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SERVICE SECRETARIES. Relieved of their duties as operational bosses of their respective services, the Secretaries of Army, Navy and Air Force should have major responsibilities for administration, training and logistics. This, said the President, is quite a job in itself, since each Secretary heads up a "department much larger than any executive department except the Department of Defense itself." Each would be allowed one under secretary and a minimum of two assistant secretaries. One or both of the two remaining assistant secretaries would be eliminated. But the President promised that he would not lay a glove on the Army, Navy, Marine Corps or Air Force themselves. Said he: "I have neither the intent nor the desire to merge or abolish traditional services."
JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF. The present J.C.S. would be elevated to the responsibility of a staff directly assisting the Defense Secretary in his command of the military services (see chart). With rare exceptions personally approved by the President, the operational forces would be regrouped into streamlined unified commands, e.g., Alaskan Command, European Command, Caribbean Command. These the J.C.S., under the Secretary of Defense, would command directly, instead of having the chain of command pass through the service secretaries and the service chiefs. Moreover, the separate services would not be able to move their officers in and out of the unified commands at will. So that members of the J.C.S. can devote more time to J.C.S. operational duties, the President urged that Congress authorize the chiefs to pass major service responsibilities along to their vice chiefs.
JOINT STAFF. This little-publicized staff of bright officers now serves the J.C.S., is limited by law to 210 members. It should be enlarged, and assigned its duties by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs subject to the approval of the Defense Secretary. While the President's message leans over backward to avoid special mention of the J.C.S. chairman, this quiet reform could —if the Defense Secretary so wished—make the J.C.S. chairman an effective chief of staff.
RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT. To head off such costly duplications as the Army's Jupiter IRBM and the Air Force's Thor, a new post of Director of Defense Research and Engineering would replace the present Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. The new director would be a scientist and engineer advising the Defense Secretary, and overseeing, assigning and initiating research projects within the three services and also in the new Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Office of the Director of Guided Missiles. "Unavoidably, we are engaged in a race with potential enemies for new, more powerful military devices," said President Eisenhower. "The Secretary of Defense must have full authority to prevent unwise service competition in this critical area."