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Major Split Appears Among Joint Chiefs on Limited War Issue t Sunday, February 21, 1960 Register-Guard, Eugene, Oregon Air Force-Alone-Rejects Change in Massive Retaliation Policy EDITOR'S NOTE This is the sixth article in a twelve part series distributed by Asso ciated Press based on Gen. Max well D. Taylor's new book, "The Uncertain Trumpet." By GEN. MAXWELL D.TAYLOR Retired As the policy review proceeded in the spring of 1958, it was ap parent there would be a major split within the JCS. The Army, supported this time by the Navy and Marine Corps, held that for met statements of basic military policy were inadequate in an era of mutual deterrence and incour iced an undue reliance upon nu clear weapons, particularly upon large yield weapons, to the im pairment of the conventional capabilities of all services. The Air Force would have no part of such thinking. Some of its spokesmen went so far as to ac cuse advocates of the new philos ophy of betraying the national interest. Such talk, they felt, would inspire doubt as to whether the U.S. was prepared to use the weapons in its nuclear arsenal. For them, the growth of the So viet nuclear power changed noth ing other than to accentuate the need for more atomic weapons and delivery vehicles to stay safely ahead of the Russians. . The split in the armed services was carried first to the Secretary of Defense and then to the Na tional Security Council. Acting as spokesman for the Army, Navy and Marine Corps before the Council, I expressed our common feeling. There had been suffi cient evidence of the deteriora tion of our international power position in relation to that of the Accruing Interest TULSA, Okla. Wl One of the world's richest men, J. Paul Get ty, has a $12.50 government check waiting for him here. It is pay ment for a part of his land which the government wants. Soviet bloc to convince us that a thorough reappraisal of our mili tary strategy was essential. The overall problem, as I saw it, was to readjust our strategy to a period of mutual deterrence. It could be assumed that the United States and the USSR would be increasingly restrained from deliberately initiating a gen eral nuclear war. In such a situa tion, there was no place for a policy of massive nuclear retalia tion except as a deterrent to total nuclear war or as a reprisal if one began. It was doubtful whether either the Soviets or our allies believed we would use our retali atory power for anything other than to preserve our own exist ence. A NEW IDEA I stated our atomic deterrent forces would be the shield under which we must live from day to day with the Soviet threat. This shield would provide us protec tion, but not a means of maneu ver. It was rather to the so-called limited war forces that we hence forth must look for the active elements of our military strategy. The point that limited war forces had the active role to play in future military operations, and the atomic retaliatory forces a passive role was new. Initially, the concept had been that ground forces in Europe and the Far East were the shield behind which the U.S. could deliver the devastating blows of its atomic sword. Now the role was being reversed. After I had finished my state ment, Generals Twining and White presented the Air Force point of view, which was to re tain unchanged the status quo of our military strategy. To my disappointment Secretary Dulles did not provide the strong sup port for a new strategy which I had hoped. The meeting broke up without a decision being announc ed but in reality our cause was lost for the time being. Soon after, Secretary McElroy issued a memorandum that there had been no changes to warrant any WW A J GENERAL TAYLOR significant revision in the "Basic National Security Policy. Under these discouraging pros- p e c t s for the proponents of change in national strategy, the formulation of the 1960 budget began in midsummer of 1958. In effect, the guidance was directed at maintaining approximately the same overall dollar ceiling for the defense budget as in 1959 and at retaining the same percentage al locations. From fiscal year 1955 these had been about 46 per cent for the Air Force, about 28 per cent for the Navy and Marine Corps, and some 23 per cent for the Army, with the remainder of the budget going to the Depart ment of Defense itself. In the vital area of funds for the pur chase of new equipment the Air Force had consistently received some 60 per cent of the available resources, the Navy and Marine Corps about 30 per cent and the Army about 10 per cent. As Red Chinese: guns bombard ed the islands in th Taiwan ORDER NOW ... LET THE REGISTER-GUARD MM ITS 1960 PROGRESS EDITION TO YOUR OUT-OF-TOWN FRIENDS AND BUSINESS ACQUAINTANCES 4 sections ... 64 pages . . . to be published February 28th . . . filled with pictures and stories about the Emerald Empire ... its places, its people . . , their work and play. Your out-of-town friends will enjoy knowing about the country you live in . . . This colorful edition will do just that for only 25c The Register-Guard will wrap, damp nd mail this tptcial edition, for, per eopyt This price Is for the United States only. Foreign rates on request. Enclosed Find $ To Send The Progress Edition To: I- I NAME CITY STREET STATE I i- . SENDER'S NAME, ADDRESS and PHONE MAIL OR BRING TO THE REGISTER-GUARD'S CIRCULATION DEPT.' strait, the budget debate carried forward. The renewed evidence of Communist readiness to resort to limited war measures had no effect on the issue. In the end, the budget went to the National Security Council without essen tial change. All the services, particularly the Air Force and Navy, had em barked upon expensie programs for the production of heavy weap ons such as the Atlas and Titan intercontinental ballistic missiles, the Thor and Jupiter intermedi ate range ballistic missiles, the Polaris submarine missile sys tem, and the B o m a r c sur face-to-air missile. The early warning program was creating expenses beyond those antici pated. The Army also had Nike- Zeus antiballistic missile. To stay within the dollar limits of pre vious budgets required the elimi nation or the cutback of many of these programs. In the end the IRBM and the Nike-Zeus pro grams bore the most significant reductions. The decision to hold back the Nike-Zeus program was particu larly regrettable. This imposed a delay of at least one additional year on this unique weapon so es sential to deterrence of atomic at tack and to national survival if deterrence fails. THE PUBLIC IS DISTURBED The Joint Chiefs of Staff as a body took no part in the formu lation of the 1960 budget nor had they in previous years. This fact has often surprised Con gress. But the secretary of de fense has never given the chiefs as a body a clearly defined role in budget-making. This results in part from honest doubt as to the extent to which the chiefs should be drawn into fiscal matters, in part from a feeling they would ask for the moon. In the usual way, each service produced its budget in isolation tween the secretary of defense, the department secretaries, and their chiefs of staff, at no time to my knowledge were the three service budgets put side by side and an appraisal made of the fighting capabilities of the ag gregate military forces supported by the budget. It is not an exag geration to say that nobody knows what we are actually buy ing with any specific budget. As the budget ncared its con clusion, Secretary McElroy ap parently felt the need for some endorsement by the Joint Chiefs of Staff before sending it to Con gress. After much discussion, we finally agreed on the following statement: "The Joint Chiefs of Staff con sider that the FY 1960 proposed expenditure figure of $40,945,000,- 000 is adequate to provide for the essential programs necessary for the defense of the nation for the period under consideration. They find no serious gaps in the key elements of the budget in its present form, but all have reser vations with respect to the fund ing of some segments of their re spective service programs." Although this was rather tepid support, the secretary of defense elected to present it to Congress. This action boomerranged. Senator Johnson's Prepared ness Subcommittee pounced upon the memorandum and soon called us to express our views of the budget publicly under oath and later to file written statements. Despite a proper desire to avoid public criticism of our civilian supervisors, our testimony soon showed what we really thought of the budget. Noting the statement that the overall sum was suffi cient but that our individual budg ets were far below what was re quired, one senator dryly re marked that he didn't see how three insufficiencies could add up to a sufficiency. The testimony revealed for the first time the extent of the schism within the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the division in their views on Massive Retaliation and related matters of strategy. This revela-l tion profoundly disturbed many members of Congress as well as thoughtful citizens generally. (Condensed from "The Uncer tain Trumpet." B 1959, I960 bjr Maxwell D. Taylor, published by Harper if Brothers.) 2 Congressmen File in Salem SALEM (UPD Oregon Demo cratic Reps. Al Ullman and Charles 0. Porter filed Thursday for reelection. They had an nounced earlier they again would be candidates. Richard "Dick" Hill filed as a candidate for U.S. representative on the GOP ticket in the third congressional district. Oregon Democratic Rep. Edith Green is the incumbent. State Sen. Edwin Durno (R Medford) has announced his can didacy against Porter. So far, Ullman is unopposed in his own party and by the. Republicans. Other filings included: Benton County District Judge Robert L. Gilliland, Corvallis, re election. Clackamas County District Court Judge Howard J. Blanding, Ore gon City, reelection. Crook County District Attorney James B. Minturn, Prineville Re publican, reelection. Driver Fined $200 On Liquor Charge Donald Davis Stringfield, 31, of 2435 Jefferson St, Eugene, changed his plea to guilty and was fined $200 Wednesday in Eu-! gene Municipal Court on a charge of driving under the influence of intoxicating liquor. Stringfield had pleaden inno cent to the Jan. 9 charge after his arrest by Eugene police at W. Sixth Avenue near Olive Street. Lectures Planned On U of O Museum t az-miaint the neonle of the )! nt rironnn with what is tak ing place in the University of Oregon museum oi an, nuu orrict mil alumnus of the Univer sity, has agreed to give a series of lectures on tne museum mm ;t AniiaMinns 9prn the state. Early in March, Klep, together with Mrs. Klep and Mrs. Virginia H.pitin nlan to visit a number of communities in the state to ex plain the program of the trienas nf tVio Mucpiim organization. Kelp will lecture on the muse um and show colorea suoes oi tne works of art in its collections, vlpn it s free-lance artist, with his working base at Surf Pines, Oregon. Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 be came the first American to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Loan Approved TAIPEI. Formosa OB The Na tionalist government has ap. proved a loan equivalent to $600,. 000 to the China Fishing Co. to help in the construction of two 550-ton trawlers that will operate in the Atlantic. The fishing boati will be Formosa's biggest. 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