Date: 1/11/47
To: Mr. H. H. Clegg
From: E. P. Morgan
Subject: Gregory Case
Mr. Tamm requested that I make an objective analysis of
this case from a legal and investigative standpoint for the Director. Pursuant to this request, the following observations are set forth:
We have an informant in this case referred to as Gregory who appears to
be unusually intelligent and has related in detail of activities on the part of
various individuals, in the main employees or past employees of the United States Government, which activities, if corroborated, would probably support a successful prosecution under existing statutes. There appears little reason to doubt Gregory's statement that information and documents from Government records were supplied Gregory by Silvermaster, Perlo, et al and that this material was turned over by Gregory to a member or contact of the Soviet Intelligence Service; however, what we know to be true in this case is a far cry from what we are in a position to prove beyond a reasonable doubt.
The Bureau was not apprised of Gregory's activities until November of 1945
and the inquiry since that time has been largely the development of information which might serve in corroboration of an alleged relationship between members of the so-called Silvermaster group, the Perlo group, as well as others. We have established since November of 1945 the fact that there exists a fraternal and intimate social bond among those individuals who, according to Gregory, were active more or less in concert prior to November of 1945 in supplying the informant data from various Government agencies. Beyond having evidence of this social relationship, we have little or nothing save the statement of the informant.
The subjects in this case are extraordinarily intelligent, at least they
are unusually well educated, and include some very prominent people, including
Harry Dexter White. It can be expected that some of the finest legal talent in the country would be retained for their defense in the event of prosecution. With the evidence presently available, the case is no more than the word of Gregory against that of the several conspirators. The likely result would be an acquittal under very embarrassing circumstances.
The following is a brief resume of the contacts made by the Bureau’s
informant during the course of which information was obtained through the subjects with respect to the activities and records of various government agencies:
Summer of 1941 –
Novermber 27, 1943………
Materials delivered by the informant to Jacob M. Golos
who died November 27, 1943. During this same period
material was also delivered to “John" (unidentified) and ”Catherine” (unidentified). Also during this period active in establishing contacts with “Margaret” (identified as Olga Borisovna Pravdina, a former employee of Amtorg who returned to Russia in 1946).
November 1943 -
September 1944……………
Material delivered to “Bill” (unidentified) who had been
introduced to Gregory by “Catherine.”
October 1944 –
December 1945……………
”Bill” turned Gregory over to an individual known only as
“Jack” (unidentified). In December of 1944 Gregory was
removed from his duties as courier but during the
association with “Jack” the informant was introduced to one
“Al” subsequently identified as Anatoli Borisovich Gromov, formerly First Secretary of the Soviet Embassy, Washington. Through surveillance Al is known to have contacted Gregory in New York in November of 1945. “Al”, or Gromov, departed from the United States for Moscow on December 7, 1945.
Gregory cannot testify in any instance to whom Golos and his successors
delivered the material collected for them. Additionally, Golos is dead; “Catherine," "Bill," and "Jack" have not been identified; and "Al" presumably is in Russia. There is thus a complete blank at the receiving end of information obtained by Gregory from Silvermaster, Perlo et al. Gregory has stated, however, that during the period of association with Golos, the latter selected those items of a political, economic, or social intelligence character and made them available to Earl Browder, at the time National Chairman of the Communist Party. Browder in no instance kept this information for delivery to a third person since he did not wish to become compromised in the collection of material of this type.