IN SUPPORT OF THE CIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00001R000400180054-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 22, 1999
• Sequence Number: 54
• Publication Date: May 25, 1966
• Content Type: NSPR

Sanitized - Approved For Release : CIA-RDP75-00001 R000400180054-6
0
W..ASj 31a ;TON Si Alt
MAY 2 5 1966
+CPYRGE-g Support of the CIA
SIR: Senator McCarthy of Minnesota was reported.
in The Star (May 16) to have questioned the usefulness
of CIA activities directed against the infiltration of
Estonians by Communist agents.
Nearly all Estonians in the United States are,,,
citizens of this country. The senator's intention could
hardly have been to single them out as a group whose
infiltration by Communist agents is unimportant and
not worth the CIA's attention. lie, therefore, obviously
meant all United States citizens of East-Central Euro-
pean descent. Of these there are many millions. The
importance of preventing the infiltration of this large
contingent of the United States population by Commu-
nist agents can be seen front the following example.
A large part of Americans of East-Central Euro-
pean origin continues to have contacts with relatives
and friends in the Communist-dominated countries,
mainly through correspondence. Millions of letters are
exchanged yearly. It is a fact, of which also the Com-
munist regimes are well aware, that letters coming
from countries under their rule to the United States
often happen to contain, mostly unintentionally, infor-
mation of general interest which is consistently not
published in these countries, and which is therefore
secret by Communist standards, but has slipped
through the spot checks of Communist censors. This
information, more often than not complete with origi-
nating sources, is related here in conversations on
social occasions, etc., to persons who are considered to
be trustworthy.
It is of utmost importance that all persons who
happen to be taken into such confidence are genuinely
worthy of trust. An error in judgment may mean
several years of imprisonment for many writers of
letters in the Communist-dominated area,
Therefore, from a humane point of view alone,
efforts to prevent the infiltration of ethnic groups in
this country by Communist agents seem to be both
Heikki A. Leesnient,
President, Estonian National Committee in the U.S.
New York, N.Y.
Sanitized - Approved For Release : CIA-RDP75-00001 R000400180054-6