Public Servant

One wonders why David E. Lilienthal persists in serving his government. From the time he left a private legal practice to head of the TVA right down through his service as head of the AEC he has been subjected to repeated attacks on his personal integrity and ability. In all this time neither personal enemies nor the private power interests have been able to discredit him or his work. Two years ago, in the noisy struggle over his appointment as AEC chairman, his intellectual values were challenged by Senator McKellar and his fellows--and Lilienthal's reply was a classic statement of democratic faith.

Senator Hickenlooper ahs conducted the current hearings in a sadly irresponsible faction. He has blown a few dubious charges up to an accusation of "gross mismanagement." He accused the AEC of hiring 2000 workers without proper loyalty checks--disregarding the fact that these men were given only emergency checks to facilitate their work on projects where the demands of security actually required speed. He ahs ignored Lilientnal's request that names of accused workers be kept from the public by so explicitly describing one atomic scientist that his colleagues could not fail to know him. This sort of thing can only arouse suspicion and further depress morale among already harried AEC personnel.

By ignoring Lilienthal's request for a full-scale study of the Commission's work, Hickenlooper and some of his collegues have committed themselves to a biased approach--for one vital part of the AEC's work has been the setting up of sould civilian atomic control, and both the efficiency and merit of this program can only be discerned if the work of the group is viewed in totality.

The repudiation of military control of the atom has been one of the most important principles behind the AEC. Congress there years ago stated this in its legislation setting up the Commission; Secretary of Defense Johnson this week stated in the strongest of terms that he neither wanted nor would brook military control. Hickenlooper would impose military security procedures on the AEC--procedures which, if applied now, would discourage many scientists from working on the atom at all.

But investigation by whim can do much more then injure one man or cripple one agency. It can undermine the morale of the entire civil service. It will certainly be difficult to get more men like David Lilienthal--men this country desperately needs--if any government worker must expect attacks on his personal principles and his work at any time by Congressional committees. It doesn't make much sense to deplore the lack of intelligent civil servants and at the same time allow the McKellars and Hickenloopers to attack whomever they please whenever they please. The choice is between a government responsible to the nation and a government responsible to a few wilful men. The debate is apparently undecided now; the issue is one that we cannot afford to sidestep.