OPINION MIXED WITH FACTS BY U.S. ARMY IN ESPIONAGE REPORT

Grey River Argus, 21 February 1949, Page 5

OPINION MIXED WITH FACTS BY U.S. ARMY IN ESPIONAGE REPORT

(Rec. 9.50) WASHINGTON, Feb. 19. Colonel George Eyster, Deputy Chief of the Army’s Public Relations Division, admitted to-day that ■ the style wherein a recent report of the Division on the Soviet’s wartime espionage in Japan was written, was open to question. He admitted that his division had no proof to support the charge made in the report that Miss Agnes Smedley, an American writer on Far East affairs, was a Russion spy. He said, moreover, that the “philosophical observations” of the report, including-its warning to Americans to beware of similar espionage activities in their own country, were out of place in a factual official account. If such expressions of opinion were to be left in the public version of the report, a statement should have been attached thereto explaining that it was merely a paper prepared on the basis of information developed by the Japanese authorities. Miss Smedley has heatedly denied the allegations against her, and several newspapers have criticised the Army for issuing the .report, contending that it was lurid in style, was insufficiently documented, and was calculated to arouse suspicion and fear. The report was prepared by the Intelligence Section of General MacArthur’s Headquarters, and when it was issued for publication last week, reporters were told that the. Army believed that it would be of interest to the public. Colonel Eyester admitted to-day that the report should nave been carefully considered in the light of its possible effect of the public, and on persons mentioned therein who are still living.