University of Virginia Library

FBI Investigates CBS Correspondent
Under Direction From White House

By WAYNE MOXLEY

Veteran correspondent Daniel Schorr
of CBS has been the target of a FBI
investigation initiated August 20 under
the direction of the White House.

The investigation was instigated
during one of the many recent conflicts
between White House press aides and Mr.
Schorr, according to The Washington Post.

The investigation was instigated during one
of the many recent conflicts between White
House press aides and Mr. Schorr, according to
the Washington Post. The White House is
reportedly concerned about the quality of Mr.
Schorr's news coverage.

FBI agents have checked into Mr. Schorr's
background by personally questioning Richard
Salant, president of CBS, and Fred Friendly, a
former president of CBS. Mr. Schorr's
neighbors in Georgetown and his brother's
neighbors in New York were also visited by the
FBI.

FBI Request

Bill Small, CBS Washington bureau chief,
was requested by the FBI to relinquish Mr.
Schorr's personal file to them. Mr. Small,
suspicious of the agents' reasons, refused to
comply. Irving R. Levine, an NBC
correspondent, was quizzed about Mr. Schorr's
behavior as the CBS Moscow correspondent
from 1955 to 1957.

Each person interviewed was told by the
agents that Mr. Schorr was under consideration
for a "position of trust and confidence" in the
federal government. Mr. Salant, who was also
suspicious of the probe, was told that, since it
was a "very important job", the FBI was called
in by the White House to speed the
investigation.

Normally when a person is being
considered for important government positions,
a routine background investigation is carried
out along with a check into that person's back
tax records. In Mr. Schorr's case no such check
was made.

Wednesday night a White House official
said that Mr. Schorr was being considered for
"a high position in the environmental area." He
also said that the FBI investigation was started
as a matter of routine by Frederic V. Malek,
chief White House recruiter.

Social Meeting

In late August, after the investigation had
begun, Mr. Schorr met Mr. Malek at a dinner
party. Mr. Schorr then asked about the job he
was supposedly being considered for.

Mr. Malek responded to this question with
complete surprise, according to Mr. Schorr. Mr.
Malek also promised to check into the matter
and call him, which he never did, Mr. Schorr
said.

The same White House official stated that
the investigation was ended when it was
concluded that Mr. Schorr was not the right
man because of "reasons with respect to him
and the position for which he was being
considered." The official refused to name the
position.

Evidently the immediate cause of the
investigation was Mr. Schorr's criticism on
national television of a Nixon speech. The
speech was delivered to the Knights of
Columbus in New York.

Recently Mr. Schorr and the White House
have been in conflict over Mr. Schorr's
reporting of the wage-price freeze and Phase II
of President Nixon's economic program.