Page:Legislative History of the AAF and USAF.djvu/70

�This Page Declassified lAW EO12958 and tb? Reorgani?a?o? tary Estabhshment into a Department of Defense, and the conversxon of the setvine departments (Army, Navy, and Air) into "m}litary departments" in lieu of executive departments. 3. Clarification of the powers of the Sec- retary of Defense. 4. Creation of a chairman of JCS. 5. A change in the relationship of the Munitions Board and the Research and De- velopment Board to the Secretary of De- fense. 6. The estabhshment of comptrollers m the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the three mihtary departments, and a re- vision of the budgetary and fiscal systems of the departments. s? It should be noted that Lores Johnson, who succeeded Forfestal as Secretary of Defense on 28 March 1949, took substan- bally the same position in support of the proposed amendments to the National Se- curity Act ?s that taken by his predecessor. Johnson, although approving S. 1843 as a whole, urged the restoration of a provision creating three Asmstan? Secretames which had been deleted by the Senate Committee on Armed Services. He also urged that supervision over the functions performed by the JCS be vested in the Secretary of De- fense, and that the duties of the comptroller of the Department oi Defense be made dis- cretionary w?th the Secretary of Defense, thus preserving the principle of clear con- fro1 by top management. ? When S. 1843 went to the Senate, it was amended to authorize the transfer of offi- cers holding permanent commissions from one department to another, and to add Under Secretaries of executive departments to the list of those eligible for membr?hip in the National Security Council. The bill met considerable opposition in the House, and further consideration was postponed until the completion of the hearings on the B-36 bomber program. Finally, the House discarded the Senate b?11 and passed a bill of its own deahng with changes in the Na- tional Military Establishment. This House bill, called the Short b111, was drastically amended by ?he Senate (the amended bill was a reproduction of S 1843) and finally a compromme bill was agreed upon. This measure, called the "National Security Act Amendments of 1949," became law on 10 August 1949. s? This romppomme d?ffered conmderably from the bill framed by the Senate. It set up the basic principles that the military departments should be separately adminis- tered and stated that it was not the intent of Congress to estabhsh a sangle chief of staff over the armed forces, nor to create an armed forces general staff. It also re- duced considerably the broad powers which the Senate bxll would[ have given to the Secretary of Defense; the service secretaries were even permxtted to present to Congress their own recommendations concerning the Department of Defense after informing the Secretary of Defense of their intent. The Deputy Secretary of Defense (now substi- tuted m place of the Under Secretary) was not to take precedence over the secretal?es of the reAlitary departments as in the Sen- ate b?]]; it was simply provided that the Deputy Secretary should have precedence in the Department of Defense second after the Secretary. The Deputy Secretary was to be a member of ?he Armed Forces Po/icy Counml (set up in lieu of the War Counml). The compromise bill also showed the dis- trust of concentration of m?tary power, evidenced by some House members, in that provision whmh desagnated the chairman of the Joint Chmfs of Staff as the "presiding officer" of that group rather than its head. Unlimited re?ppointments cf the chairman oi JCS could be made only in time of wax "declared by Con,ross." The whole JCS, not just the chairman, was to act as chief mili- tary adviser to the President, the Secretary of Defense? and the National Security Coun- cil The revised statute deprived the Secre- tary of Defense of the prerogative of approv- ing the selection by the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the d?rector of the Joint Staff. ?iqtle IV of the amending act, as revised in conference committee, also reflected the reluctance of members of the House to vest broad powers in the Secretary of Defense. In the royiaea version, as enacted into law, the provision permitting the Secretary of Defense, with the approval of the President, THIS PAGE Declasstried lAW EO12958