315.3/7–1654
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration (Jenner) to the United States Representative at the United Nations (Lodge)1
Dear Mr. Ambassador: The Internal Security Sub-committee of the Senate is interested in the recent findings of the International Court of Justice, which upheld damage awards to the American employees of the UN staff, who had been dismissed by the Secretary-General because they refused to answer the Committee’s questions about their Communist affiliations on the ground of self-incrimination.
Our Sub-committee, pursuing the duty assigned it by Congress, to investigate subversive activities by American citizens, made a thorough inquiry into the Communist connections of Americans on the UN staff. You were kind enough to appear at this inquiry, and testify about the problems involved.
Our Sub-committee found that certain American members of the UN Secretariat had close links with the Communist apparatus, directed from Moscow. They had, in many instances, been placed in their [Page 401] positions in the UN as part of the interlocking subversion between government departments, private agencies, members of the UN Secretariat and the Communist apparatus—obviously for no good purpose. When asked about these links, the UN employees invoked the Fifth Amendment and refused to answer questions because the answer might incriminate them.
Secretary-General Trygve Lie held that refusal to answer questions on such grounds was conduct unbecoming to international civil servants and dismissed the employees involved. This position is similar to that taken by our national government and various state governments, which dismiss civil servants who have need to invoke the Fifth Amendment.
The employees appealed to the UN Administrative Tribunal, which reversed the Secretary-General in eleven cases, and ordered reinstatement, payment of awards for damages, or both, to American employees of UN who would not state that they were not Communists.
As you know, the indignation among our people was wide-spread. For one thing, approximately one-third of such payments must come from funds voted by Congress and paid by American tax-payers. Even more important, the privileges and immunities we have given to UN employees, if abused, constitute a highly dangerous and well-protected opportunity to undermine our nation’s security.
Our Sub-committee found, in its report of March 22, 1954, that a Communist Fifth Column exists within the UN staff, and that Soviet agents use UN privileges as a cover for espionage and subversion.
This concerns all non-Communist nations, though our concern is greater because most of this activity occurs within our borders. The question now is whether the UN Assembly will adjust its personnel policies to conform to the stated UN principle that staff members are not to engage in political activities hostile to member states.
The position of counsel for the dismissed employees was, in general, that Communist activities were not political acts but private beliefs. This flies in the face of all the evidence that membership in the Communist apparatus imposes the obligation of continuous political activity favorable to the Soviet Union and dangerous to the existence of the United States and other non-Communist states.
The UN Administrative Tribunal upheld the position of the lawyers for the dismissed employees, against the position of the Secretary-General. It ruled that the employees had been damaged, not by their connections with Communism or subversion, but by being asked to tell of their activities openly.
The International Court has upheld the curious position of the Administrative Tribunal. The situation now is that the position of the American government, the UN Assembly and the UN Secretary-General, has been reversed by a UN administrative agency concerned [Page 402] with employee grievances, and that this board, heavily biased in favor of the Soviet position, has been upheld by the International Court.
It may be too late to stop such shocking awards in the case of past services, but the United States Congress must make certain that no such awards to secret pro-Communists shall be paid again. It must also have assurance that the UN staff is truly non-political, and does not harbor an unrecognized outpost of the Cominform, working against the interests of our country and all other free nations.
The Senate has voted, but the House has not yet approved, S. 3, which will prevent employment of Americans in the UN Secretariat who cannot get clearance that they have not engaged in subversive activities. Passage of this bill should remove from the UN Secretariat Americans who have served the Fifth Column. Perhaps the representatives of other non-Communist nations will wish to cooperate in efforts to remove all members of the Soviet Fifth Column, claiming to be loyal citizens of any non-Communist nations.
The responsibility falls on the UN Assembly to make clear its position on the obligations of UN civil servants, and to insure that its stated commitments will be carried out by all parts of the UN establishment.
I hope you will be able to press for a final decision by the Assembly on whether employees may remain on the staff of the UN, if they are secret Communists, working for the ends of the Soviet Union, while asking to be accepted as loyal citizens of non-Communist states.
I trust you will urge the UN Assembly to reexamine the UN Administrative Tribunal, and decide how its policies may be brought into line with UN’s stated objectives.
The UN Assembly should make its policies on this critical issue of the integrity of its staff clear beyond the shadow of a doubt.
If the UN Assembly is unable to impose its stated policies on its staff members, and the UN staff can be used as a beachhead for the advance of Communist power, then Congress should know the facts. It can then reexamine its legal ties with, and its financial contribution to, an agency whose staff includes secret collaborators with the Soviet attack on free nations.2
Sincerely yours,
- Senator Jenner was a Republican from Indiana. He sent copies of this letter to Secretary of State Dulles and Senator Styles Bridges (R.–N.H.), President Pro Tempore of the Senate.↩
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On July 28, 1954, Thruston B. Morton, Assistant Secretary of State for Congressional Affairs, acknowledged receipt of Senator Jenner’s letter, adding:
↩“I presume that by now you have received the reply which the United States Representative [Mr. Lodge] addressed to you. You will note from the letter of Ambassador Lodge that the problems about which you wrote are matters of continuing concern. It is our purpose to give them continuing attention.” A copy of Mr. Morton’s letter to Senator Jenner is in Department of State file 315.3/7–1654.