Evening star., 1951-04-30
Loyalty LoophoIe Closed

President Truman made 1ong-overdue re-
vision In the Federal loyalty program when he
broadened the basis on which suspected en-
ployes may be fired. BY ordering loyalty boards
to refuse employment to any person about whom
there is "a reasonable doubt" as to loyalty, the
President has plugged a hole through which
numerous disloyal public servants may have
escaped dismissal
The revision is largely an outgrowth of the
well-known Remington case. william W. Rem
ington, it will be recalled, was recommended for
discharge by the Department of Commerce
Loyalty Board, after Elizabeth Bentley, self
confessed Red spy, had named him as collabo-
rator. But Remington's appeal to the Loyalty
Review Board resulted in cancellation of the
departmental recommendation and his restora-
ton to duty in the export control section of the
Department of Commerce. Later Remington
was convicted in Federal court of lying when he
denied that he had ever been Communist. After
the conviction officials of the Loyalty Review
Z Board disclosed that the board had cleared Rem
ington with great reluctance because of tech
nicality The 1947 executive order under which
the postwar loyalty program operated stated
that reasonable grounds" must exist for be-
lieving that a suspected employe "is" a Red
before dismissal was warranted. The board
interpreted this language as requiring substan-
tial proof that Remington was a Communist at
the time of the loyalty inquiry. That he had
once been a Communist the board had little
doubt
Hiram Bingham, who succeeded Seth Rich
ardson as chairman of the Loyalty Review Board,
agreed with other members that the language
was too restrictive. His first move as chairman
was to request amendment of the executive
order SO that the Government rather than a
suspected employe, could be given the benefit
of any doubt as to loyalty. There is nothing
new or drastic about this plan. President Roose-
velt's 1912 loyalty order provided that a sus-
pected employe could be fired whenever there
was reasonable doubt" about loyalty Mr.. Bing-
ham and the Civil Service Commission requested
the President to restore the 1912 policy. The
President has done this through an amendment
which states that hereafter the standard" for
the refusal of employment or the removal from
employment in an executive department or agen-
cy on grounds relating to loyalty shall be that,
on all the evidence, there is reasonable doubt
as to the loyalty Of the person involved to the
Government of the United States"
This is necessary policy in time of great
undercover activity by enemy agents 1t not
only will protect the Government from possible
Subversive infltration by Communists or other
diSloyal persons, but will prevent the re-employ-
ment Of workers who have been allowed to resign
during loyalty investigations. 1t is said that a
considerable number of suspected employees have
found their way back into the Government serv-
ice by the device Of resigning and thus keeping
their civil service records clear thorough
check should be made to see that such trickery
has not imperiled the security of the Govern
ment. The revised loyalty standards will make
such survey more effective than would have
been possible under the old policy