Mr. CANFIELD. That is the way I understand it, Mr. Chairman. Now, I have just-read the letter from the Secretary of Defense, Mr. Louis Johnson, and it is a rather strong letter in behalf of this appropriation. He expresses his strong concern about port security in the event of war. COMMUNISM AND SABOTAGE I am mindful of a report recently developed by the Library of Congress, a rather conservative agency of the Federal Government when it comes to making reports, in which the Library said that its investigation staff had developed that in the event of another war, the Communists here in the United States of America had exceedingly well-laid plans to sabotage right and left. Did you, perchance, read that report? Mr. CANFIELD. Did you hear about it, Captain? Admiral O'NEILL. It is the first I have heard of it. Mr. CANFIELD. Mr. Chairman, inasmuch as the Secretary of Defense, Mr. Johnson, has expressed fears about the lack of Coast Goard Reserve training in the event of war and emphasizes his very strong feelings on this subject, it occurs to me that it might be well to have him down here for a few minutes some afternoon before we complete action on this bill. Mr. GARY. I would be very glad to have the Defense Secretary here, but I question whether it is necessary. This committee expressed itself last year as favoring this program. It had not been approved by the President at that time, and we could not act upon it. I expressed my feeling sometime ago with reference to reserve training in this way: I happened to be attending a banquet given by one of the Army Reserve units. The speaker before me referred to the Reserve Forces as the first line of defense of America. In my remarks I said it did not think they were the first line of defense; that I thought the Regular Army was the first line of defense, and that the Reserves were the real line of defense. The Regulars hold the line until the Reserves arrive. Now, that is not depreciating the Regular Army or the Regular Navy or the Coast Guard; but the facts are that in the history of this country we have never been willing to support an Army or a Navy or a Coast Guard sufficient to take care of war needs. We are not going to do it now. And if we do not, the only way that we can be prepared is to have an Organized Reserve that is trained to step in when an emergency arises. We maintain peacetime armies which must be augmented by Reserve forces. Realizing the importance of the Coast Guard activities in times of war, I think they ought to have Reserves. And certainly you cannot expect them to operate a Reserve on a basis different from that operated by the Army and Navy. Mr. CANFIELD. I do, too, Mr. Chairman. I feel as you do. And when, day after day, we find our leaders in Government, from the President down, talking about the progress of the cold war, we must 60561-50-pt. 1- 19 face the facts of life and realize that the cold war some day may grow hot. Mr. PASSMAN. Admiral O'Neill, did we have a Coast Guard Reserve prior to World War II? COAST GUARD AUXILIARY Admiral O'NEILL. In 1939, Mr. Passman, we established what at that time was called a Coast Guard Reserve. It was a nonmilitary organization. Actually what it was is the present-day Coast Guard Auxiliary. It is a little bit confusing, but in 1941, when our Military Reserve was established, the name of the old Coast Guard Reserve was changed to Coast Guard Auxiliary, which organization we have today. Mr. PASSMAN. You still have that organization today? Admiral O'NEILL. Yes, sir. Mr. PASSMAN. Putting it on the basis of the other branches of the military service, you have never proposed a program in the past where you would have a certain percentage of reservists, the same as the other branches of the service, have you? Admiral O'NEILL. Not in the Coast Guard; no sir. Mr. PASSMAN. Commenting further on the request for fiscal 1951, you are asking for $4,100,000 to train 1,900 officers and 6,000 enlisted men. Is that correct? Admiral O'NEILL. Yes, sir. Mr. PASSMAN. And your ultimate goal is 2,469 officers, with 26,645 men? Admiral O'NEILL. Yes, sir. Mr. PASSMAN. Now, will the cost go up in proportion to the request that you are making for fiscal 1951? Admiral O'NEILL. No, sir; $8,000,000 is the maximum. Mr. PASSMAN. Why is it costing so much to initiate the program? You are only going to train 6,000 enlisted men, and it is going to cost us $4,100,000. Ultimately you will train 26,645 for $8,000,000. ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS Admiral O'NEILL. That is largely due, Mr. Passman, to the administrative costs in the first year of operation, which, you might say, would increase very little beyond that time. It would be the initial cost in establishing it and setting up and providing for the administrative personnel, the overhead. Mr. PASSMAN. But when you reach your ultimate goal in the Reserves you are going to have a greater number in the Reserves than you will in the Regular Coast Guard, according to the figures that you have here. Admiral O'NEILL. Yes, sir. This program, and I think it has been pointed out before, is to enable us to meet our initial mobilization requirements. Mr. PASSMAN. Would this come under the head of National Security proper, since the Coast Guard is not considered a military unit during peacetime? Admiral O'NEILL. Well, of course, we are a military service and a branch of the armed forces at all times. In peacetime we operate under the Treasury Department, and in wartime we transfer to the Navy. That is why these missions are assigned to us. We performed many of these in World War II. And many of them are an extension of our peacetime activities. This program, of course, is to enable us, at the minute that we go into the Navy, to start the performance of our missions assigned to us during peacetime, when the emergency comes. Mr. PASSMAN. Admiral, I am not critical of the program, but I have had an opportunity to peep in on a lot of the justifications before the subcommittees, and almost without exception, across the board, there is an increase in every request before the several subcommittees. It reminds me of a story I read in the paper the other day that if you were to confiscate all the wealth and all the profits, there still would not be sufficient funds to do all the projects that are labeled "good." So I wonder, since we are facing a five and one-half to seven billion dollar deficit for fiscal 1951, whether the program could not be postponed until we could see a balanced budget in sight since we have gone along without it so long. Admiral O'NEILL. Of course, the fact that we have gone along without it so long, Mr. Passman, has been of great concern to us. Because here was a mission assigned to us, and in the event of a war, we would be entirely unable to perform that mission, to do the duties that are expected of us and that we would be required to do because of the fact that no other military service will perform these duties nor have any plans for performing them. In other words, these are our functions. And, as I say, it has been a source of great concern to us, because we realize that up to now we are unprepared for them. Mr. PASSMAN. Well, considering the maximum of $8,000,000 annually for this program when you reach your ultimate goal, is that just for the Coast Guard training end of it, or does that include the civilian personnel that will be attached for administrative purposes? Admiral O'NEILL. There are some civilian personnel included in this program; yes, sir. Mr. PASSMAN. You spoke of your present Auxiliary Coast Guard. Or how did you refer to it a moment ago? Admiral O'NEILL. The Coast Guard Auxiliary. Mr. PASSMAN. Is it active today? Admiral O'NEILL. Yes, sir. Mr. PASSMAN. What number do you have in that organization? Admiral O'NEILL. There are about twelve or thirteen thousand, approximately. I am not sure of the figure, but that is close to it. Mr. PASSMAN. During the wartime, you considered them the Coast Guard Reserve, did you not? Admiral O'NEILL. No, sir. That is a nonmilitary organization. It consists of boat owners, primarily boat owners. There is a communication group in it, too, and also some planes, but it is primarily an organization of boat owners to increase safety on the water, safety in the operation of motorboats. Mr. PASSMAN. And this reserve would be in addition to the Coast Guard Auxiliary that is active at this time? Admiral O'NEILL. Yes, sir. There is no inclusion of the Auxiliary in this program. Mr. PASSMAN. Mr. Chairman, I would like to repeat that I am not critical of the program; but I am concerned, because practically every year since I have been a Member of Congress almost every department has been requiring more funds to operate. There is a question in my mind as to whether we are ever going to be able to check the trend. And if we continue appropriating funds for everything that looks good on the surface-and no doubt many of them are-I just wonder if we will ever have a balanced budget. And since we did not actually have an active reserve prior to the war and got along very nicely, I was just wondering if this could not be postponed until such time as a balanced budget is in sight. MILITARY UNPREPAREDNESS PRIOR TO WORLD WAR II Mr. GARY. Certainly no one deplores the present fiscal situation or is more concerned about it than I am. But I would not say that we got along nicely before the war. The fact is that before the war we were just not prepared. Mr. PASSMAN. Speaking of the Coast Guard? Mr. GARY. I am speaking of the entire United States Government. We were absolutely unprepared in every sense of the word. We did not have an adequate Army, we did not have an adequate Navy, we did not have an adequate Coast Guard, we did not have adequate stock piles, and we were wholly unprepared for war. And in every war we have had, we have been wholly unprepared at the start. Now, it so happens that in the past England and a few other countries have been strong enough to hold the enemy until we could prepare ourselves. Now there is no nation that is able to hold an enemy until we prepare ourselves. Therefore, it seems to me that we have got to keep ourselves prepared, so that we do not get caught in an atomic war completely unprepared, as we have been in the past. I remember on one occasion just after World War I, I heard exPresident William Howard Taft make a speech in Richmond. He was speaking for the League of Nations. In discussing our success notwithstanding our unpreparedness in previous wars, he said, "God looks after the fool, the drunkard, and the United States." Anyway, I think if we are going to be prepared we have got to be prepared all along the line, and any weak link in our chain of preparedness would leave us exposed to sabotage or to the enemy. Mr. CANFIELD. Mr. Chairman, I was always told that Corregidor was America's great fortress of the seas, absolutely impregnable. And I shall always remember my visit to Corregidor in January 1946 and how shocked I was to see our best guns were the vintage of 1898 and 1900. We had no modern guns of any kind, no modern aircraft, or what have you. The story I got from those left on Corregidor was that we had adhered religiously to the disarmament pact and the Japs were forever watching us and we could not sneak anything in. That was the picture of Corregidor. Not so many weeks ago, we in the House voted an appropriation of $3,000,000 for a great "sesqui" party here in Washington. And I protested. I protested vigorously. And I said on the floor of the House: "Oh, I would rather appropriate those funds, $3,000,000; for a new Coast Guard Reserve." We were beaten back, and $3,000,000 was appropriated for the "sesqui" celebration. Now look at that mess today. The whole picture is in the hands of the FBI, investigating alleged frauds and kick-backs. They have postponed the affair until next year, and efforts are being made in the Congress today to rescind that appropriation. And at least 20 Members who voted for it have come to me to express their chagrin and to say that if it comes up again on the floor of the House, they will vote otherwise. Mr. PASSMAN. Mr. Chairman, I shall keep an open mind on this proposal of the Coast Guard Reserve. I am not critical of it. I hope that the committee in executive session later will discuss it. Mr. GARY. The committee unquestionably will. Mr. PASSMAN. And we can go into more detail then. I repeat that I will keep an open mind, but I should like to discuss it further. Mr. GARY. Unquestionably it will be discussed when the time comes to mark up the bill. But I simply wanted to express my views with reference to it on the record. Thank you, gentlemen. That concludes the hearing. We are very much obliged to you. Admiral O'NEILL. Thank you for your courtesies to us and the courtesies of the members of your committee. RESERVE OFFICERS ASSOCIATION WITNESS HAROLD C. THEUS, LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL FOR RESERVE OFFICERS ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES, AND MAJOR, UNITED STATES AIR FORCE RESERVE Mr. GARY. Mr. Theus, you are, I believe, the legislative counsel of the Reserve Officers Association of the United States? Mr. THEUS. Yes, sir. Mr. GARY. We have just completed the hearing of the Coast Guard, and thought that this was an appropriate time for your statement. We will be very glad to hear from you at this time, sir. Mr. THEUS. Thank you, sir. I believe you have my name in the record, from your statement. I am Harold C. Theus, legislative counsel for the Reserve Officers Association of the United States. I have a brief prepared statement. I think it would be sufficient to give it to the clerk and include it in the record. However, if you would like to hear it, I would be happy to read it. Mr. GARY. You may proceed, as you wish, and can use the time to suit yourself. Mr. THEUS. I am here today representing the 80,000 Reserve officers of all branches of the armed forces in support of an appropriation entitled "Reserve training, Coast Guard," in the sum of $4,100,000. This appropriation will provide for the training of approximately 1,900 officers and 6,000 enlisted men during the fiscal year 1951 if it is passed by the Congress. Up until this time, although several previous attempts have been made to obtain funds for the training of the Coast Guard Reserve, there has been no paid training for this vital segment of our national defense structure. As a result, the security of our seaports, which is the primary mission of the Coast Guard Reserve, is not adequately provided for because of a lack of trained personnel to in |