U.S. MILITARY PLANNING

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27443, 1 September 1954, Page 11

U.S. MILITARY PLANNING

Two Objectives Of Policy

(NJZ. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 10 p.m.) WASHINGTON, Aug. 30. Admiral Arthur, Radford, chairman of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff, said today that United States military ‘planning must be “doublebarrelled” to deal with a possible global war and local political hotspots. He told the American Legion convention: “We must be ready for tremendous counter-offensive blows in the event of global war; and we must be ready for lesser military actions in local hot-spots.” Admiral Radford added that the basic decision to depend primarily on massive retaliation to deter aggression still stood, but it was not a policy which necessarily committed the United States to massive retaliation against all forms of aggression.

“This is far from being the case,” Admiral Radford said. “It is the policy of having persuasive power to help preserve the peace.” He said that the military policy, as enunciated by the Secretary of State in January, was “to* depend primarily upon great capacity to retaliate, instantly, by means and at places of our choosing.’* The key words to the policy were “a great capacity” and also “by means and at places,” Admiral Radford said. They signified that in American defence planning today it was regarded as important to have a capacity to retaliate instantly at the proper place and with whatever military means were best suited to the situation at the time.