The Pittsburgh Press (October 17, 1940)
Chief G-Man Speaks —
LAW ENFORCEMENT LESSENS WORK OF SPIES, HOOVER SAYS
The United Press invited Director J. Edgar Hoover, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to make a “progress report” on efforts to combat fifth columnists.
By J. Edgar Hoover
Washington, Oct. 17 –
The nation is safer from spies and saboteurs today than ever before.
There has been a negligible amount of sabotage in the Second World War in contrast to a similar period in the First World War.
This situation exists largely because law enforcement throughout the nation is far better prepared to deal with these matters.
Protection of the internal security is not a single-handed job. Neither the FBI nor the Naval Intelligence nor the Military Intelligence nor any other single unit of law enforcement can do the job alone.
America has become the battleground for foreign agents, and these forces can be met only by a nationwide offensive of all law enforcement, backed by the co-operation of every citizen.
Crisis Anticipated
The meeting of present-day challenges has been anticipated, and for years a carefully-planned program has been perfected quietly to weld this great net to ensnare foreign subversive agents. The State and Treasury Departments, the Military and Naval Intelligence Services and the FBI meet weekly to co-ordinate their activities in matters dealing with the internal security and defense of the United States.
In addition, special agents in charge of the 53 field offices of the FBI throughout the United States, its territories and possessions, have established, through conferences with the ranking law enforcement officials in their respective areas, nationwide plan of co-ordination of protective measures participated in by the federal, state and local police.
Graduates Aid
An important part of the internal defense system initiated by the FBI is that performed by 500 graduates of the National Police Academy. Over a period of five years, practically every community of the country has sent at least one ranking law enforcement official to this academy operated by the FBI to be trained not only in improving law enforcement technique, but especially in ways to cope with national defense matters in time of any great emergency.
The results of this program are now crystallizing into everyday actualities in that these 500 graduates are serving as important liaison officers between the FBI and local law enforcement agencies in effecting a smooth-running operation of the law enforcement program for the internal security of the country.
Why No Arrests?
The question most often asked the FBI is –
If this Fifth Column activity is known to be so widespread, why doesn’t the government arrest the responsible persons?
The answer is simple – the government has chosen as its method f attack a comprehensive system of counter-espionage.
Under this system, the emphasis is placed upon preventive measures. They are less dramatic and non-spectacular, but intensively effective. In fact, Attorney General Robert H. Jackson has pointed out that the more successful these measures are, the less the public know about them.
The less a foreign agent knows about them, the less secure he feels in perpetuating his offenses against the United States, It is often more expedient to keep a known group of foreign agents under surveillance than it is to make arrests.
Contacts Observed
Surveillance of subversive elements permits law enforcement officers to observe their contacts, establish their methods of communications, discover their sources of information, and to head off any overt act.
The government’s counter-espionage system has as its worst enemies self-seeking politicians or psychopathic publicity-seekers, whose clumsy efforts flush foreign agents into the open. Foreign agents thus disclosed are merely replaced by others with whom the police authorities must again start all over to establish an effective counter-espionage contact.
The activities of spies and saboteurs have long been scrutinized. Their names and activities have been indexed and filed geographically for future reference.
Bundsmen Known
Added to these are the names of leading agitators in the German-American Bund and the Communist Party, Your government knows their identities and their activities.
The FBI has in its files a sufficient number of important cases to create headline stories in the newspaper day after day for weeks on end. But the FBI seeks nothing more than strong internal defense for this country – an objective which cannot be served at this time by blatant headlines. To this policy, I might add, the press has given excellent co-operation.
The personal liberties of no law-abiding citizen will suffer from the protective measures which have been taken by law enforcement in this time of our nation’s crisis. This guarantee can be given, however, only so long as citizens leave the task of law enforcement to duly-constituted officers and do not succumb to the hysteria of vigilante groups.
The FBI offices are located in 53 of the principal cities of the United States and its territories, and are open 24 hours of the day and night to receive information which would be of value for the preservation of our national security.
In addition, the headquarters office of the FBI at Washington is likewise open at all times, and any person in any part of this land may reach it by calling Washington, D.C., National 7117. Co-operation should be the full measure of public participation in this attack upon foreign enemies.