HE SPEAKS TO NO ONE; NO ONE SPEAKS TO HIM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000600040046-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 15, 1998
• Sequence Number: 46
• Publication Date: April 19, 1964
• Content Type: NSPR

Sanitized - Approved For Releas
W YORK
E
N
APR 1 9 1964
HERALD TRIBC.TNB
Ike Speaks to No One;
CPYRGHT
loo One Spears tm Him
By Dom Bonafede
Of The Herald Tribune Stall
WASHINGTON.
ve (lays a week, a Well---
built man with pleasant fea-
tures and chose-cropped hair
drives Into - the basement of
the State Department to the
section reserved for top-
echelon officials. He parks, en-
ters an elevator and rides to
the third floor, where he gets
off and walks to Room 38A05.
It is 8:45 a. in. and the
building is beginning to hum
with bureaucratic precision.
Ordinarily this daily ritual
would seem little different
than the pattern habitually
followed by thousands of gov-
ermnent employees in Wash-
ington.
There is a vital difference,
h wever, It Is almost unbe-
vable, not unlike an an-.
c ;vit Greek drama: no one
spr.aks to the man and he
,'aks to no one.
In the elevator, the conver-.
sation fades , to a painful
silence. In the corridors, one
or two people, invariably, nod
behind a bare desk to face
another morning in solitude,
just as he has done for almost
a year. There are no depart-
mental Instructions or re-
ports or communiques wait-
ing for him. There is no mail.
There . Is a telephone, more
ornamental than functional
since It never rings.
FOIAb3b
CPYRGHT
His department superior ?
never communicates with him, .I
He, is prohibited from going
into technical areas which
are_-considered within --hi
jurisdiction, He has no secre-
tary; one who worked with
him for several years has
been inexplicably transferred.
All incoming calls are re-
The sole occupant of the ceived in an adjoining office
room, for all intents and pur- by a girl who relays them to
pose, is nameless. There Is no him. He never makes a call
nameplate by the door as is from his phone as it may be
customary with all high-rank- "bugged," He never eats in
ing State Department officials. the department dining room
Around the corner, a name- since it may embarrass fot-
plate outside Room 3333 reads, mer associates. He never re-
"Otto F. Otepka." . " ceives invitations to depart-
But you would not finli Mi' ment social affairs.
In 38A05. - ------ employee visited Mr. Otepka
The room has been his Elba in his office. When the asso- '
since he wbanished there citte returned to his own of
June 2 he was 1963. Tice, he was immediately
summoned by 'his chief ,and
The fact Is Mr. Otepka, ordered not to call on Mr.
48. Is a human island ostra- Otepka again.
cited by all State Depart- Like many officers and em-
ment workers. ployees, who silently sympa-
This is his penalty for hav- thize with Mr. Otepka, the
Ing too candidly told the once-friendly associate now
Senate Internal Security shuns him rather than dam-
subcommittee ^b t
th
fated the clubhouse rules.
Since that moment, his ca-
reer, encompassing 28 years
in government service, in-
ou
e ii age his career.
State Department's security. PI Several months ago Mr,
screening procedures. By so Otepka, already separated '
doing he had, in 'effect, vio- from his normal duties, was
e was st
duttles and .no assignments.. a ;woyktng security officer.
department, he was deputy
director of the security see-
tion, a ranking post of high-
ly sensitive nature. He had.,
33 employees' under him and
his $18,200 annual salary is
near the maximum a Ptate
Department offiger cai earn.
Today he continues to!
drgw his salary. He' is still
listed on the roster and the
hall directory as "Chief, Di-
vision of Evaluation, Office
of Security.". Yet, he has no ;
e wa
dented
eluding 11 with the ' State access to classified files. His
Depurtinent, has been in, own files were impounded
jeopardy. His superiors when he was moved out of
maintain he released classi- his original office and they
fied material without' au- were never returned.
. thority, a charge whit he Formerly, ?he received a
denies and is fighting. small mountain of confiden-
When he allegedly breached 'i tial reports from the FBI and I
roved For Release : CIA-RDP75-00149R000600040046-5
Associated Press
Otto F. Otepka:
All alone at State.
n mute. recognition,
uickly lower their eyes.
1,, told to write a handbook on
security evaluation.
Despite the esoteric nature
of the work, h
s
CIA daily, concerning Com-
. munist subversion, .. No long-
er do they come to his desk.
.He has written memo a.f~er
memo explaining the inlpos-
sibility of writing a hand-
book without current Infor-
mation. The memos have not
been answered, Sinte he has
no secretary, he was given
an old dictaphone but it was
subsequently taken away.
He now believes the assign-
ment was a ruse intended to
make it appear h
ill