Mr. Rowley. The fact is he never informed me. He never informed any of his supervisors or anyone on the detail.
Mr. Rankin. I think the record should show, Mr. Chairman, that we were never advised that he wanted to testify, nor had we any inquiry or anything about the matter, until after we learned about it in the newspapers. And, even then, he didn't ask to testify. And we asked the FBI to check into it, and he had counsel, and they refused to tell anything about the matter at that time.
Mr. Dulles. Could I ask a question?
Did I understand you to say that the Civil Service prescribes that certain men must be assigned to the White House for a certain detail?
Mr. Rowley. No, Mr. Dulles; we have an arrangement with the Civil Service that they will permit us to recruit these men, not from the register, but under what they call schedule A. They give us an opportunity, 2 years, to train these men, with the understanding that within 2 years' time they will have to be assigned to the White House detail or we will not be able to retain them in the Service.
However, during that 2 years, we urge them to take the civil service examination, so that they get on the register. And then when they do—quite frequently this occurs—they are selected from the register, and once they become permanent, if they are not interested in the White House detail, then they continue their work as a criminal investigator in the field.
Mr. Dulles. But if they do not take that special examination, then—and become a part of the civil service, then they have to be assigned to the White House, to stay on?
Mr. Rowley. Yes.
Mr. Dulles. I was a little worried when you said certain people had to be assigned to the White House, that you were under compulsion to assign certain people to the White House in order to retain them.
Mr. Rowley. No; anyone who works in the White House, whether he is an electrician, a painter, or anything, for a period of 2 years, he automatically becomes eligible for permanent civil service status.