Reducing Army Empires

When the brisk new Defense Secretary took over his outer-ring Pentagon office last year, he soon decided that the service most in need of reform was the U.S. Army. Robert McNamara was especially exasperated by the Army's seven technical services (ordnance, quartermaster, engineers, signal, chemical, medical and transportation), which over the decades had grown into tight little empires with their own budgets, overlapping research programs--and, all too often, conflicting aims. Last week, firmly prodded by McNamara, the Army proposed a plan that could streamline the tech services and thereby modernize the basic structure of the entire Army.

The proposal would create a Materiel Development and Logistic Command, bossed by a four-star general, which would centralize all the procurement, logistics, and research and development programs now operated by each tech service. A new Office of Personnel Operations would take over the assignment and career planning of nearly all officers and enlisted men, functions that the tech services now claim separately for themselves. A Combat Developments Command would be established to develop the doctrines for a versatile modern Army able to fight jungle actions against guerrillas or nuclear battles on fields covering hundreds of miles. After the reform, the Army would resemble the Air Force in its organizational structure.

Predictably, some of the current tech service chiefs are unhappy about the threat to their fiefdoms. But the initial reaction of Congress was favorable to the scheme, which also has the wholehearted blessing of Commander in Chief John Kennedy. Under terms of the Defense Reorganization Act of 1958, the proposal will go into effect automatically if it is not disapproved by the Armed Services Committees of the House and the Senate within 30 days. Even if one or both of the committees do reject the plan, it will still become effective if the House and Senate do not second the veto within 40 days.

The revision of the tech services is only the beginning of the reforms Defense Secretary McNamara has planned for the Army. McNamara was shocked to find the Army's reserves in poor shape when recalled to active duty last year as part of the Berlin buildup. He is now working on a plan to create a few combat-ready, top-priority reserve divisions and units that would be kept fully manned, fully trained and fully equipped. To accomplish this, McNamara is more than willing to let the remaining reserves lapse into a lesser state of readiness.

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