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1 0 Ta weesea, COUNTS OF DISAPPEERANDE OF | € sso MACLEAN According to an Associated Press report on June 7, 1951,two British Foreign Service officers had been missing fron their homes since May 25, 1951, anc it was thought that they might have gone benim the Iron Curtain. They Were nmaned as DONALD VACLEAK, Head of the American Department of the Foreign ffice, and GUY BURGESS, whe was home on leave from the British Embassy in Washington, D.C. It was reported that 4 search by police and intelligence operators had been instituted in England and in France. It was further reported that the London "Daily press" was reported to have primtec that the two men told a friend that they planned te go te Moscow "to serve their idealistic purposes." . em The"Washington Evening Svar" dated June 7, 1951 carried the follow- ing article concerning the two missing British diplomats: ( "Donald Duart MacLean and Guy F. Deoncy’ Burgess, British foreign service officials who may have disappeared behind the iron curtain, were liked and free from any suspicion of Communist leanings while at their country's Embassy here. "Acquaintances said Burgess, a 4O-year-old bachelor, and Meckean, 38-year-old husband of the former Malinda Kerling of Fashington; knew each other from their studem days at Cambridge University in the early 1930s. "But their service in the chancery office here was at different times and differed greatly in point of rank and responsi- bility. “Rurgess left here on leave last May 10 after working sine last August 7 as a second secretary with 'not particularly exciting or important’ work, Embassy spokesmen said. His duties were described as ‘comparatively nondescript! amd did not bring him into close com tact with highly confidential information. He dealt principally with refugee problems, special reports and miscellaneous matterse "YacLean, on the other hand, was an texceedingly able and ex- perienced! diplomat who at the time of his departure in November, 1948, was acting head of the chancery with the rank of top first secretary. That was principally an administrative post, but it had considerable to do with transmission of cables and other messages. "“YacLbean came here in May, 1912, as an acting first secretary. He previously had been in the British diplomatic service since 1935, mostly in the Foreign Office. After leaving Washington he was stationed in Cairo. Since last November he headed the American de- partment of the Foreign Office. "He married*Kiss Marling in England in 1940. They have two sons. MacLean was a son of the late Sir Donald MacLean, a leader of Britain's Liberal Part ' ft, brother, & facLean, was secretary to Sir Gladwyn Jebb, Britain's representative on the United Nations Security Council. Alan Maclean, now on leave in England, recently became head of the information branch of the British delegation to the U.N, "Donald Maclean is well remembered by British Embassy personnel and others here for what was described as great efficiency and tireless energye Acquaintances in Washington said that a breakdown he report= edly suffered last year might have resulted from overwork. PP - 6.