Evening star., 1945-06-25
'Bruss Hats Can't
Agree, Says Observer
Problem of Single War Agency
Needs Congress Study, He Adds
By David Laurence

Needs Congress Study, He Adds
By David Laurence
Gen. Eisenhower made q casual 70.
mark the other day about the need for
a single department Of national defense
but added rather whinsically that
maybe the "brass hats" in Washington
wouldn't agree with him.
1t isn't as simple as that. For the
truth is, the brass hats" don't agree
with each other. On its face the ideA
of single department seems plausible
and there are, of course, certain func-
tions of purchasing and civilian admin.
istration in the War and Navy Depart-
ments that could be consolidated.
But actually the controversy goes
deeper than that and the problem can
not be satisfactorily solved until after
there has been a comprehensive inves-
tigation into all those blunders of this
war which have been hushed up by
censorship and q tendency to protect
fellow omcers' regulations - blunders
which have resulted in needless loss
of life and which some military men
would prefer to forget altogether.
Curtain Should be Lifted. 4
But in the public interest Congress
should not be timid about it. At the
proper time, when the fighting Is over,
there should be a joint Senate and
House committee created with full
powers to take testimony and lift the
curtain on how the war was fought.
The superf1cial-minded, to be sure,
will be content with the fact that VIC
tory was won. They will not care about
how it was won. Among them are the
armchair patriots who are quite willing
to have some one elses sons killed while
they enjoy the cash and comforts Of
the home front. Among them also are
the worshipers of conformity, the
goose stepping minds which live in awe
Of military insignia and gold braid. and
ultimately wind up in the category Of
passive citizens as did those Europeans
of the last three decades who did not
venture to raise their voices against
militarism.
The truth will come out some day.
Commanders who have incurred unnec-
essary losses of American boys must be
held accountable. Lessons learned at
heavy cost must not be ignored. Inter
service difficulties must be exposed.
America is suffering today to some
extent still from friction between the
armed services. The controversies have
been soft-pedaled since the Pearl Haf-
Dor tragedy-a fragrant example Of lack
of co-ordination-but they prevail Just
the same. These are differences of
opinion as to how wars shall be fought,
differences concerning where the re-
sponsibility of the Army, Navy and Air
Forces begins and ends. and differences
as to how joint operations should be
carried on.
Gen. Doolittle said the other day that
while he favored single department of
defense 1t wasn't so important whether
all soldiers and sailors wore the same
uniform. The general said that he
wanted to see a separate Army, Navy
and Air Force under q single department
Of defense. This really comes closer to
telling the public what's behind the
recurrent demand for . single depart
ment Of defense. The Air Forces are the
principal agitators for 1t because they
have failed thus far to get autonomy Of
the kind they want. On its face again
it looks as if air power were entitled to
separate treatment.
But the blunders Of the war, when
uncovered, will prove that what was
often very costly in lives was lack of
military integration Of air power and
land power and sea power at crucial
moments. The solution does not lie in
breaking up the naval air force and tax
ing it away from the fleet nor in taking
away from the Army Air Forces the
responsibility of working under direction
OF ground Army commanders. Nor does
1t lie in separate air force responsible
to neither the Army nor the Navy, as
happened to the Royal Air Force, with
tragic results so far as the British Navy
was concerned. Nor Is the answer to be
found in abolishing our unexcened Ma
rine Corps and merging it with the
Army as one hears suggested.
Task Force" Idea. s
The solution does lie rather in devel-
oping specialized branches of the armed
services to work with existing services
in doing special jobs. The task force"
idea used so successfully by the United
States Navy can be applied to the Army
so that the present United States joint
chiefs Of star may continue to do the
splendid work it now is doing in formu-
lating overall plans and selecting for
particular campaigns and objectives the
combination of forces and units best
able to carry out needed missions.
AS for unity Of command" this war
has produced variety of concepts. Gen.
Eisenhower has one, Gen. Macarthur
has another, and Admiral Nimitz still
another. Until all these able leaders
and some Of their successful subordi.
mates can testify freely about concrete
experiences without worrying about the
effect on current war problems, the
whole subject of single department Of
national defense might better remain
academic.
Reproduction Rishts Ressrved)