Otto Otepka

Seal of theDiplomatic Security Service/ Regional Security Office

Otto F. Otepka(May 6, 1915 – March 20, 2010) was a Deputy Director of the United StatesState Department's Office of Security in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He was fired as the State Department's chief security evaluations officer on November 5, 1963;he had furnished classified files to theUnited States Senate Subcommittee on Internal Security.Otepka was later appointed byRichard Nixonto a position on theSubversive Activities Control Board;he retired in 1972.

Background

Otepka was born inChicagoin 1915, and graduated from theColumbus School of Law.He served in the US Navy duringWorld War II.

Career

Otepka was a Deputy Director of the United StatesState Department'sOffice of Securityin the late 1950s and early 1960s. This was at the beginning of the Eisenhower Administration and Otepka's "Evaluations" section was faced with SenatorJoseph McCarthywho was at the height of his power and making accusations that Communists and Communist sympathizers had infiltrated the U.S. Army and U.S. Department of State. Otepka was assisted by another newcomer to the State Department,William L. Uanna,who would soon head up "Physical Security" at State. Otepka, Uanna andR. W. Scott McLeod,another newcomer in Security at State, were mentioned in a 1954 article inThe Reporterentitled "Big Brother at Foggy Bottom." The article describes how the State Department implemented Eisenhower's answer to McCarthy -Executive Order 10450- and the reaction to it by State's employees.

The Office of Security was often simply known as"SY"and in the 1980s became theDiplomatic Security Service.Otepka was in charge of vetting clearances for the State Department, and he gained public attention when he was sidelined and then later fired by Secretary of StateDean Rusk.Otepka claimed he was punished for not clearing names proposed by the Kennedy administration for employment in the State Department. Some of these names had previously been banned during theEisenhoweradministration, according to at least one source.Also, investigative journalist Clark Mollenhoff detailed the Otepka story in his 1965 bookDespoilers of Democracy.Mollenhoff noted that Otepka was punished and subjected to illegal surveillance for giving testimony to Congress about security procedures at the State Department, as much as for his concern about the rampant use of emergency clearances by the Kennedy administration. Two officers, including Deputy Assistant Secretary John F. Reilly, perjured themselves before the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee and had to resign in November 1963. However, Senate efforts notwithstanding, Otto Otepka was relegated to a meaningless position before his termination. So were some of his colleagues who had backed his efforts.

By the late 1960s, there was a Congressional hearing into the dismissal of Otepka but in the end Otepka was never returned to his previous station.

In March 1969, Otepka was appointed byRichard Nixonto a position on theSubversive Activities Control Board.After some difficult Senate confirmation hearings, the Senate confirmed his position.

Otepka retired in 1972 and moved toCape Coral, Florida,in 1975. He was a member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers.

Bibliography

Books by other authors

• Gill, William J.The Ordeal of Otto Otepka.New Rochelle, New York:Arlington House,1969.
• Mollenhoff, Clark R.Despoilers of Democracy.New York, New York:Doubleday,1965.

External links

• BBC article on DSS
• U.S. Diplomatic Security Website
• Washington Post article on DS
• Diplomatic Security Special Agents Association
• Unofficial Diplomatic Security Special Agent Forum
• Mobile Security Deployments(MSD)
• Computer Investigations & Forensics Investigative Resource Page
• Office of Foreign Missions
• 2006 interview with Otto Otepka
• Otto Otepka's obituary
• Otepka's FBI fileshosted at theInternet Archive