315.3/1–2853
The Assistant Secretary of State for United Nations Affairs (Hickerson) to the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (Wiley)1
My Dear Senator Wiley: With further reference to your interest in the question of the loyalty of Americans on the staffs of international organizations, I would like to report to you on the progress that has been made in implementing Executive Order 10422. The Executive Order was signed on January 9, and immediately upon its issuance the United States Mission to the United Nations transmitted a copy to the Secretary General of the United Nations. The Department had previously kept Mr. Lie fully informed concerning the development of the Order, and had shown him a final draft of the Order prior to its formal issuance. In his communication, the United States Representative stated that the United States wished to initiate at once the procedures provided by the Order, and requested that, in the meantime, the further appointment of United States citizens be deferred.
On January 12, representatives of the Civil Service Commission, the Department of State and the United States Mission met with the Secretary General and members of his staff in New York for a preliminary discussion of the arrangements and procedures to be worked out for the application of the Executive Order to Americans on the United Nations staff or considered for employment. Mr. Lie, while noting that he could take no conclusive action pending the outcome of the discussion of the Report of the United Nations Commission of Jurists at the February session of the General Assembly, expressed a desire to cooperate fully with the United States Government and agreed to the application of the Executive Order procedures, in fact, at this time.
[Page 321]As a first step in the implementation of the Executive Order, the agreement of the Department of Justice was secured to the release to the Secretary General, on a confidential basis, of certain information concerning ten United States nationals, still on the Secretariat, on whom the Department of State had commented adversely under the previously existing arrangement. This information was transmitted as information submitted under the provisions of Part I, paragraph or of the Executive Order, i.e., as information developed in the course of investigations in progress and made available to the Secretary General for his use in terminating or suspending or taking other appropriate action in respect to the person in question. Since that time, two of the ten have been terminated, and one will be on compulsory leave until the date of his retirement, May 15, 1953. The status of the other seven continues to be under active consideration by the Secretary General.
Simultaneously with the above, the Department of State, with the concurrence of other interested departments in every instance and acting through its representatives at the seats of the organizations, transmitted copies of the Executive Order to the executive heads of the several Specialized Agencies. The Department requested that they enter into an arrangement with the United States for the application of the Executive Order to their United States employees as provided by Part III of the Order, and further requested that they suspend the further recruitment of Americans pending the working out of the necessary procedures.
This approach to the heads of the Specialized Agencies was, in effect, a second step to that already taken when the Department communicated to them your concern over the reported infiltration of the organizations by subversive Americans. Negotiations with the executive heads of the Specialized Agencies are now in progress. The executive heads of the agencies have, without exception, agreed to cooperate with the United States Government. We have secured the informal agreement of the great majority, and expect to secure the agreement of the balance of the agency heads to the principle of suspending the further employment of United States citizens pending-the working out of necessary procedures under the Executive Order. A “freeze” on the employment of Americans is for all practical purposes in effect at the present time, the only exception being certain cases where the agencies have committed themselves to an individual long under consideration for employment and where particular commitments have been made to certain Member Governments that expert assistance will be provided which can only be provided by such persons.
While these negotiations have been in progress, the Department has initiated consultation with the representatives of certain key Member States of the United Nations for the purpose of gaining their [Page 322] support for the acceptance of the conclusions of the Commission of Jurists at the forthcoming session of the General Assembly. These discussions are underway both here in Washington and in New York, and will be undertaken as well by United States diplomatic representatives abroad at the seats of the various governments.
With respect to the provision of funds necessary to finance the investigations to be undertaken by the Civil Service Commission and the Federal Bureau of Investigation under the provisions of the Executive Order, a supplemental request for an appropriation of $1,000,000 to the Civil Service Commission has been submitted to the Congress (House Document 66). The bill provides that funds required by the Federal Bureau of Investigation will be secured by allocation from the Civil Service Commission. The appropriation of new money in this manner will be necessary for implementation of the Executive Order, and only when experience has been gained will it be possible to determine whether this appropriation will be adequate. As a beginning step, however, the Civil Service Commission has certain funds which it can use to undertake initially the investigations required.
Following the meeting in New York on January 12, the Civil Service Commission has bent every effort toward securing agreement within the Executive Branch as to the internal procedures necessary to effectively discharge the responsibilities of the United States Government under the Executive Order. These procedures have now been agreed to by all parties concerned, the Civil Service Commission, the Loyalty Review Board, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice, the Department of State and the Bureau of the Budget. The Commission has done a particularly noteworthy job in developing a basic personal information form, to be used in connection with the fingerprint form, which should greatly expedite the provision of the necessary information by the international organizations and its handling within the United States Government.
The representatives of the Civil Service Commission, the Department of State and the United States Mission to the United Nations have scheduled a meeting today with the Secretary General of the United Nations for the purpose of providing the United Nations representatives with copies of the forms, and explaining the details of the procedure, in order that they may undertake immediately the provision of the necessary information with reference to persons on the staff concerning whom question has already been raised. It is our intention that the procedure to be finally agreed upon at this forthcoming meeting will be applied not only to the staff under the immediate direction of the Secretary General, but to United States personnel of the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, the United Nations Korean Reconstruction Agency, and the [Page 323] United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.
In this connection, the most urgent attention will be given to the seven persons still on the staff concerning whom the Department had previously made representations, together with certain other persons on whom derogatory information is now available. The Department has been informed by the United Nations that the Advisory Panel of the Secretary General will be unable to reach a conclusion with respect to these seven cases until there has been a full investigation under the terms of the Executive Order.
I believe the paragraphs above represent a complete, but necessarily summary, account of our work to date in bringing the provisions of the Executive Order into practical effect. If there is anything I can add to this, please let me know as I and members of my staff would be most happy to discuss with you any questions you may have.
You have inquired previously as to whether or not any secret arrangements comparable to that which existed with respect to the United Nations have existed as between the Executive Branch and any of the Specialized Agencies. An arrangement somewhat comparable to the United Nations arrangement has existed with respect to UNESCO, the specialized agency for which the Department has very much the same sort of comprehensive responsibility, in terms of United States relationships, as it has in the case of the United Nations. An account of this arrangement is presented in an attachment hereto.
In the case of the FAO, the WHO and the International Civil Aviation Organization, there has been no comparable arrangement either on the part of the Department of State or the other Federal agencies at interest, the Department of Agriculture, the Public Health Service or the Civil Aeronautics Administration. The same may be said of the International Telecommunications Union. In the case of the World Meteorological Organization and the Universal Postal Union, there are no United States employees. With respect to the International Labor Organization, I believe you may have already been in touch with the Department of Labor. Similarly, I understand you have-been in contact with the Treasury Department with respect to its relationships to the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
While the Department of State has had an arrangement with only one Specialized Agency, UNESCO, it also had an arrangement with the United Nations Korean Reconstruction Agency, which is under the direction of Mr. Donald Kingsley. This arrangement was arrived at directly with the Agent General, Mr. Kingsley, inasmuch as the [Page 324] agency has independent appointive authority. The nature of the arrangement is described in the attached separate statement.2
Finally, reference is made to your previous inquiry concerning the extent to which passport controls have in fact affected employment of U.S. nationals by the Specialized Agencies. The Passport Office of the Department has advised that inasmuch as its files are alphabetical it has been necessary to rely upon the memory of the officers responsible for the particular operations involved. On the basis of the recollection of these officers there has not been a case of denial of a passport to any Specialized Agency employee other than the case to which you yourself referred. Cases of the withdrawal or non-renewal of a passport to a U.S. national abroad and employed by a Specialized Agency are limited to the cases of UNESCO employees referred to in the attached statement about UNESCO.3
Sincerely yours,
- Drafted by George M. Ingram of UNA:OIA; cleared by CON, A, URS, UNE, AV, AR, and by telephone with the Departments of Agriculture and Labor and the Public Health Service.↩
- Not printed; a copy of this statement entitled “Employment of U.S. Nationals by the UN Korean Reconstruction Agency” is attached to the source text.↩
- Not printed; a copy of this statement entitled “Employment of U.S. Nationals by UNESCO” is attached to the source text.↩