Evening star., 1952-07-06
Spies
GA Role in Lottimore
Case Was an Accident
By William Hines

W VuHOUu buuSS
A number of people seemed to
have jumped to the conclusion, as
a result of the Owen baltimore pass
port incident, that our Central
Intelligence Agency may be trying
to convert itself into an American
version of Russia's OGPU. But no
one should lose sleep over this one.
The supersecret Government spy
network seems to be as unhappy as
Mr.. baltimore himself that the fasco
ever occurred.
1t was part-time informer's tip
to CIA operative at Seattle, Wash,
a little more than a month ago that
set of the explosive baltimore Incl
dent.
The tipster. travel agency en-
ploye. told the CIA man Of a trip
behind the iron curtain allegedly
being planned by Mr.. baltimore, con-
troversial Johns Hopkins professor
who was scored last week by Senate
group as conscious. articulate in
strument Of the Soviet conspiracy"
AS a result of the tip, the State
Department ordered customs officials
to prevent Mr.. baltimore from leav-
Ing the country. The supposedly
confidential stop order got national
publicity. Mr.. baltimore said that
not only was he not going anywhere,
but that he did not even have
valid passport. He denied trying to
buy tickets from the Seattle agency
or any one else. The FBI inveSti-
gated, found the CIA tipster's story
to be false, and brought charges
against the informer that resulted
IN his indictment several days ago
on charges Of giving false informa-
tion to Federal agency. The in
formant. Harry Jarvinen, pleaded
innocent last week.
Wospish Acceptance
The upshot was that an embar-
raised State Department Cancelled
the stop order and publicly apollo
gized to Mr.. Lattimore-an apology
that the Baltimore educator accepted
waspishly.
1t might all have blown over al
most unnoticed but for the fact that
Mr.. baltimore. in his reply to the
State Departments apology, bade
the C1A remember its place in a
free society.
What is CIA's place? Is it a neo-
fascist Gestapo? And how did it
get into the act in the first place?
The Central Intelligence Agency,
now five years old, is the Nations
first real answer to the pressing ques-
tion Of international intelligence. But
the emphasis is on the adjective lin
ternational." CIA has no domestic
spy functions; in fact. it is prohibited
by law from engaging in this activity.
A Silent Service
The highly secret agency operates
directly under the Presidents Ma
tional Security Council. 1t correlates
intelligence information from all the
other agencies Of the Government
with intelligence networks - the
armed services, State, FBI, Treasury
and so on And it operates an extern
sive spy setup Of its own. Like Brit
aims noted intelligence organization.
CIA is truly a silent service" Getting
into it's headquarters in the old Office
of Strategic Services area at 2430 E
street NV. is only slightly less diff
cult than getting out of Alcatraz, and
infinitely more troublesome than Wis
tting the Atomic Energy Commission.
When the 80th Congress passed the
National Security Act of 1947, it
wrote into the measure stern pro-
hibition against domestic shopping on
the part Of CIA. The section Great
ing the agency provided that the
agency shall have no police, sub
poena, law-enforcement powers or
internal security functions" Far
from being set up as Gestapo. or
having the power to become secret
police, the CHA was created absolutely
toothless. A knock on the door by
CIA agent could-and still can-be
answered by the shout, "Go way, boy,
you bother me-"
Business Goes Seward
"Our business begins at the shore
line and continues seaward," Is the
way one CIA official put it.
Then how did CHA get involved in
the baltimore incident? Purely by
accident, says CIA. According to the
agency. its Seattle operative had been
in contact with Jarvinen for a long
time. Jarvinen'S value to CHA lay in
his travel-bureau afhliation. AS
result of his business, he had extern
sive information on overseas move
ments, and frequently handed tips to
CIA. Jarvinen's reputation for ac-
curacy in the past had been good.
When he told the CIA man about
Mr.. baltimore, the CIA operative was
faced with q choice, the agency said.
He could have thrown the tip into
the wastebasket as valueless to C1A.
Or he could have passed the tip
and the buck-to Washington. He
chose the latter course. CIA says the
Seattle agents decision was correct.
AS a standing matter Of
course. the CIA says, it has channels
through which it passes information
to other agencies. Frequently CIA
gets tipS-like the baltimore one
Of no official interest to it. The
agency sends these along to the
interested bureau.
OF course. CIA and other agencies
do evaluate intelligence that falls
into their respective bailiwicks. CHA.
for instance, is the top Government
bureau for collecting, collating and
deciding on the accuracy of foreign
intelligence. FBI builds its cases
domestically on the basis of infor-
nation it gets and evaluates. The
Army may collect from everywhere
ScraoS of intel1i0ence ah0lIt an enemy