Security System Needs 'Watchdog,' Velde Tells Audience in Emerson

Despite the effective security regulations of the Eisenhower administrations, there is still a definite need for an Un-American Activities Committee, Harold H. Velde, the former chairman of this group, told a large audience last night.

In a talk given in Emerson Hall called "Conceived in Liberty," Velde discussed a wide range of topics, ranging from the conservative attitudes of different senators to the testimony of Wendell H. Furry, associate professor of Physics, before his committee in 1953.

He said the need for his committee might not be as great now as it has been in the past, but that its function as a "watch-dog" group is still important.

Harvard, as a large center of learning, was an ideal target for the Communists to infiltrate, Velde asserted, and that is why his committee found it necessary to call so many witnesses from the University. He said that 11 people, who either attended or were members of the faculty were summoned by the committee when he headed it from 1953-55.

In a defense of the Fifth Amendment, Velde said he did not believe it should be repealed. He explained that it is a good law, with foundations going back to the English Common Law, and said he personally never abused any witness who invoked it.