Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-01-06

Joint Chiefs except the Chair
imam Is the senior officer o. Olie
lof the military services. its
status and morale can never
be far from his mind. With
1 the best win IN the world he
often becomes an advocate Of
la service point Of view rather
than an overall planner:
| 3. The Secretary OF Defense
Is so burdened with the mega
tive tasks Of trying to arbitrate
and control interservice dis
putes that he cannot play his
/ full part In the initiation and
development Of high military
policy.
Changes Recommended
The following changes are
recommended:
ca The military services
should be removed from the
channel Of operational COM
mand. Freed from their respon-
sibilities for strategic planning
and combat operations. the
service chiefs and their civilian
superiors could concentrate on
tasks Of management and
logistics.
10 All Of the operational
military forces should be or
ganlsed into unified commands
70 perform the missions which
are called for by our strategic
requirements. Each unified
command would be q combined
force with It's own mission and
trained to carry out q distinc-
tive task.
tc) The Chairman Of the
Joint Chiefs OF Staff should be
DESIGNATED Principal Military
Advisor 70 the Secretary a. De-
tense and the President. The
chiefs Of the several services
would continue to serve on the
Joint Chiefs Of Stan but only
as advisors to the chairman and
with particular responsibility
for the areas Of logistics, train
ing and procurement.
Id The staff Of the Joint
Chief Of Staff should be or
gauized on a unified basis and
placed under the control Of the
chairman. A unified staff under
the direct control Of the chair
man would remove many Of the
service pressures on the mem
bers OF the stan. The stan
would assist the chairman in
his capacity as principal mill
tary advisor to the President
and the Secretary Of Defense in
strategic and operational PLAN
ming.
(e) All officers above the
rank of brigadier general or
equivalent should receive their
permanent promotions from
the Department OF Defense and
would become officers of the
Armed Forces Of the United
States. q
The procedure recommended
here would retain the speciliza-
ton necessary to command
specific units and the morale
which goes with membership
in a service. At the higher
levels. however. where the re-
quirement Is for an overall
view. the primary loyalty Of all
high-ranking officers woulu
Transcend service boundaries.
Since entry into this group
would be the goal Of most II
not all officers throughout their
careers. juniors officers would
know that their future would
depend on their ability to take
a broad view. rather than on
the ability to defend the point
OF view OF their service )n
lnterdepartmental committees
~ The line of operational
command should be from the
President and the Secretary Of
Defense to the functional COM
manders through the Chair
I man Of the Joint Chiefs Of
Staff in his capacity as prin-
cipal military advisor.
tg) The line Of logistic COM
mand should be from the Presi-
dent through the Secretary OF
Defense to the secretaries Of
the three military depart
ments.
th) The Secretary Of De-
Tense should be given direct
authority over all research.
development and procurement.
He should have the right Of
cancellation and transfer Of
service programs together with
their appropriations. He should
also be given a direct appro-
priation for the conduct Of
research and development pro-
grams at the Defense Depart
ment level.
IVl. Alliances and
The limited Nations