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ah ® 7 se we es. nad woe ‘David Lawrence— ° ca >" Donald’ M@lean—s- * British - ‘official, known among his . important? It's because Don | ald Matlean served as a sec- ** “friends ss & Communist—in 4 retary of the British Embassy “some strange way eluded the ‘in Washington along with an-- British security services in- other secretary, Guy Burgess, -: . May, 1951, and disappeared be- .- and the main job of Maciean ~ hind the Iron Curtain bearing: 88 to keep in touch with atomic energy developments | confidential information he . phere, He was_secretary of @ had been accumulating from ° committee ° of the gllles, inf? ‘his intimate contacts with the’. ; cluding the’ British govern- ?) a governments of the United: ment, and was therefore ac-* _ States and Great Britain. cepted Now his American-born wife..- oughly teliadle person diseppeared under circum- +’ * eas _shances equally mysterious, and When Maclean disappeared < s the world is wondering whether Nd one of the reporters here » ithe British security service’ Wid former Secretary of State: ‘fell down again on whether Acheson about it, the latter is t h i . reported te have exclaimed: “perhaps it now will be in eC any God, he *] ew. every ‘position to confound its crik- ~ " fies by exposing the whole sto thing! -and revealing that perhaps |t Maclean not , fas known all along what W "going on. . *: The latter theory ts ‘one . .that naturally arises wishfully ‘among those familiar with in-. _ telligence work. For it would jBe incredible if the British . Becurity service, knowing how. important if was -to obtain ,every scrap of - information >- {about the whereabouts of Mac- Jean and his associate, Guy "Burgess, would fail to shadow ‘the family in Switzerland and _keep in touch with every one -* ; who might seek to talk with ~ ithe wife of the. missing diplo~". ; Mat. - f Certainly if the intelligence “agents have been and are still . "on the job, it may be days be- ‘fore they will discover the : Place where Messrs. Maclean ;and gzess have been hiding. sf enere Would certainly . have ; been o point m intercepting p Mrs. aclean but it would be ; shrewd rather to maintain un-~ interrupted surveillance until + dt could be determined exactly y. where she was headed.: ms ct eo ee a only * ‘knew | when he was in America, but ance he had been given charge of the so-called . “American desk" in the British Foreign Office in London. This is the _desk over which flows daily from diplomatic representa-. tives of Great Britain in the cret exchanges between our". the British to the continuance of the conflict if it involved extension ot hostilities - into” Manchuria, - “8 Whatever the ‘{nformation ° was that-the British govern 7, and nists. There are various rumors | that the FedetalBuréau of. Investigation here y originally: : arate en ge a tet e a ait a Fate - if im. on, ma, TF ate a et 7] eg *, spr Rn ares hee. ie pee nah wrt * gh Igternal Security Te est: Wit Secret Data, and Now His Wife Has Vanished "why ts ‘the whole “episode... were sbout.to-pounceonMdace* ‘Jean aud. Aureest_lustaathey # >. sympathies nd trusted as a thor-. ’ about atomic energy matters - * project. at he time of his disappear, |. - ali the confidential messages © United States. Naturally” at 7 that time there were very se- .- State Department and Great: Britain relative to plans for | ending the Korean war, and - - there were also objections by - ment had from Sts close.friend © eXgacke United States, -. aulen ta to cnctt the Commu 1 ide a f sition ¢ he Commu- existing aw to provide a freer Rey 4a % r in Britein. Dond@!d Maclean Disappeared Behind the tron Curtain, om Bien "suipian Maclean's ast act 2 t ‘ the British security suthorities | eir_ getaway. Maclean and Burgess were college men and were; known as brilliant “intelles- | " tuala” in literary circles. Their 4 for “Communist i fc . doctrine were not difficult to’ ,7, : determine, but the British For-- ot a 2 eign Office, which.was poob-3. 4s" poohing American concern overS:" <0 > the Alger Hiss case and the in- filtration of other Communists . in the State Department: . didn’t seem to be vigilant in. doing a check-up job in the! rnatter of loyalty—any more -than it had been when “cltar- ing” Klaus Fuchs for admisjion . to the American atomic eng gy’. Whether Mrs. Maclean has gone to see her husband vol-- untarily or involuntarily, the fact remains that the oft- distributed story from some: London sources that Maclean | and Burgess had been some- how “liquidated” doesn’t seem | plausible now any more than” the first unofficial intimation. ‘that they had just gone on & “holiday binge.” ’ Tt will be important ‘for ‘the. British security service to.re~ establish faith in its efficiency by getting all the facts, and maybe that’s what they have been doing these last few days and some day will reveal. American officials are much | _ concerned, because again, the subject of an exchange’ ot ‘* atomic secrets with Britain / is up for’ consideration, and, Congress is not likely to amend | */ nade "Bo 100-3 74 /F NOT RECORDED 19] SEP 21 1953 8s Herelad—___—__— - Fost News ‘Interchange if British security:1, Star methods aré believed to be lax. . (Reproduction Rights Resorved.} Times N. YX. Compass