Evening star., 1953-07-20
Services in the Dark
On Inventory Values,
House Unit Charges
By John A. Giles

and supplies.
1t said it appreciated the
Army's "candor in admitting it
had no accurate knowledge of its
inventories" and said the air arm
had established no system of
monetary controls. It called for
'long overdue" corrective action.
The House Military Operations
subcommittee made long series
of recommendations for better
supply management by the
armed services and sharply crit
icized the blind loyalty" Of the
military brass to separate supply
control systems.
THE subcommittee has heard
the promises that before another
year passes. things will be under
control" the report asserted.
Secretaries have come and
gone. New Congresses and con-
gressional committees take up
cudgels in behalf of more eff
cient Government operations.
Costly and Wasteful.
"There is even a new admin
istration which promises to
create a top level organization
with a reassignment of delegated
powers to provide more effective
action. The one constant in this
great amount of activity is the
uniformed forces, each dedicated
to the preservation of its own
systems and procedures.
This devotion to duty and to
the creation of a service esprit
de corps is particularly laudable
in strategic and tactical opera
tions. A blind loyalty to the
separately administered theory
as applied to the business phases
of military operations. however,
can be costly and wasteful."
The group directed Secretary
of Defense Wilson to submit by
October 81 "a comprehensive
program for correcting def1cien-
cies in supply and stock manage
ment practices.
ObsOlescence Cited.
Inventory control in dollars
provides the manager with an
idea of turnover of certain classes
of stocks" the report said. "This
information also should provide
a measure of true consumption
from the depot level to posts,
camps and stations and it may be
used in preparing an accurate
and adequate budget iustif1ca-
ton. Such a system of controls
makes it more possible to reduce
accommodations of inventories
which generate problems of ex-
cess and surplus stock disposal" ."
The subcommittee, headed by
Representative Riehlman, Re-
publican. of New York, also
sharply criticized the Defense
Department for lack of planning
in anticipation of the "impend-
ing declarations of billions of
dollars worth Of surplus stocks. "
The obsolescence factor alone
is bound to generate surpluses
worth billions of dollars within
the next few years, the report
said.
Put Up to PentagOn.
The CONGRESS members said
they were certain the solution
for disposal did not rest in the
creation of an agency such as
the War Assets Administration
and called upon the Pentagon
to present a plan with the pri-
mary interest of recovering the
maximum of the taxpayers
dollar.
Appointment of civilian con-
trollers of the Army, Navy and
Air Force also was demanded to
give more civilian control and
uniformity IN budgeting and &C
counting.
It called attention to the fact
the last Congress passed a law
requiring the Defense Secretary
to issue regulations controlling
procurement. production, ware
housing and distribution
methods. Although Former De-
fense Secretary Robert A. Lovett
did issue a broad directive in
accordance with the law, the
report said, that was about as
far as it went
Only Slight Progress.
1T is the conclusion of the
subcommittee that the good in
tentions expressed by the various
directives have brought
about only a slight degree of
progress" the report stated and
recommended Congress take
further and more effective steps.
The group said one method of
bringing the whole supply ques-
tion under control was the crea-
ton of a fourth service of
supply But it agreed with
Roger NJ. Keyes. Deputy Secre-
tary of Defense, that this would
put the defense chief into an
operating activity and felt such
action would be harmful. The
secretary, the report said. would
remain in overall direction of
the farfung military establish
ment.
The report saw the need for
a "refereeing agency with the
authority to review requirements
and coordinate purchasing" and
stated the members we're dis
turbed" that many in the armed
services want to abandon in
tegrated procurement plans and
programs of any kind and are
pressing to revert to independent
buying.