LAX SECURITY METHODS STILL PREVAIL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000200310003-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 3, 1999
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: October 19, 1964
• Content Type: NSPR

wcSxnvGTON TA1t
Sanitized - Approved For 1R 196elease:
STATINTL
Security' Methods Still Prevail
RICHARD WILSON
Senator Thomas Dodd of across them, cra.el a ; this
Connecticut is an old friend may seem in inrnau terms,
of President Johnson.. He was This, is what Senator Dodd
for Johnson for !~residcnt' hi has been + ;t i n, to c)ca~aon
126tI. But be has ?not been:. strate aril 're . s much evi
very successful in getting the` hence on` i:; Scores of
President , to pay much at- employes been given
tension to the charges of the "emerge,:': clz::~rance" i;, the
Internal Security Subcom- Departmr.! cl Roue, without
mitt.ee of the United States any pars emergency,
Senate that security proce- and thus ' . been sptrrud a
duxes in the executive branch, thorough ii- in;ition of Ihe.ir
particularly' the State Depart- records to employment.
meat, are lax and dangerous. Easy - r.' i.u:, uanrrity' proce-
Mr. Johnson now has reason dures ha ced those of
to know that even the man the Else administra-
`closest to him might, with- tion. Wh,,;, . e" cmpL7_3, long
out the President's knowl- recognized ;or the
edge, have wealmesses which handedne--? :,A his administra-
made him especially vulner- tion of r;cc;n ty procr. dunes,
:able to blackmail and were, told the truth to the Senate
of such a nature . that his Internal Security Committee
resignation wos,called for im- on State repartme.,a. prac-
mediately. This case is not tices he :vas ostraciz.:d and
unique, It happened before suspended for disclosing se-
in the case, of a trusted as- cret inferrsrzation-information
sociate of a previous Presi- which, in itself, was innocuous
dent who quietly resigned a but disclosed the casual
few months after his appoint- methods o: clearing apph?
m.e.nt, much to the sorrow of cants for uraployment.
those who had known his de- The violent reaction of
votion. to public service. :;security officials of the State
This man, as well as Presi- Department in this case-the
dent ..Johnson's special as- ' Otepka case-was enough to
sistant, was too vulnerable to illustrate the attitudes of mind
hold a position of close inti- which have grown out of the
macy with the President of long-term reaction to "Me-
the United States. In neither Carthyisrn."'Because Senator
case was ..this. vulnerability McCarthy, '14 years ago,
known ; at .: the time of ap- adopted extreme methods and
pointment: sometimes , let caution and
These cases alone should be decency go to the winds, the
enough to demonstrate that ; post-McCarthy attitude seems
great care must be taken in to be that any qualified man
the selection of all personnel has a "right" to avoid a rigor-
having to do with the national ous inspection of his affairs
security. No shadow can fall before given a sensitive gov-
ernment position. No one, of
course, has any such right,
nor any right to public em-
ployment at all, nor any right
to forgiveness of his past acts.
The Warren Commission re-
cently held to strict account
both the Federal Bureau of
Investigation and the Secret
Service for failing to take pre-
ventive measures. against the
assassin- of President Ken
nedy. We could see that 'it
would have been much better,
in this one case, if police-state
methods had prevented the
assassination.
If the Secret-Service had in-
formation, as reported, on the
aberrations of President John-
son's special assistant, it could
be criticized again for having
failed to take the action which
would have avoided the Presi-
dent's present embarrassment.
What all this illustrates is
that there is an urgent need
for well-executed internal
security procedures. This has
been illustrated time after
..time, both in this country and
in England,' which of all na-
tions prize highest rights and
dignity. of the individual.
Perhaps the fact that Presi-
dent Johnson has had closest
to him an associate who could
not be trusted to remain there
any longer will turn the Presi
dent's attention to the broader
aspects of the internal security
problem. Senator Dodd is in a
position to give the President
sound information and sage,
un-McCarthy-like advice.
1064
Sanitized - Approved For Release: CIA-RDP75-00149R000200310003-6