BRITAIN'S DEFENCE

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 21, 25 January 1924, Page 7

BRITAIN'S DEFENCE

HOW TO CO-ORDINATE IT

ARMY, NAVY, AND AIR FORCE

RESPONSIBILITY AND INITIATIVE.

(OXITtD PRESS i«SOCIAIIO»._COHRl OHl< j (RIOIM'B mEOBAM.) (Received 25th January, noon.) LONDON, 24th January. The report of a sub-committee of the Imperial Defence Committee, dealing with the 'coordination of the Army, Navy, and Aii- Force, dismisses as impracticable proposals for subordinating the Ministerial heads of the three Services to a Minister of Defence or of amalgamating the three Services. It expresses the opinion that the existing system of co-ordination by the Imperial Defence Committee is insufficient to secure full initiative, and responsibility needs strengthening. The report says that the strengthening ,of responsibility can be effected by the Chairman of the Committee, who is the Premier's deputy being invested with the responsibility for initiating a consistent line of policy directing the common action of the three Services, or any two, with the assistance of the three Chiefs of Staff. The report recommends that the responsibilities of the Navy and Air Force in regard to the protection of communications in the narrow seas should be further investigated. It says that the principal need as regards cooperation and correlation is closer coordination, ami the principle that in all ..belligerent operations wherein more than one service is concerned one of the three ; should be selected as a predominant partner to co-ordinate (the others should be examined by the Chiefs of Staffs of the three Staffs.The Committee agreed that while the menace of attack from the air had great-/ ly increased, necessitating a strong! Home Defence Air Force, the country s liability in existing conditions to seaborne invasion had considerably diminished compared with pre-war standards. , . . •