INVESTIGATION OF GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION FOR SPACE ACTIVITIES TUESDAY, APRIL 14, 1959 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION FOR SPACE ACTIVITIES OF THE COMMITTEE Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:35 a.m., in room 224, Old Senate Office Building, Senator Stuart Symington (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Senators Symington, Smith, Dodd, and Case of New Jersey. Also present: Kenneth E. BeLieu, staff director; Max Lehrer, assistant staff director; Everard H. Smith, Jr., counsel; Dr. Glen P. Wilson, chief clerk; Dr. Earl W. Lindveit, assistant chief clerk; Mrs. Eilene Galloway, special consultant; Stuart French, associate counsel, Preparedness Subcommittee; and Dr. Edward C. Welsh, assistant to Senator Symington. Senator SYMINGTON. The committee will come to order, please. This morning the Subcommittee on Governmental Organization for Space Activities will continue with its analysis of the Department of Defense's responsibility in the space field. Particularly today's session is directed to the Department of the Army, its current operations, what it envisages its space missions to be, along with their attendant requirements, and the Army's organization for these matters. I would like to reiterate what I have said before. It is the plan of this subcommittee to examine into the organization, the responsibilities, and the activities of those agencies of the Government involved in the space field, and any possible overlapping and duplication. The committee approaches the subject with an open mind. We intend to let the facts speak for themselves. After we have had a chance to analyze these facts, we will then present our findings. Our witnesses today will be Dr. William H. Martin, Director of Research and Development, Department of the Army, and Lt. Gen. Arthur G. Trudeau, Chief of Research and Development, Department of the Army. I understand Dr. Martin is accompanied by Dr. James B. Edson, the Assistant Director of Research and Development. This afternoon Maj. Gen. Dwight E. Beach, Director of Guided Missiles and Space Weapons, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Military Operations, will be with us. In accordance with the committee's procedure, the witnesses will be sworn in. Gentlemen, if you will please stand I will administer the oath. Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth in the testimony you are about to give, so help you God? Dr. MARTIN. I do. General TRUDEAU. I do. Senator SYMINGTON. Dr. Martin, have you a prepared statement? Dr. MARTIN. Yes, sir. Senator SYMINGTON. Will you read it, and then I will ask our counsel, in accordance with our procedures, to proceed with the questioning. TESTIMONY OF DR. WILLIAM H. MARTIN, DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY 1 Dr. MARTIN. I am William H. Martin, Director of Research and Development, Department of the Army. I feel honored to have been called before this distinguished group and shall be happy if I can be of assistance in your study of operations in the space field. Hearings such as this, together with reports based on the testimony can, I feel, do much to bring about a better public understanding of the meaning and applications of the realities and potentialities of this appealing field of space. As Director of Research and Development, I am responsible to Secretary Brucker of the Army for the formulation and implementation of the research and development program of the Army and for the evaluation of its results. Naturally, in this position, I am concerned more with matters of policy, planning, organization, and relationships, than with the detailed operations of the many research and development projects which are carried out by the seven technical services of the Army. Lt. Gen. Arthur G. Trudeau, who is with me, is the Chief of Research and Development of the Army Staff, and my counterpart on the military side of the Army. His organization is the one through which I work with the research and development agencies in the Army. I understand that Major General Medaris is being called to testify here. He is in direct charge of the bulk of the space projects in the Army and is therefore familiar with their nature, the means of implementation, and their progress. I know that he can meet your desires along these lines. In my capacity as Director of Research and Development, I am involved in the activities of the Army in the national space program. I can state that the Army work in the space field has to do primarily with the tasks that are assigned to the Army by the two organizations of ARPA and NASA. I know, from the previous testimony here, that their functions and operations have been described to you. ARPA AND NASA HAVE DIRECT RELATIONSHIPS WITH ARMY AGENCIES We have made arrangements with the Director of ARPA and the Administrator of NASA, at their request, whereby they have direct relationships with the agencies of the Army which they wish to work 1 Biography of Dr. Martin is on p. 629. for them on these assigned tasks. Thus, the heads of these two organizations discuss and explore with the responsible heads of Army agencies, projects which may be proposed either by those organizations or by our agencies. Courses of action arrived at in this manner are then covered by orders, accompanied by authorization of funds, directly to the heads of our agencies, such as the commanding general of the Army Ordnance Missile Command at Redstone Arsenal and the Chief Signal Officer of the Army. Copies of these orders and accompanying instructions come to me, so that I am advised of the programs which the Army is undertaking to carry out. In some cases of a general nature, such orders come directly to me. To further simplify the execution of these tasks, we have also made arrangements within the Army whereby the heads of such agencies as AOMC and the Signal Corps, can call directly upon the laboratories and other installations in the Army for supporting services. These close and direct liaisons have worked well and, insofar as I am aware, the operations under these arrangements have been satisfactory to ARPA, NASA, the Secretary of the Army, the Army Staff, and the Army agencies involved in carrying out the work. At the present time of the dollar value of these authorizations about three-fourths are from ARPA and one-fourth from NASA. Within the Army, the division of the total amount is about 80 percent to ABMA, 15 percent to the Signal Corps, and to the other agencies," 5 percent. SECRETARY OF ARMY ADVISED AS TO NATURE OF PROJECTS Where ARPA and NASA make assignments in the manner outlined, it is one of my responsibilities to the Secretary of the Army to keep him advised as to the nature of the projects which we are carrying, their general progress, and their relations to the Army's interests in space. Also, I keep an eye on possible interactions between our commitments to ARPA and NASA and those for other purposes. Senator SYMINGTON. May I just interrupt you for a minute, just for clarification. Dr. MARTIN. Certainly. Senator SYMINGTON. You talk about the tasks and the arrangements of such agencies as AOMC. What is AOMC? Dr. MARTIN. The Army Ordnance Missile Command, the one that General Medaris is in charge of. Senator SYMINGTON. What is ABMA? Dr. MARTIN. Well, ABMA, that is the Army Ballistic Missile Agency, that is an agency under the AOMC. General Medaris is in charge of ABMA and the rest of the Redstone Arsenal. Senator SYMINGTON. And those agencies call upon the laboratories, are those laboratories that you are referring to solely within the Army? Mr. MARTIN. Army laboratories, such as Monmouth or Aberdeen. Senator SYMINGTON. And you say that these close and direct liaisons have worked well, and so far as you are aware these arrangements have been satisfactory to NASA. NASA would have no direct rela 38440-59--13 tionship with respect to AOMC and the Signal Corps within the Army, would it? Dr. MARTIN. Oh, yes. The arrangements we have permit NASA to work directly with AOMC and to place tasks on them by orders which they issue. Senator SYMINGTON. And the Signal Corps, too? Dr. MARTIN. The Signal Corps also. Senator SYMINGTON. Would that mean that they could do that without consultation with Secretary Brucker? Dr. MARTIN. Well, they can make the arrangements without consultation of Secretary Brucker. We keep the Secretary advised as to what is going on. In some cases, the more important projects there will be conversations between the Director of ARPA and the Administrator of NASA and the Secretary. Senator SYMINGTON. Do they have any direct relationship with units of the Army, such as the Signal Corps, that you do not know about? Dr. MARTIN. At times, yes. I would know about them eventually, but I don't necessarily know about them before they had the relationships. Senator SYMINGTON. You refer to the NASA people working directly with the Signal Corps? Dr. MARTIN. Yes. Senator SYMINGTON. How does that actually work? What is the physical angle of it? Dr. MARTIN. Well, the physical operation may be that NASA wishing to carry out a project, would ask the Signal Corps people to come talk with them. Senator SYMINGTON. Who would represent NASA in that connection? NASA REPRESENTED BY VARIOUS GROUP HEADS Dr. MARTIN. Well, it would vary in different cases. It might be the Administrator himself; it might be Dr. Dryden; it might be Mr. Silverstein-any of the group heads. Senator SYMINGTON. Any of the group heads? Dr. MARTIN. Any of the group heads in NASA. Dr. MARTIN. I was using that in a generic sense-any of the groups that report to the top-to the Administrator and the Deputy Administrator. Senator SYMINGTON. With whom would they talk in the Signal Corps? Dr. MARTIN. Well, they might talk to the chief signal officer or his deputy, or they might talk to the commanding general of Monmouth, Monmouth Laboratories. Senator SYMINGTON. So the way it is set up now, a man two or three brackets down from the Administrator of NASA could talk with a man two or three brackets down Dr. MARTIN. Yes. Senator SYMINGTON. In the Army; in fact, two or three brackets down in the Signal Corps itself, is that correct? |