Evening star., 1947-01-13
Merger Plan Is Called
Top Issue in Congress
Navy Would Favor Consolidation
If Details Were Made Clear

IL ~
Navy Would Favor Consolidation
If Details Were Made Clear
By David Laurence
The most difacult problem to come
before the new Congress is the "mer-
ger" of the armed services.
Members OF Congress would prefer
that the Army, Navy and Air Forces
get together on plan and save the
legislators much perplexity.
Some efforts to obtain an aagree-
ment have been made informally be-
tween the War and Navy Departments.
Progress has been made but i'll feeling
has been fostered by the unwillingnesa
of Army and Army Air Forces Of
ficers to obey the request Of President
Truman that the subject be not airet-
in public.
Navy officers are represented as feel
ing that they are gagged" while the
spokesmen of the other services are not
restricted Only last week prominent
air officer made q speech criticising
by innuendo another branch Of the
service and arguing In, favor OF the
merger" plan from the War De-
partment viewpoint
No merger" plan adopted by Con-
gress is going to be effective and the
national defense of the United States
is going to suffer If representatives of
one armed service seek to take ad-
vantage of another. The spirit will
not be one of cooperation, but con-
slant friction.
With the public demand for tax re-
duction and the cutting of Govern
ment expenses, it is natural that men
in the armed services should be ap-
prehensive about what will be done to
the national defense budget. But it is
more than ever necessary that inter-
service conflicts should not govern the
settling of the budget.
All Services Favor Merger.
The present situation about the whole
problem is that the Navy, Army and
Air Forces all favor merger. The
Navy has been reluctant to agree to
any plan that did not delineate func-
tions clearly, but the Navy does favor
q merger plan and has offered several.
While the Navy favors the merger
idea in principle, it has wanted to know
how the principle would be applied In
a concrete way. Last June President
Truman made about the best outline of
a merger plan that has been suggested,
but with two major mistakes in it.
One related to the consolidating of
all services in a single department.
This has been more or less superseded
by a trend toward three Separate de-
partments for Army, Air Forces and
Navy, respectively, but with an "ofice"
of secretary of defense. which 1t is
hoped would never reach the proper
tions Of a big department.
There is vast difference between an
office" or bureau" and an overall "de-
partment." The President didn't 60 into
detail, but If he meant that the secre-
tary of defense would be in the cabinet
and would coordinate the three depart
ments the idea would fall on receptive
ground generally.
Another mistake related to the ques-
ton of airplanes for use of the Navy in
connection with antisubmarine warfare
and reconnaissance generally. The Pres
ident's letter was not clear. The Army
Air Forces have been seeking to get
control Of all airplanes, but the Navy
folks feel that the lessons Of the last
war taught conclusively that air pilots
trained to work with and under the
Jurisdiction of ship commanders in
fleet operation are better than those
who work independently from land bases
under Army auspices.
U. S. Relies on Sea Power.
The point is vital to the future de-
fense of nation like the United States,
which has to depend on sea power, and
it is surprising that the Army Air Forces
have not conceded this.
Under most of the merger plans pro-
posed, the Army Air Forces would have
a coordinate part with the other serv-
ices and would, of course, be preponder-
antly concerned with air operations,
Ground armies and amphibious opera
tions would have their own tactical air
forces, as was so effectively demon
strated in the Pacific war.
The Army Air Forces made wonder
full record In strategic bombing and in
air operations generally and have earned
their right to be considered co-ordi-
nate department. But to demolish the
Navy's own trained air force or to try
to abolish the Marine Corps by merging
it with the Army would weaken the de-
fense of the United States by depriving
this country Of certain specialized oper-
ations that should remain under the
Navy because they are primarily con-
nected with ship tactics.
It would seem that the controversy
over the merger has hurt the prestige
of all the armed services somewhat be-
cause the truth is the Army, Navy and
Air Forces did better Job Of co-ordi-
mating and "unification" in the war than
would be suspected from the many ex-
treme comments to the contrary being
made in an effort to get approval for
particular plans of consolidation.
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