Evening star., 1953-08-16

Air Defense Apathy
Is Thick Enough to
Cut With q Knife
By WilIiom Hines

bomb appears to have done nothing
to change the United States Govern
ment'S attitude toward the problem
of defending the Nation from aerial
attack. This Is just another way Of
saying that in the administration
and in Congress, the apathy is SO
thick you could cut it with a knife.
There have been a few f1urries Of
excitement, to be sure. For instance.
Senator Wiley of Wisconsin early got
into the act with the startling and
entirely inaccurate statement that
an H-bomb dropped in Chicago
would destroy Milwaukee, 80 miles
away. ct would hardly jar the foam
on a glass of Milwaukee beer.) But
in general, no one seemed to be giv-
ing the matter a second thought.
1t would seem, in case of this
nature, that unless we knew positive
ly that the Malenkov statement was
a lie-Which we don't-the prudent
thing to do would be to start think
ing about countermeasures. This
would not necessarily entail pushing
the panic button, hoiSting the flap
flag and running screaming for
cover. But it would entail some
sober consultations on what to do
about a new and potentially devas-
tating development. From persons
in a position to know in the Penta-
gon, it is learned that no such con-
SultationS have taken place in the
last week.
Is Billion Reasons
Why the apathy over air defense
an apathy so deep that it parallels
the widespread attitude toward civil
defense, as described by Richard
Fryklund in an accompanying
article?
There are about Is billion reasons
for the apathy-and each reason is
crisp, green dollar bill.
At the present time, the air warm
ing and interceptor net across the
the northern end of our hemisphere
is hardly worthy of more than Rus
sian contempt.
Even with the very best of good
luck, the air defense of the United
States might knock out 10 per cent
of an attacking force. This would
leave 80 per cent to do their deadly
work.
Beefed up. this type Of air defense
conceivably could become 80 per cent
efficient. According to the best in
formed men, it could not go much
higher than this. And 30 per cent
is hardly enough to make the cyni-
cal men in the Kremlin turn hair.
1t would cost several billions over
period of three or four years to
achieve this 80 per cent. Though
few politicians would say so in so
many words, many feel the results
would not be worth the cost.
A New Concept s..
But new concept of air defense
has been developed by scientists of
the so-called Lincoln project With
new techniqueS and new material,
the scientists believe, an air screen
could be raised that would make
defense against nuclear weapons at
least 70 per cent effective, and pos
sibly more. Some estimates put the
effectiveness as high as 95 per cent.
To achieve such rates of kill, the
project Lincoln network would in
clude new types of radar and sonar,
fixed, airborne and seaborne elec-
tronic brains; improved communi-
cations facilities, and guided missiles
of fantastically efficient types.
This is where the 16 billion rea-
ir0
that such an air screen would cost
that many dollars.
The Lincoln project was a Tru-
man administration creation. The
Eisenhower administrations answer
to it was the Kelly project, group
headed by M. j. Kelly. president Of
the Bell Telephone Laboratories.
The Kelly group was appointed by
the outgoing Secretary Of Defense,
Robert A. Lovett, last December. in
line with the incoming administra-
tion's desire for a review of national
security objectives.
The Kelly group reported to Sec
retary Of Defense Wilson last May.
In a non-secret synopsis of the re-
port, DR.. Kelly said:
"The committee expressed concern
about the recent public advocacy Of
a program which would purportedly
give nearly perfect protection
against air attack. The committee
held that, so far as can now be
foreseen, any such level of protec-
ton is unattainable and in any case
completely impractical, economically
and technically. in the face of ex-
pected advances in potentially hos
tile offensive capabilities. In the
light of stern facts, the committee
emphasized that there can be no
safety in the atomic age short Of
the elimination of war"
Since then, Project Lincoln seems
to have been locked in the safe
reserved for dead-but still secret
issues.
Public in q Fog
There has been little public
clamor for tighter air defense be-
cause there has been little knowl-
edgeable public discussion of the
subject. Project Lincoln, in its
heyday, was so secret that Penta-
gon conferees on the subject were
not even allowed to make notes at
conferences. The estimated cost,
$16 billion. is high enough to make
citizens pause.
Obviously. $16 billion cannot be
spent by an administration pledged
to balanced budget and lowered
taxes unless compensating cuts are
made elsewhere in Federal spend
ing. And even the severest prun-
ing next year is likely to make
balanced budget only a possibility,
not certainty. The order Of the
day - don't rock the boat" - ap-
pears to apply with special strin-
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