Evening star., 1949-06-27
The FBIs Confidential Files
Why Rumors as Well as Facts Go Into Them and Why
Their Disclosure Was a Setback for Hoover
By Rsr Celifs,

a cl:sculE. 4 10: v!st&aa.y Acs<sts. Gre
L l2!arnaat$ eAnnS: ae Guaranteed ggx-
irctacE .ro-a exposure
There Mas Third yeASon shy ": HcsSrt
objected 10 the cpea4aE cs ecaAdens1Ai 94ea
n court. and u a ths TrASzn ahAsh =
related TO ihe er3t~lsza whAsh hAs axe-
directed a, tie FRI rs Dy Cosseon arG
Others M Eooeey krew t.2&i thx-s s~sr
II thee 1les no; onsy established .sets eui
q mass Of "uneTsiuAteo data tips Flzsnc~.
innueadoes involving r~FScas not unocg
investigation but whose aAsnes wvrr raef.-
TONED IN the course O: interviews regarding
other persorls or matters, or thA; came -
the FBl from suspicious neagAaors. tn
anonymous letters Or IN oshcf waSs Nc
protested against TIE spreading e It's La.
suosLarttaicc information on The pah.s
records snc henee ~ the tron; PAGES g.
newspapers,
Nj, Hoover believes tha, a.. this itssesrna-
ton. however lncaaseQuei3;.xl or unreliable
has a right 70 ec III the EBl secret aies
and that II should remain there SECURE
from the eyes @. everyone except PA. IN
vestlgators
All Tips Are Accepted
He believes moyeoseg that he has no
rtshs 10 refuse 10 receive any tap O. Listen
10 any runoT os 10 consider xny ANONYMOUS
communication, regardless Of aow fantastic
II may seem 10 be or may prove 10 be HE
Is convinced that II would ee ageng ID
fact dangerous, "a give any inveStis at!ts ctrf-
cial arbitrary power 10 discriminate ~ 10
what information he will receive and act
on or what person he wiu !nvestigAis To
permit such discretion. he sincerely believes
would destroy the eoIeetisity OF any agency
and would open the way 10 inyestlgatise
laxities and abuses that should not be
tolerated
II Is true that under the no-dlscrin.na.
ton policy, considerable information gets
into The nles that is useless because Of trlx-
iality or rrelesancr. The FBI agent op-
crates much like q news reporter He cues-
tons many persons. takes many notes ard
then makes a report He Is trained 10 report
even the most insignificant thing on the
ground that small things sometimes supply
missing parts 10 bigger picture
The FBI has been criticized for having IN
It's Mes material maniiestly extraneous 10
the subject under investigation as In the
case OF Coplon trial paper mentioning the
nude meanoerings Of certain couple But
eATaneouS or even absurd statements hv
person informing on another often provide
measure for esaiuatlng the reliability Of
accusations. In one instance for exampls
citizen reported her suspicious that A Gov
ernment employe was Communist, When
an agent sought her reason for the sis-
picions, the woman said the man in question
must be Communist because he paid no
attention 10 Keep of the Grass" and other
signs, The FBI investigation resulted In
the clearing Of the employe under the loyalty
program.
A Matter Of Justice.
Thus. the FBI agent would be unfair 10
the person under investigation II he chose
TO report only information tending to sup
port charge of disloyalty or criminality
Nor would the record OF the case be fair To
the suspect II only unfavorable data we're
included
DR.. Condor has suggested that some limit
should be placed on the time allowed for
retention In the FBI files Of "unevaluated"
information. How could such a safe time
limit be determined7 II II were set at six
months the possibility might arise that In
the seventh or eighth month some other
piece OF evidence might turn UP TO corrobo-
rate an "unevaluated" report no longer In
the files. II search Of the files failed 10
show any previous record. the second report
might become q useless bit Of Information.
itself to be discarded after six months Un-
fortunately. not all information bearing on
q subject comes TO the bureau simultane-
ously. One piece Of the pattern may be
picked up this year. another piece or two
next year, before the lig-saw- like picture
becomes clear.
"A second article will appear on this
page tomorrow