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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 4, 1962)
Defense Secretary's (Editor'! note: Even Rob ait S. McNsmara's foei con code he it on of tha most efficient and hard-hitting de fense secretaries the nation has ever had. But he has come under fire in Congress and the military on grounds he is centralising too much power under his title in dis regard of traditional civil ian and military concepts. The issues are set forth pro and con in the following exclusive dispatch.) By CHARLES W. CORDDRY Washington - (UP!) - In De cember, 1959, when he was a senr.tor., President Kennedy prophesied that the missile age would require that the Army, Navy and A"" Force be merged into a "single serv ice." He set 1965 as the probable target date. What is the status of that prophecy today as knuckle rapping Robert S. McNamara completes 20 months as Ken nedy's defense secretary? This can be said: there now is strong evidence that, under the drive of the amazing Mc Namara, the merger may be nearing reality, whether or not Congress and the military like it. With the blessing of Chair man Carl Vinson (D-Ga.), a House Armed Services sub committee recently lashed out at the former Ford Motor company president's manage ment upheaval with claims "the groundwork was being laid" for the very merger the legislators oppose. Little Debate Strangely, however, there has been remarkably little public debate about it. Yet such a gigantic consolidation would be genuinely revolu tionary in military history. One reason may be the fact that it is impossible now to visualize what an enormous one-tent military machine would look like. There also is no concrete proposal before the people. What is happening under McNamara are periodic "re forms" made administratively and without risking the un certainties of congressional re form legislation. The 46-year-old McNamara simply says: "When I see a way to do something better, I do it." He could add that most times he does it so fast the services and Congress find themselves objecting to ac complished facts rather than proposals. Examples: . . Military space operations were concentrated in the Air Force before the Army and Navy knew what hit them. And McNamara told members of Congress they could end their legal doubts about cer tain agencies which he cre ated, simply by passing a law giving them statutory author ity. There is little doubt that most of what McNamara does "better" results in still more centralization, plus diminished stature for the three service secretaries and their depart ments. Examples: He set up a de fense intelligence agency which absorbed many service activities and personnel. He set up a defense supply agency destined to have 25,000 employees and a $20 billion inventory. He set up a new U.S. strike command under the Joint Chiefs of Staff. This combined Army divisions and Air Force tactical squadrons. 'Advice' Program Tinged By Politics Vienna-OJPH-The Communist I "How is it possible to hate Radio Budapest has a form of! "advice td the lovelorn" pro gram although its questions and answers sometimes take on a political tinge. The once-a-week program is called "Human Problems of Young People." A young woman met an old admirer in a Budapest street car. Both then realized that their love was "for real" but, alias, the ex-boy friend had married another in the mean time. What to do? "Turn down his request for a date," was the Hungarian Mr. Anthony's reply. "It I might bring unhappiness to ; the old flame's lawful wedded wife." Another listener, a young woman of 22 married to a man several years older, said his six-year-old child from wife number one was "poison ing" her marriage. The child had, the woman felt, inherited the bad quali ties from his drunkard moth er. "Nonsense," the radio warn ed. The woman was told she must try to love the child if only for the sake of saving her marriage which could become more precarious with the passing of time. McNamara "unified'' the entire military budget, show ing not separate categories for the Army, Navy and Air Force but allotments by function. All this points toward an eventual merger, no matter what kind of label it was. The "forms'" of the services - separate uniforms, for in stance - may be retained. But the "substance" is being steadily revolutionized. Each defense reorganiza tion, from 1947 on, has point ed toward greater centraliza tion, but no one can really estimate how much McNam ara has stepped up the process or how far he win pusn u in his tireless zeal for doing things himself. Behind this is a tenacious conviction about the rectitude of his own decisions. Questions The defense boss probably is the first man in aviation history to ask how much less an airplane would cost if it went two times instead 2.1 times the speed of sound. He poses such questions to get straight to the heart of the matter on weapons costs. With five per cent less performance, the plane may cost 20 per cent less. Does all this mean that Mc Namara's management of the world's biggest enterprise is finally leading to a merger? In drawing a bead on the secretary, the House subcom mittee may have given a taste of big controversy to come. Its report said: "The elimination of con flicting views, the consolida tion of functions, and the down-grading of military de partments may , . . eventually lead to the adoption of a sin gle defense concept. It is the opinion of the subcommittee that such a concept could be disastrous if carried to its ulti mate conclusion." It cautioned thai the cen tralization now going on could make the defense system pon derous and also spawn inde cision in the lower echelons. A case in point cited by some critics is that the Ken nedy administration has start ed few, if any, new major weapons projects. It has, how ever, vastly steeped up pur chases of existing weapons and enlarged the forces. Major Factor As a senator, Kennedy thought the major factor in "real defense unification" would be emergence of the missile as the common weapon of all the forces. But that was before the emergence of the phenomenal McNamara who most usually moves faster than a missile. McNamara Is a 12-hour-a-day doer. And he doesn't even let small matters in the de partment that will spend $40.3 billion this year, escape his notice. Critics, of whom former Army Secretary Elvis J. Stahr Jr., was one, assert that Mc Namara more and more han dles decisions once left to service secretaries and mili tary leaders. They argue that the defense establishment is too ponderous for only Mc Namara and few other men to run. The secretary was born in San Francisco. He was edu cated at the University of Cali fornia and Harvard Business school. He taught at Harvard and served as an Air Force procurement expert in World War Two. Afterward, he and a group of Air Force col leagues hired out to Ford Mo tor company as management a six-year old child anyway? the commentator then asked, j Political Problems j Turning to the political ; side, a 19-year-old youth who I was an active Communist Youth league participant said his father-a very religious man-was theratening to stop supporting his son if he didn't quit his political activities. j The young man was caught betwixt and between - father or secretaryship of the local Communist Youth league. He had thus far been facing the dilemma by calling the meet ings only on the nights when his watchman father was on duly on the collective farm. The radio column praised the youth's attitude, especially in his wish not to hurt his father. "A Communist Youth league secretaary must be first in the organization, also in human behavior. And a large part of that is made up of love and honor towards one's parents." It advised the young man to have a senior party member or senior member of the col lective farm speak to his fa ther and convince him the son had chosen "the right way." specialists. Their talents earn ed them the names "quiz kids" and "whiz kids." In No vember. 1960, McNamara be came Ford's president. The next month he left to join President - elect Ken nedy's then - forming New Frontier cabinet. Big Build-Up There followed a big build up of the Armed Forces-from $43.2 billion of spending pro posed by the outgoing Eisen hower administration to $46.9 billion last year and $48.3 bil lion this year. 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