(General Lambert nods.) Mr. SMART. Are those figures correct, sir? General LAMBERT. I can't make a statement concerning the older groups. I do know that the personnel of the more senior grades with better economic resources do buy more insurance than is the average in connection with the recruits. Mr. SMART. If the gentleman will permit me one more question then with reference to this group and their opportunity to have bought this insurance Mr. VAN ZANDT. All right. Mr. SMART. The trip originated at Newark? Mr. SMART. Went from there to Wilkes-Barre? General LAMBERT. Right. Mr. SMART. We know that 11 of those who boarded at one place or the other did buy this insurance? General LAMBERT. That is right. Mr. SMART. We further have testimony that the final group that boarded at Baltimore were specifically instructed where the booth was, and General LAMBERT. That is right. Mr. SMART. Were taken to the booth, but we do not know at this point whether any of them did or did not buy insurance. General LAMBERT. That is right. Mr. SMART. But in view of those facts, is it a reasonable presumption that they did have a reasonable opportunity to buy the insurance, in your judgment? General LAMBERT. In my judgment it is. Mr. SMART. That is all, Mr. Chairman. Mr. VAN ZANDT. You know, General, I was a recruit one time. back in April of 1917, and believe it or not I didn't have enough money in my pocket to buy anything. I am wondering whether these boys from Wilkes-Barre, where we have terrific unemployment, had money in their pockets to buy an insurance policy. General LAMBERT. I think at least three of them from WilkesBarre did buy insurance. Mr. VAN ZANDT. How many were in the group from Wilkes-Barre? General LAMBERT. Thirty-one, I believe. Mr. VAN ZANDT. Thirty-one. General LAMBERT. Was it 31 or 29? Mr. WALTER. Thirty-one. General LAMBERT. Thirty-one. Mr. VAN ZANDT. Just one more question, General. There were 31? General LAMBERT. Yes, sir. Mr. VAN ZANDT. I am not clear on your statement covering social security. You depart from social security and talk about veterans survivors benefits enacted in 1956 administered by the VA. Is that right? General LAMBERT. Yes, sir. Mr. Van ZANDT. Aren't they covered by social security? Mr. HARDY. Let me make this observation in connection with that: The Survivor Benefits Act was sort of an across-the-board piece of legislation that involved the jurisdiction of several House committees, and that is why it took a select committee to do it. It specifically provided social security coverage for enlisted personnel, for all military personnel for that matter. Mr. VAN ZANDT. Is it not true that military personnel are covered by social security? General LAMBERT. They become covered, yes, sir, when they come into the military service. Mr. VAN ZANDT. When he raised his right hand? General LAMBERT. That is right. Mr. VAN ZANDT. He was covered by social security? General LAMBERT. Yes, sir. Mr. VAN ZANDT. Is he not entitled to benefits under the laws of social security if he can meet the requirements? General LAMBERT. Yes, sir. We have been to social security with reference to each particular man and we have information as to the payments that have been made and the cases that are now under adjudication. Mr. VAN ZANDT. These payments are separate and distinct from the Servicemen and Veterans' Survivor Benefits Act of 1956? General LAMBERT. It is a part of it, sir. Mr. VAN ZANDT. Part of it. Thank you. Mr. HARDY. But is a separate benefit from VA compensation? Mr. SMART. In addition to? Mr. VAN ZANDT. Yes. Mr. HARDY. But it is all-it is in addition to, that is correct, but it is all, insofar as legislation is concerned, contained in the same act? General LAMBERT. That is right. Mr. HARDY. Anything further, Mr. Van Zandt? Mr. VAN ZANDT. That is all. Mr. HARDY. General, I have just one question. On page 4 of your statement you referred to the movement of Air Force recruits by Imperial Airlines during the period January 1 to November 1961. That is almost 2 years. What was the frequency of moving them by Imperial Airlines during that period of time? General LAMBERT. We do not have available now, sir, the frequency of the movements. Mr. HARDY. Well, the fact that they moved at some time in there doesn't have any particular significance, but you made reference to it in your statement. So I thought we ought to know. Mr. SMART. Mr. Chairman, that statistic will be developed a little bit later by another witness, but I can say to you that Imperial moved more than 100 groups. Mr. HARDY. Moved more than Mr. SMART. More than 100 such movements during that period of time. Mr. VAN ZANDT. General, could you furnish us the correspondence you have with the Independent Carriers Association whereby they certified the Imperial Airlines as having met all Government requirements from the standpoint of operational capabilities? Mr. SMART. There is no correspondence. Mr. VAN ZANDT. There is no correspondence. Mr. SMART. There is no correspondence. That is not the way it works, is it, General? General LAMBERT. No, Mr. Van Zandt; I have never had such correspondence. Mr. VAN ZANDT. All right. How does it work? General LAMBERT. Sir? Mr. VAN ZANDT. How does it work? How do you get this information that they have been certified? Is it by a circular or General LAMBERT. There is a Joint Military Air Transport Agreement No. 8, Independent Airlines Association, and in that is listed the carrier members of the association. I am very sure that General Morris will present this into evidence. Mr. VAN ZANDT. Very well. Thank you. Mr. HARDY. Anything further? Mr. BREWSTER. No, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. HARDY. I think this is a good stopping place. Mr. SMART. Two o'clock permissible? Mr. HARDY. So let the committee stand adjourned, to reconvene at 2 o'clock this afternoon. (Whereupon, at 12:09 p.m., the committee was adjourned, to reconvene at 2 p.m., the same day.) AFTERNOON SESSION Mr. HARDY. Let the committee come to order. Mr. HARDY. General, you have a prepared statement, too, I believe? Mr. HARDY. That is fine. If you were here this morning, I presume you know how we are proceeding. So if you will just go ahead, we will try to let you go through it without interruption. General MORRIS. Thank you very much, sir. Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, my name is I. Sewell Morris, major general, U.S. Army. I am the commander, Defense Traffic Management Service (DTMS) under the Defense Supply Agency. Prior to January 1, 1962, this organization was designated as the Military Traffic Management Agency (MTMA), the Department of Defense single manager operating agency for traffic management within the United States. I was assigned as Executive Director. I am here at the invitation of the subcommittee to offer testimony concerning the authority under which the Military Traffic Management Agency operated, and the procedures used in the selection of transportation for military passenger movements arranged by the Agency. This statement was prepared before January 1 and my remarks today are addressed to the situation and command relationships which existed at that time. Except for the change in name, DTMS instead of MTMA, and the fact that I now report to the Director, Defense Supply Agency, the authority and procedures remain unchanged. On May 1, 1956, the Secretary of the Army was designated as the single manager for traffic management within the United States, subject to overall DOD guidance, policies, and programs, with the responsibilities and authorities specified in the directive of assignment. In accord with the provisions of the directive, an operating agency 72066-62-No. 40 titled "The Military Traffic Management Agency (MTMA)" was created to carry out the responsibilities assigned to the Secretary of the Army. As Executive Director of the Agency, I report to the single manager, through the Army Chief of Transportation, the Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, and the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Installations and Logistics). Under the terms of the charter directive, the Military Traffic Management Agency's mission includes The direction, control, and supervision of functions incident to the procurement and use of the service of commercial transportation companies within the United States. The development of emergency plans for use, control, and operation of military-owned domestic surface transportation resources and such other domestic resources as are allocated or may be available to support military missions. Among other things, the assignment of responsibilities to MTMA embraces negotiations with all for-hire commercial carriers or their agents for classifications, rates, fares, charges, and rules applicable to the movement of military traffic within the United States. This included negotiations with commercial air carriers as well as other types of carriers. The terms of reference for the operating Agency specify that the Executive Director "will accomplish his responsibilities through traffic management regulations and procedures prescribed by the single manager, technical instructions issued by the Executive Director, technical staff visits to installations and activities of the military departments by Agency personnel, and accumulation of management data and analysis." In accord with the terms of reference, military traffic management operations and services, so far as practicable, were to be decentralized to Agency regional and branch offices and to field installations (activities and offices) of the military departments. The directive assigns to each military department the responsibility for performance of the functions performed by field installations. The Military Traffic Management Agency operated under the policies of the Department of Defense governing the procurement of transportation services for military personnel and property. Copies of these policy directives and implementing regulations were furnished your counsel, Mr. Smart. MTMA is a jointly staffed Agency-at all levels both at headquarters and in the field at its five regional offices. Our concept concerning assignment of personnel is to place the best man available on the job regardless of suit or service. It has worked and worked well. The basic regulation implementing the Department of Defense policies and prescribing procedures, which is called the military traffic management regulation, is not a unilateral Army issue nor is it a MTMA publication but it is a joint service regulation issued by order of the Secretaries of the Army, Navy, and the Air Force. Your counsel has been provided with the pertinent portion of this regulation applying to policies and passenger procedures. With respect to passenger traffic, the general rule is that MTMA arranges for group movements (15 or more), whereas, local transportation officers are authorized by the military departments to route individual passengers or groups of 14 or fewer. For recruit travel, the authority of the local transportation officer is broader. Those officers are authorized by the military departments in the military traffic management regulation, which I mentioned earlier, to arrange for the movement of 15 or more enlistees, reenlistees, or recruits from recruiting stations to place to which ordered; or rejected enlistees and registrants from place of rejection to place of enlistment or local boards. The one exception to this is where charter air service is involved. The Imperial Airlines' flight was arranged under this authority by the Army Recruiting Service and not by MTMA. In accord with the pertinent Department of Defense policy in fulfilling their needs for air transportation, the recruiting activities were authorized to use and have used both scheduled airlines and supplemental air carriers. The supplemental air carriers, under the terms of their operating certificates issued by the Civil Aeronautics Board, may operate 10 scheduled flights between any 2 points within the United States. Accordingly, the recruiting activities, in many cases, have routed groups by these lines on a "ticketed" basis. With respect to the fitness and ability of such carriers, the military departments have relied upon the grant of operating authority and the continuation of such certification by the Civil Aeronautics Board; and for the establishment and enforcement of airline safety practices, including airworthiness of aircraft, and other safety aspects, heretofore cited, have relied upon the Federal Aviation Agency. (Use of supplemental airlines on a "ticketed" basis for military travel is now precluded by the Secretary of Defense's policy announced on November 17, 1961.) In carrying out its responsibilities for routing passengers, MTMA must consider the services, availability, and rates of all forms of transportation. This is necessary to insure that the lowest cost satisfactory method is employed. During fiscal year 1961, MTMA arranged for 16,951 group movements involving 1,111,000 passengers. The distribution of this traffic via air, rail, and bus carriers was as follows: The Army: 3,186 group movements by air, 1,519 by rail, and 8,771 by bus, involving 186,000 by air, 103,000 by rail, and 577,000 by bus. The Navy: 310 group movements by air, 113 by rail, 549 by bus, involving 14,000 by air, 4,000 by rail, 39,000 by bus. The Marine Corps: 348 group movements by air, 45 by rail, 391 by bus, involving 22,000 passengers by air, 7,000 by rail, 37,000 by bus. The Air Force: 605 group movements by air, 184 by rail, 930 by bus, involving 32,000 by air, 8,000 by rail, 82,000 by bus. Making a cumulative total of 4,449 group movements by air, 1,861 by rail, 10,641 by bus, or 254,000 passengers by air, 122,000 by rail, 735.000 by bus. Arrangements for group travel primarily are made through carrier associations. However, I would point out that membership in an association is not a requirement. At this point, I believe I should discuss briefly MTMA's relationship with carrier associations. There are seven associations in number representing the railroads, the bus industry, the scheduled certificated route carriers, and the supplemental airlines. These These associations are physically represented in Headquarters, MTMA, immediately adjacent to MTMA's passenger operating elements. |