◆ SpookStack

ceeeer abe APM ie EAL gage Me HET eee peed peek : | O-19 (Hew. 7-27-67) Pa . it ye = a issian S py Roamed hiescorted at AEC - London Sunday Times. ie uo L ONDON—The tenne of the NDON—Th © scope of the information that Donald: Maclean, the British diplo- mat-turned spy, was able to pass to the Soviet Union can _be measured by the ‘pass ‘which gave him free access to: the greatest storehouse of; American weapons secrets, the Atomic Engery Commisson’ _ headquarters in Washington. | That pass was used often In February, 1947, halfway, * through - Maclean's tour as. first secretary qf the British; . Embassy in Washington, he was appointed British secre- ry TO tHe” CombiriedRelity | nm ttee on Atomle Affairs; (CPC) Cee This committee was the Product .of a secret Quebec agreement beiween the United! States, Britain and Canada ,and! its main function was to con-| tral the exchange of atomic | information between the three : governments. . The MacMahon Act, passed. in the late summer of 1946, se- , verely restricted U.S. partici- pation in this exchange, and : - this, in turn, shodld have | : ed Maclean’s access to valu i able wever,. the Mab i Owever the ai CY] a 0. : Act, (81 teal Machaboy | i not become fully effective for ; seversl mouths, A TS5e-state Department letter to Sen’ Jamea ©, Eastland (D-Miss,): spelled out the nature of the material avallable to Maclean in the interim. © | “He had an opportunity to Dave acce, to information ‘shared by fhe three participat- Ing countries in the fields of patents, d@passification mat- ‘ters and regearch and develop- -ment in relation’ to the pro-' “gram of procurement of raw ‘material from foreign sources. “hy the Combined Development, , Agency. ey. {cluding estimates af. ir wnted ‘suppit veT a a it mh 6 2 OCT 1 ry, KI ; ‘sand late at night, . - The COA sn arm rs the. CPC,,had as its essertiat tak the “preemptive purchase {mostly from the Belgian Congo) of uranium, which was still “ thought to be in exceedingly short supply. The idea was to get the uranium ahead of the Russians. The Russians would have. valued anything Maclean could tell them about where the West was buying itz ura- niums in what quantities and at what price. Maclean was also in & posi- tion to inform the Russians that the United States had per-} fected a method for converting low-grade ore into high. -grade, uranium. The mere knowledge that it could be done would have been of critical: Walue to Moscow-s-phusizists But Maclean's “Sttibtat ta pacity *_ stretal siretoped pexagd his committees . Into AE building itself. This has been disclosed by Admiral Lewis E. Strauss, the AEC chairman a the time, -°. ~ a Maclean had a permanent. pass which he picked up each| time at the desk in-the AEC) lobby. When * Strauss jdiscov-: ered It had heen Issued, he: also discovered .ihat the: guards’ record. showed that Maclean *.“was a‘ frequent visitor in the evenings end after usual work hours.” Brian. la Plante, then a security offi- cer in the building, recalls that Maclean * was using - his’ pass: “so often and at night” that he eventually reported: him, and the pass: was with-' drawn, No inquiry, however, was held. - It is clear, from the evil ‘idence of former \ employees, * sthat Maclean could have had ‘jaccess to virtually any rooms, and files he chose, { s ae In November, 1950, ‘after an. intervening posting: to Cairo and a subsequent emotional crack (inferred his a) DONALD MACLEAN. . Rad AEC secrets” A tp “. SST RB, Mas Nena Callahan Conrad Felt Gale - Rosen Sulliva Tavel Trotter Tele. Room Holmes. Gandy Fite The Washington Post Times Herald os A-y The Washington Daily News The Evening Star (Washington) The Sunday Star (Washington) Daily News (New York) Sunday News (New York} New York Post The New York Times re yee ecole i F oe The Sun (Baltimore) cna nd vO? The Worker at The New Leader = va The Wall Street Journal Pa 7 3 The National Observer C ae ro People’s World ee _: oe: Ne C 106 - B24 2d — f,9% IBocr 1g 1967 a <- 7 7 * i . a