Atlanta Daily World

Kefauver Wants Reappraisal Of Overall Defense Position

WASHINGTON.-(INS) - Sen Estes Kefauver (D) Tenn. served notice Friday he will urge the Pentagon to conduct an "immediate" reappraisal of America's "overall defense position Kefauver, chairman of the special Senate preparedness subcommittee, said the examination should give particular attention to the adequacy of ammunition stockpiles. He said he'll recommend to Defense Secretary Charles E. Wilson and Army Secretary Wilber Brucker that they postpone closing of three multi-million dollar ammunition plants until the reappraisal is completed. Kefauver's statement followed recent testimony by military officials that the U. S has the capacity to fight a localized war in the Middle East but would encounter shortages in an all-out conflict At today's windup hearing on the proposed Ordnance plans shut-downs, Kefauver Said he will urge that the subcommittee's report "raise questions about the wisdom" of the closings. Rear Adm. F. Withington, chief of the Navy's Ordnance Bureau, testified at the final hearing that his branch has on hand a "large stockpile of ammunition worth some three and one-half billion dollars. He said that except for general purpose bombs, the navy's ammunition stock "today is better than it was when the Korean war broke out." The three ammunition plants slated to be closed after a 30-day "reprieve" requested by the subcommittee are at Newport, Ind., Chattanooga, Tenn., and Parsons Kan.