American’s Anti-British Espionage Activities

Manawatu Times, Volume 69, Issue 211, 6 September 1944, Page 3

American’s Anti-British Espionage Activities

WASHINGTON, Sept. 4. The State Department, in a 2000word statement, reveals that a former employee of the American Embassy in London, Tyler Kent, whom the British Courts convicted in 1940 of anti-British espionage activities, had possession when arrested of more than 15,000 confidential Embassy papers in addition to unauthorised keys of the Embassy’s code room. The State Department declares that the present statement is issued because of recent inquiries and newspaper reports. The Associated Press points out that a recent dispatch from London to the Chicago Tribune quoted the British Independent Labour M.P. (Mr. McGovern) as saying that Kent had been imprisoned to prevent the disclosure of an alleged pre-war understanding between Mr. Churchill and President Roosevelt involving an American pledge to aid Britain if the latter entered the war. The State Department adds: “Ambassador Kennedy waived Kent’s diplomatic immunity when Scotland Yard informed him that Kent was suspected of transmitting documents to Germany.’’ It concluded: “The question of whether the American Government will prefer additional charges against Kent for violating diplomatic secrecy will be decided after he has served his seven years’ term in a British prison.’’ 1