LANGUAGE CHANGES Mr. MAHON. Colonel Moore, have you a statement to make on language changes? Colonel MOORE. Mr. Chairman, the text for the supplemental estimates of the Department of Defense now being considered by the committee cover some 31⁄2 pages and is printed in House Document 657. In order that the text may indicate clearly the purposes of the appropriations and in order to insure the use of the appropriations for the items included in the justifications presented to the committee it is suggested that the changes which I will enumerate be made. EXPEDITING PRODUCTION It is requested that after the words "To enable the Secretary of the Army, without reference to Revised Statutes 1136," there be inserted "355, and 3734," so that the text will read: To enable the Secretary of the Army, without reference to Revised Statutes 1136' 355, and 3734, as amended, to expedite the production of equipment and supplies for the Army for emergency national defense purposes, including all of the objects and purposes specified under each of the appropriations available to the Department of the Army during the fiscal year 1951, for procurement or production of equipment or supplies, for erection of structures, or for acquisition of land; the furnishing of Government-owned facilities at privately owned plants; the procurement and training of civilian personnel in connection with the production of equipment and material and the use and operation thereof; and for any other purposes which in the discretion of the Secretary of the Army are desirable in expediting production for military purposes; $125,000,000. Revised Statutes 355 and 3734 require approval of title by the Attorney General and approval of plans by the Administrator of General Services before certain actions contemplated under authority of this provision could be accomplished. Inasmuch as the whole purpose of this provision is to save time during the current emergency, such time-consuming technical review by nondefense agencies would only operate to hinder such programs. The waiver of these statutes is authorized by Public Law 580 of June 5, 1942, effective "during the continuance of the present war and for 6 months after the termination of the war," but in order to preclude any possibility that that law would not be so interpreted, it is requested that the waiver be included in the language of the appropriation itself. DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE ACQUISITION AND CONSTRUCTION OF REAL PROPERTY It is requested that the text which reads "Acquisition and construction of real property, $169,700,000, to remain available until -expended;" be changed to read: Acquisition and construction of real property, $169,700,000, to remain available until expended; and appropriations under this head for the fiscal year 1951 shall be available for such construction not heretofore provided for as may be deemed necessary by the Secretary of Defense; The additional language which has been proposed enables the utilization of funds under this head for projects deemed necessary by the Secretary of Defense as well as projects covered by the specific authorization acts cited in the text of chapter X of the General Appropriation Act, 1951, now being considered by the Senate. GENERAL PROVISIONS-SECTION 101 It is suggested that section 101 of General Provisions be changed by adding to the text the following: "Acquisition and Construction of Real Property', and 'Alaska Communication System'" so the provision will read: SEC. 101. That section of Title VI of the Defense Appropriation Act, 1951, under the head General Provisions, which relates to limits of cost of certain construction projects, is hereby amended to read as follows: "The Secretary of the Army, the Secretary of the Air Force, and the Secretary of the Navy are authorized to expend out of Army, Air Force, or Navy appropriations available for construction or maintenance such amounts as may be required for minor construction (except family quarters), extensions to existing structures, and improvements, at facilities of the Department concerned, but the cost of any project authorized under this section which is not otherwise authorized shall not exceed $50,000, except that the limitation on the cost of any such project which is determined by the Secretary of Defense to be urgently required in the interests of national defense, shall not exceed $200,000: Provided, That the cost limitations of this section shall not apply to the appropriations for 'Contingencies of the Army', 'Army National Guard', 'Organized Reserves', 'Expediting Production', 'Contingencies of the Air Force', 'Acquisition and Construction of Real Property' and 'Alaska Communication System'." The addition of the Air Force appropriation for the acquisition and construction of real property to the appropriations to which this limitation should not be applicable is to cover the construction proj ects for which funds are provided in the estimates. The inclusion of the appropriation "Alaska communication system" is to permit the use of the appropriation for the projects included in the estimates. This limitation applying as it does to improvements might be interpreted to limit the amount which could be expended for such projects. MUTUAL DEFENSE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 2, 1950. WITNESSES HON. DEAN ACHESON, SECRETARY OF STATE WILLIAM C. FOSTER, DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR, ECONOMIC COOP- MAJ. GEN. LYMAN L. LEMNITZER, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF MUTUAL ASSISTANCE, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE JOHN H. OHLY, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, MUTUAL DEFENSE ASSISTANCE, DEPARTMENT OF STATE NORMAN S. PAUL, ACTING CHIEF, MUTUAL DEFENSE ASSISTANCE BRANCH, ECA ROBERT E. O'HARA, BUDGET DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE WILLIAM H. BRAY, JR., CHIEF, PROGRAM AND OPERATIONS STAFF, MUTUAL DEFENSE ASSISTANCE EDWARD B. WILBER, BUDGET OFFICER, DEPARTMENT OF STATE Mr. MAHON. Gentlemen, the committee will come to order. We will take up for consideration the supplemental estimate of appropriation to provide military assistance to foreign nations, as contained in House Document No. 670. The request is in the amount of $4,000,000,000, for the fiscal year 1951. We have before us the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, Mr. Foster, Acting Administrator of the Economic Cooperation Administration, and members of the staff of these agencies for the purpose of considering this request of the President for an appropriation of $4,000,000,000 for the mutual defense assistance program. We shall place in the record at this point the appropriate language of House Document No. 670, which has been sent down by the President in connection with the projected program. (The language is as follows:) [H. Doc. No. 670, 81st Cong., 2d sess.] The SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. THE WHITE HOUSE, Washington, August 1, 1950. SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith for the consideration of the Congress a supplemental estimate of appropriation, for the fiscal year 1951 of $4,000,000,000, to provide military assistance to foreign nations. As I pointed out in my message to the Congress on July 19, 1950, the Communist assault on the Republic of Korea has challenged the authority of the United Nations and jeopardized world peace. It is now clear that the free nations must accelerate the efforts they are making to strengthen their common security. They now have no alternative but to increase rapidly their preparedness to defend the principles of international law and justice for which the United Nations stands. This course provides the best hope of deterring future calculated outbreaks against the peace of the world. În view of this urgent necessity, we have been reviewing the requirements for the common defense of the free world. We have been consulting with our associates in the North Atlantic Treaty with a view to determining what additional resources must be used by them and by us to provide an adequate common defense. Most of these nations, like ourselves, are now making plans to increase their production of defense equipment and their armed forces. The greater share of this effort will, of course, be assumed by these nations themselves, out of their own resources. However, the serious problems with which they are confronted make it necessary for us to increase our military aid to them if they are to make their maximum contribution to the common defense. It is not yet possible to determine exactly what each nation involved in the common defense can and should provide. It is already clear, however, that the security of the free world requires the United States and the other free nations to put forth a far larger effort in a much shorter period of time than had originally been contemplated. For this reason, I recommend that the Congress provide $4,000,000,000 in additional funds, to be used under the Mutual Defense Assistance Program. Of this amount, it is estimated that $3,504,000,000 will be required for strengthening the security of the North Atlantic area. The security of this area is of paramount importance to the strength of the entire free world. The balance of the funds requested would be devoted to expanding and accelerating our military assistance to vital areas in other parts of the world. It is estimated that $193,000,000 will be required to accelerate and increase the important programs of military assistance to Greece, Turkey, and Iran. In view of the increased jeopardy to the Pacific area caused by the Communist aggression in Korea, it is estimated that $303,000,000 will be required to increase and accelerate military assistance to the Republic of the Philippines and to other nations in southern and eastern Asia. These funds, added to the amounts already provided and to the resources supplied by other nations, will aid in bringing our common defensive strength more quickly to the level now shown to be necessary. It is important that the Congress make the requested amount available as soon as possible. The bulk of this money will be used to procure military equipment of the kind which takes a long time to produce. Much of it will not come off the production lines for 12, 18, or 24 months after the signing of the procurement contracts. Speed in getting this production underway is imperative, if we are to have the equipment for the expanded forces that are being formed. The productive capacity of the entire free world should be drawn on to provide the necessary equipment. The need is so great and so urgent that we should obtain the necessary defense articles wherever they can be produced most quickly, most cheaply, and with the most efficient use of the economic resources of the free nations. While it will undoubtedly be necessary for the United States to manufacture the major part of the equipment to be supplied out of these funds, it will also be necessary for other nations to share the burden to the extent that they can. A significant portion of the arms needed can be produced abroad. In many instances, however, there are resources and manpower which foreign countries can allocate to defense production only if those countries are supplied with additional production equipment and materials. Such equipment and materials will substantially increase the productive resources which the free nations can devote to the common defense. It is contemplated, therefore, in the program I am recommending, that part of the funds requested will be used to procure military items and production equipment and materials abroad, and to provide equipment and materials, procured in the United States or in other countries, for defense production abroad. Authority already exists for these activities under the Mutual Defense Assistance Program. If we are to take full advantage of foreign productive capacity, we will have to use greater sums for these purposes than we have been using in the past, and will have to purchase the necessary military equipment or production aids in any market where such procurement can be most effectively accomplished. Equipment which is procured abroad under this program can either be used within the country which produces it or transferred to other countries engaged in the common defense. The equipment produced abroad, and that produced in the United States, under the Mutual Defense Assistance Program, will be made available to other free countries in accordance with their needs and their ability to use it effectively. To the extent that this equipment is not made available to other countries, it will constitute a valuable addition to our own defense stocks. I wish to make it very plain that this equipment will go forward to other countries only to supplement, and not to take the place of, their own strong efforts. Transfers to other North Atlantic Treaty nations will be consistent with definite defense plans developed by the treaty organization. In intensifying our efforts and the efforts of those joined with us to increase our common defensive power, we must not lose sight of the fact that military power rests on economic strength. It is vitally important that the free nations create a greater degree of combined military strength in being than has been previously maintained. It is also vitally important that we continue to build up our combined economic strength, capable of rapid mobilization in the event of emergency. The expansion of the mutual-defense program will not be a substitute for economic aid. On the contrary, the burden which we expect the other nations to bear in the common defense effort makes it all the more necessary to continue our economic aid. A greatly expanded program of defense production will impose serious economic burdens, and the cost of maintaining expanded military forces will add to those burdens. Therefore if the free nations are to achieve the economic and military strength which are necessary for our common defense we must continue to give full support to the European recovery program. The increased military-aid program I am recommending is as vital to our national security as the increased military appropriations I have previously recommended for our own Armed Forces. The security of the United States is inseparably bound up with the survival of the free nations associated with us in the common defense. In view of the necessity for prompt action and in view of the fact that the appropriate legislative committees of the Congress have so recently reviewed the Mutual Defense Assistance Program congressional leaders of both parties have generously assured me that they will cooperate in obtaining early consideration of this matter in connection with an appropriation bill. The details of the appropriation estimate are set forth in the letter of the Director of the Bureau of the Budget transmitted herewith. Respectfully yours, HARRY S. TRUMAN. The PRESIDENT, The White House. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, SIR: I have the honor to submit herewith for your consideration a supplemental estimate of appropriation to the President for the fiscal year 1951, in the amount of $4,000,000,000, as follows: "FUNDS APPROPRIATED TO THE PRESIDENT "ADDITIONAL MUTUAL DEFENSE ASSISTANCE "For expenses necessary, fiscal year 1951, to enable the President to carry out an additional program of military assistance to friendly nations in the manner authorized in the Mutual Defense Assistance Act of 1949, as amended, $4,000,000,000, of which (a) $3,504,000,000 shall be available for the purposes specified in Title I, including expenses, as authorized by section 408 (b), of administering the provisions of said Act and Act of May 22, 1947 (61 Stat. 103), as amended; (b) $193,000,000 shall be available for the purposes specified in Title II; and (c) $303,000,000 shall be available for the purposes specified in Title III, including section 303 (a).” I recommend that the foregoing supplemental estimate be transmitted to the Congress. Respectfully yours, F. J. LAWTON, Director of the Bureau of the Budget. Mr. MAHON. I would like to suggest, in view of the fact that we have representatives of the various departments here who are busy people that we handle this hearing to their advantage and, of course, to our own advantage. I do not think any of us are too busy to give thorough and competent consideration to a measure so important as the one pending before us. I believe our purposes will be served by having a statement from you, Secretary Acheson, and you, Secretary Johnson, and you, Mr. Foster, and that those statements be presented without interruption, and that after you have given your three statements then we will have a question period and we will go into the details as to the nature of the program and so forth. In other words, we will ask you about policy. Will you proceed, Mr. Secretary? STATEMENT OF SECRETARY OF STATE DEAN ACHESON Secretary ACHESON. Yes, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, the Communist aggression in Korea underlines the urgent need for strengthening the free world, quickly and effectively. The President indicated, in his message to the Congress on July 19, 1950, the three ways in which we must push ahead at once to protect the security of our country. One way is to increase immediately the shipment of weapons and reinforcements to General MacArthur. The second way is to build up our Armed Forces. The third way is to aid further the free nations associated with us to build up their defenses against aggression. These three courses are interrelated, and are all vital aspects of our own security. |