Sunday, February 24, 2013

The Amerasia Affair

Six persons, were arrested on conspiracy and espionage charges related to the possession of over 1,000 stolen classified Government document giving secret information on the position and disposition of Chinese Nationalist armies of Gen. Chiang Kai-shek.
 The highest-level government employee arrested in the Amerasia case was State Department official John S. Service, one of John Carter Vincent's "China Hands", who shared living quarters with KGB Agent Solomon Adler of the Treasury Department when they both served in China. Upon Service's return to the United States, Service spent time in the company of Jaffe, whom he attested he had just met, showing personal copies of his reports, and commenting to Jaffe while under audio surveillance by FBI that, "What I said about the military plans is, of course, very secret." Andrew Roth, also arrested in the case, was the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) liaison officer with the Department of State.
Franklin Roosevelt intimate adviser was able to obtain reduced charges for some and have others dropped. The Truman Justice Department swept the matter under the rug. Service was restored to State Department duties.
Joseph McCarthy said that FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover believed he had an "airtight case,". The case displayed every type of security breach imaginable, and federal crime: theft of documents, policy subversion, cover-up, perjury, and obstruction of justice. McCarthy maintained it was a security breach and cover-up of immense proportions.

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