Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1947-09-21
Policy Discussions.
On Unified Services
To Begin This Week
By John A. Giles

Policy making conferences. on
problems from divisions of authority
along the military departments to
the matter of industrial mobiliza-
ton in wartime will begin this
week as the several boards and
agencies under the National Sc
curity Act begin functioning.
While Secretary of Defense For
restal and his assistants have gone
over certain preliminary plans for
the national military establishment,
many details remain to be worked
out, official said last night.
A new agency set up on a high
level by the act Is the National Sc
curity Resources Board. Arthur w.
HILL has been named chairman. The
board must promulgate policies for
establishing reserves of strategic
and critical materials, among other
things.
Munitions Board Revived.
Just how this boards work will
fit into that of the Munitions Board,
heretofore the Army and Navy
Munitions Board, which has been
concerned with stockpiling, etc., is
one OF the policy matters to be
settled. The Munitions Board &C
tually Is an old organization which,
after years of quiescence, has been
revived and equipped with unusual
powers. Heretofore 1t has been lay
ing plans for controls that could
be applied swiftly in wartime.
The. first military matter to see
any actual unification from which
the public may realize any saving,
however, will be in procurement of
supplies and equipment. Now that
the Air Force department has been
set up, it is expected that some
practices will be changed.
No central procurement is planned,
however. The plan Is for each sery-
Ice to make all the purchases in
certain fields in which it has pre-
dominant interests. The Munitions
Board, which has authority over this
field, already has made much
progress,
The system Of purchasing of sup
plies and equipment, q Munitions
Board spokesman said last night,
must be kept flexible because of
rapid expansions in wartime. There
fore, he added, the system of having
individual services do procurement
Tor all services is deemed best.
Medicine Raises Controversy.
A big problem which may have to
be settled on Mr.. Forrestal's level
Will be the question OF medical sery-
Ice. During debate on unif1cation in
Congress, enc War Department pro-
posal for a single medical service
Tor the Army, Navy and Air Force
was strongly resisted by the Navy
as well as the old Air Force.
Last week the initial separation
agreements between the Army and
Air Force revealed that the Al,
Force would have neither a medical
corps nor a chaplains' CORPS. I'M
mediately top Air Force sources in
dicated they were not satisfied with
the medical arrangement.
Maj. Gen. Malcolm c. Grow. the
air surgeon, 1t was said, feared that
without an integral medical CORDS,
specializing in aviation medicine
the Air Force would not be able to
assure q full career to medical
officers.
Asked about the medical question
at his press conference last week
Secretary of the Army Royal said i:
1T is an initial plan. If we find
that it should be changed for
efficiency and economy, it will be
DONE"
Meanwhile, Secretary Forrestal
completed his move to the Pentagon
over the week end. An assistant
said it was believed that closer
liaison could be kept through CEN
tralization Of a large proportion of
the national military establishment.
Beginning tomorrow, operators at
telephone exchange Republic 67O0,
the old War Department number
in the Pentagon, will answer calls
with National Defense"