Hoover Discloses New System to Fire Deviates, Evening Star (Article, April 1951)
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Hoover Discloses New System to Fire Deviates
406 Such Sex Cases Reported to Agencies Or to Commission
A new policy for checking on Government [employees] arrested on charges of sex deviations was revealed today in the release of testimony by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.
Mr. Hoover told a House Appropriations subcommittee that 406 such cases have been reported to the Civil Service Commission or the employing agencies in the last 12 months. Those convicted of the charges have been dismissed, a commission spokesman said.
The spokesman said no estimate was available as to how many dismissals have resulted, or the number of cases reported in Washington as compared with those in other parts of the country.
He added, however, that drastic action was taken in proven cases, whether or not the [employee] had access to the confidential information.
The cases reported by Mr. Hoover at the Justice Department appropriation hearings, released today, apparently were in addition to the 54 State Department [employees] fired in the last year because the Department regards homosexuals as poor security risks.
Department Agents Active.
An official of the State Department told a House Appropriations subcommittee, in testimony released Wednesday, that 45 of the cases were turned up by the department's own security agents and the other nine on information furnished by Washington police.
Mr. Hoover testified that the comparatively new investigative work of the FBI grew out of Congressional inquiries last April into reports of sex deviates in Federal service.
The inquiries were conducted behind closed doors.
The FBI, working with the committees, Mr. Hoover said, formulated a plan under which all persons arrested on sex charges of any type are fingerprinted and their prints sent to the FBI's central files.
"Prior to the time this action was taken," Mr. Hoover continued, "persons who were arrested for sex offenses were at times merely charged with disorderly conduct." He added that if the alleged offender was fingerprinted, there was no accompanying information as to his place of employment.
Employment Specified.
Under the new setup, Mr. Hoover said, enforcement authorities forward the specific character of the alleged sex offense, along with information as to the employment of the suspect.
Such information is transmitted without recommendations to the Civil Service Commission or the employing agency.
The civil service policy is to follow up such reports with independent investigations. Persons merely charged with such offenses are considered innocent until their guilt has been established beyond a reasonable doubt, it was said.
The commission ordered immediate dismissal for proven cases under its jurisdiction, and calls for reports when such information is transmitted to non-civil service agencies, it was said.
"Almost invariably the agencies take action on their own account when convincing proof has been obtained," the spokesman said.
