INQUIRY BY McCARTHY

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27368, 5 June 1954, Page 7

INQUIRY BY McCARTHY

New Department f Involved t s (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 8 p.m.) WASHINGTON, June 3. 1 Senator Joseph McCarthy and the i Defence Department reached a dead- r lock tonight oil the question of keep- j ing secret the names of 133 suspected i security risks whd, Senator McCarthy said, were working in United States i defence works. 1 Senator McCarthy, under prodding i from the Democrats and the Army i counsel (Mr Joseph, Welch) announced at the Army-McCarthy inquiry today i that he was offering the names to the < Defence Department, but on condition i they be kept secret. i Mr Fred Seaton, Assistant Secretary i of Defence, said tonight that the De- ; partment wanted ths names, but with 1 no strings of secrecy attached. He told Senator McCarthy in a letter that : the department “must be free to act with respect to any individuals on the list without consulting you.” Senator McCarthy then told reporters he would not hand over the names until he received a promise that they would not be made public. It was the firm and basic policy of his investigating sub-committee, he said, not to reveal names until persons had a chance, to testify before the sub-committee. The deadlock came after two days of jockeying at the hearings Senator McCarthy has frequently mentioned a list of names and yesterday the Democrats on the committee demanded that he turn them over to the Defence Department. A resolution recommending Senator McCarthy to do so was passed. Cohn 'Refuses to Comment At today’s hearings, Roy Cohn, one of the principal figures on the McCarthy side, refused to say whether the Army charges that he threatened to “wreck the Army” and “get” the : Army Secretary (Mr Robert Stevens) ; were true or false. Mr Cohn denied making the statei ments, but would go no further than 1 to say that Mr Stevens and other Army officials were “mistaken,” when they made the sworn charges against • him. He said that to declare the 1 charges “false” would imply that the ‘ officials told “a deliberate lie.” Mr Cohn, chief regular counsel of ’ the Senate Investigations Sub-commit- ’ tee, said that members must decide 1 whether Mr Stevens, the Regular Army ; counsellor, Mr John Adams, or any [ other witness at the hearings was guilty of perjury or was merely “a ‘ little careless.” He made the statement under in--5 tensive cross-examination by Senator ■ Henry Jackson (Democrat, Washing- ■ ton). Senator Jackson preceded his t questions with a reading of the per- ' jury law and told Mr Cohn: “This is r a monstrous matter.”