PROTECTION OF DEFENSE COMMUNICATIONS

TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 1960

U.S. SENATE,

SUBCOMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE THE
ADMINISTRATION OF THE INTERNAL SECURITY ACT

AND OTHER INTERNAL SECURITY LAWS,
OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY,
Washington, D.C.

The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:30 a.m., in room 2300, New Senate Office Building, Senator Olin D. Johnston presiding. Present: Senators Johnston and Hruska.

Also present: J. G. Sourwine, chief counsel; Benjamin Mandel, director of research; and Frank W. Schroeder, chief investigator.

Senator JOHNSTON. Raise your right hand and be sworn, please. Do you swear that the evidence you give before this subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee of the Senate will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

General DUPLANTIS. I do.

Mr. SOURWINE. Are you Brig. Gen. Wendell H. Duplantis, U.S. Marine Corps, retired?

TESTIMONY OF BRIG. GEN. WENDELL H. DUPLANTIS, U.S. MARINE CORPS (RETIRED)

General DUPLANTIS. Yes.

Mr. SOURWINE. What is your present occupation?

General DUPLANTIS. I am Deputy Assistant Director of Communications and Warning in the Office of Civil and Defense Mobization, Battle Creek, Mich.

Mr. SOURWINE. How is OCDM concerned with telecommunications? General DUPLANTIS. OCDM is directly and vitally concerned with the national telecommunication problem.

The President has been granted broad war emergency powers in this field by the Congress. I refer specifically to sections 305 (a), 606(a), (c), (d), of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended.

The President has, in turn, delegated some of these powers to the Director of OCDM in Executive Order 10460 of June 16, 1953, as amended, and Executive Order 10705 of April 17, 1957, as amended. Certain other related authorities are vested in the Director, OCDM by the National Security Act of 1947, as amended, and the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended.

These authorities vest in the Director of OCDM the responsibility for the allocation of radio frequencies, international telecommunica

tion services, and domestic telecommunication services when a state of war has been proclaimed by the President.

The Director of OCDM has promulgated Defense Mobilization Order IX-4 setting forth the general outline of how these functions will be exercised in the time of war. The essence of this order has been incorporated in annex 15, "Communications," to the national plan for civil defense and defense mobilization.

Further, the Director of OCDM, by the Civil Defense Act, section 201 (c), is charged with

making appropriate provision for necessary civil defense communications and for dissemination of warnings of enemy attacks to the civilian population.

From this, it may be seen that the Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization is directly responsible for carrying out the war emergency powers of the President in the field of telecommunications and for providing communications for civil defense.

The willful destruction, impairment, or damage to the Nation's communication facilities just prior to or during a war would serve to weaken or impair the total communication capability and would be detrimental to the national security interests, both from the military and nonmilitary readiness aspect.

Not only is OCDM concerned with this problem from the broader viewpoint of allocations and priorities, it is a user of systems leased from the common carriers.

OCDM is a user of commercial facilities on a day-to-day basis. In addition, we use various private line systems, the national warning system (NAWAS), the networks connecting the various stations in the conelrad system and the Federal civilian agency communication systems will have both day-to-day and emergency uses.

Senator JOHNSTON. Can you give the committee more details about some of these systems?

General DUPLANTIS. Yes, I can. Although one existence of these systems is not restricted information, the committee will appreciate my desire not to give the most minute details about all of our systems and plans. So far as I know, full information and detailed maps concerning all of our systems have not been collected in one place for general public dissemination.

Would the committee, therefore, prefer to hear this part of my presentation in a closed session?

Mr. SOURWINE. General, this is an executive session of the committee. However, if you have material which you do not want to go into the record even in this executive session, I am sure the chairman would be willing that you should go off the record to tell us that. Senator JOHNSTON. Yes, certainly.

Off the record.

(Discussion off the record.)

Mr. SOURWINE. Back on the record.

What is the purpose of the Federal civil agencies communications system?

General DUPLANTIS. The Federal civil agencies communications system (FCACS) is designed to serve the normal day-to-day and national emergency needs of the various civil agencies and departments for nationwide communications, thereby eliminating primary reliance on normal long-distance facilities.

In the second quarter of 1959, the Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization was directed by Executive order of the President to implement a study for an integrated private communications network which would serve all nonmilitary Federal agencies.

If I may, sir, in the copy of the testimony that I have given you, the Executive order would indicate it is a normal Executive order and it should not be so considered. It was an instruction of the President and not a published Executive order to accomplish this task. Mr. SOURWINE. It is not a numbered Executive order.

General DUPLANTIS. That is correct.

In the fourth quarter of 1959, Mr. Hoegh and his staff presented a detailed communications proposal to the President and the General Services Administration is being directed to implement the system as quickly as possible.

Briefly, the network envisions 31 switching centers serving 2,300 Federal offices and relocation sites in approximately 275 cities. The network will include clear voice, encrypted voice, facsimile, data, and teletypewriter services.

Since this system serves most of the Nation's civil agency relocation sites, it must be capable of sustained operation during a national emergency.

For this reason, the primary and secondary switching centers will be located outside target areas. Primary and secondary switching centers will have multiple, bypass, and alternate circuit routing to avoid critical target areas.

Since most of the switching centers are normally unattended, it is not considered necessary to provide protection from fallout.

The Bell System is working with the OCDM to determine what is required and what can be done to protect from fallout, key buildings that must be attended. The progress of this program will have a bearing on the final selection of switching centers.

It is expected that this system could be implemented from 24 to 30 months after an order is placed. In any event, it is not anticipated that the system will be in service before mid-1962.

Mr. SOURWINE. How will this system be operated, General?

General DUPLANTIS. It will be operated in a manner similar to that followed by any other national network such as may be used by large industrial or commercial concerns.

The telephone industry will own and maintain almost 100 percent of the circuits and equipment. All phases of its operation will be the responsibility of commercial carriers except that the Government will supply switchboard operators where necessary, directories of numbers to be reached, and internal instructions as to the use to be made of the system by Government agencies.

Mr. SOURWINE. What is the conelrad system?

General DUPLANTIS. The Department of Defense has a military requirement of denying navigational aid to the enemy in an emergency. Pursuant to the authority vested in the President by section 606 (c) of the Communication Act, as amended, there was issued Executive Order 10312 dated December 10, 1951, which delegated to the Federal Communications Commission the responsibility for preparing plans

1 Leo A. Hoegh, Director Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization; Chairman Civil Defense Advisory Council; member, National Security Council.

for controlling the broadcast industry and all other nongovernment devices capable of emitting electromagnetic radiations within certain frequency ranges.

In effecting this control, due consideration for civil defense requirements was stipulated and FCC's plans for carrying out its function must be concurred in by the Department of Defense and by the Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization.

Plans have been prepared which do deny navigational aid to the enemy while permitting the dissemination of emergency information to the public for civil defense purposes.

The conelrad plan requires the use of normal commercial local and long-distance facilities and commercial radio broadcast stations.

Mr. SOURWINE. Pardon me, General. When you say "local and long-distance facilities" you mean local and long-distance telephone facilities?

General DUPLANTIS. That is correct.

Although it is not necessary to go into full details of the plan, it is sufficient to outline that in the event of an emergency alert, certain key radio stations are notified of the alert and these stations, in turn, notify still other stations by both local and long-distance calls.

These local and long-distance lines are provided by telephone companies. Their cost and the cost of calls placed over them are paid by the various radio stations under tariffs approved by Federal and State utility commissions.

In addition, the broadcast stations are connected by Bell System's circuits in the four major networks. These circuits are necessary to the functioning of the system.

If these circuits or the switching centers through which they pass are damaged or destroyed, the only present means of furnishing emergency information to the public is impaired.

Mr. SOURWINE. General, at that point is this a fair paraphrase or restatement of what you said, that because of their importance to the conelrad system, the leased lines which the broadcasting companies use in their ordinary business have a definite defense value and should have the same security that some of these other leased and partially used lines that you speak of should have?

General DUPLANTIS. Very definitely.

Mr. SOURWINE. Go ahead.

General DUPLANTIS. Without these lines, you would have a series of isolated stations that could not be furnished information from the national level.

Therefore, national programing would be very difficult, if not impossible.

Senator JOHNSTON. Senator Hruska, glad to have you with us. Senator HRUSKA. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am sorry I am late. Mr. SOURWINE. Are commercial communications facilities used in your national warning system?

General DUPLANTIS. Yes. The OCDM national warning system (NAWAS) is a voice network consisting of 1 control circuit, 5 area circuits, and 45 State circuits.

These circuits have the capability of being switched together, thereby connecting approximately 376 locations for simultaneous dissemination of warning from a common source.

This warning information is primarily of a preattack nature to warn the civilian population, however, it will be used postattack insofar as we are able to warn of succeeding attacks.

In addition to the 376 locations which are being paid for wholly by the Federal Government, we have an additional 80 locations on the network as extension service. These locations are being paid for by 19 State, county, and city civil defense organizations.

This network consists of approximately 40,000 miles.
Senator JOHNSTON. Are those radio stations?

General DUPLANTIS. No; they are warning points as we designate them, sir, and consist of a hand set and loudspeaker, usually in either the State police or county sheriff's office. We then pass warning from our warning center. These people at the warning points receive the warning and then use either radio or telephone to fan it out below.

Senator JOHNSTON. In other words, at one time you are distributing to 376 locations.

General DUPLANTIS. That is correct, sir.

Senator JOHNSTON. They, in turn, distribute it throughout the country?

General DUPLANTIS. That is correct, sir. This network as I said, consists of approximately 40,000 miles.

Mr. SOURWINE. Has OCDM made any provision for postattack communications?

General DUPLANTIS. Yes. The national communication system is the OCDM's primary means of postattack communications and was designed especially to meet civil defense requirements for speed, flexibility and continuity of servicing following attack upon the country.

The national communications system No. 1, which we designate NACOM No. 1, is a landline net work leased from the Bell System and is arranged for alternate telephone-teletypewriter type transmission on an "engineered military circuit" (EMC) basis.

Engineered military circuits (EMC) are utilized throughout the complete network which covers the geographical area of the country from operational and national headquarters to eight OCDM regional areas, and from these regional offices to each State civil defense office. Station equipment at these locations is furnished on a full-time basis and would be utilized during either an attack or disaster by activating the EMC circuits.

These EMC circuits are made up of telephone company toll message services normally used on a day-to-day basis for long-distance service. During either of the two above critical periods, the traffic circuits would be seized and the NACOM services established.

This system consisting of approximately 25,000 miles will be used primarily for teletypewriter information concerning bomb drops, size of blast, casualties, supplies and water available, critical supplies needed, and all other elements incidental to command and control. This information will then be collected and summaries dispatched throughout the United States.

In addition to this network, two additional EMC alternate networks, consisting of 13,000 miles of circuits are available if OCDM's operational or national headquarters should be destroyed.

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