◆ SpookStack

ALARMING HITE PAPE 'HE White Paper on . Maciean and BURGESS is alarmiag. Alarming for its admissions. Alarm- ing for its omissions. Perhaps the most disturbing fact of all fs that Maciran and Burcess fled to France —unhampered—only a few hours after the then Foreign Secretary, Mr. HERBERT Morrison, had authorised the security authorities question MACLEAN. ¢ White Paper says that. may have been warneg. Jt would be stretching coln- ‘idence too far to suggest that he was not. And the person who warned him must have been in a high place. . . Yet, says the White Paper, although searching = in- quirles were made, “ insufli- cient evidence was obtain-, able to form a definjte conclusion or to warraht rosecution.” Is there }a ullty man still in a positign f authority ? Suspicion ORE. than two yqars hefore the spies escaped the Foreign Office Te warned that information had leaked to Russia. It was not until only a few weeks before they fled that MacuEan was marked down as the principal suspect. No doubt. the inquiries were delicate, but surely they should have been speeded up-~even if this meant that some toes had. to. be trampled on, ‘And why, when Mactean had applied for Saturday leave on the very day—Friday, May 25, 1951—the Foreign Secretary decided he should bq interrogated, was pe alfowed to leave the counjry without being questioyed out his destination ? The White Paper says that there was not sufficient evidence to justify his arrest, But why was there not a watch set upon all ports as from that vital Friday morning, so that he could have been askéd the simple questions: “Where are you going, and why?” Sensation HE old attitude which o damned Press stories about the disappearance of Maciean and BurGess as sensational {s still apparent in the White Paper. In a reference to Mrs. Mac- LEAN it says that she gave | reasons” for} wishing to move her fagnily | “two good to Switzerland, We qupte: Firstly that she wishqi to void the personal empar- ssment to which she*had pen subjected by the Tess, . .” But she was a vital link, in | he case, The Press real&ed his, though the authorifies id not treat her as stch ince they raised no objec~ | jon to her going abroad. } Her reasons were “good Teasons.” It almost looks as if Macrzan | and Burcrss had come from | a charmed cirele, As students ‘they were both known Communists, but the Foreign Office didn’t know that, when they employed them. They- did not bother | to ask, Suppression ND, ‘after’ Mactean had been “guilty of serious isconduct” in Cairo jn ‘ay 1950, he was promotdd te be head of the Americdn Department! Who was pushing him ? { Early in 1950 the Foreign Office was toid that Burcgss | had been “guilty of indis- creet talk about secret matters.” But he was not | asked to resign until more than a year later. Who was | protecting him ? Considerations of secrecy still apply in this case, says the White Paper, “and must be the basic criterion for judg~ ing what should or should not be published.” Well, the White Paper has | certainly not revealeg all the secrets, The Ruspians know all about Macuzad and Buacrss. So who is berfefit- “ing {from the secrecy now? ee