Caesar's Wars

In his five years at the Pentagon, relations between Robert Strange Mc-Namara and the U.S. Congress have been edgy at best. Never before, however, has the Defense Secretary faced so withering or widespread a bombardment as that which Capitol Hill trained on him last week.

The criticism came from both House and Senate, from Republicans and Democrats--and from no fewer than seven different congressional panels. Mississippi Democrat John Stennis, still smarting from McNamara's curt brush-off last summer of a Stennis report on materiel shortages, announced that his Senate Preparedness Investigating subcommittee is undertaking "an overall assessment of the extent of our military commitments." Alaska Democrat Ernest Gruening, chairman of a Senate Government Operations subcommittee, will examine "unnecessary and wasteful disposals" of surplus military vehicles.

"Supine Acquiescence." The House Armed Services Committee and four subcommittees have been investigating the Pentagon as if it were the Kremlin. Areport on McNamara's overall management of the war in Viet Nam and another on his politically unpopular decision to merge the Army Reserve with the National Guard are still under preparation. Of the three reports that have been released, one criticized McNamara's December decision to close, consolidate or cut back 149 military bases and warned that any future decisions on closings "must show a greater awareness of possible contingent requirements" resulting from Viet Nam. A second report lambasted the Secretary for his postponement of $620 million in military construction as an anti-inflationary move, termed the delay "unwise," "unwarranted" and "arbitrary," and said it had resulted in "a severe effect on the morale and wellbeing of our military men."

The most hostile report of all concerned one of the oldest controversies of McNamara's Pentagon tenure: his 1961 cutback on funds for big bombers and his subsequent decision to replace them in the next ten years with the FB-111, a flashy (Mach 2.5) modified fighter.

The House Armed Services subcommittee's report last week accused Mc-Namara of "significantly misrepresenting" the case for the FB-111 in his own testimony, of applying "institutional constraints" on other Pentagon witnesses so they would hew to the Mc-Namara line, and of generally scorning Capitol Hill advice to such a point that the Congress has been forced into "a passive role of supine acquiesence" to U.S. defense policies.

"Shockingly Distorted." Headed by Louisiana Democrat F. Edward Hebert, a hard-knuckled investigative veteran, the subcommittee accused McNamara of being a Pentagon tyrant who uses the word "we" in his testimony only "to hide the essential singularity of the decision-making process in the Department of Defense." Said the report: "The subcommittee was shocked to dis cover that the proposal to phase out of the SAC inventory all B58 aircraft was, as best it could ascertain, an action solely recommended and supported by the office of the Secretary of Defense and one neither recommended nor truly supported by the Air Force or the Joint Chiefs of Staff."

McNamara blasted back in kind. In a press conference with Deputy Defense Secretary Cyrus Vance, he termed the Hebert report "shockingly distorted," charged that its claim that his decision to curtail manned bombers was made despite J.C.S. protest "is without any foundation whatsoever." McNamara conceded that Air Force Chief of Staff John McConnell had argued for "full deployment and full development" of a new big bomber and that a unanimous J.C.S. request for $23 million to pursue research on such a bomber had been cut in half by McNamara himself. "I see no clear need for a new strategic bomber," insisted McNamara, who reasons that the lumbering aircraft would not arrive over a target until long after enemy missiles had destroyed U.S. cities.

Breakfast with Bob. As for the Nike X anti-missile system to defend the U.S. against such an attack, McNamara has long argued that it would be too expensive. Moreover, he points out, if the U.S. plans to defend itself by exploding the enemy's nuclear warheads in the sky, the nation will also need a vast and costly network of fallout shelters to protect its citizens. Nevertheless, the Senate last week voted $167.9 mil lion to buy Nike X hardware. McNamara has also been reluctant to build nuclear-powered warships for economy reasons--so the Senate voted $150 million for a nuclear-powered guided-missile frigate.

McNamara's troubles are partly a matter of manner. Though he is more gracious in testifying than he once was, and has even taken to asking key congressional military committeemen to the Pentagon for briefing breakfasts, the Secretary has consistently all but ignored the Armed Services Committees of both houses when it comes to making crucial military decisions. As House Minority Whip Leslie Arends protested last week: "Secretary McNamara seldom asks advice, and listens only when he asks. I am constrained to ask: 'Upon what meat does this, our Caesar, feed that he is grown so great?' "

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