OCR Text |
Show The FBI Doesn't Make Policy As a result of evidence introduced in the dramatic communist com-munist trials, a Rreat to-do has been made over alleged illegal activities by the FBI, including wire-tapping. This issue, as to be expected, is being built up by left-wing groups. However, many honest and sincere people are worried about the possibility of police state methods being adopted here. So the position of the FBI should be clearly understood. under-stood. First of all, as J. Edgar Hoover has pointed out, wire tapping is not carried on a wholesale scale, as the left-wing comrades would have us believe. It is authorized only in the gravest kind, involving espionage, sabotage and kidnapping. kid-napping. In such cases, it is often the only means of developing de-veloping evidence. Moreover, as Mr. Hoover also said, the FBI does not make policy in this or anything else. It follows policies laid down by its superiors in the government. The policy on wire tappings was set by the late President Roosevelt in 1940. In each case when the use of a wire tap is under consideration, the authorization of the Attorney General must be obtained before the tap can be utilized by the FBI. This policy was followed by Attorney Generals Biddle, Jackson and Clark. The latter two are now justices of the Supreme Court. And the policy has been reiterated by the present Attorney General, Mr. McGrath. According to Mr. Hoover, "The FBI has less than 170 telephone taps in existence, confined to internal security cases, throughout the entire United States and its possessions." posses-sions." The tap, in other words, is employed only in extremely ex-tremely serious cases, which definitely affect the national security, and then only on the authorization of the highest high-est legal officer of the Executive branch of the government. govern-ment. a & |