Evening star., 1953-01-01

committee By Assistant Secre-
! tary OF State John H. DicEerSon,
outlining the departments pol
/ icy and arrangements since 1916
! in connection Uith employment
/ of American citizens by the
| United Nations secretariat:
! In 1946 Secretary Byrnes estab-
lished the policy that, with the ex :
ception of the appointment of the
first Assistant Secretary General
| for administrative and financial
services, the United States Gov
ernment would not make recon-
mendations for employment on
the United Nations secretariat.
That policy has been followed ever
since.
The Department of State has
never undertaken to clear or give
a clean bill of health" to any
American employed by the United
Nations. The fact that the De-
partment of State did not make
adverse comments on Americans
on the United Nations secretariat
under a confidential arrangement
started in the fall of 1949 did not
mean that those individuals were
cleared and this was understood
by the Secretary General. The
United States Government was
not in position to assume respon-
sibility for the reliability of Amer
leans on the secretariat on loyalty
grounds and the Secretary General
was so informed.
The Department of State could
not without violating security
practices of the United States
Government make available to the
United Nations the information
provided it by the FBI and other
security agencies which was the
basis for the adverse comments
sent to the secretary general.
The depal tment has not had
levidence justitying a conclusion
that there was spying or espionage
on the part of American citizens
employed by the United Nations.
! Without in any way minimizing
the Importance which the depart
ment places on seeing that the
employees of the secretariat are
persons of integrity. it should be
borne in mind that the security
Iof classified information is not
involved in this question. The
employees of the secretariat of the
United Nations do not have access
to any United States security in
formation.
| Misconceptions o nthese points
have arisen from the failure to
understand the background of the
confidential arrangement between
the United States Government
and the secretary general on sub
versive Americans on the United
Nations secretariat. The conf
dental nature of the arrangement
created limitations and difficulties.
The United Nations Charter. in
particular Articles 100 and l01.
states that hiring and dismissal of
United Nations staff members is
the sole responsibility of the secre-
tary general in accordance with
the regulations established by the
General Assembly and that the
secretary general shall not seek or
receive instructions from any gov
ernment in the discharge of this
duty as we'll as his other duties.
At the same time. every member
state is committed to respect the
international character of the
secretary generals responsibilities
and not to seek to influence him.
The United States has acted ac-
cordingly in it's relations with the
secretary general.
The second factor basically af-
lfecting the nature of the conf
dental arrangement was that be-
fore the International Jurists' Re-
port last month the Secretary
General had not found it possible
to discharge Americans on the
stated ground that they were
Communists or under Communist
discipline.
Furthermore, in diseharging en-
|ployes. the Secretary General had
to contend with an elaborate ap-
Ipeals procedure. including an ad-
Iministrative tribunal, with poWe,
Ito demand a reversal of the Secre-
ltary Generals action or damages
in lieu thereof. These circum-
Istances made it essential that the
Secretary General protect himself
against the charge that ne was
being unduly influenced by the
United States Government. in vio-
lation Of the charter, when NOV
fling against persons identified by
the department as Subversive
When I assumed my present
duties as Assistant Secretary ol