National Affairs: Pipeline via Paris?

Joseph Sydney Petersen Jr., 40, a research analyst engaged in secret Government work since 1941, was fired on Oct. 1. One night last week, talking long-distance with an aunt in New Orleans, he said he was expecting a “big promotion.” Next day he was arrested by the FBI.

Petersen was charged with obtaining secret documents—between March 1, 1948 and Dec. 31, 1952—”to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of a foreign nation.” The foreign nation: France. U.S. agents said that secrets passed by Petersen to French government agents were later stolen in Paris by the Baranes spy group (see FOREIGN NEWS), which put the information into Communist hands.

Tall, shambling, cross-eyed and bespectacled, Petersen flushed and hung his head when arraigned. At first, he did not want a hearing, a lawyer or any attempt to get freedom on bail. Born in New Orleans, he went to Catholic schools and took a master’s degree in science at St. Louis University. He taught physics before entering the Government.

But he worked in one of the nation’s most highly classified, high-powered centers of secret information, the National Security Agency, which operates behind heavy guards and a double row of metal fencing at Arlington Hall, near the Pentagon. Its thousands of employees are cautioned not to tell anyone where they work. The agency is not even listed in standard Government directories. Petersen had complete access to all of the agency’s secrets.