
pressing true facts. but making the
enemy believe false facts instead.
This is the technique of deception.
Few Americans have ever mas
tered it.
Cant. Butcher Recorded Secrets.
Even the highest ranking Army
officers consmitted startling breaches
Of security during the war.
Gen. Eisenhower authorized his
naval aide. Cap- Harry Butcher
U. S. N. R. to keep diary in which
Capt. Butcher wrote, day by day
some of the hottest secrets OF the
war.
A page of this diary, telling some
of the most important details OF
advance plans for the landings IN
North America. got lost, according
to Capt. Butcher, and never was
recovered.
But even when each official and
agency and officer did the best
lob possible. they often didn't get
together and compare notes and
share information.
The case of Carl Aldo Marzanl
Is a perfect example of this weak
ness in American security. Mar
zani served in OSS and handled
some of the most important Sc
erets of the war.
Marzani Inquiry Cited.
OSS security officers began K
have misgivings about Marzani early
in his service with the agency
However. they couldn't get solic
evidence against him. and he was
therefore. retained pending further
investigations. Marzani got WING
of the suspicion of him, demanded
a Civil Service hearing, was granted
one-and was given a clean bill O.
health.
Later, he was inducted into TIT
Army and here. too. he was assigned
to highly secret work, this time TO