861.20211/72: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 27—3 a.m.]
1780. [The portion of the telegram here omitted gives detailed information received from an American citizen who had been residing in a Baltic State, but who had received an exit visa to return to the United States with his wife only on condition of acting there as a Communist agent.]
The foregoing information, which corroborates previous information received by the Embassy (see my 1487 of November 5, 1 p.m.) with regard to attempts of the Soviet authorities to recruit American citizens and emigrants leaving the Soviet Union and Soviet occupied areas for the United States, and which in this particular case is more detailed and circumstantial than usual, is in my opinion entitled to full credence. In this connection it is important to emphasize that a substantial proportion of the individuals who are permitted to depart, having relatives remaining in the Soviet Union or Soviet occupied areas, whether American citizens or emigrants, must rest under the presumption of having been approached by the Soviet authorities. Their failure to notify the Embassy or other American officials that they have been approached in no sense indicated that they have not been solicited or have not accepted the proposals that may have been made to them.