THE DAGGER IN THE CLOAK AND MR. OTEPKA 'S BACK

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000600040094-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 15, 1998
• Sequence Number: 94
• Publication Date: November 11, 1963
• Content Type: NSPR

NEW YORK
IERALE) 'FIURI Nr.
NOV 1.1 19,63
Sanitized - Approved For Release : Cl
Today in National Affairs ^
The Dagger in the Cloak
---.And Mr. Otepka's Back CPYRGHT
CPYRGHT
By David Lawrence.
WASHINGTON.
Sen. Thomas J. Dodd, D., Conn., has achieved a repu a-
tion for independent thinking. When he says that the Depart-
ment of State, in dismissing its Director' of Security, used
methods that are highly questionable, the country naturally
becomes interested, especially since Mr. Dodd himself at one
time served in the Federal Bureau of Investigation under J.
Edgar Hoover.
The Connecticut Senator told the Senate Tue'sday, Nov. 5,
that a "serious challenge to responsible government" occurred
when Otto Otepka was dismissed by the State Department
simply because he had "testi-
fied honestly before the Sen- Mr. Otepl:a was the last
ate Subcommittee on Internal old-line security officer hold-
.Security on matters relating ing a top position in the
to security in the Department Office of Security. He has
of State." He quoted the ex- been an employee of the
isting statutes which say that United States government for
"the right of persons em- 27 years. He has served as
ployed in the Civil Service of Deputy Director of the Office
the United States, either in- of Security and Officer in
dividually or collectively, to charge of evaluations. His
petition Congress, or any efficiency ratings have always
member thereof, or to furnish ; been `excellent.' In 1958 he
information to either house of received the meritorious ser-
;Congress or to any committee vice award from Secretary
or member thereof, shall not of State Dulles. But suddenly,
be denied or interfered with." for some strange reason, ter-
Sen. Dodd declared that, tain people in the department
by its action in the Otepka decided that Mr. Otepka had
case, tl4c State Department to go.
"has in effect, .nullified this "And so, they began first,
statute" and has issued a to restrict his functions. Then
warning "to all employees they installed a tap on his
that co-operation with the telephone. Although a State
established committees of Department official has de
the Senate, if this-co-opera- nied under oath that this
tion involves testimony con- was done, the Subcommittee
sidered unpalatable at higher on internal Security has proof
echelon, is a crime punish- that the tap was installed.
able by dismissal." Then they began to monitor
Then came a sensational Mr. Otepka's burn basket.
development. The Senate In- Then they locked him out of
ternal Security subcommittee r,- ^f" --A ' -
whole question of s:ivirig
security clearance to individ-
uals employed in the Depart-
ment of State now has been
raised in a sensational man-
ner. Sen. Dodd concluded:
"If the dismissal of Mr.
Otepka is permitter} to stand,
it will become impossible or
exceedingly difficult to elicit
any information from em-
ployees of the executive
branch that bears on dis-
loyalty, malfeasants, ' conflict
of interest, or other wrong-
doing by their. superiors."
The Department of State
has not made public its de-
tailed reasons for the dis-
missal of Mr. Otepka, nor
has it given a satisfactory
explanation to the ,,Senate In,
'Security subcommittee.
But wherever the question of
security arises, Congress is
naturally on the alert. For
there have been too many in-
stances in which employees in
the executive branch 'of the
government have been given
security clearance and later
turned out to be indiscreet in
passing out to friends and ac-
quaintances information
which eventually reached the
Communist side.
In a vast organization of
employees such as' the Federal
government maintains .today,
it is natural that there should
be instances of questionable
security. But the system which
the Department of State has
for years maintained is one
that has created In Congress
confidence in its procEdgres.
The Otepka case has shaken
that confidence. And the fact
that the current fight for bet
ter security is being led by. a
Northern Democrat, who him-
self is an expert in security
matters, is accepted by other
Senators as an indication that
the problem'Is being handled
by the ? Senate in a wholly
nonpartisan way.
The Administration has the
responsibility of answering to
the Senate and to the public
just why the methods com-
plained of by Sen. Dodd were
used to remove a competent
official from tthe delicate and
difficult post of handling se-
curity matters in the Depart-
released on Nov. 9 letters filed access to his files, althoueh
by three State Department no charge . had yet been
officials asking that the rec- brought against him.
ord of their testimony be "No one suspected of es-
amended and conceding that pionage or disloyalty has to
an eavesdropping device had my knowledge been subjected
been placed on the telephone to such surveillance and hu-
wire in Mr. Otepka's office. miliation. But Mr. Otepka
Sen. R. L. Hruska, R., Neb., was not suspected of disloyal-
thereupon demanded that the ty or espionage. He was sus-
State Department consider pected very simply of co-
dismissing the three men operating with the Senate,
who, he said, had misled the Subcommittee on Internal
Senate. Immediately after Security and of providing it
Mr. Hruska's statement, two with information that some
of the same three men-who of his superiors found em-
have been the principal ac- barrassing or objectionable."
cusers of Mr. Otepka-were. In many respects this is
placed on "administrative more important than the al-
leave" for the time being by leged scandals that are being
the State Department. investigated on Capitol Hill
Sen. ? Dodd, in his initial in domestic affairs, for the
speech, pointed out that the
ca P c~ nnot~?b5 ler teA - Approved For Rele
se : CIA-RDP75-0014
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9R000600040094-2