CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - SENATE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000600040008-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 15, 1998
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: September 28, 1967
• Content Type: NSPR

FOIAb3b
September apr1iti ed - App(Dbt M0RALW 0CU4-R 8149R0006000400 41
These nine citizens, we believe, will be a Because it has dragged on for go long, and on the record of. the State Department. In
genuine voice for the people of Washington. because of what it reveals about the hidden the minds of many Americans, it will cast
We think they represent this city. We be- inner workings of the State Department, the doubt as to whether the conduct of their
lieve they know and understand and will . Otepka case deserves recapitulation. country's foreign affairs is in completely
certainly learn all about its urgent problems. It .probably began in 1955, when Mr. trustworthy hands.
I hope the Senate will act promptly so that .Otepka, then chief of the Evaluations Divi-
the new city government can move rapidly. sion of the State Department's Security
from promise to performance. Branch, was asked to evaluate the record of
With them, Mayor Washington, you and a prominent figure-as yet unidentified-
your Deputy Mayor Fletcher can now show who was being considered for appointment
America what concerned and aroused muni- . to a sensitive post in the Government.
cipal leaders can do. You can improve the Mr. Otepka produced evidence from secret
lives of your fellow citizens. You can trans- y 'CIA files showing that the man in.question
form this city into a proud home for all had been denied a position on a Cold War
the people.
Some of the most enlightened Members
of the Congress, who at great sacrifice to
themselves, have fought for years for a better
government for the District of Columbia, are
here this morning. We are grateful to all of
you for having come.
Now, Mr. Mayor and Mr. Deputy Mayor
and City Councilmen, it is up to you to get
with It. And you had better learn these
Congressmen and Senators.
THE OTTO OTEPKA CASE-A BLACK
MARK
Mr. HRUSKA. Mr. President, this week
another page in the history of Otto
Otepka will be written as briefs are filed
in the appeal from his discharge as a
State Department security officer. Per-
haps now, after almost four and a half,
years, Otto Otepka will be exonerated.
Unfortunately, the outcome of this
hearing makes no material difference to
Mr. Otepka because his career already
has been ruined. Perhaps, more impor-
tant, it makes little difference to the
security of the United States. The dam-
age has been done; in large measure it
cannot be repaired.
It will do the administration little
good to try to sweep the Otepka case un-
der the rug or to wish it into oblivion.
Many of us in Government and many
private citizens will recall often the
shameful treatment accorded Mr. Otepka
by the State Department. The indefen-
sible way the Department tried to elim-
inate a conscientious security officer
who disagreed with his superiors has
been etched indelibly in our minds.
Otto Otepka's fate also has been
etched into the minds of State Depart-
ment security officers and those who will
follow them. How many will be guided
by loyalty to their country, and how
many will be guided by the heavy-hand-
ed whims of their department superiors?
It will take exceptional courage for these
security experts., to oppose their supe--
riors, even in eases of, clear danger to
the Nation. It is here that America will
pay most heavily for what has happened
to Otto Otepka.
Mr. President, an excellent summary
and appraisal of this entire episode ap-
peared in an editorial published in the
Omaha World-Herald of September 24,
1967. I ask unanimous consent that it
be printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the editorial
was ordered to be printed in the RECORD,
as follows:
A BLACK MARK
The Otto Otepka case is surfacing again
in Washington. Lawyers' briefs in the appeal
of the fired State Department security offi-
cer will be filed September 29. Thereafter a
hearing officer will recommend to Secretary,
of State Rusk either that Mr. Otepka be re-
instated or that his dismissal be upheld.
strategy board because of "reservations"
about him as a "security liability.
The man. was passed over for the appoint-
ment.
Twice more in five years the same name
came up, and both times Mr. Otepka pro-
duced the same evaluation.
In 1961, under a new Administration, Mr.
Otepka's reservations about this person were
overruled. Observers who have followed the
case closely believe that Mr. Otepka's de-
cline began then.
In 1963, the Senate Internal Security sub-
committee was investigatdng' allegations of
lax security procedures in the State Depart-
ment.
The subcommittee counsel called on Mr.
Otepka, who produced records of his findings
and recommendations in several cases, in-
cluding one in which he had balked at
granting "emergency" clearances for 10 pe-
sons recommended for appointment to a
State Department advisory committee.
Shortly thereafter, on June 27, 1963, Mr.
Otepka was removed from his job and put to
shuffling papers in another assignment.
A campaign of harassment began, accom-
panied by State Department charges that
Mr. Otepka had acted improperly by provid-
ing the Senate subcommittee with classified
information.
Mr. Otepka's telephone was bugged. His
safe was cracked by State Department offi-
cials. Four security officials who supported
him were transferred to meaningless jobs,
and two of these later were fired. (The two
appealed, were reinstated, and promptly re-
signed.) Two officials perjured themselves
in an attempt to cover up evidence about
the telephone tapping.
Mr. 'Otepka was suspended formally in
September, 1963, and was fired in November.
He immediately appealed, but hearings on
the appeal were postponed six times. The
hearing finally. was held last spring-four
years to the month from the time he was
first removed from active service as a security
officer.
The Internal Security subcommittee hear-
ings, which produced a transcript of 1,500,-
000 words, revealed indications of a system-
atic State Department purge of "hard" anti-
Communist employees, of whom Otto
Otepka was one of the most prominent.
The hearings revealed indications of Ex-
ecutive pressure to provide security clear-
ances for some, questionable risks, including
William Wieland of Castro fame.
They also revealed a picture of Otto Otepka
as a stubborn, conscientious civil servant who
insisted on doing his job in the face of subtle
pressures designed to lower the security bars
to sensitive, high-level positions. (It was re-
vealed after Mr. Otepka was fired that 63
State Department employees, including three
senior officers in the Foreign Service, had
resigned in 1963 after being confronted with
evidence showing they were security liabili-
ties.)
The irony of the case Is that the State De-
partment persecutors of Otto Otepka will
have won, no matter how it comes out. Even
If Mr. Otepka is reinstated, which doesn't
appear likely, his career Is ruined. Any sue-'
cessor in his office will remember vividly how
conscientious work is rewarded, and can be
expected to trim his sails accordingly.
The affair will leave a black mark forever
JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER SUP- -
PORTS THE AMERICAN POSITION
IN VIETNAM
Mr. McGEE. Mr. President, I invite
the attention of Senators to the news
today that Japanese Prime Minister
Eisaku Sato has supported the conditions
set by the Johnson administration for
ending the bombing of North Vietnam.
The Prime Minister said:
In any suspension of the bombing of North
Vietnam there should be a firm assurance
that it will lead to a suspension of hostilities
in the South.
And the Prime Minister also noted that
it is not enough for the United States
to. want peace in Vietnam. The Com-
munists must also share this desire.
Mr. President, these remarks by the
Japanese Prime Minister are very signifi-
cant. Mr. Sato is one of the most in-
fluential and respected statesman in
Asia. He represents a nation which has
known the ravages of war. Yet he sup-
ports our position in Vietnam as one
that is both reasonable, sincere, and
necessary.
This Is not a solitary statement of sup-
port from Just one Asian leader.
There have been other statements of
support for American efforts in Vietnam
from numerous Asian leaders in the past,
and I have referred to them on this floor
before,
Some months ago.the Prime Minister
of Singapore said?that if the Americans
leave Vietnam "we're finished."
The Prime Minister of Malaysia said
that the American presence has made.
the difference between "Asian stability
and Asian chaos."
The President of the Philippines, the
Prime Minister of Australia, the leaders
of Cambodia and Thailand have all
echoed similar sentiments.
Asians support our efforts with more .
than words.
There are 45,000 South Koreans fight-
ing for freedom in Vietnam. They know
what Communist expansionism means.
Just days ago, Thailand sent 2,000 of
its crack military men to South Vietnam
to help fulfill their commitment to free-
dom.
And, of course, the valiant South Viet-
namese have almost three-quarters of a
million men under arms.
The. United States is not alone in
Vietnam.
Asian leaders and Asian people want
us there to help them resist what is, in
reality, aggression against an enitre area
of the world.
The statement yesterday by the Prime
Minister of Japan, supporting our posi-
tion on the bombing of North Vietnam, is
another drastic illustration of the fact
that this, is a struggle for all free and
independent people. The Asians, above
all, know it and want us to persevere. -
. Those who say this is an American
war ought to realize that the people and\
leaders of Asia emphatically do not ac-
cept that description. -
Sanitized - Approved For. Release : CIA-RDP75-00149R000600040008-7