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That March, in a bid to steal the [[GOP]]'s thunder,<ref>[[#refOlmstead02|Olmstead 2002]]: 114</ref> Truman enacted a "[http://www.trumanlibrary.org/executiveorders/index.php?pid=502 loyalty program]"—despite which, according to [[State Department]] security files, there were still [http://www.johnearlhaynes.org/page62.html 108 cases] there the following autumn.
That March, in a bid to steal the [[GOP]]'s thunder,<ref>[[#refOlmstead02|Olmstead 2002]]: 114</ref> Truman enacted a "[http://www.trumanlibrary.org/executiveorders/index.php?pid=502 loyalty program]"—despite which, according to [[State Department]] security files, there were still [http://www.johnearlhaynes.org/page62.html 108 cases] there the following autumn.
Even before the [[#refBentleyGJ|grand jury]] convened, the [[FBI]] learned that the [[Harry S. Truman|Truman]] administration was planning to subvert the grand jury process to cover up the [[USSR|Soviet]] penetration problem.<ref>One FBI memo would report that [[Harry S. Truman|Truman]] [[Department of Justice|Justice]] wanted the FBI to interview the [[Elizabeth Bentley|Bentley]] suspects, with an eye to “presenting the evidence to a grand jury with the idea of letting them [http://www.answers.com/topic/no-bill no bill] the case. Further that in the event [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=T000175 Congressman Thomas] of the [[HUAC|Un-American Committee]] should ever [http://clerk.house.gov/art_history/highlights.html?action=view&intID=169 raise a question], it would be possible to answer by saying that the grand jury had considered the evidence and it had not deemed it sufficient to justify criminal action.” (FBI file: Hiss-Chambers, Vol. 96)</ref> The grand jury convened on July 22, 1947; nearly a year later, on July 20, 1948—without ever having heard Whittaker Chambers testify—it handed down indictments—not of any federal employees, but of the open leaders of the above-ground [[Communist Party]]—and not for espionage, but for violations of the [[Smith Act]].
Even before the [[#refBentleyGJ|grand jury]] convened, the [[FBI]] learned that the [[Harry S. Truman|Truman]] administration was planning to subvert the grand jury process to cover up the [[USSR|Soviet]] penetration problem.<ref>One FBI memo would report that [[Harry S. Truman|Truman]] [[Department of Justice|Justice]] wanted the FBI to interview the [[Elizabeth Bentley|Bentley]] suspects, with an eye to “presenting the evidence to a grand jury with the idea of letting them [http://www.answers.com/topic/no-bill no bill] the case. Further that in the event [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=T000175 Congressman Thomas] of the [[HUAC|Un-American Committee]] should ever [http://clerk.house.gov/art_history/highlights.html?action=view&intID=169 raise a question], it would be possible to answer by saying that the grand jury had considered the evidence and it had not deemed it sufficient to justify criminal action.” (FBI file: Hiss-Chambers, Vol. 96)</ref> The grand jury convened on July 22, 1947; nearly a year later, on July 20, 1948 (never having heard Whittaker Chambers' testimony) it handed down indictments—not of any federal employees, but of the open leaders of the above-ground [[Communist Party]]—not for espionage, but for violations of the [[Smith Act]].<ref>[[#refEvans07|Evans 2007]]: 171, fn</ref>
The [[Republican]] Congress responded by opening its own investigation of cases including [[Lauchlin Currie]], [[Harry Dexter White]] and Hiss. The [[Democrat]] Truman stonewalled, issuing a Presidential Directive that cut Congress off from all access to FBI and other information on loyalty or security cases:
The [[Republican]] Congress responded by opening its own investigation of espionage suspects including [[Lauchlin Currie]], [[Harry Dexter White]] and Hiss. The [[Democrat]] Truman stonewalled, issuing a Presidential Directive that cut Congress off from all access to FBI and other information on loyalty or security cases:
::"Any [http://www.nolo.com/definition.cfm/Term/BE45BC5C-A852-41E6-A9C1C267589E6C61/alpha/S/ subpena] or demand or request for information, reports, or files of the nature described, received from sources other than those persons in the executive branch of the Government... shall be [https://trumanlibrary.org/publicpapers/index.php?pid=1415&st=&st1=%2050. respectfully declined]..."<ref>Committee on Un-American Activities, House of Representatives, United States Congress, ''[http://ia360613.us.archive.org/3/items/annualreportfory1953unit/annualreportfory1953unit_bw.pdf Annual Report for the Year 1953]'' (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1954), pp. 186-187 (PDF pp. 194-195) Following Hiss' HUAC testimony on August 5, Truman would read to the press a statement amplifying this order:
::"Any [http://www.nolo.com/definition.cfm/Term/BE45BC5C-A852-41E6-A9C1C267589E6C61/alpha/S/ subpena] or demand or request for information, reports, or files of the nature described, received from sources other than those persons in the executive branch of the Government... shall be [https://trumanlibrary.org/publicpapers/index.php?pid=1415&st=&st1=%2050. respectfully declined]..."<ref>Committee on Un-American Activities, House of Representatives, United States Congress, ''[http://ia360613.us.archive.org/3/items/annualreportfory1953unit/annualreportfory1953unit_bw.pdf Annual Report for the Year 1953]'' (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1954), pp. 186-187 (PDF pp. 194-195) Following Hiss' HUAC testimony on August 5, Truman would read to the press a statement amplifying this order:
:"No information of any sort relating to the employee's loyalty, and no investigative data of any type, whether relating to loyalty or other aspects of the individual's record, shall be included in the material submitted [[#refTruman8.5.48|to a congressional committee]]."</ref>
:"No information of any sort relating to the employee's loyalty, and no investigative data of any type, whether relating to loyalty or other aspects of the individual's record, shall be included in the material submitted [[#refTruman8.5.48|to a congressional committee]]."</ref>