Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-02-08
Study Of FDI Reports
On Spies in As May
Lead 10 Prosecutions

BY Robert K. Welsh
Espionage reports submitted
by the FBI years ago but found
only last fall among 10000 mis-
placed" documents may yet lead
to prosecutions by Justice De-
partment officials examining the
material.
This was made clear by At
torney General BrowneIl and
Assistant Attorney General War
rem Olney III. chief of the GRIM
inal division. Mr.. Olney told a
House Appropriations subcom-
mittee, in testimony available
today. that 1945 FBI reports on
Soviet spy activities and the late
Harry Dexter White were not
seen by the departments in
ternal security division until last
September.
Those reports were the same
that caused Mr.. BrowneIl last
November to raise the contro-
verSial issue concerning promo
ton Of White, a former Treasury
official. despite adverse FBI in
formation. Mr.. Brownell said
in a TV interview yesterday
that the department is reviewing
the many names mentioned in
the reports. Some of the lex
tremely important" cases already
found may result in court
prosecutions, he said.
PeytOn Ford Issues Denial.
Mr.. Olney. according to the
transcript released by the House
subcommittee, gave that group
last December a detailed descrip-
ton OF what he called house
cleaning" of the chaotic" con-
dition of records and files in the
department. His comments on
the finding" of 10000 docu-
ments of all kinds contained a
specific statement that brought
a denial today from former
Deputy Attorney General Pey-
ton Ford.
In the course of the hearings
on the departments budget re-
quests for approximately SLIT
million for the fiscal year be-
ginning next July l, Mr.. Olney
declared:
Il should say that these ma
terials I speak of, these espio-
mage reports. were such that the
largest part was not in the gen.
eral files and not accessible to
the internal security section. 1t
was discovered that there had
been a separate system of files
kept in the deputy's Office. This
material was all there. but it
was not integrated to the index
or where it could be found, and
1t is not indexed within itself
either"
Separate System Denied.
Mr.. Ford, whose duties as
Deputy Attorney General gave
him general supervision over
practically all major matters IN
the department and made him a
liaiSon between the Attorney
General and departmental of
fees, told The StaI that he
maintained no separate system
of files, such as Mr.. Olney de-
scribed.
His Offices kept carbon copies
and duplicates in many in
stances. Mr.. Ford explained. So
far as the FBI espionage report
was concerned, Mr.. Ford said this
not only came to the attention
of appropriate department au-
thorities but was made available
to Federal grand jury
In White Case.
Mr.. Olney said the FBI report
to which he referred in his teS-
timony was one of those pub
licized several months ago in
connection with the Harry Dex-
ter White case.
OF the Justice Departments
Office housekeeping, Mr.. Olney
testified:
Twenty thousand items turned
up in the course of it-let-
tiers, files. investigative reports =
everything. None, or at least
most, of the material had ever
been in the departments record
branch for recording. Many I'M
answered letters were. found,
some Of them dating back Is
years.
1.-The report on Soviet espiO-
mage that was prepared by the
FRI. a copy of which was sent
to the Attorney Generals office
in 1945, had never been seen
by the internal security
section until September 1858.
That report may have been re-
ceived in 1945, but it was not
found until we had this house.
cleaning"
AS Mr.. Olney went on to de-
scribe how the criminal division