Evening star., 1948-02-16
Eisenhower's Timely Warning


Chief of Staff of the Army constitutes
timely and SOLDERING appraisal OF Americas
weakened defenses, measured against the
grave hazards which threaten world peace
Unfortunately, as the retiring World war
II leader points out, our democratic sys-
tenn Is such that we cannot hide our weak
nesses from potential aggressors. But we
do not need to aggravate our plght py
senseless and debilitating pickering among
the armed services of the type which
Secretary Forrestal is seeking to eliminate.
There can be little doubt that General
Eisenhower had this inter-service dlssen-
sion in mind when he devoted so much
space in his report to emphasizing tne
urgency of Army Mayfair Force team
work. both strategically and tactlcally.
There will be plenty for each defense arm
to do in the event of another war, he says
and each arm will require the all-out CO.
operation and support Of the others. Ihe
late war showed that all three members
of the team can work most effectively
under a unified command. The next war
will be so fast-moving and so terrible tnat
only the most complete employment ana
coordination of all our military resources
will give any assurance OF survival.
Our three -dimensional" frontier, Gen
eral Eisenhower asserts, calls for a
balanced military establishment IN Whlcn
air. ground and sea forces are so planned
and disposed as to present effective de-
fense against war that may come In
multitude of ways, over many routes, from
risky, he believes, to write OIL any means
or avenue of attack as too improbable or
fantastic to consider. Pearl Harbor proved
how perilous 1t can be to accept such risks.
It could be Just as disastrous, for example
to assume that a future sneak attack
would come only by way OF the Arctlc.
While war still remains possibility, we
must not neglect defenses against attacks
from any direction and by any weapon,
including sabotage.
Grimly the former Chief OF Stan relter-
ates what others have said before. that
no defense as yet has been devised against
an atomic bomb, once 1t has been delivered
to q target area. The task OF the army
NAVY and Air Force. therefore. is to
prevent delivery of such bomb. The
three principal modes of delivery which
are practicable today are by airplane, by
rocket or by submarine. To detect, inter-
cept and destroy such carriers Is Joo
recurring the highest degree OF teamwork
bv our air, sea and land forces, the Eisen-
hover report states. Moreover, the bases
from which the enemy Launched MS
attacks must be sought out and bombed.
In this connection General Eisenhower
foresees carrier based planes playing
vital role-a touchy point with the Air
Force. The Generals comment on this
aspect is of special interest. "Conceivably,"
he says, "some (enemy) bases SO located
and defended as to be immune to effective
assault by air would require an a1r-Sea-
ground assault on large scale. Even IN
our purely aerial offensive against the
enemy we might avoid unacceptable losses
in strategic aircraft only by pushing
carrier-based planes ahead on the bomber
routes to provide fighter cover and diver
sionary strikes at the enemy's air defense
ring" And General Eisenhower stresses
that neither airpower nor the atomic
bomb has eliminated the need for ground
forces to seize, hold and exploit enemy
bases.
The Eisenhower report, in short, makes
it plain that our future security depends
on a three-way integrated defense system,
equipped and trained for defense and
counterattack by air. sea and land, The
foundation of such system is teamwork
of a sort which has no place for jealousies
and misunderstanding among the partic-
ipants If General Eisenhowers report is
heeded-as it should be-there will be
long overdue unity in spirit and fact, as
well as in theory, in the National Military
Establishment.