Laxity on Vital Files Charged, Evening Star (Article, July 1953)
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Laxity on Vital Files Charged in Report On State Department
McCarthy Unit Receives Study Citing Inefficiency With Personnel Data
By Cecil Holland
A Senate report has been prepared charging the State Department with laxity and inefficiency in handling its personnel and security files.
The report, prepared by aides of Senator McCarthy, also charged that many official documents and derogatory material had been removed the files "based upon whim, caprice or other human emotions predicated upon the like or dislike for the person involved or internal office politics."
No Central Security File.
Pointing out that there [was] no central file on the security evaluation of present and former State Department personnel, the report adds:
"This could and did result in persons whose interests were contrary to the national security remaining undistributed or being promoted or hired within the State Department or in other executive departments or agencies of the Government in key and sensitive positions."
The report was by the staff of the Senate Investigations subcommittee headed by Senator McCarthy, Wisconsin Republican. Copies were sent yesterday to the seven members of the subcommittee--four Republicans and three Democrats--for their approval or revision before formal release.
Says Hundreds Had Access.
The report, marked "confidential," said the department had handled its files with "a disregard for economy, efficiency and security," It said "hundreds of people" had access to the files, and added:
"There were many cases of actual removal of derogatory materials from the files, including burning, deletions and misfiling."
The report included a letter from W. Scott McLeod, the State Department's new security officer, praising the McCarthy subcommittee's inquiries as "helpful" and saying that "corrective steps are being taken." Mr. McLeod told a House committee last week that 74 persons have been fire this year as homosexuals and 33 for security reasons.
Further Removals Forbidden.
As for the removal of derogatory materials from the files, the McLeod letter said:
"The practice of removing derogatory material from the personnel files, no matter what the reason might be, is the subject of serious consideration by departmental officials at this time. Those responsible for the files have been directed to remove no material from them until this problem has been resolved."
In a series of findings, the subcommittee report described as "inadequate" the system of operation, control and filing, particularly with regard the Foreign Service Division.
"There is a failure," the report, "to establish adequate and sufficient controls of files... as well as a failure to maintain a single standard of operation whereby all information would be made available, regarding an [employee], for review by the State Department Security Officer, or any investigative agency such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
"This was a particularly dangerous situation in view of the approximately 8,000 personnel in the Foreign Service, many of whom occupy highly sensitive positions affecting our national security."
Raps Foreign Service Unit.
The report was critical of the Performance Measurement Branch of the Foreign Service, saying it "deliberately withheld derogatory information from the files," and added:
"The branch also first procured the files of personnel who were scheduled for consideration by promotion panels. Branch personnel stripped these files of derogatory information and then would forward such files, without any indication of the prior stripping, to the promotion panel for consideration."
The State Department, the report said, maintained 11 sets of files, none of which are complete on any one individual. Moreover, it added, they have been operated without cross-reference, or any other method to record the contents of the file.
Improvements Under Way.
Mr. McLeod, in his letter, pointed out that the new State Department administration has been working to improve conditions. Steps are under way," the letter said, "to incorporate security information in security files. As a result of your committee's inquiry we have conducted a search for material removed from such personnel files. That material which has been located has been reviewed and the security information had been referred to the Security Office for appropriate action."
The report made 13 recommendations for improvement of the filing system, including the establishment of one central file.
