Chapter 73 Section 12

Originally, there were no great secrets in some of the documents that Higurashi came into contact with.The Fifth Section of the European and American Bureau is in charge of editing the Soviet Monthly, and also writes articles for other related publications. This is not a secret at all.Rastovorov said in a statement that "the information collected was also collected from Japanese newspapers and magazines", but it would be ridiculous to count this as auxiliary espionage.Therefore, the work of Section 5 supposedly does not include those secrets that are significant enough to make Higurashi commit suicide.

Rather than saying that Higurashi belongs to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it is better to say that he belongs to the Cabinet Investigation Office.Some people say that this cabinet investigation room is Japan's "secret room", but it has played that role.But at that time it did not have the huge budget and staffing it has today, nor did it expand to the size of the organization, because the discretion of various bosses played a large role. Higurashi never provided information to Rastovorov.It is said that in fact he was resolutely anti-communist, loyal to his duties, and never caused any damage to the "internal transfer" work.There are signs that he has a special mission.In fact, he does not belong to the Japanese agency.No matter what his position is (for example, the commissioner assigned to the internal adjustment room), of course he cannot disclose it to others.If it is more clear, he may have been included in the US intelligence network.The above-mentioned passage is not imagined out of thin air, but inferred based on existing clues.

It can be vaguely seen that Higurashi was entrusted by a certain party and promised to perform some "performances" in the "Rastovorov Incident".He once confessed that he "stored" the dollar bills used for intelligence work with his colleague Shoji, probably for this reason.However, during the process of Hase prosecutor's interrogation of him, he may have discovered that it was not a simple "performance", in fact, he was regarded as being in Japan to reflect the shadow of Rastovorov staying in the United States.If so, he must have been horrified to discover that he had been duped. To him, Mihashi's stigma as a "double agent" in the "Ludigen Incident" was unbearable.Higurashi's personality is serious and straightforward, and he also made the mistake of dragging his colleague Shoji into trouble by "acting".Would his death have the meaning of making up for his mistakes and apologizing to his colleagues?

In short, Rastovorov himself is nothing special as far as the "Rastovorov affair" is concerned.America entertained him, but he disappointed the Americans and contributed nothing.In this case, there is another use for him.That is to shake out his shadow appropriately to achieve another but the same effect.So, the incident itself was staged in the United States, and it was reflected in Japan like a mirror, and it was also staged as a fictional drama.This is exactly one big hoax across the Pacific. The immediate purpose of this drama was revenge for the flight of Dr. Rohn to East Germany two days earlier: moreover, it opened the way for the outlawing of the Communist Party in the United States.

Just two days before the announcement of the "Rastovorov Affair" (on the 12th), the United States Senate unanimously passed a bill declaring the American Communist Party illegal by a vote of 85 to none. Prior to this, President Eisenhower had always believed that this bill would only force the Communists to go underground more and more, which would do more harm than good.Even Ike is said to have had trouble passing the bill.The background of the passage of this bill is definitely not without causal relationship with the "Rastovorov incident". It can be considered that the "Rastovorov incident" was used to intensify the McCarthy whirlwind in the United States.

At that time, there was also a so-called counter-espionage incident in the United States.According to the radio broadcasting agency, it went like this: On November 10, 1953 (the 28th year of the Showa era), such an incident occurred: Soviet frontier guards discovered that Japanese had crossed the border, killed one person and arrested another.Why did the Japanese appear on an island to the east of the Soviet Union?After pursuing the mystery, the captured Japanese finally confessed all about his activities. According to his confession, his name was Gu Ming, and the one who was beaten to death was called Gu Ming.Gu Ming was sentenced to 25 years in prison.According to Gu Ming's confession, he has been working in the detachment of the American "counterintelligence team" in Sapporo, Hokkaido since April 1951. Intelligence school trained.It was Captain Gray of the United States and his assistant, Yonejiro Goto, who were in charge of selecting the spies sent to the Soviet Union there.Gu and Gao Sang sneaked into the Soviet Union three times in May, October, 1952, and October 24, 1953. They took photos of the Soviet terrain and communicated with the "counterintelligence team" in Sapporo by radio. agency to contact.On the fourth time (November 10), it was finally discovered by Soviet soldiers.At that time, they carried American-made silent pistols, small silent automatic rifles, light rifles, radio cameras, and code tables.

This is the content of the so-called counterintelligence incident reported by the radio broadcasting agency.However, the relevant personnel in the United States will be worried that this infiltration team may have confessed other things to the Soviet Union, because the former Kwantung Army's senior intelligence aviation staff group and the Navy's aviation staff were merged into a certain organization to form a special secret. Organs; specialized in certain activities against the Soviet Union.Therefore, if the Soviet Union publishes it in some form based on the confession of Gu, who knows these things, it will make the United States very embarrassed.

At this time, it must be necessary for the United States to let the world and Japan know that "the Soviet Union is actually conducting large-scale espionage activities against Japan."The U.S. military intelligence agency must have felt that it was necessary to restore its own reputation, and felt that it had to respond effectively to the Soviet Union in terms of world intelligence activities, so it announced that the U.S. had accepted Rastovorov in this form. Furthermore, because of Dr. Rohn's incident, it was necessary for the American military intelligence authorities to show American public opinion that they were doing the same.Because in the United States with a parliamentary system, if people feel that their organs are doing nothing, they may be attacked in Congress, which will affect the budget.Conspiracy activities require huge sums of money.This may also be considered as one of the effects of the "Rastovorov incident".

The above is an estimate of the effect obtained in the United States.So what about Japan? Deputy Prime Minister Ogata was traveling in Hokkaido when the newspaper published the news that Rastovorov was meeting with reporters.He made a speech during the trip, to the effect that: "In view of the occurrence of this incident, it is necessary for our country to formulate regulations such as the 'Secret Protection Law' as soon as possible." His speech was also reported in newspapers. At that time, the Yoshida government was busy considering the formulation of the "Secret Protection Act".In fact, the "Rastovorov incident," as the Deputy Prime Minister puts it, created the atmosphere that led to the enactment of the bill.

As early as around October of Showa 28, the Security Agency and the Ministry of Justice began to discuss and draft the specific content of this "Secret Protection Law" or "Defense Secret Protection Law".Initially, there were two ideas. One was that the draft would be limited to the secrecy of weapons provided by the United States under the Common Security Act. Guards), and weapons manufactured in Japan.However, according to the opinion of Kimura, the head of the Security Agency, it was planned to formulate a broad secrecy law similar to the "Military Aircraft Protection Law" before the war. (See "Asahi Yearbook", Showa 30th Edition) The announcement of the "Rastovorov Incident" played the role of lubricating oil for a smooth push in this direction.

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