Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-03-23
DLEMMAS OF THE NEW AGE
Space Control Problems Are Closing In
Military VS.. Civilian Direction
Is Debated in Woshinqton

claims. will soon "far outstrip"
military needs. Often advanced
rockets will differ radically from
military designs" he predicted.
DR.. Wernher Won Braun has
echoed DR.. Berkner's prediction
that pure science will soon OUT
distance military oriented explora-
ton: The Army's missile expert
said: I'VE are literally hog tied be-
cause we cannot proceed without
first satisfying all the small print
specifications required under the
ideolized weapons system con-
cept :"
Vice President Nixon also spoke
up for civilian control Of space
exploration last Wednesday. I'VE
must not be limited by military
needs or military thinking" he
said. "juSt as we are not so limited
in developing nuclear energy"
SenotoF Is Worried
Senator Humphrey of Minnesota
is worried that the Defense De-
partment will present the Nation
with fat Accomplished tech
nology firmly entrenched in the
Pentagon. He is pressing for an
early meeting of Senate Majority
Leader Lyndon Johnson's space
study committee to settle. on a
broad civilian administration set
UP.
President Eisenhower, too, has
expressed an interest in preserv-
ing civilian control over the
purely scientific aspects of space
exploration.
Senator Symington of Missouri,
who often speaks for the mill
tary, has developed an indie
pendent position which may bear
the seeds of compromise between
the military and civilian partisans.
He points out that it is almost
impossible" now to distinguish
between the military and nom
military aspects of space, or to
divorce the military significance
from any civil explorations that
may eventually be developed.
Any space platform or satel-
lite. he believes, will have mill
tary and non-military meaning.
And there is such a thing as
becoming ver-sensitive to the
military-contro goblin, the Sena-
tor contends. If space exploration
is assigned to the Department
of Defense. he asks, would it not
be under civilian control? That
is the way the National Security
Act was written, he points out,
to preserve civilian control over
the military.
Points to Projects
AS for scientists working in a
military rather than an academic
atmosphere, Senator Symington
points to the many campuseS
whose laboratories are contribut-
ing to advanced military projects
now, largely uninhibited. by the
rigid domination of the uniforms"
which DR.. Berkner wishes to avoid.
Given the talent and hardware
now available in the Nation. how
ever, it appears likely that the
military will play a large role in
the actual work Of space explora-
ton.
Civilians, of course, will still
have the last word-outSide or
inside the Pentagon framework.
Civilian scientists influence can
either be injected at the preSiden-
tial level, as with MIT's DR.. James
R. Killian now; at the Secretary
of Defense level; in some thor
oughly civilian atmosphere already
established, like the Atomic En-
ergy Commission, or in a brand
new Federal agency.
The mix" of civilian and mill
tary at the higher levels is for
Congress and the President to
decide. And those indomitable
civilian watch-dogs, Congress and
the Budget Bureau, will always
have their fingers on the purse
strings to halt any trends they
disapprove.