Evening star., 1947-01-30
Conflict by Congress ]
Committees Is LikeIy
Duplicated Efforts or Rivalry
Seen Under REORGANIZATION
By David Laurence


By Dauid Lawrence
Congress hasn't quite cleared I'D In
its own mind just what the various
committees are to do. The stream
lining Reorganization Act achieved q
good many reforms, but theory and ac-
tual working conditions are likely to
conflict and only experience and evolu-
ton will furnish the right answer.
Thus, in the House of Representa-
tives, the Foreign Affairs Committee
has just voted to make study of State
Department matters and so has the
Committee on Expenditures in Govern
mental Agencies.
On the surface it would appear that
this Is a duplication of effort or perhaps
q rivalry of interest between the two
committees. Also the House Armed
Services Committee now is asking the
Secretary Of State to testify as to the
nature Of foreign policies so that COM
mitments can be examined in relation to
the military side and appropriations
needed.
Strictly speaking, the same reasoning
that led to the merging of the Com
mittees on Military Affairs and Naval
Affairs in both houses would seem to
argue in favor of consolidation of the
Foreign Affairs Committee and the
Armed Services Committee
Argument Is Logical.
1t could be argued quite logically that
these subjects belong together and that
one Is dependent on the other For,
after all, armies and navies and air
forces are not needed to preserve DOM
estic tranquility and have their uses
only in foreign affairs when wars are
threatened or break out.
So far as the House or Senate Foreign
Affairs Committee is concerned, these
units have no business except to help
shape national policy in relation to
other nations. What is done there has
a bearing on the size of the armed
services and the nature of the defense
program that is to be established, but
it is not up to the Senate or House COM
mittees to formulate defense plan.
Congress made serious mistake when
it merged the Army and Navy Com
mittees because each branch of the
armed services is important enough to
have its own affairs watched by COM
mittee of each house. But now that the
Armed Services Committee has been set
up, it is natural that the cry for merger
in nj ch ho foE
Actually the House Committee on For
eign Affairs has duty to survey State
Department policies and personnel and
to give its judgment to the Appropria-
tions Committee. AS for the Committee
on Expenditures. it has right to inquire
into methods of spending and handling
Of purchases, rentals of property and
management of personnel matters
abroad and auditing of accounts, but
not to examine the broad policies of the
Secretary of State or his assistants In
what Is known as international relations
or foreign policy.
Thin Reed for Defense.
As for the House and Senate Armed
Services Committees, they may inquire
concerning the nature of foreign policy
and commitments but this Is thin reed
on which to base defense plan. What
is said by the present Secretary of State
may or may not be pertinent in year
or so. The only way the armed services
should function Is to assume every
hypothesis of war that is plausible and
to develop defense plans accordingly.
1t would be tragic, indeed, If the
Armed Services Committees after hear
ing Secretary Marshall in executive ses-
sion, were to launch program Of ex-
pansion or reduction of the defense
establishment. Undue significance in
ternationally would be attached to such
session.
Conversely, the Armed Services Com
mittees would be better of If they foi
mulated defense plan on the broad
assumption that the United States, as
member of the U. NJ, must be prepared,
for instance, to fight war against
Russia irrespective of what soothing
words may come from Moscow or any
| other capital of the world. 1t is the
business of military men to draw up
hypothetical plans all the time and to
prepare for any serious contingency.
With totalitarian government in power
in Moscow, the peace of the world will be
continuously unstable and the words OF
no foreign Secretary of State should
be taken in place of the advice of mill
tary and naval and aerial experts as to
what the United States needs to ward
of attack, especially in this atomic age.
The United States has been caught
mapping before by ignoring this sort OF
thing. Whenever anybody in Congress
or in the armed services mentioned the
need for fortifying Guam, for example,
prior to 1941, there was hue and cry
about disturbing relations with Japan.
II the Armed Services Committees are
going to get tangled up in diplomacy
once more, instead of sticking to strictly
military preparations, the defense OF
the United States may suffer accordingly
and the United States may be caught
with another Pearl Harbor attack some
day.
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