Evening star., 1950-09-23

them. Fortunately, we already have
on the books strong laws which give
us most of the protection we need
from the real dangers of treason
espionage, sabotage, and actions
looking to the overthrow of our
Government by force and violence
Most of the provisions of this bill
have no relation to these real
dangers.
One provision alone of this bill
is enough to demonstrate how far
it misses the real target. Section
S would require the Secretary OF
Defense to proclaim" and "have
published in the Federal Register
public catalogue of defense plants
laboratories, and all other facilities
vital to our national defense-no
matter how secret. I cannot imag-
Inc any document a hostile foreign
government would desire more
Spies and saboteurs would willingly
spend years of effort seeking to find
out the information that this bill
would require the Government to
hand them on silver platter.
Enough by Itself.
There are many provisions of this
bill which impel me to return il
without my approval, but this one
would be enough by itself. 1t is in
conceivable to me that a majority
of the Congress could expect the
Commander in Chief of the armed
forces of the United States to ap-
prove such fragrant violation OF
proper security safeguards.
This is only one example of many
provisions in the bill which would
in actual practice work to the detri-
ment of our national security.
know that the Congress had nc
intention of achieving such results
when 1t passed this bill. / know
that the vast majority of the men,
bers of Congress who voted for the
bill sincerely intended to strike q
blow at the Communists.
1t is true that certain provisions
OF this bill would improve the laws
protecting us against espionage and
sabotage. But these provisions are
greatly outweighed by others which
would actually impair our security
repeat. the net result of this bill
would be to help the Communists
not to hurt them.
Urges Reconsideration.
I, therefore, most earnestly re-
quest the Congress to reconsider its
action. am confident that on more
careful analysis most members OF
Congress will recognize that this
DILL is contrary to the best interests
OF our country at this critical time
H.R. 9490 is made up of a num-
Der OF different parts. In summary
their purposes and probable effects
may be described as follows:
Sections l through II are de-
signed to force Communist organi-
cations to register and to divulge
certain information about them
selves-information on their officers
their finances, and, in some cases
their membership. These provisions
would in practice be ineffective, and
would result in obtaining no infor-
nation about Communists that the
FBI and our other security agencies
60 not aready have But in trying
to enforce these sections, we would
have to spend a great deal of time
effort, and money-all to no good
purpose.
Second, these provisions are in
tended to impose various penalties
On Communists and others covered
oy the terms Of the bill. So far as
Communists are concerned, all these
penalties which can be practically
enforced are already in effect under
existing laws and procedures. But
the language of the bill is so broad
and vague that 1t might well result
in penallzing the legitimate activi-
ties of people who are not Commu-
nists at all, but loyal citizens.
Net Result of Sections.
Thus the net result of these
sections of the bill would be: Nc
serious damage to the Communists
much damage to the rest of us
Only the Communist movement
would gain from such an outcome.
/ Sections 18 through 81 and sec
ton % of this bill constitute, ir
large measure. the improvements ir
our internal security laws which ]
recommended some time ago. Al.
though the language of these sec.
tlons is in some respects weaker
than is desirable, I should be glac
to approve these provisions if they
were enacted separately, since they
are improvements developed by the
FBI and other Government security
agencies to meet certain clear de.
f1ciencies of the present law. But
even though these improvements
are needed, other provisions of the
DILL would weaken our security fal
more than these would strengthen
it. We have better protection fol-
our internal security under exist.
ing law than we would have with
the amendments and additions
made by H.R. 9490.
/ Sections % and Is of this bill
would make sweeping changes ir
our laws governing the admission
OF aliens to the United States ano
their naturalization as citizens.
Objective Already Met.
The ostensible purpose of these
provisions Is to prevent persons
who would be dangerous to our ma.
tional security from entering the
country or becoming citizens. Ir
fact, present law already achieves
that objective.
What these provisions woulc
actually do is to prevent us from
admitting to our country, or to cit.
1zenship, many people who coulc
make real contributions to our ma.
tional strength. The bill would de.
prive our Government and our in.
telligence agencies of the valuable
: services of aliens in security opera.
tlonS. 1t would require us to exclude
and to deport the citizens of some
friendly Communist countries
Furthermore, it would actually
make it easier for subversive alien.
to become United States citizens
Only the Communist movement
would gain from such actions.
Section "a and sections 26 through