The Ypsilanti Daily Press

TRUMAN SEEKS ARMY-NAVY MERGER

Would Create Department of National Defense With Air Force on Equal Basis.

Washington, Dec. 19—(AP)—President Truman called today for merger of the Army and Navy into a single department of national defense with the air forces fully equal to the land and sea arms.

Stepping squarely into the middle of the long and bitter struggle between the Army and Navy top commands, Mr. Truman followed in virtually every detail the official War Department plan for unification.

Declaring that "I urge this as the best means of keeping the peace," Mr. Truman proposed that the new defense department be headed by a single cabinet member operating with one undersecretary and several assistant secretaries, all civilians. There would be a departmental chief of staff, with a commander for each of the three component branches—Army, Navy and Air.

Either the President or the secretary of defense could take up directly the separate commanders matters of basic military strategy and policy and the division of the department's budget.

Drawn From Services

Key staff positions in department, Mr. Truman said, should be filled with officers drawn from all the services "so that the thinking of the department would not be dominated by any one or two of the services."

In his 5,500 word message, Mr. Truman called again for Congress—

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Merger
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ional approval of universal military training, asserting it has met "with the overwhelming approval of the people of the United States"
He termed unification legislation "another essential step along with universal training in the development of a comprehensive and continuous program for our future safety and for the peace and security of the world"

Grave Risk
"We would be taking a grave risk with the national security if we did not move now to overcome permanently the present imperfections in our defense organizations."
Mr. Truman continued.
The President said there is no basis for fear that an over-all organization would lodge too much power in a single individual—"that the concentration of so much military power would lead to militarism."
"There is no basis for such fear as long as the traditional policy of the United States is followed that a civilian, subject to the President, the Congress and the will of the people, be placed at the head of this department."
Citing what he termed "the most important reasons for combining the two existing departments," Mr. Truman said such a step would:
Strengthen facilities for integrated strategic plans, programs and budgets;
Achieve economies through control of supply and service functions;
Foster coordination between the military and civilian branches of the government and, foster civilian control of the military.