TRUMAN’S MOVE TO UNIFY CONTROL OF DEFENCE FORCES
(10 a.m.) WASHINGTON, Mar. 6. President Truman yesterday asked Congress to enact legislation to tighten the administration of United States defence.
His request represented another effort to bring about the unification of the three armed services. It is based on a report by ex-President Hoover’s commission of the organisation ot the executive branch of the Government. Congress in July, 1947, tried to bring about greater unification in defence administration by passing the National Security Act, but rivalries among the services have continued to a disturbing degree.
President Truman recommended legislation to accomplish two basic purposes. firstly, to convert the national military establishment into an executive department of the Government, to be known as the Department of Defence; and secondly, to provide the Defence Secretary with greater responsibility, authority and civilian and military assistance to fulfil this enlarged responsibility. The existing arrangement fails to provide for a fully responsible official at the head of the nation’s defences whom the President and Congress can hold accountable. President Truman also recommended the provision of a chairman of the joint chiefs of staff who would take precedence over all other military personnel and be the principal military adviser to the President and the Defence Secretary.
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Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 22888, 7 March 1949, Page 5
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209TRUMAN’S MOVE TO UNIFY CONTROL OF DEFENCE FORCES Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 22888, 7 March 1949, Page 5
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