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Maclean Linked to Leak Of U.S. Se NEw ‘’ —, erets in Cai Hint Briton Had Contact In Embassy °30 Letter Found InLibraryCache “By Don Cook From the Herald Tribune Bureau ©1956,N.¥. Herald Tribune Inc. LONDON, Feb. 13.—The reap- pearance in Moscow of ing diplomats Donald Maclean ant™ Guy Burgess brought the first reference in the British press to- day to yet another hitherto secret aspect of the case—the | existence of a “Cairo letter" which suggests that in 1950 Maclean was receiving secret American documents from a contact in the American Em- bassy in Cairo, On assignment in Cairo three months ago, this correspondent was told the story of the dis- covery of the “Cairo letter,” which had only recently oc- curred. The story was given to me in confidence, and there was every reason to respect that con- fidence since the matter clearly was under intense security in- vestigation and the whereabouts Sy of Burgess and Maclean w: still a mystery, ! | Now Can Be Told But with the public reference ages ‘to the exist- as. ‘Early last Noveriner, a user of the British Embassy library in Cairo was leafing through a library book when suddenly out . dropped an envelope containing a letter addressed to Donald Maclean. Maclean had been head of the political department of the British Embassy in Cairo mm 1948 until he was abruptly ent home on the first available aircraft after wrecking the apartment of an American gir in & drunken brawl in May, 1950, The letter was dated that moath, and clearly Maclean had eft Calro without having time to “pick up his mail.” Signed by an American ‘The fimder of the letter con- sulted a friend in the British mbassy, who formed the tm~ mediate view that it was a coded message of some sort and the le over to MI-5, the intelligence branch of the embassy. Of the greatest apparent significance was the fact that the ‘etter was signed by an American, with indications -that it may have jbeen an employee of the Amer= Embassy immediately the street in Cairo from ish Embassy. the Br The letter was a series of cryptic sentences with refer- ences of a Clearly conspiratorial sort that only the recipient would ful understand. One sentence ran: “David is very cautious about Donald's replace- ment and doesn’t know what he fe letter also carried a refer ence to shirts and towels. Even a superficia! appraisal Jed to the conclusion that Maclean had an } American contact and the two j| Continued on paged, column 3 ter was immediately tured Mecabassy library. Maclean ar- bega tions drop” espionage. However, after Maclean left Cairo, the British began work) on a new embassy chancery building, which was completed: last October, and much of the embassy itbrary had been! in storage until transferred to| neW quarters, where the,ietter| was found. One other odd circumstantial} aspect of the affair is the fact that the American girl whose Maclean wrecked while k that night in May, 1950, emploved in the American rived at the girl's apartment very late, having seen rlier in the evening at a cock- tail party, By this time he and a friend with him were quite! drunk, and they burst in and pulling down curtains, smashing pictues and doing lotiner damage. . The gi] fled and telephoned for help, and by the time the police arrived the apartment was a shambles and the two men had passed out. American Ambassador Jeffer- she first busine walked across the street to Brit- ish Ambassador Sir Ralph Stev- enson, formally declared Mac- lean tobe “persona non grata” te the American Embassy and demanded damages for the girl's effects. ; | Sir Ralph ordeyed Maclean j}as airbound for London by }Jo’clock that afternoon. her|4 put on the first airplane leav-|, were using the British Entossx 8 Cairo and did not even per-}: ro Hence there was scarcely #! opportunity for him to pick any conspiratorial mail in embassy library. But the al certainly gives the lie to the Q sertion in the Moscow statemé that neither Burgess nor Ma lean had acted as Commuy: agents, f The American Embassy Cairo knows of the discovery the “Cairo letter,” but the e tent to which the British m- haye communicated the dct: to the American Em! Ihave examined wit authorities the que: the Amer‘can author of is not, of cuurse, kn reporter. In any ca: As a footnote to the sity Maclean in Cairo occupied, large residence owned by British government, and asy December telephone b still coming in his name. §/ takes @ long time to get dit, tories chanred in Cairo. | f mit him to come into the em-} fe