San Diego, Calif. This west coast training center has the same mission as our midcontinent training center at Great Lakes. The proposed project will be for construction of the first increment of the Communication School, at the estimated cost of $4,199,000. An adverse situation in maintenance and operation of Navy radio equipment has been developing over a long period and is now severe. This is due to a shortage in operator training facilities; an everincreasing use of radio equipment; an acute shortage of electronic technicians; and a low reenlistment rate for radiomen. To correct this situation we must increase the number of men in basic radiomen training and increase the length of course to include maintenance training; establish an advanced course for rated radiomen to provide advanced technical training, including maintenance. To do this and meet requirements in numbers would necessitate a sustained enrollment of 1,200 basic studetns and 288 advanced students at this center. Present facilities can accommodate a maximum of 640 basic students and no advanced classes. The proposed item would augment these facilities to permit an enrollmetn of 1,488. It will provide for construction of a 3-story masonry building, 268 feet wide and 299 feet long, containing classrooms, training aids library, equipment repair shops, lecture hall, and administrative space. The CHAIRMAN. Now that is operational training facilities at San Diego? Admiral AILES. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Without objection, the item is approved. Mr. SMART. That is the end of the line for you all, sir. That is all for the Navy. Admiral AILES. We have a classified item. Mr. SMART. What section is that? Admiral AILES. On page 23, section 202. Mr. SMART. We knocked that out. Admiral AILES. No. The CHAIRMAN. All right. Admiral AILES. Section 202, classified. Mr. KELLEHER. Page 23, Mr. Chairman. The CHAIRMAN. Page 23. Mr. BATES. What page in the book? Mr. KELLEHER. Amendments to section 202-2 amendments. Admiral AILES. This is classified. The CHAIRMAN. This is section 202. Mr. KELLEHER. Right. The CHAIRMAN. The next one is 202? Mr. KELLEHER. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. The Secretary may establish-all this is classified? Mr. KELLEHER. Yes, sir. Admiral AILES. Yes, sir; this is a classified project, sir. The Navy has been authorized by the Department of Defense and the Bureau of the Budget to submit an amendment which would add a new project to this program, sir. (Mr. Kelleher aside to the chairman.) Mr. HARDY. Is this in the book anywhere? Mr. DURHAM. Is this offshore or is it in the United States, sir? sir. Admiral AILES. This is in the United States. It is a classified item, Mr. DURHAM. Yes. Mr. HARDY. Is this in the presentation books, Mr. Chairman, so we could see what they are? Admiral AILES. There is a pink tab on the book. Mr. HARDY. What is the page? Admiral AILES. Sixty-four, sir. Mr. HARDY. I mean what is the page in the presentation book? Admiral AILES. Sixty-four is where the classified item starts. Mr. KELLEHER. But there are two amendments to be added to it. The CHAIRMAN. Now, this item should be increased to $76 million Mr. KELLEHER. By 494,000. The CHAIRMAN. $494,000? The CHAIRMAN. And $1 million of it is to be used for an item that has just been cleared by the Budget? Admiral AILES. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. And everything? The CHAIRMAN. I suggest, Mr. Kelleher, without forcing the committee to go in executive session, you advise the members of the committee what it is all about. Mr. KELLEHER. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. We have gone into this matter thoroughly and I think we are warranted in doing what we do. Without objection, we approve the item for $76,494,000. Now, Mr. Durham, will you take over? I have a very important telephone call. Mr. DURHAM (presiding). Mr. Kelleher, will you present the amendment? Mr. KELLEHER. The amendment would be, Mr. Chairman, on page 23, line 16 Mr. DURHAM. What page? Mr. KELLEHER. Page 23, line 16. Strike $65,001,000 and insert in lieu thereof $76,494,000. Mr. DURHAM. Without objection, the amendment is agreed to. Mr. KELLEHER. The next item, Mr. Chairman, is a minor amendment-three of them on page 24. The first one is on line 17, page 24, following the word "Quarters," the words "and community facilities" would be added. On line 22, following "46 units," the words "and community facilities" would be added. On line 23, following "45 units," the same language would be added. Mr. DURHAM. What does that do? Mr. KELLEHER. The way that it reads now provides only for housing, but they do require community facilities of various kinds, too, to go along with the housing as support facilities. Admiral AILES. Like schools and a store for the people there. Mr. KELLEHER. Recreation facilities. Mr. HARDY. What does that do to the cost, change the figure? Mr. HARDY. I still would like to know what it does to the cost, Admiral. Admiral AILES. It is increasing it at Sigonelle. Mr. HARDY. What is the total amount? Do you know what the total amount of the increased cost will be? Admiral AILES. About $600,000, sir. Mr. HARDY. That actually does require reimbursement to Commodity Credit; does it? Admiral AILES. It is lira, sir. Mr. HARDY. It is lira, but lira as generated by the sale of Public Law 480 commodities. Admiral AILES. It doesn't require dollar reimbursement; no, sir. Mr. HARDY. You are getting away with something that we hadn't learned about before, then. The CHAIRMAN. Where are you in the bill, Mr. Kelleher? Admiral AILES. Down on page 24, sir. Mr. KELLEHER. Page 24. Three minor amendments on page 24, to add the words "community facilities" in 3 instances, on lines 17, 22, and 23. The CHAIRMAN. Add what words? Mr. KELLEHER. "And community facilities." The CHAIRMAN. Put them in the bill, then. Now, we come to the section-I understand Mr. Bennett has an an amendment with reference to acquisition of Wherry houses. Mr. KELLEHER. Correct. The CHAIRMAN. Permissive. Mr. KELLEHER. Two of them. The CHAIRMAN. Acquisition. Mr. BENNETT. Yes, sir; the amendment is at page 26, right after line 20, to add this: Subsection (c). In accordance with the provisions of section 404 (a) of the Housing Amendments of 1955, 69 Stat. 652, amended, the Secretary of the Navy is authorized to acquire family housing at the following location: Naval Auxiliary Air Station, Whiting Field, Florida, 96 units. Naval Station, Green Cove Springs, Florida, 392 units. Now, by way of explanation of this, the man who has these Wherry housing units is a constituent of mine. One of these bases is in the district which I represent, and that is Green Cove Springs. There is a different pattern of equity involved at each, but it is a very strong pattern of equity in each of them, that the Navy should acquire these. For instance, in the Whiting Field activity, the Navy advised this man that they were going to acquire land. They advised him they would acquire the project. They advised him by letter that it was mandatory, and they intended to do it. On the basis of this, he entered into some financial arrangements with the bank, and his bank is now pressing him on the matter and the Navy feels under the law. It is not just that the Navy feels. The Navy is highly justified in feeling that under the law, as it is, there is no longer a mandatory requirement to acquire it, because it is no longer required to put any Capehart in this particular location. But nevertheless, over a period of a year this man has thought that he was going to have all this money come back to him and has made arrangements on that basis, and equities have been established and he is highly embarrassed by it. Now, the other one is a different type of equity, at the Green Cove Springs facility. This is a facility which the Navy heavily urged this particular man to come in and build, and it has never been able to pay its way. The facility there is a reserve fleet berthing area. It has just been impossible to keep the population up sufficiently to keep that particular project full-I mean financed. Now, all this does, as I understand it, all this amendment does, is to allow the Navy to purchase it, and if we don't do it, they won't even allow them to purchase it. Isn't that correct, Admiral Ailes? Admiral AILES. That is correct, sir. The CHAIRMAN. What naval installation is at Green Cove Springs? Admiral AILES. A naval reserve fleet berthing area, sir. The CHAIRMAN. That is where the reserve fleet is berthed, at Green Cove Springs? Admiral AILES. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Now, what is the personnel there? Admiral AILES. Captain Schumacher in my housing office, has the details. sir. The CHAIRMAN. All right, Captain. Captain SCHUMACHER. Yes, sir. There are about 1,000 people there, The CHAIRMAN. About 1,000 people. How many Wherry houses have been constructed there? Captain SCHUMACHER. At Green Cove Springs, sir, we have 392. The CHAIRMAN. What is your demand for public quarters? Captain SCHUMACHER. The The CHAIRMAN. In other words, if we acquire these 50 units, would there be any use for them? Captain SCHUMACHER. Yes, sir, Mr. Chairman. We have 94 percent occupancy in this Wherry housing now, sir. The occupancy has come up in the last 3 years, from 80 percent to 94 percent. In other words, it is barely approaching the satisfactory level now, sir. We could use them. The CHAIRMAN. What is the condition Well, there is no need to go into that. That is a matter of debate with the Navy when you go to negotiate it. What is the attitude of the Department? Do you recommend acquiring permission to acquire these houses? Admiral AILES. The one at Whiting Field, Mr. Chairman: We are now considering a Capehart project there. So that one would become mandatory. the Mr. BENNETT. Yes, it may become a mandatory-a year ago Navy notified this man it was mandatory, and he started making his finances on the basis of it, and then they notified him within the last month or two it is no longer mandatory, and they may not acquire it, which is throwing his finances The CHAIRMAN. It will become mandatory if they start Capehart houses there? Mr. BENNETT. It would. The CHAIRMAN. Is there enough residential quarters in the neighborhood to take care of your Navy personnel? Admiral AILES. I didn't understand your question, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Is there enough quarters there to take care of your present Naval personnel? Admiral AILES. Yes, sir; there is plentiful housing in the area, except considering meeting this Capehart project. The CHAIRMAN. This is not mandatory, that the Navy acquire it? Admiral AILES. If we have the Capehart project, it will become mandatory. The CHAIRMAN. I understand that. Mr. KELLEHER. It is not now. Admiral AILES. It is not now; no, sir. Admiral AILES. It is not now. The CHAIRMAN. I understand that. But does the language require him to acquire it, under the language of Mr. Bennett? Mr. KELLEHER. Mr. Bennett's language will permit them to. Mr. KELLEHER. Authorize them. Admiral AILES. Authorize them. Mr. BENNETT. I understood it was just to authorize. With that understanding Admiral AILES. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. I think we will be warranted to go on. It is not mandatory on the part of the Department to acquire it, but they are merely authorizing it if the facts and circumstances warrant them to acquire it. Mr. BENNETT. That is all I ask. Mr. KELLEHER. They could not acquire it if the language was not in here. The Chairman. I understand that. Mr. HARDY. There has been a period when you could acquire these without there being any mandatory category? Admiral AILES. Yes, sir. Mr. HARDY. Do you have any moral obligation to acquire them? Now, you have run into this thing before. You and I have been over this business, and you have struggled with the Navy on some others where they did have a moral obligation to acquire it and virtually ran out on that moral obligation, until we really sat down and pressed on it. And if you have the same situation here, then they ought to be put in the mandatory category. Mr. BENNETT. I really do feel the Whiting project is a place where you have a strong moral obligation. The CHAIRMAN. Well, I think the best way to approach it is to authorize it and give them permission to acquire them if in their judgment, on their investigation, they find the facts warrant them to do so. Mr. DURHAM. Well Mr. HARDY. I would like to make this observation in that connection, and it may be that that is all that has to be done, because I am |