The Press SATURDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1959. Mr McElroy Leaves The Pentagon

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29070, 5 December 1959, Page 12

The Press SATURDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1959. Mr McElroy Leaves The Pentagon

The post of Defence Secretary in the United States Government has never been a sinecure. Today it probably carries heavier and more exacting responsibilities than ever before. Mr Thomas S. Gates takes office after long experience in the Pentagon and close association with his predecessor, Mr Neil McElroy. Mr McElroy has been subjected to continuous criticism during his term. Only rarely has the nation’s security been so closely and pertinaciously scrutinised by press and public. Fear of the “ missile gap ” preoccupies many Americans; and Mr McElroy’s departing assurance of new defence measures is unlikely to abate their alarm. The known facts of Russian military preparedness are far from comforting to Americans conscious of their own vulnerability. Inter-service rivalries, political pressures, uncertainties of leadership, and unprecedented commitments overseas have all aggravated American uneasiness. The Republican Administration’s defence policy has been

attacked most forcefully by an influential section of the Democratic Party, which would like to spend about 7000 million dollars more on defence annually for the next four or five years. The advisory council of the Democratic National Committee stated in a recent pamphlet that, 1 if America’s strategic nuclear 1 strength was not increased, ; Russia might be able, by striking first, to destroy America’s re- 1 taliatory power, and that the i Russians might consider the risk < worth taking. The Democrats < claim that the measures they 1 advocate could comfortably be i paid for out of the expected in- i crease in the gross national pro- i duct. But the critics of defence i policy have not all been poli- 1 ticians or armchair strategists. - American generals and admirals < do not conform So readily as 1 their British counterparts to a ; rule of public silence. Their 1 outspoken disagreements help 1 to make the Defence Secretary’s 1 office more uncomfortable, and 1 to justify popular disquiet The i supposedly vital programme of < missiles development has been j

’ dogged by dissension among the ; service chiefs. Russian technological achievements, particu- ; larly in space research, have ; often contrasted depressingly with American discouragements. One reason why pessimism may be misplaced is that, while America’s failures are customarily acknowledged, Russia’s rarely are. Americans’ concern for their own security implies recognition of the importance of preparedness to resist aggression, not only against the United States itself, but upon any of the nations whose freedom America guarantees. Unfortunately a reappraisal of American strategy became urgent when the Pentagon’s own stability was being impaired by changes of leadership. Death, illness, resignations, and retirement have created serious problems. For most of this year it was known that Mr McElroy wished to resume his business interests. The death in April of Mr Donald A. Quarles, Deputy Secretary of Defence, removed Mr McElroy’s logical successor. Mr Quarles, a master of detail, had become almost indispen-

sable to the two Secretaries under whom he had served. General Twining, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was ill with lung cancer for some months; General Taylor, Army Chief of Staff, announced his own retirement; Mr Gates resigned as Secretary of the Navy. There was a good deal of reorganisation within the Pentagon, with additional delays and difficulties. Mr McElroy produced an amended master plan for air defence; and controversy about the future value of manned bombers flared up once more. The defence programme is still being radically revised, with unsettling effects on American industry as well as on the forces themselves. There have been arguments over alleged munitions rackets, military reserve forces, foreign bases, and N.A.T.O. support. From official involvement in these troubles Mr McElroy has retired, leaving to Mr Gates one of the hardest jobs in all America.