Evening star., 1960-02-04
ALERT
Taylor Sees Heroic Effort
Needed to Check Reds
Continued From First Page

StH. 1dylOI ICSOuA4llClidCN
that the policy of massive re-
taliation" be replaced by a
policy of flexible response"
He asked for more concentra-
ton on building of a small,
mobile and secure missile force
and a fully modernized army"
He urged an overhaul of the
country's strategy-making ma
chinery and recommended an
airborne alert for part Of the
Strategic Air Command and
the use of the Army-built Ju-
piter intermediate-range bal
listic missile as a mobile field
weapon.
Can't Afford to Gamble
"I hope he is wrong" Senate
Majority Leader johnson, the
committee ch airman, COM
mented on Gen. Taylor's gloomy
forecast. But We cannot af-
ford to gamble"
The Senators seemed most
interested in Gen. Taylor's rec
concentrations for reorganiZa-
tion of the Pentagon and the
National Security Council. Gen.
Taylor recommended the eStab-
liShment of a group of military
wise men" to advise the Secre-
tary of Defense on non-combat
functions of the armed services
and ceration of a single Chief
of Staff to advise the Secretary
or strictly military decisions.
Gen. White, meanwhile, en-
phaSiZed that Gen. Powers in
his speech and testimony of the
past few days calling for an
airborne alert, had been speak
ing of situation in which the
Soviet Union might have a
hypothetical number of missiles.
Il wish to emphasize that
he was speaking of a purely
hypothetical case" Gen. White
said.
Speech Properly Cleared
Gen. White speculated that
II Gen. Power had foreseen the
stir his speech would cause, he
probably would not have made
it. However. he said the speech
was properly cleared for accu-
racy, policy and security as re-
quired by Defense Department
regulations.
Gen. White distinguished be-
tween actual initiation of an
airborne alert and the So-called
'on-the-shelf' capability to do
So" He said that there is no
indicated need to order an air
borne alert at this time.
AS far as on-the-shelf alert
capability is concerned. two I
elements are needed. Trained
crews and an adequate supply
of spare parts and extra en-
gines, he added.
ITO attain this capability, 1t
is necessary now to make GER
tain arrangements" Gen. White
said. Then. after the required
lead time, we can declare the
olnrf ;F -
I5-Minute Warning :
Gen. White explained that !
even after a ballistic missile
early warning system now under
construction is completed, the
earliest warning of impending
attack that can logically be ex-
pected is about Is minutes. {
This is just about the same
amount of time as it takes to [
get combat-ready B52 off the
runway and into the air.
Without the BMEWS early :
warning time, Gen. White said,
1.-The theory is that anything
on the ground is not likely to i.
get off, but those in the air will !,
be relatively invulnerable."
While admitting that he did 5
not get all the money he /
thought should be given to the ;
airborne alert buildup, Gen. s
White made it clear that his s
view of its necessity was not as {
extreme as that of Gen. Power.
He explained that it is the
Job of the SAC commander to
view the demands of his single
but exceedingly important COM
mand" in terms of black and
white.
Viewed in Different" Light
BY contrast, Gen. White said,
he as chief of staff sees the
problem in a somewhat differ
ent light according to the needs
of the whole Air Force. On
higher level, as a member of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen.
White went on, he looks at it
in a still different way in the
context of the Nations total
defense establishment.
Pentagon sources said Gen.
White made it clear yesterday I
in secret testimony before the >
combined Senate Preparedness 1
and Space Committees that
broad consideration of Air ,
Force needs and budget prob ,,
lens led him to support the ;
administrations request for a ,
small, standby air alert ca I
pability instead of the large. ,
actual alert urged by Gen.
Power. /
Budget Caused Cutback
In September the Air Force
was given its fiscal 1861 budget
guidelineS by the Secretary of
Defense, recommending an
$18.5 billion spending limit. ,
Just to continue existing pro-
grams would have cost more ,,
than $40 billion, the Air Force
calculated, so it started cut ,,
ting.
With his budget down to ,
about S18.7 billion in Novem- :,
ber, Gen. White went to then
Secretary of Defense McElroy