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RESTRICTED
July 10, 1950
Memorandum for the Hoey Subcommittee Sex
Pervert Investigation File
Mr. Francis Flanagan, Chief Counsel of the Hoey Sub-
committee, came in to see me Saturday morning, July 8, and
spent about an hour and a half discussing the investigation
with me. He said that Senator Hoey had asked him to do so.
I went over the same ground with him that Mr. Webb,
Mr. Murphy and I had gone over with Mr. Hoey.
Mr. Flanagan apparently intends to start off with
the security officer testimony rather than the medical testimony.
He said he had talked to a lot of the doctors and that he did
not think they had a practical approach to the matter. He said
they talked in terms of a large percentage of the male population
having homosexual tendencies, whereas he was thinking only in
terms of overt acts. I tried to give him the medical picture
as I saw it, but I'm afraid I was not very successful.
He told me that from preliminary conversations with
the security people they were not able to produce much dope in
documented instances in which homosexualism had endangered
security, except that CIA had some World War I instances of this
although apparently in other countries. Despite the lack of
documentation he seemed convinced that homosexualism represents
a serious security threat and my suggestion that it should be
squared up against other types of security threats by individuals
resulting from normal sexual or non-sexual activity did not seem
to impress him much.
He raised the question of getting names and files from
the agencies. I told him what we had told Senator Hoey -- that
this would put the matter squarely in the President's lap and we
hoped this would not be necessary, that we would have no objection
to the agencies furnishing statistics on the matter, which he is
in fact already collecting. He said that Senator Mundt or other
minority members of the Committee might be insistent on this.
He himself did not see how the Subcommittee could determine
whether the existing method of handling this problem was ade-
quate unless they could look at some files on a sampling basis.
In any event, they are getting the police records of
the Washington Police on arrests and convictions in this field
and will make a check to determine how many of the people in
this group are Government employees or have been. If any of
these are employed by the Government, this would seem to re-
quire that the employing agency report to the Subcommittee how
it has handled the particular case.
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"ocrText": "RESTRICTED\nJuly 10, 1950\nMemorandum for the Hoey Subcommittee Sex\nPervert Investigation File\nMr. Francis Flanagan, Chief Counsel of the Hoey Sub-\ncommittee, came in to see me Saturday morning, July 8, and\nspent about an hour and a half discussing the investigation\nwith me. He said that Senator Hoey had asked him to do so.\nI went over the same ground with him that Mr. Webb,\nMr. Murphy and I had gone over with Mr. Hoey.\nMr. Flanagan apparently intends to start off with\nthe security officer testimony rather than the medical testimony.\nHe said he had talked to a lot of the doctors and that he did\nnot think they had a practical approach to the matter. He said\nthey talked in terms of a large percentage of the male population\nhaving homosexual tendencies, whereas he was thinking only in\nterms of overt acts. I tried to give him the medical picture\nas I saw it, but I'm afraid I was not very successful.\nHe told me that from preliminary conversations with\nthe security people they were not able to produce much dope in\ndocumented instances in which homosexualism had endangered\nsecurity, except that CIA had some World War I instances of this\nalthough apparently in other countries. Despite the lack of\ndocumentation he seemed convinced that homosexualism represents\na serious security threat and my suggestion that it should be\nsquared up against other types of security threats by individuals\nresulting from normal sexual or non-sexual activity did not seem\nto impress him much.\nHe raised the question of getting names and files from\nthe agencies. I told him what we had told Senator Hoey -- that\nthis would put the matter squarely in the President's lap and we\nhoped this would not be necessary, that we would have no objection\nto the agencies furnishing statistics on the matter, which he is\nin fact already collecting. He said that Senator Mundt or other\nminority members of the Committee might be insistent on this.\nHe himself did not see how the Subcommittee could determine\nwhether the existing method of handling this problem was ade-\nquate unless they could look at some files on a sampling basis.\nIn any event, they are getting the police records of\nthe Washington Police on arrests and convictions in this field\nand will make a check to determine how many of the people in\nthis group are Government employees or have been. If any of\nthese are employed by the Government, this would seem to re-\nquire that the employing agency report to the Subcommittee how\nit has handled the particular case."
}