◆ SpookStack

eee re) COPY and no leakage to any Chinese faction. The retention of both men is therefore a guarantee to the secrecy and security of the work of OWI as well as a guarantee of the confident ful- fillment of directives. J_urge you_not to be high-pressured . into getting rid of either man. I know that both mer way te ~~~ Sublected to af¥acks. Given the time to work on It; Tc ““Unddibtedly trace such attacks to their origin and give you , the full details. I doubt whether the Personne] Security Comittee of OWI would be able to trace such attacks, rooted in the intricacies of Chinese factional politics, to their source; but I should not like to see us placed in a position where, after getting rid of people now attacked, we would be forced to hire people who would actually be the nominee of . factions not under our control." to AO de : The foregoing letter from Mr, Lattimore to Mr. Barnes was written Ly’ in strict confidence and is not to be quoted to any outside source. was originally taken in the case of Mr. Hong tended to Indicate rather strongly that Hong is a Communist and engaged in activities having for their purpose support of Camunist party interests. The recent in- vestigation and interviews have not changed the evidence and have on the contrary elicited some information tending to strengthen the posi- tion that Hong is pro-Comnunist. Thus it was brought out in addition to all of the other information that Hong was active in the American The evidence before the Commission at the time unfavorable action | | Student Union during his school years. | q The evidence indicated that Hong is pro-Commmist. The question now for determination is whether his employment should be approved be- cause of the strong representations of Mr. Lattimore that Hong is probably net a Communist, but even if he is a Communist Mr. Lattimore still wishes to retain him because Hong will work under close super~ vision and will not be able to do amy harms © - — erm T° On the one hand it can be argued that since we are reasonably convinced that Hong is pro-Commnist, it is our responsibility to re- quire his removal notwithstanding Mr. Lattimore's representations, On the other hand the Commission could, if it wished, take the posi- tion that since Mr. Littmore has assumed responsibility, the Commission can afford to permit Hong's retention in the service. If the Com mission takes the latter position it will be tantamount to saying that although we believe the individual is « Communist, we will be willing . to rate him eligible provided the employing agency is willing to aseume the responsibility. I doubt that the Comission can afford to avoid See ee the issue in this manner. If we believe Hong is a Commmist then we F———" should rate hia ineligible. a \ ae er ae A eh ee, eae” ~ ‘= = Do we Bélfave Hong is a Commnist? The Commis ing was based on Hong's connections with the Chinese -4~