civilian as the chief official responsible for public information activities of each of the military departments. Pending the appointment of such a civilian, the Secretary of each of the military departments shall be responsible for that department's public information activities; (e) the functional location of the civilian public information official so as to facilitate his reporting directly to the Secretary or Under Secretary of each military department. 4. Implementation: It is requested that the Secretaries of the military departments issue such supplemental instructions implementing this memorandum as they consider necessary or appropriate to accomplish the purposes of this memorandum and that periodic reports of progress be made to this office. (Signed) C. E. WILSON. Copies to the Assistant Secretaries of Defense, the General Counsel, the special assistants to the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the directors of the offices, OSD. (See exhibit III.) FURTHER STATEMENT OF HON. ROBERT TRIPP ROSS, ASSISTANT Mr. Ross, who prepared or who initiated this regulation? Mr. MITCHELL. Himself, or was it prepared by your office? Mr. Ross. Well, he signed it, sir. Mr. MITCHELL. Yes, but who prepared it? He doesn't prepare all these himself, does he? Mr. Ross. I have no knowledge, sir, of who prepared it. It is over his signature, and he is responsible for it, sir. Mr. MITCHELL. Is the committee to understand that your office had nothing to do with this? Mr. Ross. No, sir. Mr. Moss. Is this one of the areas where you were acting in the name of the Secretary? Mr. Ross. I was not acting. Mr. Wilson signed this memorandum, sir. It is his memorandum. Mr. MITCHELL. Does he prepare all memoranda that he signs? Mr. Ross. Well, I think the answer that that is "no." He is provided frequently with drafts of papers, documents, memorandums, directives, which he will review and amend as he desires to have them amended. Mr. MITCHELL. Then do you know who prepared the draft of this memorandum? Mr. Ross. No, sir. Mr. MITCHELL. It was not done in your office? Mr. Ross. I don't know that it was or was not, sir. Mr. MITCHELL. Mr. Chairman, I think Mr. Ross should know whether or not a directive such as this, specifically involving the duties and functions of his own office, was prepared or was not prepared in his own office. I would like to have Mr. Ross answer the question. Mr. Moss. Well, during the morning session we discussed the activities of your office. I think you indicated that you acted in the name of the Secretary of Defense on many of these matters. Is this an instance where you acted in the name of the Secretary? Mr. Ross. No, sir; that has no relation, no bearing on this at all, sir. Mr. Moss. Then, to your knowledge, you did not participate in the drafting or the initiation of this memorandum? Mr. Ross. I may have participated, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Mitchell's question was, as I understood it, who prepared this draft, was it prepared in my office. I have no knowledge that it was prepared in my office. Mr. Moss. This gets down to a basic problem which we discussed in my office in advance of these hearings. You stated that you would appear here to speak for the Secretary of Defense. Now, if, as I indicated then, it is necessary that in order for us to put together a complete record, we must request the Secretary to attend the hearings. and respond to questions by the committee, that will be done unless you are in a position to give us the information. We will keep a careful record of requests for this information. I am not certain at the moment that this instance is of sufficient import to bring that about, but if there are many instances where you are unable to respond on behalf of the Secretary, then the committee, in order to complete its assignment, will have to request the Secretary to appear and answer personally. Mr. Ross. Well, Mr. Chairman, if you will bear with me, I don't believe this question has any relation at all to the matter you have just discussed. This is a memorandum signed by the Secretary of Defense, prepared, I would say, in his office. He is responsible for it. As to who worked on it, who helped write it, I cannot see that has a bearing on it. Mr. Moss. If you were the Secretary seated there, Mr. Ross, I would feel it would be quite proper if I asked you if the Assistant Secretary in charge of public information assisted in drafting the memorandum. Now, that is the question we are asking you. Did you assist in drafting the memorandum? Mr. Ross. I participated in the discussions which resulted in this memorandum. Mr. Moss. That is all we wanted to know. Mr. Ross. Thank you, sir. Mr. MITCHELL. In the first paragraph, "Within the context of congressional directives," the memorandum does not cite any congressional directives in this particular field. Could you explain the meaning of that phrase, please? Mr. Ross. Yes, sir; that would be obvious to the interested people in the three services. It referred to the limitation placed upon the expenditure of money for public information activities by the Congress. Mr. MITCHELL. Did the Congress specifically ask that studies be initiated as a basis for reorganization? I quote the following phrase: "and to initiate studies for reorganization." Mr. Ross. This memorandum did not result from any specific recommendation on the part of Congress that there be a study made of the reorganizing of the Office of Public Information activities. To answer your question further, congressional committees have, in the past, made such recommendations. Mr. MITCHELL. But to your knowledge, no study has been made at the request of a congressional committee? Mr. Ross. Oh, over the years, I am sure there has been, sir. Mr. MITCHELL. I mean since you have been in office? Mr. Ross. I don't recall any specific recommendation by any congressional committee that such a study be made. Mr. MITCHELL. I am just trying to establish the fact that that memorandum was not the result of any congressional Mr. Ross. I so stated, sir. Mr. MITCHELL. The second paragraph— Personnel and Funds: Within the letter and spirit of congressional directives * * * Again, what congressional directives are you referring to? Mr. Ross. Relating again to the limitation placed upon the expenditure of money for information activities. Mr. MITCHELL. Does the Congress spell out specifically what personnel will be involved? Mr. Ross. No, sir. Mr. MITCHELL. Then why is the word "personnel" used? Mr. Ross. In which paragraph, sir? Mr. MITCHELL. The second paragraph headed "Personnel and funds." Mr. Ross. Well, the limitation placed upon the expenditure of money for public information activities certainly has a bearing on the number of personnel employed by the three services. Mr. Moss. On that point, this limitation was imposed by the Appropriations Committees in the 83d or 84th Congress? Mr. Ross. I think the limitation-actually, the Congress started placing a limitation upon the activities, I believe, in 1951. Since 1951 there has been just about a yearly reduction in funds. Mr. MITCHELL. Didn't you agree to submit that data to the committee? Didn't you agree to give us the figures that were approved for 1949 ? Mr. Ross. Well, I didn't understand this morning that you wanted data relative to the limitation of funds which are permitted by the Congress to the three services. I will supply that information in detail. Mr. MITCHELL. We are interested in the public information field, the whole field. Mr. Ross. I will supply that in detail. Mr. MITCHELL. With respect to the third paragraph Mr. FASCELL. May I interrupt? Mr. MITCHELL. Yes, sir. Mr. FASCELL. Do you spend more or less money than Congress authorizes for public information services? Mr. Ross. Well, I would say the answer has to be, sir, "We spend no more than Congress authorizes." Mr. FASCELL. I don't know what the answer has to be. I am trying to find out what you really do. This morning when we inquired about the budget of your office, we just wanted to find out what it took to 69222-56-pt. 5-6 operate your office, and now you are telling us the limitation imposed by Congress under the appropriation might be a different figure. Mr. Ross. Well, sir, the Congress places a limitation on the Department of Defense, which includes the three military services, as to the exact amount of money the Department of Defense, including the services, can spend for public information activities. I have no knowledge other than that the services live within that limitation placed on them by Congress. The Congress appropriates, specifically, a given amount of money for the operation of the Office of Public Information in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Mr. Moss. What you are saying is that you have a specific appropriation for information activities within the Department of Defense itself. Mr. Ross. Yes, sir. Mr. Moss. The Office of the Secretary? Mr. Ross. Yes, sir. Mr. Moss. And in addition you have a limitation upon the total which can be spent for all the services combined? Mr. Ross. Yes, sir; for all the services and the Office of the Secretary of Defense combined. Mr. MITCHELL. Does Congress break the figure down as to each Department? Mr. Ross. No, sir; they don't. There is an overall figure. Mr. MITCHELL. Who does the allocation of the funds? Mr. Ross. The Secretary of Defense. Mr. FASCELL. As between the services? Mr. Ross. The allocation of the amount which they are permitted to spend; yes, sir. Mr. FASCELL. Now, is it fair to say that the operational budget of the three services does not exceed the limitation placed upon the appropriation? Mr. Ross. I have no knowledge that it does exceed it. Mr. FASCELL. I didn't say it did; I just wondered. Mr. Ross. That is the best I can answer, sir. Mr. FASCELL. In any event, we will know when we get your operational burget? Mr. Ross. Well, the operational budget of the public information activities will show that the three services live within the limitation. Mr. FASCELL. I didn't want to engage in a game of semantics. Do you personally participate in the decision as to the allocation of moneys for public information activities in the three services? Mr. Ross. No, sir; I think that has been established over the past few years. Mr. FASCELL. You mean a formula has been established, and it is automatic? Mr. Ross. Yes, sir. Mr. FASCELL. What is the formula? Mr. Ross. I believe they share equally, sir. Mr. FASCELL. Each gets one-third of the total? Mr. Ross. Yes, sir. Mr. FASCELL. How much is the total amount for the last fiscal year? Mr. Ross. I believe it was 3.5 or 3.25 million, I am not sure. Mr. Ross. Yes, sir. Mr. FASCELL. And each service gets one-third of the $3,250,000? Mr. Ross. No, sir; it is a little complicated. I believe I am correct in this, that there was appropriated for the Office of Public Information, for the Office of the Secretary of Defense, $450,000. Mr. FASCELL. That doesn't add to this fund, does it? That amount of money is not distributed? Mr. Ross. No. Mr. FASCELL. That is just for your office? Mr. Ross. Yes, sir. The Department of Defense, including the Services, is limited to an overall expenditure of $3,270,000, including the $450,000 appropriation for the Office of Public Information, OSD, for public information activities. Therefore, the services are limited to expending $2,820,000 divided equally for public information activities. In addition, each of the services furnish to the Office of Public Affairs in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, 16 military officers and, although they are assigned to and work in the Office of Public Affairs, OSD, they are charged against the services' limitation. Mr. Ross. Is that service limitation overall, including civilian and military personnel? Mr. Ross. Yes, sir. Mr. FASCELL. And does that include line officers who might be on temporary duty, or might have other duties? Mr. Ross. If they are performing public information activities they should be charged against that limitation, and they would be. Mr. MITCHELL. How many officers do you have in your office who are directly charged to your appropriation? Mr. Ross. Military officers? Mr. MITCHELL. Yes, sir. Mr. Ross. None is charged against the appropriation. Mr. MITCHELL. Then the whole $450,000 appropriated for your office is in no way connected with any military officer that may be assigned to your office? Mr. Ross. It is not expended for the employment of military personnel. Mr. MITCHELL. What is it expended for? Mr. Ross. For civilian personnel engaged in the activities of what we term the Office of Public Affairs, and that includes, sir, the personnel assigned to the Office of Security Review. Mr. FASCELL. Well, now, that gets right back to this thing we discussed yesterday, Mr. Ross. You have officers in the Office of Security Review who come from the three military services. You are telling us that those officers are all paid for out of the budgets chargeable to their services; right? Mr. Ross. Yes, sir. Mr. FASCELL. Now, what control, if any, do you have over those men? Mr. Ross. Well, they are under the direct supervision of the Director of Office of Security Review, which is part of my office. Mr. FASCELL. And his control is limited to supervision of their work? Mr. Ross. Well, no, sir, they are assigned to the Office of Security Review in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. |