Evening star., 1953-01-01
Policy on u. N. Employment

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Department of State was con-
lcerned over the situation which
Iinvestigative reports were disclos-
ing. A few days after assuming
these duties I discussed this prob
lem with one of the principal as
Isistants of the United Nations Sec
Iretary General.
AS a result of our mutual con-
Icern with the problem, there was
worked out confidential arrange
iment under which the United
States Government was to identify
for the Secretary General United
States nationals employed by the
United Nations or contemplated
for employment who would appear
to be members of the Communist
Party or under Communist dis
Icipline. The purpose of this ar
Irangement was to give the Secre-
tary General all the assistance we
felt we could properly give him
but without assuming any part of
MS responsibility.
Under this arrangement. the
Secretary General undertook to
submit to the department lists of
names of United States nationals
on the secretariat or being con-
Esidered for employment with the
request that the department in
form the United Nations whether
readily available information dis
closed any police or criminal
record.
The Department of State in
itiated name check investiga-
tions drawing upon such informa-
ton as was available in the de-
partment, together with such in
formation as was made available
on request by the Federal Bureau
of Investigation and other inves-
tigative agencies of the Govern
ment. The information was re-
viewed by the department. A rou-
tine reply was then made to the
United Nations on the question of
evidence Of criminal or police
record.
II the national agency checks
had produced information which
was considered to warrant an ad-
verse comment on the grounds of
Communist membership or sub
lection to Communist discipline
this adverse comment was con-
veyed by word of mouth before
dispatch of the cover reply. The
security practices of the United
States Government made it i'm
possible to communicate to the
United Nations the detailed Sc
curity information on which the
adverse comment was based.
Let me emphasize that we did
not undertake to "clear" any
body and the Secretary-Gen
understood this. Furthermore,
Jas a consequence of the conf
dental nature of the arrangement,
the United States Government
was not in a position to conduct
full field Investigations on Ameri-
cans in the United Nations Sec
retariat Such investigations
would have become a matter of
general knowledge and would
have undermined the operation of
the arrangement.
The arrangement thus operated
under many handicaps. A con-
siderable period was required for
the United States Government to
deal with individual cases. The
removal OF Americans identified
under the arrangement by the
Secretary-Gereral required fur
ther time.
Ill-advised or precipitate action
would have revealed the conf
dental arrangement and made it
even more difficult to bring about
removal. The determination of
loyalty in border-line cases was
extremely difficult due to the de-
ipendence on information gained
from normal channels and the
inability to conduct and follow
through on field Investigations.
Nevertheless. the arrangement
was the best possible one under
the circumstances and did pro-
duce results. The arrangement
has achieved the dismissal of a
number Of Americans on whom
the State Department transmitted
adverse comments and has pre-
vented the employment Of others
Because of the complexities OF
the problem and of the United
States concern, the secretary gen.
|eral on November Z announced the
appointment of a commission of
international jurists to study this
whole problem and submit recon-
|mendations to him. On November
l29 the commissions report was
published.
i In effect, the commission OF
'jurists concluded that the United