Never Tell Paris

Even Frenchmen inured to the back biting and cynical misbehavior of their politicos were shocked last week by a sensational trial in Paris. Eighteen months ago Andre Baranes, a devious little Tunisian newspaperman and police informer, was arrested for transmitting vital French defense secrets to a Communist newspaper publisher. Baranes claimed he had got the information from two assistants of respected, 50-year-old Jean Mons, secretary general of the Defense Committee (France's rough equivalent of the U.S.'s National Security Council). Last week, as the trial of Mons, Baranes and the two aides opened, a parade of eminent witnesses disclosed a jungle of jealousies and rivalries and political infighting, in which it was standard practice to seek political or personal advantage even at the expense of jeopardizing the nation's safety.

General Henri Navarre, whose bold plan to take the offensive in the Indo-China war might have saved the day if he had got enough backing, told how he outlined his plan to the Defense Committee in July 1953, pointing out, among other things, that he did not have enough troops to defend Laos. Four days later details of what he said were published in the left wing weekly L'Observateur. The Viet Minh duly invaded Laos. They were unopposed. In May 1954, soon after the fall of Dienbienphu, Chief of Staff General Paul Ely outlined France's catastrophic military situation to the Defense Committee. Two days later L'Express (edited by Jacques Servan-Schreiber and then in stout support of Mendes-France for Premier) printed the secret plan to send conscripts to Indo-China. Ex-Police Commissioner Baylot testified he had done nothing about the leaks. Pleaded Baylot: "You know.how it is. Whenever you signal something like that, somebody will tell you he'll take care of it. And if you insist that something be done, then they insult you and call you a McCarthyite."

The result of all such duplicity, said Old Soldier Navarre, was that he had to lay down an astonishing rule in Indo-China: "Paris must never be kept informed. We knew, in fact, that any military operation known in Park, would not surprise the enemy. It was?about like handing the burglar the combination of the safe he was going to crack. Treason was everywhere."

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