Evening star., 1953-10-18
MHitory New Look?

If one is willing to read between the lines.
and also to accept the risk of miSreadng what
may be there, it is possible to diStill considerable
significance from the talk which Deputy Secre-
tary Of Defense Kyes has made to the Women's
National Press Club.
Mr. Kyes spoke in somewhat cryptic terms
He said that we are in period of transition
and that "the decisions we make in the next
several months may we'll determine our ability
to avoid World War III, as well as our capacity
to endure long period of sufficient military
strength to discourage further aggression on
the part of the Communist world"
He went on to call for better planning, for
the elimination of duplication within coun-
tries including our own"; for reassessment
of strategic planning and logistics in the light
of chronological advances. We must have the
courage, he added, "to discard the outmoded
procedures and weapons which will no longer
serve more than tradition" Then Mr.. Kyes
offered this:
We can no longer afford to prepare for
every conceivable kind Of war. We can no
longer afford the luxury of the status quo
in strategic planning. The day has passed
when we can accept less than the most effec-
tive and efficient logistic supply and organ
ization Such an approach will require many
courageous decisions, but it appears to me to
contain all the elements OF wisdom.
If one were to read between these lines, it
would seem that Mr.. Kyes is advocating an end
to the balanced forces concept-at least to
the extent that this concept contemplates a
whacking up of the defense dollar in way
which conforms to tradition rather than to
current military facts. Mr.. Kyes, to repeat,
did not say this in so many words. But the
implication seems to be there.
This between-the- lines reading draws sup
NOYtf do loSf hIyT aroi
Joseph T. McNarney. General McNarney was
chairman of the Defense Department Manage
ment Committee when he resigned last year.
He is now president of Consolidated Vultee
Aircraft Corporation.
In this capacity, he is not qualified to speak
as g, member of the Eisenhower team" Never
theleSS, his military association with the Pres
ident was close one his own military career
was distinguished one, and his postwar
experience in the Pentagon equips him to
speak with some authority on this difficult
matter of reconciling our defense needs with
our ability to pay.
General McNarney spoke rather bluntly to
his audience in Fort Worth, Texas. The de-
velopment of modern absolute weapons he said,
means that military force is becoming pri-
mariy war-deterrent and only Secondarily
battle force. Adjustment to this fact calls for
some rather heroic changes" And among
these changes is the necessity to break away
from the balanced-force concept to the extent
that this concept calls for division of defense
dollars on lone for you and one for me-"
basis among the Army, Navy and Air Force.
A fair summation OF all this is that our
economy can no longer stand the cost of a
defense program planned along the lines which
served, say, for World War II. If we are to
stay alive both militarily and economically,
our defense dollars must be spent not on a
traditional basis, but in accordance with the
realities of modern war and modern weapons.
Perhaps this is not quite what Mr.. Kyes
and General McNarney said. But what they
did say seems clearly to indicate that this is
the direction in which we are moving.