Mr. MINSHALL. Thank you very much.

Mr. MAHON. Did you give the statutory authority for this? Colonel JOSLIN. Sir, I do not have it, but I will get it for the record. Mr. MAHON. There probably isn't any.

Colonel JOSLIN. Sir, there is an Army regulation as well as an Air Force regulation establishing it. I do not know the statutory authority. I will get it if there is one.

Mr. MAHON. I have a paper here which a member of the staff has handed to me. It says, "MARS,"-meaning the Military Affiliate Radio System-"is a shortwave network consisting of military-owned and operated radio stations and affiliated civilian amateur radio stations. MARS was established on November 26, 1948, on authority of the Secretaries of the Army and Air Force and is jointly operated by the two Services.

"MARS provides supplemental communications between military stations," et cetera.

Colonel JOSLIN. I will get that for the record, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. FLOOD. The point there is under the empowering statutes the authority of the Secretary of the Army to issue a regulation for the purpose of executing a statute constitutes statutory authority.

Mr. MAHON. I wish you would make sure that you provide us the background of this information and tell us what other funds are used in connection with this program to which we have referred.

Colonel JOSLIN. Sir, the $40,000 that is in the budget is for the pay of those people, those civilian personnel that are required to operate the systems. I mentioned an Army headquarters. You have one paid civilian employee, full-time. The rest are on a voluntary basis. I might add that this system also is used to pass unofficial compassionate type traffic from military personnel. For instance, if a soldier is in Korea

Mr. FLOOD. That is not what he asked you. He authority was. I told you what the authority is. (The information is as follows:)

STATUTORY AUTHORITY FOR MARS

asked you what the Now go and get it.

Specific statute authority pertaining exclusively to the Millitary Affiliate Radio System does not exist.

Reference is made to title 10, USC-3012, subparagraph g, and similar preceding authority so vested, authorizing the Secretary of the Army to establish communications systems. This is interpreted to permit employment of such facilities as are available to this end. The Nation's amateur radio operators are one such facility valuable for the purpose of an emergency communications network. The Military Affiliate Radio System was thereby established to utilize this potential.

Mr. FORD. May I ask, how many individuals are involved in this program on a worldwide basis?

Colonel JOSLIN. Sir, at the last reading there was approximately 5,408, but that changes because people apply for membership. They have to be screened. They have to sign an oath that they have no Communist affiliation. They have to be checked to see if they have a ham ticket. People are dropped from the rolls because they could not remain active, or violate the regulations of the MARS net. That fluctuates.

Mr. FORD. This is about the level of activity?
Colonel JOSLIN. Yes, sir.

Mr. FORD. Do I understand that each of these individuals, or perhaps a group of them, have their own equipment which they have either acquired themselves or they have acquired through this donation process?

Colonel JOSLIN. Sir, in most cases, in practically, I would say, all the cases, a man starts out with his own equipment. He has to get a ham license or have a novice license. To do that he has to have his own equipment. When he gets his equipment and license then he can apply for affiliation with MARS. Then he is eligible to get surplus equipment.

If a man goes to a MARS Director and says, "I want to become a member of MARS," he is not given any equipment. He has to qualify as a member before he can join the system.

Mr. FLOOD. This MARS System cooperates with the CAP in all States?

Colonel JOSLIN. Yes, also with Civil Defense.

TRAVEL OF NONDEFENSE CIVILIANS

Mr. MAHON. I would like to talk a while about the question of travel and certain special aspects of travel.

The

The committee is well aware of the position of the Departments as to travel limitations placed in the bill last year. The committee will also recall that during the conference there was some discussion of limiting the individuals whom the military department would be authorized to transport. In lieu of a limitation, I requested a report on these categories of persons whose travel most concerns us. first report for the month of October 1960 contained some rather interesting information. The Army report for October 1960 shows, for instance, that in October there were 484 passenger trips on official Department of Defense business by persons other than regular military and civilian employees of the Defense Establishment.

I would like to ask some questions as to the travel of some of these people or groups of people. Are you aware of what I am talking about, General?

General DUFF. Mr. Chairman, are you referring to travel on Army aircraft, sir?

Mr. MAHON. Travel on Army aircraft, MATS or otherwise. General DUFF. Yes, sir. I am generally familiar with the report. I am not familiar with the details of it.

Mr. MAHON. Is there anyone here who is more familiar with it than you?

General DUFF. I have a specific memorandum on this particular subject that might be helpful. I am not sure whether it would be responsive to any question you might have.

Mr. FLOOD. Does this deal with the Military Traffic Management Agency?

Mr. MAHON. I assume not.

Here the Army is transporting 484 passenger trips in the month of October. I was just interested in exploring the validity of this travel. Why would individuals associated with such organizations at St. John's College, the AEI Research Laboratory, the British Coal Association, be entitled on MATS under Army orders?

I am not impugning the motives of anyone, or saying these trips were not completely justified. I am just trying to find out if they were justified, if possible.

General DUFF. I will have to provide the specific justification for the individuals you enumerated for the record. (The information to be supplied follows:)

TRAVEL OF CIVILIANS ON MATS AIRCRAFT

Representatives from St. John's College, AER Research Laboratory, and British Coal Association were invited by the Secretary of the Army to travel to the United States for the purpose of attending the (fifth) International Congress on High-Speed Photography.

The Senate of the United States, in Concurrent Resolution No. 75, June 10, 1960 (the House of Representatives concurring), declared that all interested agencies of the Federal Government should participate actively to the greatest practicable extent in the Fifth International Congress on High-Speed Photography.

The Department of Defense participated by providing personnel, material, and financial assistance. MATS was utilized in order to provide the necessary support within the limitation of funds provided for this purpose.

"OPERATION UNDERSTANDING"

General DUFF. I believe you are familiar with our "Operation Understanding" which is a program that has been in operation for some years and which is for the purpose of providing orientation for the members of civilian communities in which Army Air Defense operational sites are located in order to preclude the possibility of the sort of situation that Mr. Minshall referred to that had taken place in Cleveland.

Here, outstanding members, leaders of the community where these sites are located, are periodically taken on an orientation trip to Fort Bliss, Tex., where they are given a complete briefing with regard to the necessity for the NIKE system, how the NIKE system operates, and then they attend actual firings, previously at the Red Canyon Range Camp, and now at McGregor Range, adjacent to Fort Bliss.

This is one of the type situations you refer to.

Mr. MAHON. I would like you to supply in the record the answer to the question which I asked with respect to St. John's College. (The information appears above.)

Mr. MAHON. Now with respect to the "Operation Understanding," you have already addressed yourself to that to some extent.

General DUFF. Yes, sir.

Mr. MAHON. This could be called more or less a lobbying undertaking by the Army, done in order to generate good will and support for the Army?

General DUFF. It is for the purpose of providing full information to the public most affected by this type Army activity.

Mr. MAHON. All the three services do this kind of thing. I am sure much of it can be defended. The question is, Is it being overdone? There are $150,000 involved, approximately, in these 75 flights. The question I was going to ask you, which I will now state and which you have already answered in part, is this: What is the basis for providing approximately 75 flights by MATS special air mission air

craft at an estimated cost of probably $150,000 for civilian participation in "Operation Understanding"?

We need to know how many civilians are involved in this particular flight.

General DUFF. Normally the number of civilians for any specific trip would depend upon the type of transportation that can be provided at that time by the Air Force. You see, this all relates to the scheduled firing of one of the local battalions, their annual service practice firing at McGregor Range, which is adjacent to El Paso and Fort Bliss in Texas.

Mr. MAHON. Would you say as a part of this indoctrination and orientation process that citizens are probably encouraged to get in touch with their Congressmen and to urge them to appreciate more adequately this great work on the part of the service involved-in this case the Army-and impress upon the Members of Congress the importance of adequately financing the project?

There is some of that that goes on. If you put a man aboard an aircraft carrier for a few days he might be disposed to undertake to promote that kind of weapon.

The same applies here, he might want to promote the NIKE type of weapon as compared to the BOMARC, and so forth.

To what extent is there this propaganda and lobbying with the individuals who are expected to influence legislation?

General DUFF. I can speak from personal experience on this particular program because I have participated in it as the Army air defense commander at New York City, and I can state from my own experience in accompanying about half the flights during the time I was the commander it was not used as a medium for lobbying in any sense of the word. It was merely used as a medium by which we could most appropriately get across to the members of the community, the leaders of the community, the mayors for example and the school leaders and others who exercised a controlling influence in the community, an understanding of the mission, of why we were in the community, why it was necessary for us to operate our equipment and create sounds in operating our equipment which were disturbing in some cases to the members of the community.

Mr. MAHON. You may extend your answer for the record.

I am trying to elicit from you the best answer I can with respect to what the real facts are. I realize this is applicable to all the Services.

ARMY NEWS FEATURES

Mr. FORD. General Duff, how much is in the budget for fiscal year 1962 for the Army news program, the Army news feature operation? It is located in Kansas City, Mo. I understand it is a part of the troop information support unit.

General DUFF. I do not have that information here, Mr. Ford. I will provide it for the record if I may.

Mr. FORD. I would like to know what is involved for fiscal 1962. what you are currently spending in fiscal year 1961, and what you had available in 1960.

General DUFF. Yes, sir.

(The information to be supplied follows:)

Army Home Town News Center, Kansas City, Mo.

Actual, fiscal year 1960_

Estimate, fiscal year 1961.
Estimate, fiscal year 1962----

$100, 322 100, 000 100,000

The above figures represent the costs of funding the entire mission of the center with the exception of military pay and facilities cost not related to the mission.

It is emphasized that the cost of the Army News Feature is not a cost of the Army Home Town News Center, since the News Feature is prepared and published by the Office, Chief of Information. The center is utilized as a distribution point every other week for the News Feature in order to utilize their distribution contacts. This alternate week distribution is based on requests received from both daily and weekly newspapers. The cost of printing the Army News Features is: fiscal year 1960, $18,000; fiscal year 1961, $24,000; and fiscal year 1962, $26,000.

MISLEADING NIKE-ZEUS PHOTO CAPTION

Mr. FORD. I am prompted to ask that because of a question the chairman asked, but also as a result of a newspaper picture that I saw in a weekly newspaper early in January of this year which shows a picture of a NIKE-ZEUS on launcher with the byline:

Clear the area. The NIKE-ZEUS is ready to go. The Army industry development team for the antimissile missile is confident the NIKE-ZEUS will be able to intercept incoming enemy intercontinental ballistic missiles.

It shows a picture, as you can see, of a NIKE-ZEUS on launcher. This particular picture was sent to me by a person who wondered why we do not have those weapons actually sourrounding our major metropolitan areas. He read this byline which I just read and came to the clear conclusion that NIKE-ZEUS was ready for production and ready for installation.

Mr. FLOOD. An excellent question.

Mr. FORD. Now, is that a fair presentation of the facts?

General DUFF. I would say, Mr. Ford, at the moment this picture was taken, it was an overstatement of the situation as far as the proximate capability of the Army. The potential of the NIKE-ZEUS is such that it should be put into production as soon as possible, and the Army has so recommended.

Mr. FORD. I appreciate that has been the Army's position, and it has been for the last 2 years.

My complaint is not with the Army's viewpoint; my objection is leveled at the Army news features organization which I understand, according to a memorandum that has been provided, that they send out this kind of material. This is the same picture I indicated appeared in the weekly showing.

There is only one honest conclusion a person can come to and that is that this is a sales job which does not tell the straightforward facts as they exist.

Mr. MINSHALL. They picked up this technique from BOMARC. Mr. FORD. I do not approve of that either. It is just as obnoxious when the Air Force does it as when the Army does it.

General DUFF. I have a little additional information handed to me on this subject which refers to this. May I read from it?