Evening star., 1955-06-01
WHAT PRICE SECURITY?
Political Buccaneers
Exploit Loyalty Setup

HAS p6GOIuc OllucuiL 10 Adtlulc
security matters In a calm and
sensible matter. Too often. when
security" enters the door. COM
mon sense goes out the vim
dow. This was demonstrated in
the case of a Rhode Island in
dustrial engineer.
Doomed by White Lies
The engineer went to work at
Quonset Naval Air Station, out
side Providence. in l948, and
soon became q key man design
ing a badly needed Jet overhaul
building. He so impressed his su-
periors that they urged him to
apply for a Civil Service pro-
motion, which he did.
In his application he repeated
certain exaggerations he had
made about his past experience.
In his original application for
Civil Service he had said he
earned 5000 while at Western
Electric some years past, and
that as a private consultant he
had supervised as many as 1000
men. The facts were that at
Western Electric he had earned
$4,000 q year. and as a private
consultant he had supervised
nowhere near 1000 men. Asked
why he made the exaggerations,
the engineer said he had wanted
the job and that such putting"
was almost standard in Civil
Service circles.
The Civil Service Commission
held up the promotion, charg-
ing fraud" on the application.
It withdrew the engineers se-
curity clearance. The engineers
superiorS in the meantime told
him to ignore the matter, which
appeared a minor administrative
routine since there was no oues-
ton OF the engineers ability or
his accomplishments at Quon-
set. While he was a security
risk" the engineer was part Of
q key group testifying to a Navy
bureau on a proposed Navy in
stallation he had helped design.
Dickering between Civil sery-
ice and the engineer, with the
local Navy superiors on his side.
went on for four years after he
mad gone to work at Quonset.
Then the engineer was ordered
nred as a security risk.
Not a Risk
He began a long series of trims
to Washington. paying travel ex-
penses for himself and his law
yers. But no one wanted to take
responsibility for lifting a "secu-
rity risk" label, Finally the Seq
retary of the Navy convened a
special board which, after an ex-
tended hearing, declared that the
engineer was not a risk and that
he had been more than punished
for his application statements
The board affirmed his contribu-
tlonS to naval air defense.
For the next year. the engineer
could not get a job. He wrapped
bundles and delivered packages
A full year afterward he found
that Quonset was answering
queries from prospective employ
ers by stating merely that the
engineer had been relieved OF
duty because he had lost his Sc
curity clearance. The base did
not say the clearance was REIN
stated.
The engineer spent more than
$4,000 on the case, has been out
of engineering work for two
years. A Federal court said II
could do nothing for him.
The same apprehension about
security moves it into more than
irrelevant individual cases. It
has moved it into irrelevant
fields Of research, such as in the
curing of disease.
Sickle cell anemia, for ex-
ample, is a congenial. weakening
disease with no known cure.
About a million Americans are
susceptible to it. The research
is entirely open. No secrets are
involved.
DR.. Linus Pauling, of the Cali