European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 27, 1967, Darmstadt, Hesse _ t _ defense department defense Secretary Mcnamara with Gen. Earle Wheeler right chairman of joint chiefs and Gen. John p. Mcconnell air Force chief of staff. Fli Calien in flip tajik by Donald h. May up staff writer each monday wednesday and Fri Day afternoon the joint chiefs of staff file into a Gold carpeted Pentagon conference room known As the sheer weight of brass it is an impressive Assembly the uniformed chiefs of staff of the army and air Force the chief of naval operations the commandant of the Marine corps and the chief preoccupation currently is Vietnam and human nature being whatsit a they sometimes disagree among themselves and with their civilian Boss defense Secretary Robert s. Mcnamara. Such a Battle recently has been played out in Public Over the bombing of North such fight took place Over Nti ballistic Are these military men who joust with their civilian superiors what i their role in . Policy making is k always Mcnamara versus the chiefs to begin with the chiefs Are a bundle of paradoxes they have great responsibilities in the. Vietnam War but limited Are the top uniformed officers at military forces totalling 3 million except for an office organization of about 800, they command no Are the principal military and tigers to the Secretary of defense Andreport to him. But they also advise the National Security Council and the presi Dent. They have direct Access to the president without going through my Kamara. The present chiefs Are chairman Gen. Earle g. Wheeler 59, tall commanding a West Point graduate in 1932 who Rose to become army chief of staff in 1962. Gen. Harold k. Johnson 55, present army chief of staff a prisoner of the japanese in world War ii one of the survivors of the Bataan death March commander of the 5th and 8th regts of the 1st Cav div in the korean War. Friday october 27, t967 adm. Thomas h. Moorer 55, chief of naval operations a naval Academy football player much decorated naval aviator in world War ii and recently commander of the . At lactic Fleet and nato supreme Al lied commander Atlantic. Gen. John p. Mcconnell air Force chief of staff 59, a fighter Pilot by training. He recently test flew the fill originally known As the tfx. Gen. Wallace m. Greene 59, Marine corps commandant Stocky i g a Peppery who says with ferocious paternalism that nothing is too goo for my do. Moorer appointed last june is the Only one who was not a member of the joint chiefs in March 1965, when they recommended what Gen. Mcconnell later called a Sharp sudden blow against North Vietnam s transport Andwar capacity through bombing. Civilian leaders of the administration were convinced that this would run High risk of bringing communist China an maybe Russia into the War. They recommended and the president approved gradually increasing bombing Campaign designed to minimize this there since has been a Large measure of agreement Between Mcna Mara and the chiefs on most of the bombing there also has been constant dispute in other areas the chiefs urging new targets be added it has been hard to Tell who won. On aug. 25, Mcnamara Gav Congress a list of reasons against bomb ing port facilities at Haiphong which the chiefs favored. Since then . Planes have heavily bombed the Inland fringes of the port City including Bridges and rail Yards. But the bombing did not go far enough to shoulder soviet and chinese ships out of the Harbor As the chiefs had urged. As a result of gradual addition of new targets the split Between Mcnamara Gen. Johnson army chief of staff. A Gen. Greene Marine corps commandant. Up and the chiefs is probably less thanin the beginning. But the targets were not added when the chiefs resulting policy has been More me Namara s than chiefs also urged deployment of an anti ballistic missile system to protect american cities against soviet at tack. Mcnamara contended it would never be effective. This year however he did approve a $5 billion abm system for defense against limited communist chinese nuclear attack in the 1970s.Mcnamara and the chiefs actually seem to get along better than the pres would seem to indicate. Between formal meetings they Are in constant Contact the stars and stripes on hundreds of military problems. Mcnamara has a close working relation ship particularly with Gen. Wheeler. When the Secretary recently decide to try out a Barrier of barbed wire and electronic listening devices along the order Between North and South Viet Nam Wheeler was reasonably optimistic Over the idea. Several of the other chiefs were highly sceptical. The chiefs frequently disagree with each other and there have been some table thumping sessions in the Pentagon tank despite every Effort to simplify continued in Paje 14 Page 11
