APPROPRIATION BILL FOR 1943. 73546 HEARINGS BEFORE SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS SEVENTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION ON THE FIRST SUPPLEMENTAL NATIONAL DEFENSE PART 1 Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations UNITED STATES WASHINGTON: 1942 HJ10 B& 1943 COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS CLARENCE CANNON, Missouri, Chairman CLIFTON A. WOODRUM, Virginia J. BUELL SNYDER, Pennsylvania ROSS A. COLLINS, Mississippi ALBERT THOMAS, Texas VINCENT F. HARRINGTON, Iowa JOHN TABER, New York RICHARD B. WIGGLESWORTH, Massachusetts WILLIAM P. LAMBERTSON, Kansas D. LANE POWERS, New Jersey J. WILLIAM DITTER, Pennsylvania FIRST SUPPLEMENTAL NATIONAL DEFENSE APPROPRIATION, 1943 HEARINGS CONDUCTED BY THE SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, IN CHARGE OF DEFICIENCY APPROPRIATIONS THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 1942. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION STATEMENTS OF JAMES LAWRENCE FLY, CHAIRMAN; CLIFFORD E. K. JETT, CHIEF ENGINEER; AND GEORGE STERLING, ASSISTANT CHIEF ENGINEER NATIONAL DEFENSE ACTIVITIES, 1943 Mr. WOODRUM. Mr. Fly, we have before us an item, in House Document No. 749 in the amount of $2,149,876, for national defense activities for the Federal Communications Commission. The item is as follows: National defense activities: For national defense activities, Federal Communications Commission, fiscal year 1943, to be supplemental to the appropriation made for this purpose for said fiscal year, and to be available for the same objects, $2,149,876: Provided, That the limitation upon the amount which may be expended for travel expenses under this head for the fiscal year 1943 is hereby increased to $157,340-$2,149,876. PRESENT AND PROPOSED ADDITIONAL NUMBER OF PERSONNEL (See p. 19) As I understand, the funds which you are presently asking for are to carry on the program which we gave you heretofore and which accounts for 408 of the people that are included in this statement on pages 1 and 2 of your justification. Mr. FLY. Yes, sir. Mr. WOODRUM. The total number of new people in 1943 that this fund will provide for is 803, and of that number 408 are already on the program? Mr. FLY. I think that is right. DISTRIBUTION AND SUPPLEMENTARY ESTIMATE FOR 1943 Mr. WOODRUM. I think those pages of your justification should be made a part of the record, and then proceed with your general statement. 1 (The statement is as follows:) Supplemental estimate for national defense activities, fiscal year 1943 SUMMARY OF ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS-PERSONAL SERVICES BY PROJECTS Description Extension of supplemental 1942 appropriation through 1943: For salaries of 408 Air-raid activity: For assignment of radio experts to additional information Expansion of intercept unit (Washington): For proper handling and prompt Translation of domestic foreign-language broadcasts: For an increased volume of recording, translating, and analyzing of foreign-language broadcasts by domestic stations. Engineering supervision and administration. Citizenship investigation: For continuing part of the staff engaged in determining citizenship of radio operator licensees and of communication company employees and in compiling related data as requested by the Army, Navy, and other Government agencies... Registration of apparatus which generates radio frequency energy: For registration as required by Defense Communications Board Order No. 4 of diathermy, unlicensed transmitter, wired radio, and similar equipment capable of generating radio frequency energy. Service: For the increased work of purchasing, auditing, accounting, records, and mail Foreign broadcast monitoring service: For the recording, translating, and transcribing, monitoring and analyzing of international broadcasts.. Total personal services. Deduct lapses... Personal services, net. Other obligations. Amount of supplemental estimate... GENERAL STATEMENT We shall be glad to have a statement from you on this item, Mr. Fly. Mr. FLY. Let me preface my brief remarks-other Commission witnesses are here to present our testimony in detail by pointing out the overwhelming changes that have occurred in the Commission's functions since the onset of the defense program. The national defense aspect of communications has always been one of the Commission's concerns; and even before our entry into the war it became our primary concern. Today, defense and war activities occupy the bulk of our time and the bulk of our budget. We are requesting no supplementary appropriations whatever for regular peacetime work; the whole of our request is for defense and war activities. By war activities I don't mean activities having a remote or indirect effect on the war. I mean particular functions undertaken in cooperation with and at the request of the Army, the Navy, the War Production Board, and other war agencies. Our concern is with such matters as insuring the safety of communications both at home and with our fighting forces, allies, and benevolent neutrals abroad. We also help to secure military and other information concerning enemy activity which is of use by the Army and Navy intelligence services, and the F. B. I. Thus, when I say "war activities," I mean activities designed to win this war, to win it by force of arms, and to win it soon. The items requested today are of this nature. SUPPLEMENTAL AMOUNTS REQUESTED FOR 1943 You will recall that after our entry into the war, the Commission's war work was necessarily expanded. We appeared before you in January of this year, and in February Congress authorized the Commission to expend a little over $587,000 additional for the 41⁄2 months until June 30. We are here today first of all to explain to you the need for continuing during the year beginning July 1, 1942, the work already authorized. This continuation of work already authorized and explained to you in January involves $1,150,000 for the coming year. The remaining sum of $1,000,000 out of our total $2,150,000 request involves new war activity. I should like to concentrate first on this $1,000,000 needed for new activity not previously explained to this committee. RADIO INTELLIGENCE CENTERS The first item among the present estimates is an excellent example of how these F. C. C. functions gear in with the Army's fighting program. When General DeWitt assumed the Western Defense Command and Fourth Army Command along the Pacific coast, one of his tasks was to coordinate and correlate the various procedures relating to enemy, clandestine, and other illegal radio operations in the Pacific theater of war. There was the task of intercepting enemy communications, locating unlicensed stations, and exchange of information among the armed forces, the F. C. C., and other war agencies. In meeting that problem, General DeWitt turned to the F. Č. C. as the agency best equipped to handle the problem, and our technicians worked out with the Western Defense Command details of a radio intelligence center. The first such radio intelligence center was opened in San Francisco March 1 of this year, and I am glad to say that its activities have been so uniformly successful and so useful to the Army that at its request and at the request of the Navy, we are establishing similar radio intelligence centers at San Leandro, Honolulu, and an unspecified point on the east coast. These F. C. C. radio-intelligence centers operate on a continuous 24-hour-a-day basis. The Army and Navy maintain continuous liaison watch-that is, an Army man and a Navy man are on watch continuously, and instantly transmit all relevant information to their respective services. Each listening center will be connected by teletypewriter with the F. C. C. primary monitoring stations, and interconnected by way of Washington headquarters. Our engineers, who are here, will be glad to explain those details of operation which are not military secrets, but I should like to make one point before passing on. It is not only necessary for military purposes |