Evening star., 1950-06-13
Joint Atom Committee
May Urge Expansion
OF Weapon Program
BY John A. Giles

| Uy SUHH ~. StfeS
An expansion of the multi-mil-
lion dollar atomic hydrogen weap-
ons program may be recommend
ed, members of the Congressional
Joint Committee on Atomic En-
ergy indicated today.
The committee held a closed
meeting with members of the
Atomic Energy Commission yes
terday.
Chairman Mcmahon of the Joint
committee has said twice recently
that he thought the Nation ought
to spend more of its defense
money on atomic weapons and
another committee member, who
asked not to be quoted by name,
predicted that the Remember
group would go along with any
request from the Acc. Its back
ing would have a strong influence
on the Appropriations Committees.
Meanwhile, the Defense Depart
ment continued work on its budg-
ct for the fiscal period beginning
July /. 1851. and one high official
said it likely would show little
change from the pattern" of mil
itary spending in the budget for
the year beginning July l, which
still is before Congress.
No Change for Army Reported.
There have been reports that
the balanced collective forces"
planned under the North Atlantic
pact would mean expansion of
Navy and Air Force spending pro-
grams and no change for the
Army. This expansion of the ma
val forces and the Nations stra-
tegic air armada may come about
few years hence when the pact
alliance begins working more
fully, but there will be no imme-
diate change in this direction, the
official said.
Army officials-apparently from
an acute awareness that the fu-
ture may hold smaller and small
er shares of the defense dollar for
that service-recently have begun
to talk guardedly OF new weapons
that would stop Russian tanks
and planes, and of new atomic de-
velopments capable of use against
field armies.
These declarations by Gen.
j. Lawton Collins, Army chief of
staf, and Army Secretary Pace
were carefully hedged but the i'm
pllcations were that the ground
forces were not to be forgotten
on Capitol Hill.
1t was considered significant
that Gen. Collins made his broad
cast with reference to the "poten-
tialities" of atomic artillery and
atomic warheads for guided mis-
siles after Chairman Tydings of
the Senate Armed Services Com
mittee indicated in a off hand
remark at a hearing that Con-
gress must make certain that ade-
quate funds should be provided
for Navy and Air Force weapons
research and development while
the Army was adequately provided
for. IN
High Army OfficiaIs Disturbed.
The Senator's remark disturbed
certain high Army officials.
Mr.. PAGES reference to shaped
charges hollow shaped shell
and other such developments fol-
lowed Immediately.
The Senate committee has be-
gun consideration of the Navy's
ship conversion and construction
authorizations which has been
pushed on Capitol Hill by Admiral
Forrest P. Sherman, Chief of
Naval Operations.
That measure calls for the con-
version of a 13,000-ton cruiser
into a guided missile platform at
a cost of $40 million and the
strengthening of another Essex
class aircraft carrier at $39 mil
lion.
The conversion of the cruiser
into a guided missile platform is
2h-year program, which indicates
that the Navy does not feel that
the development of guided mis-
siles and rockets will have devel-
oped sufficiently before that pc
Eriod to require its use. At present
a converted seaplane tender, the
Norton Sound, is used for such
tests.
A total of So billion is esti-
mated to have been spent to per-
feet the first atomic bomb and
billions more have been spent
since that time.
After the Russian, atomic ex-
plosion last September. Presidenr
Truman approved an accelerated
atomic expansion program costing
5000 million and since then he
has ordered work on the more
powerful hydrogen bomb.
Lawmakers who reported the
new expansion discussion said no
| figure was mentioned.
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