[1] It is from him that the FBI Silvermaster File,[2] documenting the Bureau's investigation into Communist Party USA penetration of the U.S. federal government during the 1930s and 1940s, takes its name.

While nominally remaining on the employment rolls of the Farm Security Administration, Silvermaster arranged in 1942 to be detailed to the Board of Economic Warfare.

The transfer, however, triggered objections from military counter-intelligence who suspected he was a hidden Communist and regarded him as a security risk.

[citation needed] Silvermaster denied any Communist links and appealed to Under Secretary of War Robert Patterson to overrule the security officials.

Both White House advisor Lauchlin Currie (identified in Venona as the Soviet agent operating under the cover name "Page"[8]) and Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Harry Dexter White (identified in Venona as the Soviet agent operating under the cover names "Lawyer";[9] "Jurist";[8] "Richard"[10]) intervened on his behalf.

[11] Kathryn S. Olmsted, the author of Red Spy Queen (2002), points out: "Every two weeks, Elizabeth Bentley would travel to Washington to pick up documents from the Silvermasters, collect their Party dues, and deliver Communist literature.

She would stuff all the film and documents into a knitting bag or other innocent feminine accessory, then take it back to New York on the train.