Evening star., 1948-03-15
Truman Order Buckqround

II Truman OrdeI
/ The tert OF the White House
memorandum citing the back
ground OF today's loyalty order.
tolloUS:
The Presidents directive brings
to the attention of all officers and
employees in the executive branch
the administrations policy of carry
ing out the Federal employe loyalty
program on confidential basis.
The loyalty order itself Executive
Order No. 1885 of March 81, 194D
indicates in Part w the necessity OF
preserving reports and other in
formation in strict confidence. The
new directive indicates that this
} policy is to be applied even where a
subpoena or demand" has been
received.
Subpoenas issued by courts and
congressional committees are to be
respectfully declined" but are at
, the same time to be referred to the
President, who will determine in
the public interest the nature of
the response to be made in the
particular case. The President thus
takes responsibility for informing
the court or congressional commit
tee concerning the extent of the
confidential information, if any,
which can properly be furnished
The directive and the policy
therein expressed have ample prece-
dent. Since the founding of the
Government the Presidents of the
United States have, from time to
time, held information of various
types to be confidential, and have
refused to divulge or to permit the
divulgence of such information out
side of the executive branch of the
Government. In 1896, for example,
President Washington declined to
comply with request of the House
of Representatives to furnish it
with a copy OF the instructions to
Ministers Of the United States who
had negotiated treaty with Great
Britain. Later, President Jefferson
refused to allow two members of his
cabinet to supply documents at the
ftriaa sof Aaron Burr. '-., ~ D.
.sssss Otter Pressasnts 9itsas. =,
II 1928 President Monroe declined
to comply with a request of the
House of Representatives to trans
init to the House certain documents
relating to the conduct of naval
officers. In 1888 President jackson
refused to comply with a Senate re-.
quest that he communicate to it q
/ copy of a paper pHrporting to have
been read by him to the heads Of
the executive departments relating
to the removal of the deposits OF
public money from the Bank of the
United States. In 1885, President
Cleveland supported his Attroney
Generals refusal to comply with q
Senate resolution calling for docu-
ments and papers relating to the re-
moval Of district attorney. These
are only a few of the precedents
to be found in the history of our
Government.
The policy expressed in these
precedents has perhaps its most
pertinent application to information
contained In the confidential reports
OF investigated agencies of the Gov
ernment and in the files and records
relating to the loyalty Of Government
personnel. With respect to the for
mer, Attorney General jackson on
April 80, 1941, wrote to the chair
man of the House Committee on
Naval Affairs declining to furnish
that committee with certain reports
Of the Federal Bureau of Investi-
cation.
In his letter, which Attorney Gen.
eral jackson indicated was written
with the approval of and at the
direction of the President" he re-
viewed the practice of a number of
his predecessors as Attorney Gen.
eral and of number of Presidents,
which practice was in accord with
the position taken.
Jackson Letter Quoted.
The practical reasons which de-
mand in the interest of sound Gov
ernment administration that such
reports be held confidential were
stated by Attorney General jackson
as follows:
Disclosure of the reports could
not do otherwise than seriously
prejudice law enforcement. Coun-
sci for defendant or prospective
defendant, could have no greater
help than to know how much or
how little information the Gov
ernment has, and what witnesses
or sources of information it can
rely upon. This Is exactly what
these reports are intended to con-
tain.
Disclosure of the reports at
this particular time would also
prejudice the national defense
and be of aid and comfort to the
very subversive elements against
which you wish to protect the
country. For this reason we have
made extraordinary efforts to see
that the results of counterespio-
:, mage activities and intelligence
: activities of this department in
5 volving those elements are kept
within the fewest possible hands.
A catalogue Of persons under in
y vestigation or suspicion, and what
we know about them, would be Of
S inestimable service to foreign
agencies; and information which
:, could be so used cannot be too
S closely guarded.
n Would Prejudice Usefulness.
Moreover, disclosure of the
o reports would be of serious pref
a udice to the future usefulness
: of the Federal Bureau of Investi-
CATION. AS you probably know,
e much of this information is given
o in confidence and can only be
obtained upon pledge not to dis
e close its sources. A disclosure of
= the sources would embarrass in
:, formants - sometimes in their
e employment, sometimes in their
social relations, and in extreme
e cases might even endanger their
= lives. We regard the keeping of
faif with