The Daily Alaska empire. [volume] (Juneau, Alaska) 1926-1964, 1951-02-16

made by armed forces personnel
until clearance has been obtained
Copies of future speeches, state
ments, or press releases concerning
foreign or military policy must be
submitted to this headquarters
(Pentagon) for proper clearance.
"All personnel, particularly those
overseas, will refrain from making
public statements or communicate
ing with news media on military or
foreign policy without prior clear
ance with this headquarters. The
purpose is not to curtail the flow
of information to the American
people but to insure that the in
formation is accurate and in accord
with the policies of the United
States Government"
Such instructions have not been
unusual in recent years, but that
last sentence is political nonsense.
The head of the Air Force or the
Navy is accurate when he respons-
IDLY testifies before a Congress
Sional Committee. Why should one
assume that General Hoyt Vanden-
berg or Admiral Forrest Sherman,
so testifying under oath, is less
responsible and accurate than Cen
erals George Marshall, Dwight
Eisenhower or Omar Bradley? Does
the infantry have a monopoly of
the truth? There was a time when
all military men sang together as
perfectly as a Fred Warning glee
club, but apparently those days are
gone.
1t has come to me, in an in
direct manner, perhaps irresponS-
IDLY, that the following instructions
we're added to those of December
IL:
Officers may, upon their own
responsibility and at their own dis
erection, make remarks concerning
unclassified matters of foreign or
military policies to selected groups
for background purposes only and
not for publication, without obtain
ing prior clearance, provided that
their remarks are confined to the
bounds or policies which have been
publicly announced by the White
House, State or Defense Depart
ments."
In other words, what is permits
sible is that which has been politi-
cally cleared. While Congress gropes
for the facts SO that it inlay pass
the legislation required to defend
this country, high-ranking officers
OF our armed services have been
gagged, by orders, requiring them
to watch their politics.
Until these orders are withdrawn,
these men may not speak truth
fully if the truth contradicts policy.
They are soldiers and are required
by their profession to obey their
superiors in a chain of command
reaching upward to the President,
who, while a politician, is COM
mander-in-chief.
Therefore, the Congress may
never have the whole truth in open
hearings. That does not mean that
human nature, being what it is,
does not in some manner, if only
by rumor, assert itself.
For instance, no matter how great
an effort was made in Washington
to lower General Macarthur
prestige by calling the evacuation
of Hungnam a Dunkirk, it never
was that. Although General Mac
Arthur has been criticized by
American and British politicians
for being too precise about the size
of the Soviet Chinese army, it is
true that General Lin Piao had
an army of 100000 men, even if
knowledge of that fact did embar-
rass the appeasers in the United
Nations. Such facts do get out.
A student might even make a
comparison between the Anzio cam
paign in World War II and the
Korean campaign, and the in
fantrymen would oe very embar-
raised.
But rumor and gossip do no;
serve as an honestly conducted
congressional investigation can. The
question then is: Shall we have
a full hearing or another Pearl
Harbor investigation, or worse still,
Tydings Committee?