Reasonable Suspicion

For almost three years, Mrs. Ellen Knauff had been knocking at the door, trying to get into the U.S. All she got was a turndown; all newsmen could learn from tight-lipped Immigration officials was that she was considered a "bad security risk" (TIME, May 29).

Last week in Washington, when a special Immigration and Naturalization Service board rejected her ninth appeal, the public for the first time was given some indication of why Ellen Knauff, German-born bride of a naturalized U.S. citizen, would not be allowed to enter the U.S. Three Government witnesses, including a former Czech army major, had testified that she spied on U.S. Army Occupation Forces in Germany for the Czechoslovak government shortly before the 1948 Communist coup. Under the law, aliens may be excluded on a reasonable suspicion of espionage or subversion--conclusive proof is not required. Mrs. Knauff can still stall off exclusion for a while by two further appeals, but the Department of Justice is just as determined to keep her out as she is to get in. Officials say that their entire case against her cannot yet be told.

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