Editorial
EDITORIAL What Is Security? Webster's primary definition of the word "security" is as follows: "the state or feeling of being free from fear, care, danger, etc.; safety or a sense of safety." By...
...Only in proportion as that responsibility is positively exercised in the direction of unequivocal democratic policies for the global struggle will this nation become free from fear and move toward real safety...
...This new concept has been made necessary, its chief exponents say, by the urgency of preventing the disclosure of secret information...
...3-6) to men whose loyally, probity and discretion are beyond question...
...It is our view that the fundamental fallacy of the entire "security system" lies in a respect for the efficacy of secrecy which—even in the purely military field—is grossly exaggerated...
...discharged grafters were indeed disgraced, while those let go on policy grounds were free and unmarked...
...that the enemy will produce such weapons before we do...
...on the other hand, when Mr...
...What secrecy does to a democracy, in depriving the supposedly sovereign people of the information essential to decision, is another, more serious question...
...Does it contribute to a national sense of safety...
...It is currently fashionable to explain the costly errors of well-intentioned men, parties and classes by the demon ex machina of espionage and infiltration...
...Does this system, on balance, free our country from fear...
...On the other hand, those who dissented from determined national policies, or proved incapable of executing them, were either not appointed in the first place, or asked to resign when their conduct impeded the national administration...
...Men of demonstrable disloyalty were treated with the opprobrium previously accorded crooks and grafters...
...In the days before Washington was fully aware of the Communist menace, people were barred from Federal employment on two broad grounds...
...Yet—and here is the rub—for the failures of Chamberlain and Roosevelt and Eisenhower all of us bear some measure of personal responsibility...
...When we are on the road to achieving that true security, the questions of bureaucratic loyalty and official secrecy will be seen in proper perspective...
...it cannot prevent it...
...The label of "security risk" and the stigma that accompanies it can now be applied (see pp...
...Yet, the treason of the Rosenbergs cost us much less than the political illusions of President Roosevelt and the bipartisan naivete of 1942-46...
...The public made suitable distinctions between the two types of disbarment...
...On the one hand, those who had committed crimes or were of demonstrably disreputable character were disqualified in advance, or were summarily discharged when their misdeeds were exposed...
...In our own time, few spies can match the damage done to freedom's cause by the loyal men who allowed the Eisenhower Administration to sleep through the June 1953 revolts in the satellites, or the other loyal men who resolutely refused to make up their minds through months of crisis in Indo-China...
...In recent years, such vital distinctions have become blurred...
...In the atomic field, the security' man's holy of holies, we confront this seeming paradox: The Soviets, with the aid of numerous spies and official laxity, were four years behind us on the A-bomb, but only a few months behind (and with a cheaper method) on the H-bomb, at a time when secrecy had become a major preoccupation of government...
...Wallace's behavior in 1948 was foolish, even dangerous, but his reaction to Korea showed his basic loyalty and thus bore out the wisdom of the libertarian principles under which President Truman had acted...
...Truman cast doubt on Wallace's opinions as a politician, not on his character as a man...
...There is also the possibility, as evidenced by German success with V-weapons...
...Truman fired Commerce Secretary Wallace for opposition to the Truman Doctrine, the President placed sharp emphasis on disagreement, but made no imputation of disloyalty...
...As far as the Soviets are concerned, it is now clear that secrecy can, at best, delay their production of new weapons...
...From this standpoint, one must recognize that the preservation of secrets is a relatively minor element in assuring the national security...
...By this definition one must evaluate the bureaucratic procedures in the Executive Branch of the Federal Government which are collectively known as the "security system...
...In its first efforts to tackle the problem of pro-Communists serving an anti-Communist government, the Truman Administration attempted to observe this distinction...
...In the same way, the obstreperous Oswald Mosley did not, could not, place England in greater jeopardy than did the late Neville Chamberlain, assisted by the complacency of Tory blimps and Labor pacifists...
...The paradox dissolves when one recalls the nuclear achievements not only of Russian science since Mendeleev, but of German science, as well as the very high priority which the Kremlin has given to military technology over 35 years...
...And we still bear responsibility for the future: no spies, no "security systems" will excuse any of us from that...
Vol. 37 • July 1954 • No. 29
