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Mr. SCHOOLEY. I have been in the Washington Government information programs since 1946, Mr. Mitchell.

Mr. MITCHELL. In connection with the Military Establishment? Mr. SCHOOLEY. That is right. Originally in 1946 I came into Washington duty while still in Navy uniform after the war.

Mr. MITCHELL. But you have been in the military information program in some capacity since then?

Mr. SCHOOLEY. That is right.

Mr. MITCHELL. Are you familiar with the procedures used by previous Secretaries of Defense, Mr. Forrestal, Mr. Johnson and, Mr. Lovett?

Mr. SCHOOLEY. Yes, sir. I have been in the Defense information program since Harold Hinton was borrowed by Mr. Forrestal from the New York Times to undertake first studies in the coordination of the information program under the 1947 National Military Establishment Act, or the National Security Act.

Mr. MITCHELL. Could you explain to the subcommittee the method used by these previous Secretaries of Defense for giving the press a firsthand explanation of Defense Department problems and policies? I am thinking of the so-called background conferences. What was the procedure, for example, used by Mr. Forrestal?

Mr. SCHOOLEY. Historically, Mr. Mitchell, Mr. Forrestal, who left the Secretaryship of the Navy to become Secretary of Defense in September of 1947, was a man of conciliation and mediation, and he believed in understanding and good will, so he undertook a number of basic studies on problems as he saw them on the new defense horizon. One of those was public information.

As I mentioned a minute ago, he borrowed from the New York Times, with the approval of Mr. Sulzberger, its publisher, Harold B. Hinton, who was at that time the Times military correspondent, and asked Mr. Hinton to begin pilot studies of how best to set up a Government information operation broad enough to cover the new legislation.

Mr. Hinton began that study and pilot operation in July 1948. The result was the signing and issuance of what has since been known as the Forrestal memorandum of March 17, 1949, which set up a coordinated program with the Secretary of Defense as the responsible head.

Mr. MITCHELL. The memorandum quoted yesterday by Mr. Ross? Mr. SCHOOLEY. That is right, sir.

Since that time, to summarize, all of the successive Secretaries of Defense and their service Secretary counterparts have undertaken to deal with this same problem of coordination and effective operation to the best of their respective abilities as part of their general problems.

Mr. MITCHELL. Specifically, would you explain to the subcommittee how Secretary Forrestal used background conferences to help the press with information problems and difficulties? How often did he meet with the press, where, under what circumstances, and so

forth?

Mr. SCHOOLEY. I will now catch that part of your question. In reply, I would say that Mr. Forrestal held record press conferences on various points, and in addition to that, on occasion he met informally with the press at what you might describe as background din

ners or luncheons, or occasions where he would meet informally with the press and discuss matters at sessions which were other than record

sessions.

Mr. MITCHELL. Did the press at those conferences have an opportunity to point out to him some of the information difficulties? Mr. SCHOOLEY. Undoubtedly they did.

Mr. MITCHELL. These are what you would call off-the-record conferences for background purposes?

Mr. SCHOOLEY. They were what you refer to as background confer

ences.

Mr. MITCHELL. What was the procedure used by Mr. Louis Johnson? Did he succeed Mr. Forrestal?

Mr. SCHOOLEY. Mr. Johnson did succeed Mr. Forrestal. Mr. Johnson's practices, as all practices have differed, did differ from those of his predecessor. As I recall those circumstances, he held two record press conferences in the early days of his administration, and infrequent ones thereafter throughout his 16 or 17 months as Secretary of Defense.

Mr. MITCHELL. He also had these background conferences?

Mr. SCHOOLEY. I do not recall that Mr. Johnson had such background conferences with the press. I do not think that he continued that practice of background conferences.

Mr. MITCHELL. Is there any way that that can be verified?

Mr. SCHOOLEY. Certainly. That can be verified.

Mr. MITCHELL. Are those a matter of record?

Mr. SCHOOLEY. Well, his calendar undoubtedly is a matter of record. That would be the only way, the best way I can think of, to refer to the record.

Mr. MITCHELL. Have you ever attended one of those conferences yourself?

Mr. SCHOOLEY. Not with Mr. Forrestal nor with Mr. Johnson. General Marshall was next.

Mr. MITCHELL. Did he conduct background press conferences? Mr. SCHOOLEY. General Marshall did not.

Mr. MITCHELL. Were you there then?

Mr. SCHOOLEY. Yes, sir.

Mr. MITCHELL. Did he have a deputy who did that?

Mr. SCHOOLEY. Mr. Lovett was his deputy and Mr. Lovett during General Marshall's year as Secretary of Defense did not have a procedure or custom of holding background conferences.

Mr. MITCHELL. Did anybody during that particular time have any background conferences?

Mr. SCHOOLEY. During that time, that was a year of conflict in Korea, that is from September 1950 to September 1951, General Marshall's regime, at that time there was practice of having military briefings daily for the military writers at the Pentagon. That was done not to duplicate in any sense coverage of the conflict in Korea but to provide the military writers with an understanding of the military developments in Korea. That was done by competent military briefing officers representing Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines.

Mr. MITCHELL. Mr. Lovett's procedure?

Mr. SCHOOLEY. That was General Marshall's procedure with Mr. Lovett as his deputy at that time.

Mr. MITCHELL. When Mr. Lovett became Secretary of Defense, what was his procedure?

Mr. SCHOOLEY. Mr. Lovett's procedure was to have regularly scheduled news conferences. He was Secretary for about 16, maybe 17 months, from September 1951, until January 20, 1953.

Mr. MITCHELL. Did he have these background conferences?

Mr. SCHOOLEY. He had record conferences. I do not recall that Mr. Lovett had any background conferences with the press. He met them regularly on the record.

His deputy during that period, Mr. William Foster, had a custom or procedure, of meeting with the press on alternate weeks for background sessions. In other words, during Mr. Lovett's administration we had a two-way custom. Mr. Lovett was on the record on alternate weeks and Mr. Foster, the Deputy, was for background in the alternate weeks.

Mr. MITCHELL. Could you explain to the subcommittee just what went on during these background_conferences? I don't want you to violate security or anything like that.

Mr. SCHOOLEY. There would be no violation. The background conferences were conducted much as the record press conferences were conducted, in the form of exchange between the press and the principal, Mr. Foster, the difference being that Mr. Lovett was identifiable by name and by direct reference to what he had said as the principal; whereas in the Foster sessions, Mr. Foster, except for stated occasions, was not identifiable as the record source of the information that might come from the session.

He believed, and Mr. Lovett agreed with him, that it would be helpful to the press to meet occasionally with a responsible top man in Defense and discuss matters of interest and concern on a background basis.

There were occasions where particular news developments would come up in those conferences where the attribution to Mr. Foster would be authorized and there would be other cases when they would be attributed to Defense officials or high Defense officials, whatever the newsman might elect.

Mr. MITCHELL. As an experienced newspaperman, do you feel that these background conferences of the varous Secretaries of Defense helped to increase the flow of information to the public, to present a better understanding of the policies of the Department of Defense?

Mr. SCHOOLEY. I would certainly say that is one way of adding to the understanding of the correspondents who cover the Department of Defense, and that these Foster conferences, which we have been discussing, did serve a useful and a helpful purpose in adding to the overall total of the flow.

Mr. MITCHELL. Would you say they tended to lessen any confusion that might have existed?

Mr. SCHOOLEY. I would say that all such news conferences, either record or background, tend to add to understanding and to lessen confusion in the coverage of complex executive departments such as the Military Establishment.

Mr. MITCHELL. Mr. Ross, how many background conferences has Mr. Wilson had during his term as Secretary of Defense?

Mr. Ross. I am pleased you asked me that question, Mr. Mitchell. I would say first there are two types of background conferences as I

understand them, and as I understand what you are trying to develop here.

One is a conference held with a selected group of individuals, and the other an off-the-record conference. Mr. Wilson has held none of

those types.

As to your question relating to Mr. Wilson: To my knowledge he has held no background conferences. He has held more open news conferences than any previous Secretary of Defense. He has held more open news conferences, with no questions barred, than any member of the Cabinet and any member in this administration.

Mr. MITCHELL. Could you supply for the record all the press conferences held by Secretary Lovett during his administration? Mr. Ross. All on the record conferences; yes, sir.

(The requested information was transmitted by letter, dated July 25, 1956, from the office of Assistant Secretary Ross. It is accompanied directly below by the record of Secretary Wilson's press conferences as obtained from the Defense Department's answer to the subcommittee questionnaire:)

The following press conferences were held by Secretary of Defense Robert A. Lovett from September 1951 to January 1953:

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The following press conferences were held by Secretary of Defense Charles E. Wilson from July 1, 1954, to July 1, 1955:

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Mr. Ross. To conclude, frequently officials in the Department of Defense do hold background, on the record background conferences. Mr. Schooley can explain those and explain the individuals involved if yow will ask him about those.

Mr. MITCHELL. I would like to refer to your prepared statement of yesterday. On page 4, you spoke of the 16 news conferences that have been held by the present Secretary of Defense during his term of office. There was no reference to these background conferences which. seem to have been an established procedure of previous Secretaries of Defense.

Mr. Ross. If you will differentiate, sir. Secretary Wilson has held no off-the-record background conferences.

Mr. MITCHELL. Has he had any other types of conferences outside of the 16?

69222-56-pt. 5- 4

Mr. Ross. He has held many interviews in addition to his regular news conferences, interviews with the press.

Mr. MITCHELL. Selected interviews, that is certain individuals?
Mr. Ross. Not selected; no, sir.

Mr. MITCHELL. Mr. Ross, on May 22, 1956, the press carried stories on the so-called classified papers which were released by "eager beavers" in the Army and Air Force. Are you familiar with that matter?

Mr. Ross. I think I am familiar with the papers that you are referring to.

Mr. MITCHELL. You were informed the subcommittee was interested in them?

Mr. Ross. Yes, sir.

Mr. MITCHELL. At that time Mr. Wilson said Congress should not conduct any investigation as to this release of information, if I recall correctly; is that right?

Mr. Ross. I don't recall that he said that, sir. If it is in the news conference transcript, he did say it.

Mr. MITCHELL. He did say it. Has an investigation been conducted by the Department of Defense, as he said it would be?

Mr. Ross. I don't recall that he said the Department of Defense would conduct an investigation.

Mr. MITCHELL. I will quote:

Moving in to halt the budding public row over Defense policy, Wilson promised to find out who were the "eager beavers" who handed partisan-slanted classified papers to newsmen over the weekend.

"This is not good for the country," the Cabinet officer said, promising to stop it. * * * "The best way to settle this and the 'honest differences' between the services is to leave it to the Defense Department," Wilson said.

"A congressional investigation, such as has been proposed, would not be helpful or necessary," Wilson said. The show of unity by the assembled military Secretaries and Joint Chiefs of Staff backed up his plea.

Has Mr. Wilson conducted any kind of investigation relative to this matter?

Mr. Ross. I understand that the Air Force and the Army did initiate inquiries as to the release of these documents referred to.

Mr. MITCHELL. Did they do that on specific direction of Mr. Wilson?

Mr. Ross. I have no knowledge, sir, that Mr. Wilson either directed or did not direct that it be done.

Mr. FASCELL. We discussed yesterday, Mr. Ross, what the Department of Defense or the Secretary of Defense can do about closing the stable door after the horse is gone.

What is the policy now in effect in the Department of Defense with respect to these releases by the various branches of the service that are made without the approval of your office?

Mr. Ross. It depends if you are talking, Mr. Fascell, about releases, or if you are talking about leaks; they are two different things.

After official releases have been made, as we know, there is no point in taking any action. However, if they are leaks you are talking about, the Secretary of Defense certainly has the authority to order that disciplinary action be taken against the individuals who leak confidential or classified information.

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