Evening star., 1949-12-06

script OF testimony gtDen yes
terday before the House Com
mittee on Un-Americun ActfDi-
ties By George Racey Jordan.
former Air Force major, In an
. sUer to questions by Committee
Counsel Frank S. TaDenner and
members of the committee:
Mr.. Tavenner-It has come to
the attention of the committee
that you recently made state
ment relating to the sale Of ,ura-
MUM and the transfer Of uranium
to Russia. We would like to ask
you to tell us about that situation
fully, but before doing so would
like to get a few facts regarding
yourself. I believe you were an
officer in the United States Army
or Air Force?
(Here Mr.. Jordan described,
at some length, his assignments
and duties, leading up to his
transfer, in 1912, to Gore Field,
at Great Falls, Mont, where he
acted in a liaison capacity with
Russian officers in expediting
delivery of planes to Russia.)
Mr.. Tavenner-What assistance
did you have in the performance
of your duties at Great Falls?
Suspicious of Suitcases.
Mr.. Jordan-I started out with
a few and it grew. The air freight
movement was getting heavier
and in 1943 important Russian
people used to 60 through with
five or six suitcases. didn't stop
them at that time because II
thought maybe it was legitimate.
But when they started sending the
suitcases without people, I got
interested, and sending so suit
cases with armed couriers didn't
seem proper and didn't have diplo-
matte immunity as far as I could
see. I let the first two or three
patches go through and inquired
of the State Department and the
War Department whether the bags
had diplomatic immunity. Il
couldn't get an answer from the
State Department, but I did out
of the War Department and they
said I was to be helpful to the
Russians in every way.
Mr.. Tavenner-What action did
you take with regard to the suit
cases?
Mr.. Jordan-Well, sir, I could
always tell when suitcases were
going to arrive, because one OF
the cargo planes would be put on
the line and left urloated. and
the mechanics would tell me the
Russian colonels had told them
to leave plane empty for very
special assignment.
I could always tell that cargo
would arrive in the middle Of the
night, because that is the way
they do things. The Russians are
very close with their money. They
don't spend anything they don't
have to. I used to have to pick
their checks up at the Officers
Club where I ate with them. In
fact, we assigned three slot ma
chimes where the profits went to
pay the checks of the Russians.
This night the Russians. much
to my surprise, invited me to
Great Falls for a chicken dinner.
There was a lot Of vodka. 1t hap
pened I didn't drink. They sug-
gested a toast to Stain. Molotov,
Roosepelt, and everybody else.
was suspicious, but had left word
at the control tower if plane
came in to call me at the restau-
rant, and a call came there. and
I went to the field and two armed
Russians were standing over the
suitcases. One of them tried tS
keep me out Of the plane. The
suitcases were black, cheap,
patent leather, with white rope
sash cord tied around them and
gobs of red sealing wax over the
knots. They screamed diplomatic
immunity, and I said: THAT
doesn't look diplomatic to me-"
I ripped the cord off and opened
about one-third of them. I had
one of our own guards stand with
a rifle on his shoulder so they
would know I had a little protec-
ton. +"
Found Book of Data.
Mr.. Tavenner-What did you
find in these suitcases?
Mr.. Jordan-The first suitcase
I opened had a large book on how
to ship four-legged animals; how
many sheep and calves and veal
would 60 in a car, and the rate
on shipments of animals from
every city in the United States to
every other city. The book was
about that big (indicating).
Mr.. Harrison-Information SIM
liar to publications put out by
Mr.. Jordan-The railroads. The
next suitcase was full of infor-
nation from Tass. The next suit
case was full Of information
from Amtorg Purchasing Com
mission.
The next note that I have here
and at that time none Of these
things meant very much to me.
didn't know the meaning of
some of them. My next note
says Panama Canal Commission
Maps" There were couple suit
cases about the Panama Canal.
Mr.. Tavenner-What was the
type of information about the
Panama Canal, maps or maga-
zines?
Mr.. Jordan-They are mostly
maps, and markings on the maps.
It looked to me they had been
public and they could have gotten
them easily.
My next note says "Oak Ridge"
Mr.. Wood-At that time, had
you ever heard of Oak Ridge?
Mr.. Jordan-No. I didn't know
what it was.
Mr.. Tavenner-Tell us more
about Oak Ridge. What was the
significance of that memorandum
as to Oak Ridge?