◆ SpookStack

eee aoe Mi natbeidy a * Co The “hot pursuit” message, stating that the United Nations Comman- der had “strictest orders about vi- olations in Manchurian territory” was dated November 13, 1950 and was communicated to Great Brit- ain. Burgess was then attached to the British Embassy in Washing- ton; Donald Maclean was head of the American Department of the British Foreign Office. Either or both could have supplied that and other vital messages to the Soviets. Burgess, moreover, may well have been the source of much clas- sihed information which leaked to American newspapers in those criti- cal months. Certain columns ap- pearing in December, 1950, for ex- ample, were almost literal record- ings of orders and of policy papers. By a remarkable coincidence, these columnists labored to focus atten- tion on Maclean and “swept Bur- ess under the carpet.” Burgess cer-' tainly had contacts with some of them as he had a background in news and broadcasting work. However, none of this was the concern of the American State De- partment, which did not even qucs- tion the American brother-in-law of Mr. Donald Maclean until Sep- tember 1953. This in spite of the fact that he (Jay Sheers, recently a writer for the United Nations) had been a security guard at Mutual Se- curity Headquarters in Paris until April 1951 and had visited Donald and Melinda Maclean in May, shortly before Maclean's flight. 12 THE AMERICAN “Mercury ae Fe re eras se be ae gag ht 7” AN ea Nab ep es! co If the State Department is believed, it had litte in the files and made the first inquiry of its own personne) the summer of 1956 in response to a Senate Subcom- mittee request. The State Depart- ment turned up no information|! Te BRITISH do seem to have be- lieved thar part of the story was to be uncarthed in Washington, Sir ercy Sillitoe, head of M. I. 5, Brit- ish Intelligence, few to the United. States and held talks with J. Edgar Hoover on June 1. Well-es- tablished reports also place Sillitoe at the Pentagon conferring with closed, but_the FBI did take some | G-2, The results have not been dis- action. On June 13, 1951, ic sud- ! wa denly withdrew from the Interna- tional Police Commission, then opening sessions at Lisbon ahd at least one British paper (Daily Ex- press) assumed a connection. State- ments appearing in papers also in- dicated that the FBI interviewed certain —ex-Britis naturalized Americans who knew the diplo- mats. Presumably, the results of the investigation remain in FBI files, Certain government _ employees who normally would have had contact with the diplomats have since been removed, transferred, or : have abruptly resigned, but in no instance has a connection: with Burgess or Maclean been publicly § established. There is one new fact which has recently emerged quite casually. | tel een Z co awe i Me a Se en ee a ee hd Te at renee Rar a a Se RAT EGE tay