Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-08-09


next war or wars. But on a
lower, rougher and more
fascinating plane, it is a fight
among the services over money,
power and prestige.
The Army and Navy want to
take money away from the Air
Force and spend it on limited
war forces. The Air Force is
hanging on to the money and
It accuses the Army and Navy
Of fraud.
How II Shapes Up
Private talks with military
leaders produce this outline of
the Pentagon's about war over
limited war:
Those who believe that big
bombers and missiles have
brought on a nuclear stalemate
argue that there won't be a big
nuclear war. Instead, they con-
tend the Communist world
would hit the West where it is
weakest-on the Middle Eastern
and Asian cold-war fronts
and use small battles, local up
risings and probably conven-
tional weapons.
Therefore, this country
should build up its small-war,
fast moving, conventional
fighting forces.
If there we're plenty Of mon
ey for all kinds Of weapons
the argument could be resolved
on the higher plane. But there
has been a ceiling on defense
spending of a little under SAC
billion for the last three years
The new budget is the same
And Mr.. McElroy said Thurs
day it will be the same again
in the fiscal year ending June,
1861.
So to get something new,
the military have to give up
something old.
Division Of Funds
The old, first priority defense
weapons systems, going back
to the start of the cold war,
are big nuclear war weapons.
The Air Force, with its big
bombers and missiles and
atomic weapons benefits from
this priority. 1t spends As per
cent of the limited defense
money, while the Navy is
squeezed with % per cent and
the Army is starved" with a
more % per cent.
Talk about a "nuclear stale
mate" and the increased posi-
bility of small" wars-talk
which grew into a major pub
lie controversy about four years
ago-squared with some Navy
and Army thinking but also
showed them q Way out of the
budget box.
If priority could be shifted
from big to small wars, then
the Navy and Army could get
some Of the fat Air Force
appropriations, because small
wars are not fought with big
bombers.
Money, and the power and
prestige that go with them,
are a powerful incentive to Ca
reer officers who love their
services and who see their own
careers tied to the fate Of their
services.
Army officers have particular
grounds to worry. Their service
has only a small stake in big
nuclear war plans and it's pros
poets for leaping into space
when that brand Of warfare
becomes dominant in 10 years
or so are dim.
Larger Fund Denied
But limited war, if it can be
sold, is right down the Army
alley.
Navy officers look at it the
same way, except that the Navy
has carved out something of a
big war role with it's PolariS
missiles.
The Army and Navy have
asked for money to build lin
tied war forces. In effect, the
Joint Chiefs Of Staff and the
civilian defense officials have
told them to give up something
they already have if they want
these forces. No more money
will be taken from the Air Force
or from the taxpayers.
The Navy has had to skimp
on ship building, aircraft and
PolariS development in order
to buy the Supercarriers which
are its main weapon for limited
war.
The Army has had to skimp
on everything in order to put
together a limited war force,
STRAC (the Strategic Army
Corps.
The Air Force, seeing the de-
STABILITY of getting in on a
possible limited war trend, has
taken some Of it's tactical air
resources to create a flying