Evening star., 1946-05-16
Truman Seen Reaching
Objective on Merger
Plan for Three Cabinet Seats
Believed Likely to Emerge
By David Laurence

By David Laurence
President Truman has exhibited f1ex-
ibility and discernment in settling diff
ferences between the Army and Navy
on the so-called merger plan. What
has happened is that the President
gains his original objective-which Is
"unification" at the same time
services which earlier plans for single
Department of National Defense would
have entailed
Mr.. Truman has adhered to the prin-
ciple which was referred to in all his
utterances as "unification" or "integra-
ton" of the armed services and on this
he has been on solid ground all along
Where the differences developed was
on the method of gaining the objective
and, as soon as the President saw the
difficulties and potential dangers of
paper plan, he agreed to consider al
ternate programs which would achieve
his main purpose.
What eventually will emerge out
Of the discussions is plan for
three cabinet secretaries, one of whom
presumably will be the co-ordinating
director of defense. There would be
joint Offices for certain tasks such as
intelligence and possibly in the field Of
purchases and contract making. But
the armed services themselves would not
be ruled by single chief of staff as
recently proposed. Instead the United
States Joint Chiefs of Staff would be the
top-level organization which would issue
orders to the armed services, as was the
case during the war.
Retention of Benefits.
This plan inSures the retention Of
those benefits and experience which the
war developed. 1t involves the main
tenance of the organization which not
only functioned effectively with respect
to our own armed services, but worked
out system of cooperation with the
military and naval and air staffs of the
other allied countries. A going concern
is permitted to go on developing with
out being upset by new line of COM
mand or authority. The Presidents
decision in this respect is to be heartily
commended
There remains. of course the problem
of solving the status of the air forces
within the War Department. There can
be no denying that the air forces have
been progressive and alert and have
knocked tradition into a cooked hat by
their wonderful use of the new artillery
of the air. Whether the time has come
to make separate armed service of the
air forces is something on which opn-
ions differ
Certainly there are two separate and
distinct types of aerial combat. One
relates to the use of aircraft close to
ground troops as cover for their move
ments and as an offensive weapon
against enemy communications close to
the battle line. The other relates to
the long-range strategic bombing In
which the Army Air Forces feel there
is new dimensik involved. This
is concerned with the long-distance
bombing of factories and industrial
equipment as means of crippling the
enemy's capacity to carry on a war.
Air Operations Tie-In.
The strategic air operations should,
OF course, be tied in with all the other
armed services, but it's proponents con-
tend it is as much separate entity as
the Navy or the Army. Some proponents
want to 60 so far as to give the air
forces a separate department. but the
ground forces of the Army are not in
clined to go all the way on this.
One thing has developed clearly. and
that is the need for keeping the Naval
Air Forces tied in with the Navy be-
cause air operations over the seas must
be necessarily controlled by ship COM
manders in given area even though
the planes may be based on islands as
well as aircraft carriers.
There is growing trend now toward
agreement between the armed services
and this is a healthy thing. because the
men who want to see the United States
kept in a state of preparedness will find
that the public has an impression that
the wartime organization was effective
and hence will favor continuance,
whereas experiments that produce dis
cord and impair harmony would merely
mean prolonged controversy at a time
when unification of the armed services
Is so essential.
Mr.. Truman is making substantial
progress in harmonizing the views of
the armed services and If he can get
agreement soon as seems probable, 1t
Is likely Congress will pass the plan
finally recommended by the White
House