zation legislation and the appropriation bill. To this end, these hearings may be considered joint hearings, and I have asked each member of the Appropriations Subcommittee to attend these hearings and ask questions along with the members of the Armed Services Committee. In this regard, we are following the procedure as established in the procurement authorization hearings. Of course, under the rules of the Senate, the actual markup of the authorization bill must be done by the Committee on Armed Services. There will be some items in the appropriation bill, of course, that are unrelated to the authorization legislation and these items will be considered by the Appropriations Subcommittee at an appropriate time. As submitted to the Congress, the bill calls for a total authorization of $1,955,681,000, of which approximately $10.4 million relates to increases in prior years' authority and $21.2 million is for the Reserve components. So far as the active forces are concerned, the Army is asking for new authority totaling $391.6 million; the Navy, $313.6 million; the Air Force, $383.3 million; Defense Agencies, $100.2 million; and $735.6 million is being requested for all costs of the family housing program which includes 12,500 new units. Gentlemen, that is the first time I have ever seen anyone run second to the Air Force in request for authority. I cannot understand it. Now I assume, as in the past, there are likely to be certain changes requested in the bill. I hope they are held to a minimum, but I want to emphasize that it is not sufficient to bring these up during the hearings, but the committee must be advised in writing of any proposed changes well in advance of the completion of the hearings. Our first witness this morning will be the Honorable Edward J. Sheridan, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Installations and Logistics, who will read the statement of the Honorable Paul R. Ignatius, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Installations and Logistics. Mr. Ignatius is not able to be with us due to a conflicting engagement of a prior nature with another congressional committee. I am certain that Mr. Sheridan's remarks will be comprehensive enough to prepare us for proceeding directly to the line item justifications by representatives of the military departments. After Mr. Sheridan completes his testimony, we will immediately take up title III of the bill which relates to the requirements of the Department of the Air Force. Maj. Gen. Robert H. Curtin will be the first witness. He is well seasoned in the business. We are glad to have him back. After each military department completes its presentation in open session, we will have an executive session to consider those items involving security classifications. Mr. Sheridan, you come here with a great deal of seniority before this committee and with fine knowledge of your work. You have been on duty in the Department for several years where you have rendered outstanding service. I believe you hold the office now in the Department that was created by the Armed Services Committee, the Bureau on Installations, to try to minimize the cost and to work out a method where there would be no oversight by any of the three services in looking for ways to save money. We are glad to have you here, sir. Will you proceed in your own way. STATEMENT OF EDWARD J. SHERIDAN, DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE (PROPERTIES AND INSTALLATIONS) Mr. SHERIDAN. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. We wish to express our appreciation for the opportunity to appear before this committee and to testify on the Military Construction Authorization program for fiscal year 1966. This program is in direct support of the missions, objectives, and program projections recently outlined by the Secretary of Defense in his comprehensive Defense posture statement, and is in consonance with the overall budget requests of the Department of Defense for fiscal year 1966. As a major supporting activity, Military Construction is governed by the 5-year programing system of the Department of Defense. The projects included in the present request represent the fiscal year 1966 segment of the approved 5-year construction plan, and must be in place not later than fiscal year 1968 to coincide with overall Defense objectives for this period. The proposals for new authorization contained in S. 1771 total $1,945 million (as compared with $1,809 million requested for fiscal year 1965) and may be broadly grouped as follows: For requirements of the Active Forces including the Army, Navy, Air Millions $1, 189 21 For family housing generally, including $228,434,000 for new construction and $507,166,000 for maintenance and operation of existing units and other family housing costs which require annual authorization (title V)--- 735 1, 945 Total In amplification of testimony already furnished to this committee on construction through the posture hearings, I should like to describe in more complete detail the content of each of these proposals, as well as to report to you on the steps we are taking toward continued improvement in the management of new construction and related maintenance and operation. Since the programs of the Active and Reserve Forces are integrated under the 5-year program planning system of the Department of Defense, I will discuss these proposals jointly. ACTIVE AND RESERVE FORCES In addition to the controls applied by 5-year programing procedures, construction requirements are further refined under a special annex to the system which identifies the character, size and estimated cost of the major projects at each installation in the 5-year plan. In developing the constuction program to be presented to the Congress for any given fiscal year, facility requirements are again examined to insure their continuing validity under current mission requirements and to verify that costs and standards are both reasonable and economical. Each line item in the fiscal year 1966 proposal has undergone this meticulous requirements and engineering reappraisal, in collaboration with the Bureau of the Budget, as the result of which the requests of the military departments and the Defense agencies were reduced by more than $700 million, or 37 percent of the total requested. Following the pattern of the fiscal year 1965 authorization request, almost 35 percent of the construction being proposed for the Active and Reserve Forces is in support of operations and training. Approximately 25 percent of the program is devoted to the provision of troop housing and related items, as a second appreciable increment of a program initiated last year to provide suitable accommodations for our military personnel. About 10 percent of this new proposal will provide facilities to support the research, development and testing of new weapons and equipment, and another 10 percent of the program is directed to the support of maintenance and production activities. The remaining 20 percent of the program will meet general construction requirements for administration, medical services, supply and utilities. In the fiscal year 1966 program, we are placing special emphasis on the improvement and modernization of our real property inventory, primarily through the replacement of mobilization-type personnel facilities built to temporary standards during World War II. Despite their temporary character, these buildings were again pressed into service during the Korean conflict and have been continued in use since that time with only limited improvements and maintenance. This has been due in large part to the overriding need to concentrate most of our construction resources since the Korean episode on the operational support of new weapons systems, and the forces necessary to establish the clear nuclear retaliatory capability of the United States in the event of an attack. Ten years ago the emphasis was on the build-up of an air base system to support 137 Air Force wings and on the Army NIKE program. Shortly thereafter, the DEW line, SAC dispersal, SAGE and BMEWS received primary attention. More recently the missile program particularly for ICBM base construction and POLARIS facilities, has dominated the construction effort. Concurrently, it has been necessary to give special consideration to the academic and training facilities necessary to meet ever-increasing requirements for well-trained personnel, fully prepared to operate these new and more intricate systems. Now that these more critical facilities are largely completed, it is timely to address our efforts to the improvement and modernization of our capital plant. This is highly important, not only to provide our military personnel with a decent standard of living, and so improve morale and reenlistment rates, but also to reduce maintenance costs by eliminating aging, obsolete structures from the real property inventory. Against this general background, I should like now to summarize the program being requested in terms of the principal missions of the Department of Defense. STRATEGIC OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE FORCES$72 MILLION With the achievement of the force levels and objectives outlined in the overall Defense posture presentation, new requests for facilities to support these missions are sharply reduced over previous years, amounting to only 6 percent of the fiscal year 1966 program. Under the ICBM base construction program, work on new sites is essentially completed except the silos for the last MINUTEMAN squadron authorized last year at Malmstrom AFB, and placed under construction contract 23 February 1965. This year's request amounts to $10 million and provides only for retrofit and improvements at exist ing TITAN II and MINUTEMAN sites to achieve greater operational reliability and safety. In support of manned strategic aircraft, airfield facilities are being requested in the amount of $11.9 million at 24 bases to accomplish certain essential realignments and plant improvements. Construction in support of continental and missile defense is also largely completed. The important BMEWS network is now fully operational and the program to disperse the Fighter-Interceptor Force is well underway. In the present request, air base facilities for fighter-interceptors total only $14.5 million and are limited to operational improvements at 30 bases. An additional $3.2 million is being requested to augment the capability of our warning and surveillance systems, including the installation of over-the-horizon radar. Also proposed is $8.7 million in support of the NIKE-HERCULES system, primarily for the provision of fallout protection in launch control centers. In keeping with the objectives I have previously stressed, $23.9 million in the program to support these forces would provide suitable housing and related community facilities for military personnel. GENERAL PURPOSE FORCES $338 MILLION Under this heading are included the combat and combat support units of the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps, as well as the tactical units of the Air Force. The construction requested in support of these forces continues at regular programing levels and consists primarily of long-needed replacements for substandard housing, and for facilities in support of operations, training, and maintenance. In the Army request, $84 million is provided for these general purposes at 21 installations, including $20.9 million for permanent troop housing and community support. In addition, $21.3 million is requested for operational and command facilities and for air defense installations in Europe to improve our capability to blunt enemy air strikes against vital installations, and $14.1 million for air defense installations in the Western Pacific. The Navy portion of this program totals $161.5 million and would provide long-needed improvements at Navy and Marine Corps installations worldwide. Included in this total are $20 million to modernize shore facilities for attack and antisubmarine warfare air groups, $49.8 million to support fleet aircraft, $50.7 million for Marine ground and air forces, and $39 million in support of submarine and fleet unit operations. Within the total for General Purpose Forces, $52.7 million is for troop housing and community support facilities, as part of the general effort to achieve acceptable housing standards. The Air Force segment of this program totals $92.5 million and would provide operational, maintenance, supply, administrative, and personnel facilities at 45 bases, including 27 bases overseas. A new headquarters is planned for the STRIKE Command at MacDill AFB in the amount of $4 million, also an addition to TAC headquarters at Langley AFB, estimated at $2.6 million. Ammunition and POL storage projects in the Pacific area account for $11.3 million of the total requested, and $26.1 million is allocated to the provision of permanent troop housing and related community facilities for military personnel. Of particular significance, $22.4 million is proposed in this portion of the program for the installation of tactical aircraft shelters in Europe and in the Pacific area. As you know from earlier presentations, Secretary McNamara considers the protection of these aircraft against enemy attack as one of our most urgent needs. Since the dispproval of the project submitted to the Congress for these shelters last year, a review of possible alternatives has again been made, reaffirming the conclusion that the provision of these shelters is essential to insure that an effective combat capability will be available when needed. AIRLIFT AND SEALIFT FORCES $26 MILLION As in previous years, facility requirements proposed in fiscal year 1966 to support this mission are comparatively modest, but are nevertheless essential to place operations on a modern and efficient basis. Authorization being requested for these forces will provide operational, maintenance, and supporting facilities at bases both in CONUS and overseas, and permit relocation and consolidation of missions in certain instances to realize economies indicated by management surveys. Of the total requested, $5.6 million is for the Army, principally at the Bayonne Naval Supply Center, N.J., and $20.3 million for the Air Force, distributed at 11 bases in CONUS and 5 bases overseas. RESERVE FORCES FACILITIES-$21 MILLION Authorization for construction of Reserve facilities proposed in fiscal year 1966 is substantially reduced over fiscal year 1965 since no additional authorization is proposed at this time for the Army Reserve Forces. Lump sum authorizations for the Army Reserve and Army National Guard enacted during the last session of Congress should provide sufficient construction authority during fiscal year 1966, while decisions with respect to the proposed realined Force structure are being made. In connection with the realinment, the Department of Defense has proposed a provision which would make available to the Army National Guard any residual authorization not utilized for the construction of Army Reserve facilities. The amounts requested for the Air Force and Navy Reserve Forces: again follow the lump sum authorization procedures reinstituted by the Congress in 1963 under which the Congress is notified in advance of the specific projects to be undertaken. A total of $21.2 million is programed for these purposes, consisting of the following: Naval and Marine Corps Reserves... Air Force Reserve__ Million $8.8 9.0 3.4 While identification of individual projects is only tentative at this time, current indications are that about half of the new authorization for the Naval and Marine Corps Reserves would be used for facilities for aviation elements and the other half for training center or armory type facilities for nonaviation units. Similarly, the $12.4 million for the Reserve Forces of the Air Force would provide operational and training facilities in the amounts of about $4 million for units with |