The CIA, FBI and Defense Department had close ties with alleged Nazi war criminals who entered the U.S. after World War II, according to a report released yesterday by Rep. Joshua Eilberg (D. Pa.) Eilberg said the report points to a “total breakdown in efforts by the State Department and the Justice Department to bring wartime criminals to justice.”
This report was prepared by the General Accounting Office (GAO) at the request of Eilberg who chairs the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration which has been investigating the lock of action against Nazi criminals who entered this country after World War II.
Eilberg said the GAO examined cases involving 94 alleged war criminals and found that seven were paid by the CIA; two were used as confidential informants by the FBI; and one was employed by the Department of Defense. In addition, the GAO told Eilberg that three alleged war criminals were helped by the CIA and other federal agencies in entering the U.S.
“This report makes it clear that the CIA and FBI were more interested in using these people and getting information from them than in conducting any background investigation as to their wartime activities or pursuing allegations that they were war criminals, “Eilberg said.
He said the GAO cited other reasons why no action was taken against Nazi war criminals in the 30 years following World War II, including the low priority given to such investigations, deficient work by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), failure to pursue investigative leads in foreign countries and a lack of centralized effort by the INS.
The report also cites Eilberg’s trip with subcommittee members in 1975 to the Soviet Union where Eilberg obtained a personal commitment from Soviet Deputy Procurator General Mikhail Malyarov that the USSR would cooperate with the U.S. in making eyewitnesses available for Nazi war crimes investigations and trials. Since that time, several hundred affidavits have been obtained by the Justice Department from the Soviets. These affidavits have played a major role in most of the Nazi war criminal cases now pending. Eilberg said his subcommittee will continue to pursue the issue with the CIA and other government agencies.
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