proved methods in performing our present function so that costs may be reduced. HISTORY OF DRAFT sir. If you will recall, Mr. TIERNAN. Before 1940, did you register any of the population? Mr. PEPITONE. Before 1940 there was no law, the law was passed on the 23d of September 1940. Mr. TIERNAN. By one vote. Mr. PEPITONE. That was the renewal in 1941. In 1940, the act was passed by a better margin than that. Mr. TIERNAN. That renewal was after it had been in effect for 1 year. Mr. PEPITONE. That is right. Unknown to the general public, I suspect, there was a considerable effort for the planning and training of people preceding 1940 by some several years. General Hershey writes a very interesting text of the degree to which he as an individual participated in that training from 1927 to 1940 and how in 1937 there were actually several hundred trained National Guard officers in the country already identified for mobilization assignment to the Selective Service. Mr. TIERNAN. That was not training mandated by the people. The Congress did not mandate that. Mr. PEPITONE. No. Mr. TIERNAN. That was a military effort. Mr. TALCOTT. It demonstrates what a debacle we would have been in if we had tried to induct people without any machinery at all. I think we ought to read the history and make ourselves aware of this because I think we are losing sight of some of the history. Some are too young to remember what problems confronted the Nation at those times. We have to avoid those problems in the future. Mr. PEPITONE. The same problems to some degree were present in the statistics I cited earlier. In 1946 and 1947 we were then without a structure, and after 6 months, with much effort, we were able to induct 20,000 people. Strangely enough this was right after World War II when we had all the individuals who served on the local boards during World War II who were willing to come back and work for us. COLLOCATION PLANS Mr. BOLAND. What about collocation? Your fact sheet and the budget reflect the fact that the number of local board administrative sites would be reduced from what? Mr. PEPITONE. From 2,700. Mr. BOLAND. It must not exceed 925. Mr. PEPITONE. Yes, sir. Mr. BOLAND. As of what date? Mr. PEPITONE. Hopefully by December 31, this year. Mr. BOLAND. This will be accomplished by collocation or consolida tion. Mr. PEPITONE. Predominantly collocation. Mr. BOLAND. Under the Selective Service Act, collocation has to be approved by the Governors of the States. Mr. PEPITONE. That is right. Mr. BOLAND. You have an interesting chart in the justification reflecting the number of Selective Service local boards and sites for each State. It is interesting that some of the larger States have less sites than some of the smaller States. The difficulty of travel might be a factor. Mr. PEPITONE. That is correct. The thing which is not evident from the chart, I suspect, is the fact that we have for years had many collocated sites. If you look at the population densities in some of the California areas there are collocated sites of many local boards, some of which are bigger than some of the States of the Union insofar as registrant population is concerned. REDUCING OPERATING COSTS Mr. BOLAND. You touched a bit on the alternative plans that you were considering to operate the System at a lower cost-some of the plans and what your conclusions were. Why can't a less expensive System be developed? It is nice to look at a reduction of $28.5 million, but you still are spending $55 million and that is a big chunk of money. Mr. PEPITONE. I would like to have an effective standby organization for less than $55 million, however, we don't believe it can be achieved at this time. I would be the last person to say that a less expensive system could not be developed. I do think, however, that time in which to develop it has been somewhat lacking. We have only been at work developing and using modern business machines and methods with respect to our recordkeeping, registrant processing and the like for about the last 22 years. I think we have made great progress. We have not come to a better figure for fiscal 1974 because we were not alerted to the fact that we would not be inducting people right up to the 30th of June, as I mentioned earlier. It is possible that further refinements and reductions can be made, however, I doubt that they will be found in fiscal year 1974. Next year when we will have gained additional experience and positive results, we may be able to institute improved methods in performing our present functions so that cost may be reduced. REGISTRATION AND CLASSIFICATION AFTER JUNE 1973 Mr. BOLAND. To clarify your earlier comments let me again ask, why is it necessary to register and classify young men when there is no authority to induct? Mr. PEPITONE. So that in the event of a national emergency, should the Congress give the President the authority, we can induct men without having to wait 6 months and be able to find only 20,000 people, as was the case in 1948. Mr. BOLAND. You think it would take 6 months to move into that position? Mr. PEPITONE. Mr. Chairman, without the local board structure and without the uncompensated personnel, yes. Mr. BOLAND. But you are going to keep the local board structure anyway. Mr. PEPITONE. I know, but the registry is equally important in my judgment. If we can get the paperwork behind us without really imposing upon the young men of the Nation to any degree, we will be more prepared to act. They are not being deprived of a freedom. As a matter of fact, they are winding up with an identification which has picked up a social significance which apparently most of us fail to realize. Most employers insist upon seeing the draft registration card. That is all they have known for 30 odd years. VIETNAM VETERANS Mr. BOLAND. Last year Dr. Tarr mentioned Executive Order 11521 authorizing veterans readjustment appointments for veterans of the Vietnam war. That was an Executive order that came out with a lot of publicity. At that time 31 returning veterans were employed by the Selective Service System. How many Vietnam era veterans does the Selective Service currently employ? Mr. PEPITONE. We employ 58 veterans. ACCOUNTING SYSTEM Mr. BOLAND. Last year the Selective Service System was in the process of developing a new accounting system that would be uniform throughout the System. What is the current status of that? Mr. PEPITONE. It has been developed and I am pleased to have a letter on my desk from the Comptroller General telling me how pleased he is with the professionalism of the system and how delighted he was to approve it for us. AUTOMATIC DATA PROCESSING Mr. BOLAND. Last year the Selective Service System was continuing a study on the manner in which automatic data processing would provide timely information in critical situations on manpower, particularly in times of national emergency. Has the study been completed and if so, what are the results? Mr. PEPITONE. The study is being completed. The Registrant Information Bank is operative. We have a national registry of all people whose birthday is 1953 onward and all before 1953 who have been in one category of deferment or other, and in the next 2 weeks there will be a rather detailed statement of this fact in my semiannual report to the Congress as required by section 10 (g) of the act. Mr. BOLAND. How much will be spent on ADP programs in fiscal 1973? Mr. PEPITONE. $1,423,000 in 1973. Mr. BOLAND. What do you estimate will be needed for fiscal 1974? Mr. PHILLIPS. $1,368,000. Mr. BOLAND. The estimate comes down a little. What did you spend in fiscal 1972? Mr. PHILLIPS. In 1972, sir, we were not fully operative for a whole year, however, our cost including startup was $2,357,769. Mr. PEPITONE. As I recall the budget at that time had a single line item of a million dollars for procurement. CONTINUED AUTHORITY TO INDUCT Mr. BOLAND. What about the authority to induct those who have been deferred? Give us a rundown on that. Mr. PEPITONE. There is a lingering authority as you know in section 17(c) of the law. I know of no plans for the President under any circumstances to induct people in this category. Mr. BOLAND. Do you have any idea how many men are in the pool of deferred persons who could be drafted by the President without congressional approval after July? Mr. SHAW. It is around 500,000 total. Mr. BOLAND. You have no plans to draft anyone after July 1, 1973? Mr. PEPITONE. That is right, sir. Other than those people, parolees or violators, or people under indictment, for instance. Mr. TALCOTT. Do you have any authority to draft people? Mr. PEPITONE. Yes, sir; those people we do. Mr. TALCOTT. I mean other than those. Mr. PEPITONE. We could draft deferred people under section 17 (c); 17(c) has a lingering authority which does not expire on the 1st of July for people who have at one time or another been deferred. There are about a half million people in the country. Mr. BOLAND. Mr. Shipley. SERVICES TO REGISTRANTS Mr. SHIPLEY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to commend the gentleman on his statement. It has been very informative. On page 6 of your statement you mention new programs with regard to advising registrants as to the procedure in the standby situation and so on. Where do these funds come from? Do they come from the National Headquarters or State headquarters? Mr. PEPITONE. These are right in our funds at the National Headquarters. The bulk of the printing and distribution is nationally controlled. I might like to mention at this time one of the items we have had some considerable success with. In association with the educators of the United States, we published a Curriculum Guide to the Draft which we now give to the high schools. We have given away 40,000 of these. I know of at least two rather large metropolitan counties where there is a requirement that there be a 4-hour course in civics for a young man indicating the history of Selective Service, his obligation as a citizen under the law and this type of thing. This is the type of material we intend to put out to the young men so they do not, through error, break the law. Mr. SHIPLEY. You have never done this in the past? CURRICULUM GUIDE PROGRAM Mr. PEPITONE. The first issuance of the Curriculum Guide was in the summer of 1971. It was updated last summer. It is a very fine document. Mr. SHIPLEY. Do you have any copies available so we could look at it? Mr. PEPITONE. I do not have any with me but I will provide you with some. Mr. SHIPLEY. What is the total cost of this program? Mr. PEPITONE. On the brochures, they are extremely inexpensive. TRAINING PROGRAM Mr. SHIPLEY. And your slides and the entire program. I did not see anything in the justification breaking this down. Mr. PHILLIPS. If you are speaking of our training program with reference to making slides and all types of training that the Selective Service would have for 1973, would be $750,000. Mr. SHIPLEY. What was it last year? Mr. PHILLIPS. Last year it was approximately $1,200,000. Mr. SHIPLEY. It will be approximately $750,000 this year? Mr. SHIPLEY. That includes all of the slides, printing, reproduction, postage and everything under the program? Mr. PHILLIPS. As far as the training program is concerned, we include all related costs of training, including the making of the slides. Mr. SHIPLEY. What is the purpose of the slide shows? Mr. PEPITONE. As part of our public information program which includes speaking engagements before high school classes, civil organizations, counseling groups, and college students, we have designed an audiovisual package to aid speakers in presenting informative information to their audience. We have produced three sound slides presentations on the history, the present and future of the draft. Mr. SHIPLEY. How many times have they been shown and to whom? Mr. PEPITONE. In November 1972 we canvassed all of our State public information officers in the continental United States. Based on information received at that time, the shows are used approximately three to five times a month per State. They have been used in discussions with high school classes, in convention displays, in presentations to visitors from foreign countries, and in meeting with leaders of other organizations and with leaders of the draft counseling community. Mr. SHIPLEY. How much did they cost to produce? |