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0-19 (7-8-55) oo ritein’s Defectors — The British Foreign Office hag at last. acknowl- ‘dged that the diplomats who disappeargd miyste- austy more than four years ago. Donald MacLean nd Guy Burgess... were Communist | spies. Tt is anly probable that they provided Soviet intelli- ‘ence with. photographie copies. of the many secrel guumentS to which they had access. In the case { MacLean. at any rate, these documents would wave been of the greatest importance, seeing that _am. 1944 to 1948 he was the chief administrative <ieer at the British Embassy here in Washington id that for some months before his flight he was a charge of the American desk at Whitehall. Ti Ge ale aA Flot It. is also promised that a whitepaper, containing ii that the British have belatedly discovered about ‘he treacherous connections and activities of the avasrs, MacLean and Burgess will be issued later nis week. It seems clear, however, that these amaging and somewhat disgraceful admissions by he Foreign Office were nok spontaneous, bui were sreed by the disclosures given in Australia by cadimir Petrov, a defecting agent of the Soviet ‘IVD. Petroy testified that he had obtained the ‘atails of the MacLean-Burgess siory from a Com- ade Kislytsin, one of his subordinales in the MYD -sparatus in Australia, It was Kislytsin, according 4 Petrov, who arranged the flight of MacLean and surgess afler ihe pair had reported to Moscow vat they were under investigation hy the British ‘ceurity Service. An abstract of Petrov’s testimony - published. in the current issue of the U, 5. News wit World Report. Since MacLean. and Burgess were already under uspicion at ihe time of their flight in May, 195i, i is. difficult to understand how they could have “ft England so easily and how they could have iiaced their traces so effectively after arriving at 4. Malo in France by steamer {rora Portsmouth. ‘hiteHall has explained, somewhat Iamely, that .lere was as yet no evidence against them strong nough to have justified their arrest and that there as no Jaw that prevented them from leaving the ountry—as ostensibly they did—for a weekend ete Rat=d Awe canes fa ye ree Tey Tete Vet ange in Paris, The evidence, however, seems ts ndicate that, notwithstanding the suspicions they iad at last aroused, the pair were not being kept~ - ader very. close surveillance. It also indicates fiat the flight was not discovered until it was ioo 2 to obtain the help of the French in heading off ‘ne fugitives’ What is even more remarkable is ae disappearance, also without trace, of Maclean's .ée and-their three children from Switzerland, a ile over two years later, # Ae ew oy por 29 1855 Bo is ae ee rap Ga ef - on ye a Mr, Tolson ——_,<4 Of 2¢y Mr. Boardman pe | Mies Nichols a Mr. Belmont a Lo Mr. Harbo VA Mr, Mr. Mr. Parsons Mr, Hosen Tamm Mr. Sizoo Winterrowd Tele. Room Mr. Holloman Miss Gandy It is now very widely believed that MacLean and_. Burgess;-with their intimate knowledge of British and American psychology and personalities, as well as of diplomatic secrets, haye been advising the Communists on questions of policy toward the West and that they have been responsible for the new soft-soaping line adopted by the Soviet leaders. This, however, is. still a matter of pure conjecture; for the present the moral of the Petrov disclosures seems to be that, though we may have sometimes carried the business of “security” to absurdity in this country, the British have too slowly awakene to the possibility and the danger of treachery an ubversion in their own government. Wash. Post and 24 3 Pn tere gegen emit at arora Lalo sce Sanit t oT RECAP se ab act rs oN Times Herald Wash. News Wash.. Star N. Y.. Herald Tribune N. ¥. Mirror Daily Worker - The Worker New Leader Date JP ye, mnectiel OP SENT OB