Evening star., 1947-01-20
Merger Seen Similar
To Plan hat Won War

To Plan Thut Won War
Makes Joint Operations Easier
Without Binding Each Arm
By David Laurence
Only those who never really understood
the so-called merger" problem are sur
prised by the new plan for unification,
Of the armed services. And. 1t might be
added, only those who have been talking
as if the United States lost the war and
have been criticizing the United States
Joint Chiefs of Staff may be disap-
pointed by the new plan.
For the truth is the new plan is very
much like the plan which won the big
gcst war In all history-a war that
covered all continents and the seven
seas. war in which the United States
fought of enemies on both seacoasts
and concurrently transported by sea
arms and munitions to all the countries
allied with us.
The new plan, it is hoped, will put
an end to pickering. This came largely
from grab for power inside the armed
| services by officers who became panicky
over the prospect Of reduced appropria.
tions and who sincerely became worried
that the merger" would weaken instead
| Of strengthen our defense system.
| The new plan Is a good plan, because
it doesn't materially disturb the old
plan. The executive order merely af-
firms what has been done before with
one or two exceptions-and the excep-
tions are too vague to be appraised or
evaluated properly as yet.
The Army, Navy and Air Forces, re-
spectively, are to be independent and
autonomous but they are ordered to
"co-ordinate" their joint operations
whenever necessary. The United States
Joint Chiefs of Staff will do the "co-
ordinating" in case Of war because q
splendid job was done by that same
directing group during the last war.
The divided ceUmand" propaganda
was really very much exaggerated.
Some Duplication Eliminated.
The net gain in the new plan is that
some avoidance Of duplication in pur-
chasing may be possible. Likewise the
Army Air Forces get what they really
have wanted and deserve-an autonom-
Gus position with respect to the Army
and Navy.
What the Army Air Forces do not
get-and should not have been giyen-is
command of tactical operations when
engaged in by the Army or Navy, re-
spectively, and when air cover or Marine
reconnaissance Is desired.
It remains yet to be determined
whether ground commander or naval
commander can get the help Of Army
Air Forces planes in an emergency OPP
| Grafton. It is this chapter of war history
| which needs to be revealed, for some Of
the saddest days of the war were those
when Army Air Forces refused to turn
away from their absorption IN strategic
bombing to help in specific tactical OPP
erations needed by the Navy unless exc
plicitly ordered to do so by the United
States Joint Chiefs of Staff in Wash
ington. -
$ The Army Air Forces should have
complete control of strategic bombing,
while airplanes needed for tactical OPP
! C1dtAOAAo SAiou1o NC dlACStCa Wy WILL
manders on the ground or on ships in
feet task forces. respectively. That les
son was demonstrated again and again
in the last war; .>,~et
The new plan does give the appear
ance of four separate air forces for.
tactical operations, but this will surprise
only those who oversimplified the ''mer-
ger" problem and, by analogy. might
have argued that all guns, for instance.
should be in one department whether
used on land or sea or in the air.
Autonomy Is Allowed.
Neither guns nor planes constitute .
common denominator. The new de.
velopments In warfare suggest special
lied task force suitable to perform
specific missions and using all weapons.
The demands of feet operations or
ground Army operations are properly
specialized, as are the demands Of am
phibious operations such as those in
| which the Marine Corps has achieved
so much glory.
The new plan, fortunately, does not
plunge all our armed services into the
confusion of single department Of
defense, but permits autonomy and
specialization. That is the best way
to insure efficiency in the changing
techniques Of war. The camouflage OF
| single secretary OF defense is mean
| ingless, for the two civilian secretaries
in the past have also played a second
ary role. The true command in war
IS placed where It has been and ought
to be-in the United States Joint Chiefs
of Staff.
As for peacetime budgets these will
present real problem. Each service
will request what it needs through
civilian secretaries and each will have
spokesman of high rank. Until the
Buck Rogers era" is actually here and
some of the fanciful weapons talked
about are reality, the American de-
! tense mechanism necessarily takes on
| TOR a while at least--the same pat
tern that was used SO successfully In
fighting the last war to victory.
The new plan happily contains flex-
ible provisions. That is its biggest vir-
tue. There will be some economies
not much in the end. But where lives
are likely to be at stake economy In
dollars has again and again been
proved costly.
The biggest advantage about the new
merger" plan Is that 1t may, for the
time being anyway, stop the friction
between the services and spare Con.
gress the embarrassment of deciding