Evening star., 1947-07-19
House in Session i
Today 10 Press
FinoI Details of Bill
Are Expected to Be
Settled by Conferees

l lie I1OuSc was CdlleQ INTO
an unusual Saturday session to-
fday for a showdown on a bill to
unity the Army, Navy and Air
Forces under a single civilian
cabinet member.
Backed by the administration and
the Republican leadership, the
measure follows generally the lines
OF separate bill previously ap-
proved by the Senate.
There are enough differences in
the two versions, however, to make
it unlikely that the bill will reach
President Truman without going
through the give -and-take of a
Senate e-House conference.
Much of the controversy over the
merger" has been removed by
agreements providing that the Ma
rine Corps shall retain its separate
identity and the Navy it's own avia-
ton arm. These agreements over
came much of the opposition from
Navy hackers.
Holman DenOunceS Bill.
But though the bill was intro
duced by Chairman Hoffman of the
House Expenditures Committee and
was rewritten and approved by that
group, Mr.. Hoffman himself de-
nounced it as embodying "possibiii-
ties of a dictatorship by the mill
tary."
Mr.. Hoffman told newsmen the
bill in effect doesn't accomplish
unif1cation of the armed services.
1T merely puts a new man at the
head of the table, but those around
the table are the same" he COM
mented.
He protested that naval officials
who supported the bill during COM
mittee hearings did not express
their personal views, but were pre-
vented by executive gag from free
ly expressing their objections to the
BILL"
Major Differences Listed.
Major difference between the Sen
ate and House bills is a clause in
the House measure to prevent the
Office of Central Intelligence from
exercising police, subpoena and law
enforcement powers or assuming Sc
curity functions. -
The House version also says there
shall be no decrease in the size of
the Marine Corps, point not COW
cred by the Senate.
The bills differ, too, in their deSig-
nation of the new head of the
armed forces. The Senate would
call him Secretary of National Sc
curity.,t the House committee prefers
Secretary of Defense. 81
Regardless of his title, the Secre-
tary would take the place in the
Presidents cabinet of the Secretary
of War and the Secretary of the
Navy. While those two departments
would continue to be headed by a
Secretary, as would a new Depart
ment of Air, they would not have
cabinet rank.
Other Provisions of Bill
Both measures would:
/. Establish an overall Security
Council to keep the President posted
on military matters. It would con-
sist of the President, the Secretary
of State, the new Secretary and his
three subordinates, the chairman of
the National Resources Board, and
the chairman of the House and Sen
ate appropriations and Foreign
Committees.
2. Put the Office of Central INTEL
ligence under this council. The
House committee, reversing a pre-
vious recommendation of sub
committee that the director should
be a civilian rather than military
man, agreed with the Senate to leave
the choice to the Presidents discre-
ton.
3. Create a National Security Re-
sources Board to supervise procure
ment of war material and to deter
mine policies on industrial and civil
ian nobiliZat ton.