FORCES: Fat or Muscle?

Defense Secretary Louis Johnson’s big budget-pruning shears were clipping the U.S. Navy where it hurt—in the wings. Aiming at a cut of nearly $1 billion in the current budgets of the three armed services, Johnson had ordered the Navy to lop off $353 million as its share and let the admirals decide where to do the trimming. Last week the Navy was obediently dismantling 21% of its air arm to meet the new ceiling. Twenty-eight Navy and seven Marine combat squadrons were being withdrawn from service; operations were being reduced at six air bases.

If it had been given time to do a gradual job, there was not much doubt that the Navy could have melted away $353 million in fat without nicking the muscle. But by demanding the cutback immediately, Johnson had forced the Navy to chop away at the only big target in sight. As a result, Louis Johnson’s big plans for economy were beginning to look more like a blueprint for disarmament. Wrote Columnists Joseph and Stewart Alsop last week: “Wartime control of the Mediterranean has probably now been cast away . . . The security of the United States and the safety of the free world are being daily impaired; yet smart talk of economy is all the explanation we get.”