Fetch the Devil: The Sierra Diablo Murders and Nazi Espionage in America

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41 On May 21, 1940, Roosevelt quietly but formally authorized the FBI to conductwarrantlesselectronicsurveillanceofalienssuspectedofsubversive or espionage activities in the United States. It was a closely kept secret that the bureau was already employing illegal eavesdropping techniques and break-ins and, with the cooperation of the post office, opening mail. The new directive not only allowed for taps of telephone conversations and Western Union transmissions but also authorized the FBI to enter public buildings and private residences to set up electronic bugs. The president told J. Edgar Hoover that he hoped the new power would be used “mostly” against noncitizens suspected of spying and other subversive activities.262 A week later, top officials of the FBI, Military Intelligence Division (MID), and Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) met to formally divvy up counterespionage responsibilities within the country. The bureau would be in complete control of the clandestine civilian operation, ferreting out threats to America’s defense industry, while the army and navy intelligence agencieswouldconcentrateonprotectingmilitarysecretsandinstallations. For two years before these official steps were taken, the bureau had battled the growing subversive threat with one hand tied behind its back, risking censure or even legal action for running unauthorized counterespionage operations. The legality of much of the work from 1937 through 1939 was questionable. GrowingconcernsaboutsubversivesfrombothCommunistandFascist front groups prompted President Roosevelt and attorney general Homer Cummings to authorize FBI director Hoover to set up a comprehensive, domestic counterespionage branch within the bureau.263 In authorizing the FBI to establish a domestic intelligence structure within the existing agency and budget, Cummings issued a secret directive that noted, “Additional legislation is not required,” and the plan “should be handled in strictest confidence.” The need for secrecy was further justified : “It is believed imperative that it proceed with the utmost degree of an enemy within 237 secrecy, in order to avoid criticism or objections which might be raised to such an expansion by either ill-informed persons or individuals having some ulterior motive.”264 The president’s advisers, particularly his military experts, were alarmed at what the navy and army intelligence officers were finding in the homeland . With regard to Nazi activities, military intelligence reports sent to Roosevelt warned of a definite indication of foreign espionage in the United States and that an “emergency” already existed. Nazi cells were identified that “would probably attempt to cripple our war effort through sabotage.”265 Finally, the brazen aggressiveness of the subversive groups became so obvious that even the staunchest isolationists could no longer deny something had to be done. Congress bestirred itself to defend national security. It passed the Alien Registration Act of 1940, commonly known as the Smith Act, in June of that year. This legislation not only required foreign nationals to register but also included a strong provision, introduced by Representative Howard Smith of Virginia, that made it illegal to advocate the overthrow of the U.S. government. The Smith Act finally codified some of what the FBI had already been doingsinceRoosevelthadsecretlygiventhebureauauthoritytoinvestigate domestic espionage activities two years earlier. By the end of 1940, the FBI wasinvestigatingtwohundredandfiftyactivecasesofsuspectedespionage, an increase from only thirty-five such investigations in 1938. Thenewauthorityallowedthebureautocarryoutclandestinesnooping on aliens residing in the United States. Handling subversives among the population that had emigrated from Axis lands and become U.S. citizens was more problematic. These Nazi sympathizers still enjoyed the constitutional protections from warrantless arrest or search and seizure of any other citizen, despite their anti-American activities. A large number of Germanimmigrantshadtakenadvantageoftheseprotectionsbybecoming U.S. citizens at the urging of the Nazi government, and some of these were active Nazi agents. The FBI was authorized to hire only 150 additional agents to carry out these greatly expanded duties. The bureau had fewer than one thousand active field agents to cover the entire country, and most were concentrated in the heavily industrialized areas of the Northeast, upper Midwest, and 238 fetch the devil West Coast. Hoover needed help. He even called on such trusted civilian organizations as the American Legion to provide eyes and ears on the ground in some areas. Realistically, the FBI director knew his manpower limitations. He reached out to a select few, local law enforcement agencies , headed by trusted, longtime friends of the bureau, for assistance in implementing the new counterintelligence powers. Eventhoughthenear-bordercentersofJuarezandChihuahuaCitywere known to be hotbeds of both Fascist and Communist activities, the hardpressed FBI had just two regular agents stationed in El Paso. While these agents watched for spies operating along...