Evening star., 1953-04-07
Our Security Problem

The security fiasco during the NOM
ination of Charles E. Bohlen to be Am
baSsador to Moscow indicates that the
new administration is on its way (if
its direction is not quickly reversed) to
reap the grief previously experienced
by the Truman administration on the
subject Of State Department security.
The mistakes Of the State Department
in the Bohlen case were made before
the reported clash between Secretary
Dulles and his new security officer over
the evaluation of the FBI inveStigative
report. The embarrassing episode oc-
CURED because the State Department
under the Eisenhower administration
like the department under the Truman
administration failed to clearly under
stand the problem of security and has,
at least so far, fallen prey to the Slo-
ganS, clicheS and distortions which led
their predecessors into such grief. AS
a result. individuals and groups from
both executive and legislative branches
of the Government hoping for a solu-
ton, but in many instances net possess
ing the necessary facts to enable them
to make determinations, have been talk
ing about requiring the F'BI to sum-
Marie files, permitting committees of
Congress to read investigation reports,
etc. The powers and responsibilities of
security officers have been discussed, as
have civil rights and due process of
law. All of these obscure rather than
clarity the problem.
Let us for moment Soberly take
stock of our current situation. I believe
the following to be true:
/. The international Communist con-
spiracy as controlled by Soviet Russia
has for over 80 years carried on espio-
mage against this Government with
phenomenal success. Through their
agents they have stolen our atomic
secrets and have influenced our think
ing on Far Eastern matters to such an
extent that we permitted China to fall
to the Communists. They caused our
official thinking to be so clouded that
we accepted the Chinese Communists
as "agarian reformers' rather than
tools of Moscow.
2. Because democracy such as ours
lends itself to infiltration and subver-
sive influence and because subversion
is an essential part of Communist STRAIT
egg, the Soviets are today practicing
these elements Of their foreign policy
against us.
8. Despite all our efforts to keep peace
and to persuade the SovietS and the
rest of the world that we have no i'm
perialiStic aims. we are daily in Korea
losing American lives because Of COM
muniSm.
4. The question of war or peace rests
Squarely on Soviet shoulders. If they
decide at any moment that it is in their
best interest to blast our cities and ci-
william populations with atomic bombs,
1t is in their power to do so.
5. Despite discomfort and possible in
jury to individuals in certain instances.
there is really no honest-to-goodneSs
threat to our civil liberties, except from
international Communism.
If these statements are true, then
isn't our problem much clearer? But
have we approached it with even de-
gree of sobriety? We need a security
program. We need the best brains in
the country to plan it and implement it.
We don't need to give undue weight to
civil rights and we don't need to over
emphasize the police aspect of the prob
lem. If the program is planned and
implemented by Americans chosen be-
cause they are qualified, then it will be
an American product and human dig
mites will be observed because this OBJ
Servance is inherent in the American
system. But we can't have an effective
security program if what we are looking
for when we plan one is the preserva-
ton of civil rights. The problem at the
moment is security. Which do we