◆ SpookStack

O-19 (Rev. 7-27-67) ’ C issian Spy Roamed) frescorted at AEC | London Sunday Times : “At LONDON—The scope of the, information that Donald. Maclean, the British’ diplo- matturned 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” Neadquarters in Washington. | That pass was used often :and jate at night, ’ Jn February, 1947, halfway through Maclean’s tour as first secretary gf the British Embassy in Washington, he| ‘ was,.appointed British secre-{ tary CombirteaPehty | Committee on, Atomic Affairs; Gaimmmtige on, eee | This” committee was the product .of a secret Quebec; agreement between 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, should have limit.) ed Maclean's access to valu- able information. + However, the Mai Act, (St-teeiiveal Pactabe not become fyilly effective for seversl miviTEs, se sie Department letter to Sen! James O. Eastland (D-Miss.) spelled out the nature of the material avallable to Maclean jn the interim. “Ho had an opportunity to have accegs to information shared by the three participat- ing cou 3 in the fields of patents, déplassification mat- ters and regearch and develop- iment in relation’ to the pro-' gram of procurement of raw, material from foreign sources: hy the Combined Development ene. 4 Including ery uh G2 OCl 19 196 ‘The <D4— an of the: CPC,,had as its ip gfe 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 its ura- niums in what quantities and at what price. Maclean was also in a posi- tion to inform the Russiang 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. Value to Moscow: But Maclean's «sdbtitinia pacity” sireto} sirelcped bezapd is committees Into le =~ AE bullding itself. This has been disclosed by Admiral Lewis E. Strauss, the AEC chairman at the time. . Maclean had a permanent pass which he picked up each time at the desk in-the AEC) lobby. ‘When ° Strauss /aiseov- ered It had heen Issued, he; also discovered .that the: guards’ record. showed that Maclean «.“was a frequent visitor in the evenings and 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, i It is clear, from the evi-' ‘|dence of former \ employees, that Maclean could have had access to virtually any rooms, and files he chose, / ‘+’ In November, 1950, ‘after an intervening posting, to Cairo and ‘a, subsequent emotional erackt . ‘ FIED 39y cour OB. Mes A bi PER bwin Neyuty, Conrad Tele. Holmes Room Gandy pall! ‘The Washington Post A ! Times Herald ‘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 ‘The Sun (Baltimore) The Worker The New Leader The Wall Street Journat The National Observer People’s World - Dae — OCT 1.6 1967 a /o0- 27410: es re 100 - 37¢1§2-4 _! NOY RECORDED Wocr 13 1967