• U.S.

Defense: Another Step for Efficiency

3 minute read
TIME

The closing of 95 military installations last month was only one step in Defense Secretary Robert McNamara’s plan to streamline and modernize the nation’s armed forces. Last week the efficiency-minded Secretary took another giant step: he put the ax to one of the Army’s most sacred cows, one that is especially beloved by politicians who like to sport stars and eagles on short summer-training tours.

McNamara ordered disbanding of the Army’s Organized Reserve, a collection of 19 divisions and 4,000 smaller units with 300,000 officers and men. Roughly half of the Reserve force will be assimilated into the National Guard, receive new equipment and tougher training. The remainder will be placed in an unassigned stand-by reserve force. McNamara’s reasoning: the training and equipment of the Reserve divisions were so inferior that it would probably have required one year after full mobilization to bring them to combat readiness—far too long for the Pentagon’s war plans. The National Guard will also undergo drastic surgery: 15 of its divisions will be disbanded. But the transfer of the Reserve to the National Guard will increase Guard strength to 550,000 officers and men in eight ready-to-go divisions and 16 brigades. Through the consolidation, McNamara expects to save $150 million per year.

In further measures aimed at tightening the military establishment, McNamara ordered:

> A halt to overseas junketing by members of Congress at military invitation. The latest examples were a tour this month by six Senators and Congressmen to the Pacific, courtesy of the Air Force, and a Navy-sponsored European trip for seven Congressmen. Snapped McNamara: “That will be the last of those trips!” From now on, all such junkets must be okayed personally by the Defense Secretary.

> Transfer of key Government and congressional personnel from mobilization-ready military units to the standby reserve. This avoids the prospect that important officials and members of Congress might be marched off to camp when they would be needed in Washington. The order spells almost certain extinction for Capitol Hill’s famed 999th Air Reserve Squadron, commanded by Major General Barry Goldwater.

> Creation of a central Department of Defense Contract Audit Agency to consolidate the contracting functions of all three services into one office under the DOD comptroller.

> Appointment of a senior military attache in each U.S. embassy abroad to coordinate attache activities and to report intelligence findings directly to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, not to their respective services. Says McNamara, “I guarantee our intelligence will be better.”

McNamara’s decision meant the striking of the colors of many of the most famous and decorated divisions in the National Guard and Army Reserve, probably including the 32nd “Red Arrow” (TIME, Oct. 13, 1961), the 77th “Statue of Liberty,” the 83rd “Thunderbolt” and the 90th “Tough ‘Ombres.” McNamara put a stop to an old Army practice of awarding Reserve commissions to newly elected members of Congress. Said he: “We shall not tolerate traffic in commissions.” More than anything, the decisions signaled a definite increase in the power of the Department of Defense, moving the U.S. military establishment close to the single-service concept.

Predictably, McNamara’s moves brought barks of protest. The Reserve Officers’ Association wired President Johnson, demanding that the plans be delayed until “fuller investigation can be made.” Louisiana Democrat F. Edward Hebert, chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Reserve and National Guard Affairs, threatened to hold public hearings. But the figures were clearly on McNamara’s side. So too was President Johnson, who agrees with his Defense Secretary that efficiency, not political considerations, should dictate defense policy.

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