Evening star., 1954-01-03


series Of. give-and-take sessions.
Out Of these meetings came the
basis Of Executive Order lO45O.
The President announced the
new program on April q. to be-
come effective q month later.
This ended the old Truman 10y
atty setup which. in its more
than six years of life. fired or
denied employment to 557 per-
sons about whose loyalty a rea-
sOnable doubt existed.
The Eisenhower order was
aimed at a much broader target.
Besides disloyal persons. 1t in
cluded individuals who are dis
honest, untrustworthy. unreliable
or immoral; alcoholics, drug ad-
diets. those with serious mental
or neurological disorders: those
who conduct themselves dis
gracefully. and those who may
be subjected to coercion or pres
sure which may cause them to
act contrary to the interests of
national security.
Extended Firing Power.
Executive Order 1045O ex-
tended provisions Of Public Law
733 of 1850 to all departments
and agencies of the Government.
This law had given the Secre-
taries Of the Armed Services and
several other sensitive agencies
the power to remove summarily
persons suspected of diSloyalty
or who were believed to be
threats to the national security.
The new program gives the
accused an opportunity to pre-
sent his case to a Security Hear
ing Board, made up of three in
dividuals from agencies outside
his own. The Secretary of the
accused's department selects
these board members from q
panel maintained by the Civil
Service Commission.
The board recommend action
to the department head. who
may or may not abide by the
recommendation. There Is no
further appeal. Under the Tru-
man system. a central Loyalty
Review Board heard appeals
from regional boards and its de-
cision was final.
Executive Order 1045O charges
the Civil Service Commission
with q continuing study of the
manner in which the agencies
carry out the security program.
Also. the commission is directed
to report to the National Sc
curity Council at least semian-
nually on the results of this
study.
At a Security Council meeting
three months ago. Philip Young,
chairman of the c. S. C. and ad-
visor to the President on per-
sonnet matters. was asked how
many persons had been dis
missed as security risks. Mr..
Young had no figure available.
(Under the order he had until
late November to make his first
report)- He returned to his office
and sent out a call to the agen-
cies for reports. This was on
October 5. He asked for replies
within two weeks. With these,
and the commissions own in
vestigative records. he counted
1856.
OfIlcials In Doubt.
Several security officers have
declared that they were not GER
tain as to just what figures the
Commission wanted-and still
aren't. This undoubtedly explains
part of the confusion over figures
between the agencies and the
Commission. One Of the security
chiefs asserted that Mr.. Young's
extremely hurried" call for
statistics, which had to be
gathered from thousands of
Offices in all parts of the world
where Government employees are
hired and fired inevitably pro-
duced numbers with different
meanings.
Mr.. Young made his report to
the National Security Council on
October %. The next day the
White House made its announce
ment that 1.456 persons had been
ousted.
Since then. Republicans from
Mr.. Eisenhower to Senator Nc
Carthy have referred to the 1856
often and lovingly. These refer
ences, almost invariably have
been made in connection with
discussions of the Communists
in-Government problem.
Breakdown Refused.
While administration officials.
like Mr.. Young. readily grant
that the public generally at
taches the same odious meaning
tn Hcoo,,r;fx, r;,t-p ~-L uL.-.