◆ SpookStack

—_ ac It was alleged that the information.was made available only ona . basis of personal trust to certain members of CON, It was also .. _ etated t*t this office lached a proper filing cystem and relied on personal recollections of the staff, The ecope of CON was presum~ the judcement,of the FEI were of interest to the State onty ona | ably to protect the nerronnel security of the Department by ~~. collating OCA reports with information from other sources ang ... coordinate porsonnel security with other security aspecte, Shere . there are elements of doubt with respect to security, the cases are referred to COU to the Security Conumittea for dispositions, Howcyer, if the onse 1s ono of sn annlicant for Foreign Service, the case . is then referred by COi to the FBI for furtinr Invoetication, In such cases the FEI received the benefit of all CSA and other Infor-- vations It wes nected that COT was not restricted to review alone. but operates as a fact-finding tody in rospect to ChA and it was doubted that thig was sanctioned by Departusntel authority. it — was Turther ondleated thet add@itional information ated of CLA by _. CON Was routine in character, usually on.the basis of some . «.: ; confidential inforention from the FRI, portoral knowledge of the — staff concerning the e pifeant or a gap in exploysent information. he Cormcsiitee is concerned prinarily with passines on cases presented by COM and other offices, ‘This Comittee mcets irregu- | lerly, depending on the number of cases for consideration, The ‘ secretary at the meetings orally presented the facts in each case , to the Comnittee after reading the CSA reports and disesting... . fF. ceroceatory informetion, Mo minutes “were kept during the meetings, The files ware not secn or read by. the Committee... It wae indicated that the Committee was esventiolly a part of COW and decisfona in’ individual cases were largely predetermined by the views of officers of CON, The Comalttees has no directive or standards from any... eurorior authority and acts in accordance with the views of indi- | vidual menbers as to security considerations, The conclusion was | that the Com:ittce was not judicial but in effect an administratl screcning Comuittee, The Committee tended to prooecd on the prine oivle that an adverse recommendation be made in every case whava a "doubt" was enterteined even though further investigation might... .' -@ispel or explain the doubt. It was also indicated that an officer ., Of CON stated tt the Department should no} employ anyong whore. - an element of doubt was indicated decausé there Were other pereons - eligible for positions regarding whom no doubt existed, The, doubt wee derived from such factors as nembership list or purchasers at the Washington Book Shop, petition signers of wrious kinds or membership in organizations wiioh the Dies Gonmittes designated as Communist dominated, -~3-