Evening star., 1950-01-03
Truman Commended
On Burke Promotion
To Rear Admiral
Action Started Wave of
Good Feeling Throughout
All the Armed Services

Sooo Teetih9 Infou9noul
All the Armed Services
By David Laurence
President Truman is to be heart
lily commended for the breadth o1
view which caused him to brush
aside petty criticism of Captain
Arleigh Burke, war hero of the
Pacific, and let him receive his
rluch-deserved promotion to real
admiral.
Mr.. Truman by his action
started a wave of good feeling
throughout all the armed serv-
ices, for, whether an officer is In
the Army or the Air Force or the
Navy. he realized that pull" at the
top could be disruptive of morale
If allowed to direct the course OF
promotions and advancement.
The exact circumstances under
which the recommendations of the
Navy selection board, which orig
inally included the name of Capt
Burke, were tampered with before
they were sent to the President
may never be known. The point is
academic now. What is important
Is that the effort to punish Capt
Burke for alleged participation In
the preparation of the Navy's testi.
mony before a congressional COM
mittee has failed and that Mr.
Truman, by his vision and under
standing, has spared the Nation a
serious squabble In Congress.
Wrongly Accused.
It is a sad commentary on the
widespread Misrepresentation
which has emanated from Wash.
ington in recent months that some
press dispatches actually accused
Capt. Burke Of being against unfit
cation and as having participated
In some kind of revolt against au-
thority because he did what he
was ordered to do by his superior
officer, the Chief Of Naval Opera
tions.
The facts about what Operation
23" really did in collating data TO,
presentation by naval officers will
come out in due time, and 1t will
be revealed that what "Op. 23'
did is still being done-and prop
erly so-in both the Air Force and
the Army.
The real trouble is that many
people,. inside and outside of
Washington, have not read the
unification law passed last sum-
mer and they mistakenly label
every honest difference of opinion
on questions Of strategy or the
value Of weapons or even on the
size of appropriations as an at
titude against uniflcation. The
law is worth reading, for it speci-
f1cally warns against merging the
services or trying to weaken them
under the guise of changing their
functions by transfers or rear
rangement of units.
The law provides for the "au-
thoritative coordination" of the
three armed services and so,
their integration into an efficient
team of land, naval and air forces
but not to establish a single chief
of staff over the armed forces nor
an armed forces general staff" /"
and it also explicitly orders the
Secretary of Defense mot to
merge" the three armed services.
The law also specifically de-
clares that the ,combatant func-
tions assigned by previous laws
to the military services shall not
be transferred, reassigned, abol-
ished or consolidated"
Fund Use Provision.
The law furthermore says: "The
Secretary of Defense shall not
direct the use and expenditure
of the funds of the Department of
Defense In such q manner as to
effect the results prohibited" by
certain numbered paragraphs pro-
hibiting transfer, reassignment,
abolition or consolidation.
Finally the law says:
"No provision of this act shall
be 50 construed as to prevent a
secretary of military department
or q member of the Joint Chiefs
Of Staff from presenting to the
Congress. on his own initiative
after first 80 informing the Sec
retary Of Defense, any recommen-
dation relating to the Depart
ment Of Defense that he may deem
proper"
The Chief of Naval Operations,
Admiral Denfeld, ordered the
bureau, known as Operation 23'
to prepare the necessary data and
information for Congress on the
progress of the law. But the
admiral was removed for pre-
senting his viewpoint to Congress
and Capt. Burke, who had been
assigned to duty in the bureau
by his superiors, was singled out
for punishment by the Pentagon
oligarchy who are perhaps the
true "rebels" against the uni
fication law. He has been saved
only by the timely intervention
Of President Truman.
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