Evening star., 1951-12-17
Loyalty Review Boord Reopens
Cases Of 565 Federal Workers
On Bosis of Reasonable Doubt
Action Extends
Move Thut Caused
Firing Of Service
By Robert K. Walsh

Board today re-opened the cases
of SOS Government employees to
determine whether there is "rea-
sonable doubt" about their loyalty.
1t also ordered Government
agencies to make a similar check
of another STA who got jobs since
a new and tighter standard of
loyalty eligibility was set up last
May by President Truman.
This order followed fast on the
firing of John Stewart Service last
Friday by the State Department.
Mr.. Service, a career diplomat
who several times was investigated
and cleared by department
loyalty board and a Senate COM
mittee. was dropped because the
Loyalty Review Board found there
was reasonable doubt" as to his
loyalty.
Prior to the presidential order
Of last May, an employe involved
in loyalty investigation could
be fired only if there were "rea-
sonable grounds" for believing
him disloyal. The executive order
changed this and required dis
missal of any Government en-
ploye where there was a reason
able doubt" as to loyalty.
Could Cause New Clusters.
Instructions sent by the Loy-
atty Review Board today to Civil
Service Commission authorities
for distribution throughout de-
partments and agencies conceiva-
bly, could lead to dismissal Of
many other employees who do not
meet the stricter standard set up
by President Truman.
There was no official estimate
of the number of borderline cases
which might be reversed among
the 565 employees who were on
the Federal payroll at the time of
the executive order last spring. or
how the STA comparatively new
cases will fare under closer appli-
cation of the new standard.
officials did not list the depart
ments which have the bulk of the
1,139 cases to be re-checked or
scrutinized more closely "in the
light of the Governments new
policy that q reasonable doubt
is sufficient to bar employment"
Cases Previously Cleared.
The 565 cases to be re-opened
had previously been investigated
by the FBI and acted on by loy-
atty boards. The STA new en-
ployes, for whom a closer look
has been ordered by the Loyalty
Review Board, also were cleared
under the old standard after the
FBI had completed its investiga-
tions and hearings had been held
by regional loyalty boards.
The Loyalty Review Board is
sued its order today after COM
pleting an examination of $3.50
cases. That total, the board said,
included "all that could possibly
have been affected by the new
loyalty standard which went into
effect last May l."
'The new standard" the boards
order stated, permits borderline
cases-those in which reasonable
doubt may exist but which lack
clear-cut evidence of disloyalty-I
to be resolved in favor of the
Government.
Admits Loaning Documents.
An official recalled that the
Loyalty Review Board did not
ind Mr.. Service guilty of disloy-
atty. and that there was no evi-
dence that he had ever belonged
to a subversive organization.
But the board decided that
there was reasonable doubt"
about his eligibility for Govern
ment employment. It based that
finding largely on Mr.. Services
admission that he lent some State
Department report copies in 1945
to Philip j. Jaffe, then editor of
the magazine Amerasia. Those
were copies of his own reports
from China to the State Depart
ment.
The State Department Loyalty
Board last July reconsidered the
case of Mr.. Service under the
May executive order. 1t found
''no reasonable doubt" about his
loyalty. The matter then went
to the Loyalty Review Board.