Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1951-08-06
Union With Red faint
Has Access 10 Defense
Secrets, Probers Say
By the Associated Pres,

access TO secret QeIeIlSe anu dip
lomatic messages moving by tele
graph and cable, Senate inveStiga
tors said yesterday.
y In a progress report on Sub
verSive Infiltration in the Tele
graph Industry" they warned no
only against the danger of inter
ception of messages but also o
sabotage Of vital communication
facilities in case Of war.
Only brief discussion was givel
to the fact that most If not al
secret messages move in cod,
which would have to be broker
to read in intercepted communica
ton.
More than 260 pages of testi.
mony, taken at closed-door ses.
sions here and in New York during
May and June, were made public
by the Senate Internal Security
Subcommittee.
Won't Answer on Membership.
Witnesses identified seven off.
GERS of the american Communica.
lions Association, including Inter.
national President Joseph P. Selly
as Communists or former Com
munistS.
The AGA, an independent union
was expelled from the CLIO in the
spring Of 1850 on the ground that
1t followed the Communist line
Mr.. Selly and the other AGA
officers named in the report re-
fused, when questioned by the
committee, to say whether they
are or have been members of the
Communist Party. They claimed
their constitutional privilege
against possible self determination
Likewise, Mr.. Sicily and others
refused to say whether they were
Communists at the time they
signed the non-Communist aft
davits required of union officials
by the Taft-Hartley Labor Act.
Record to Attorney General.
The subcommittee recommended:
l. That legislation be prepared
to prevent the certif1cation as a
bargaining agent under the Taft
Hartley law of any organization
found "by an appropriate agency
OF the Government to be Commu-
nist-controlled."
2. That the hearing record be
turned over to the Attorney Cen
eral as basis for possible perjury
prosecution of AGA officers who
signed non-Communist affidavits
but who were named by witnesses
as Communists.
Chairman McCarran said in a
statement accompanying the sub
committees report that the in
quiry had revealed that "Commu-
mist agents and sympathizers have
ready access to the Nations most
jealousy guarded defense and
diplomatic secrets"
He laid emphasis on the fact
that the AGA operates in New
York, "the largest and most SEN
sitive communications center"
and in the terminals of the main
transatlantic cables.
Can Cut in for Test.
The AGA, with 5000 to 1000
members, has labor contracts with
the Western Union Telegraph Co.
for its Metropolitan New York di-
vision; with Western Union Cable
Co., subsidiary: with Radio
Corp. Of American Communica-
tons, RCA subsidiary engaged
in international communications,
and the French Gables Co.
Joseph T. Lenahan, testing and
regulating technician for Western
Union. was asked by Richard
Arens, subcommittee counsel, If
information transmitted over
supposedly private lines leased by
Government defense agencies is
available to employees who are
members of the AGA.
THAT information is available
to all of those employees" replied
Mr.. Lenahan, who is not an AGA
member.
AS for private circuits leased by
the Government from Western
Union, Mr.. Lenahan said:
ANY T. and r. testing and
regulating man in the Western
Union could cut in a teleprinter
for the purpose of testing and
regulating"
j. L. Wilcox, Western Union
vice president in charge of en-
ploye relations, testified that
about $500 company employees in
the New York area are repre-
sented by the AGA.
Answer Refused.
IT think it is extremely haz-
ardous." he said.
When Mr.. Selly was being ques-
toned, Mr.. Arens asked him:
do you know whether or not
any employees of the Western
Union who are affiliated with the
American Communications ASso-
citation have intercepted messages
transmitted over lines of the
Western Union, which messages
were not directed to the employees
who made the interception?"
Mr.. Sicily refused to answer on
the ground of possible self
determination.
Joseph F. Kehoe, international
secretary-treasurer of the AGA,
refused to answer a similar ques-
ton, as did Alfred Doumar, sec
retary-treasurer of Local 40 OF
the AGA.
They were among the seven
union officials named in the testl-
mony as Communists or former
Communists. The others, in addi-
ton to Mr.. Sicily, were:
Dominick R. Panza, interna-
tional vice president of the AGA;
Louis Siebenberg, a member OF
the unions international executive
board; Charles L. SHERMAN, edi'
tor of AGA news and publicity
director. and Mrs. Mollie Town