Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1950-11-05
By John A. Giles
Stur Stcff CORRESPONDENT


and the course is so tough that
just under half of the hand
picked candidates complete it.
"Cloak and Dagger" Denied.
But there appeared little doubt
that a dispatch from Munich.
Germany, by John Barth pub
lished in The Star October %
telling of American agents
naively operating in American
clothing and being called very
amusing fellows" had something
to do with the reversal of the GIG
publicity policy.
However. Gen. Rice explained,
"the simple truth behind many
such stories is that CIC, like any
other security agency, has men
who operate openly, making rou-
tine checks, as we'll as undercover
agents.
But please don't get the idea
that this is any cloak-and-dagger
operation"
That last statement, made at
the opening of the tour, it devel-
oped consequently, is certainly
true. The C1C seems to have pro-
crossed well beyond the tradi-
tional cloak-and-dagg type.
Strength of Corps Is Secret.
This is the age of electronics,
of sound-detecting gadgets. of
strange Photographic equipment.
of legerdemain with chemicals
and documents, of reaching into
locked steel files or through room
doors without trouble and without
leaving trace. The spoken word
now carries far beyond the range
of the human voice, though the
speaker doesn't know it.
The newsmen saw these things,
but were asked to refrain from
telling how they were done.
Gen. Rice, for security reasons,
also preferred to avoid strength
figures in his talks. But he did
disclose that the corps, which as
sumed its present stature only
nine years ago. has been ex-
banded to meet the requirements
of the Korean war. Then, there
was a second augmentation when
the rearmament program tripled
the size Of the Army.
On top of those purely mill
tary functions, the GIG has been
assigned the task of investigating
for the Displaced Persons Com
mission the multitudes of refu-
gees coming into the American
occupation zones in Europe and
seeking admission to the United
States. Already GIG men have
screened about $4,000 of the
initial quota of 205,OOO DPS. Gen.
Rice said. He added that it was
most difficult since the records
could not be traced behind the
Iron Curtain.
Operations Are World Wide.
The GIG needs its flock of new
tricks and tools to help it carry
)ut its primary mission of keep
ing the Army's secrets secret. To
do this, the corps seeks to operate
before the crime1-to take steps
to prevent espionage agents, sabo-
teurs and spreaderS of disaffec-
ton Qike COMMUNISTS from OPP
Grating from within the ranks of
the Army, it's installations or the
factories holding its contracts. It's
operations are world wide.
To do this job, Gen. Rice ex-
planned, it must know the tech
IniqueS the enemy uses. However,
many of those techniques are val
liable tools of the counter agents
themselves.
But the general said GIG also is
interested in anything that jeop-
ardizes the state of our armed
forces. For instance, it is inter-
ested in the thinking of popula-
tons within occupied areas-we
are the eyes and ears for Local
sentiment" In combat, the re-
ports of GIG agents are vital tc
the shaping of tactics for COM
mander must know something
about the local situation in ar
area into which he is moving. The
primary interest of GIG is not ir
such positive intelligence" as the
strength of an enemy or a poten-
tial enemy but, if in the course Of
it's operations, such intelligence il
picked up it is relayed through
regular intelligence channels.
The GIG does not have the
power to arrest. If arrests are nee
essary another Army outfit, the
Criminal Investigation Division
Is called in to make them. The
two outfits. because Of the SINH