Evening star., 1953-02-24
Bridges Asks Probe
OF Voice Funds for
Shipboard Stations
BY the Assoeioted Press

BY the ASSoeicted Press
Senator Bridges, Republican,
of New Hampshire called today
for full investigation of a Voice
Of America request for nearly 81
million to equip a ship for BEAM
ing broadcast behind the Iron
Curtain.
He questioned the technical
wisdom Of the project and said
that as chairman of the Senate
Appropriations Committee he is
opposed to granting the money
until the Voice" could demon
strate that it would work.
Senator Bridges suggested that
the Senate Investigations Sub
committee. headed by Senator
Mccarthy. Republican. of Wis
consin, look into the matter In
connection with it's probe for
waste and subversion in Voice"
operations.
Senator Mccarthy said this
would be done.
Conflicting Testimony Studied.
The subcommittee, meanwhile,
called another hearing, closed
to the public and to newsmen, in
an apparent attempt to deter
mine whether any employees of
the Voice" have Communist af-
f1liations.
Senator Mccarthy had little to
say about this. He told reporters
conflicting" testimony had been
received and would have to be
checked further before public
hearings could be called.
Senator Bridges wrote to SEN
ator Mccarthy to suggest that
a thorough investigation be
made of the Voices" shipborne
radio transmitters before Con-
gress consented to invest fur
ther funds in them.
Senator Bridges said the Voice
now has one ship called Vaga-
bond A, which has electronics
equipment for beaming broad
casts into Iron Curtain coun-
tries and is installing similar
equipment on another ship,
called Vagabond B.
Technical Difficulty Cited.
In the budget requests for the
fiscal year starting July /, Sena-
tor Bridges said, the State De-
partment is asking for $3,714,0
to equip a third ship, to be
called Vagabond c.
Senator Bridges said that
Vagabond A is anchored at the
Island of Rhodes in the Eastern
Mediterranean and broadcaStS
through antennae supported in
the air by a helium- filled balloon.
The Senator said he had been
advised by a technician in whom
he has confidence that 1T is not
possible with the present devel-
opment Of electronics to utilize
the full power of the transmit
ting device with antennae such
as this, acE 25: rtrs~a p
Senator Bridges also said he
understood that Vagabond A,
as it actually functions now,
utilizes antennae on the Island
of Rhodes.
AchesOn Aides Assailed.
While the advantage of having
a mobile trAnsmitter would lie
in making it more difficult to
jam signals, Senator Bridges
said these advantages are
conditioned upon overcoming"
technical difficulties.
1T would appear" he wrote
Senator Mccarthy. that we do
not actually have mobility in
Vagabond A and it seems reason
able therefore that the Voice Of
America might perfect their
original equipment before at
tempting other experiments"
Senator Mccarthy said yes
terday key aides left over from
the regime of former Secretary
of State Acheson have tried to
hamstring the current investi-
cation of the Voice."
Without naming names, he
told newSmen that "the old
Acheson lieutenants" were seek
ing to hinder the inquiry.
But he said the new team"
under Secretary of State Dulles
has quietly taken steps to coun-
teract the efforts of the AcheSon