MILITARY COLD WAR EDUCATION AND SPEECH

REVIEW POLICIES

FRIDAY, MARCH 9, 1962

U.S. SENATE,

SPECIAL PREPAREDNESS SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE

COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES,

Washington, D.C. The special subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10 a.m., in room 224, Old Senate Office Building.

Present: Senators Stennis (chairman), Symington, Thurmond, Saltonstall, and Smith.

Also present: Special subcommittee staff: James T. Kendall, chief counsel.

Senator STENNIS (presiding). The subcommittee will come to order, please.

I want to make a special appeal to everyone here to remain unusually quiet today, if I may, because we do not have a speaker system in this room, and those representing the press have to sit behind the witness, which is a disadvantage to start with. If there is noise behind them they do not have much chance to hear.

In addition, the visitors came to hear and they cannot if others around them are talking.

General, we are glad to have you here.

Will you stand and be sworn, please?

Do you solemnly swear that your testimony before this subcommittee will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

General DODGE. I do.

Senator STENNIS. I believe two other gentlemen may testify. Will each of you stand and be sworn?

Do you and each of you solemnly swear that your testimony before this subcommittee will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

Colonel MUZYK. I do.

Colonel LEGARE. I do.

Senator STENNIS. These gentlemen are Col. A. F. Muzyk, who is Chief, Troop Information Division, Office of Chief of Information of the Army; and Col. Ben W. Legare, Chief, Public Information Division, Office of Chief of Information, U.S. Army.

DODGE BIOGRAPHY

Mr. Reporter, we will ask you at this place to put in the record the biographical sketch of General Dodge.

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(The biographical sketch referred to is as follows:)

MAJ. GEN. CHARLES GRANVILLE DODGE, USA

Charles Granville Dodge was born in Maplewood, N.J., March 12, 1907. He was graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1930, commissioned a second lieutenant of cavalry, and assigned to the 1st Squadron, 3d U.S. Cavalry at Fort Ethan Allen, Vt. General Dodge was graduated from the regular course at the Cavalry School, Fort Riley, Kans., in 1935 and from the advanced equitation course at the Cavalry School in 1936.

Prior to World War II, he was assigned as an instructor in mathematics and later as instructor in horsemanship at the U.S. Military Academy. Subsequently, General Dodge was instructor in motors and later in weapons at the Cavalry School, Fort Riley, Kans.; executive officer of the 16th Cavalry (mechanized), director of the department of weapons of the Tank Destroyer School, Camp Hood, Tex., and Chief of Staff of the Tank Destroyer Center at Camp Hood.

In September 1944, General Dodge became Chief of Staff of the 8th Armored Division and shortly thereafter departed with the division for the European theater of operations. In August 1945, he was transferred to the 2d Armored Division as Chief of Staff. In February 1946, he returned with that division to Camp Hood, Tex., and in May of that year was returned to Europe where he served for a year as Deputy G-1 of the 3d U.S. Army. From May 1947 to July 1949, he was stationed in Vienna where he was Director, U.S. Element, Allied Commission, Austria, and later Assistant Deputy Commissioner for Austria. From 1949 to 1950, General Dodge was Chief of the Mediterranean-Middle East Branch, Operations Group, P. & O. Division, Department of the Army.

In 1951 General Dodge was graduated from the National War College and assigned as Executive Secretary of the Weapons Systems Evaluation Group in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, where he served until the fall of 1953 when he assumed command of Combat Command C of the 2d Armored Division in Baumholder, Germany.

In February 1955, General Dodge became the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations of the 7th U.S. Army in Stuttgart, Germany, where he remained until his return to the United States in July 1956 to become Chief of the U.S. Army Advisory Group, Air University, Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala. In July 1958, General Dodge was assigned as Deputy Chief of Legislative Liaison, Department of the Army. In January 1960, he was transferred to Korea to the 1st Cavalry Division and became assistant division commander. On May 10, General Dodge assumed command of the division, a position which he held until December 1960 when he returned to the United States.

He was assigned as Assistant Chief of Staff for Reserve Components, Department of the Army, from January 16, 1961, until he became the Chief of Information on October 1 of that year.

General Dodge is married to the former Elizabeth Febiger Marrack. A daughter, Sue Hyde, and a son, Charles Tyler, reside with them at McLean, Va.

Senator STENNIS. This is Maj. Gen. C. G. Dodge, who is Chief of Information, U.S. Army. As was announced yesterday, we are now at the point of getting information about the operation of the troop information program in the Army.

DODGE STATEMENT

General, do you have a prepared statement?

General DODGE. Yes, sir, I do.

Senator STENNIS. All right, you may proceed.

TESTIMONY OF MAJ. GEN. CHARLES G. DODGE, CHIEF OF INFORMATION, DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY, WITH COL. ALEXANDER F. MUZYK, CHIEF, TROOP INFORMATION DIVISION, OFFICE OF CHIEF OF INFORMATION; AND COL. BEN W. LEGARE, CHIEF, PUBLIC INFORMATION DIVISION, OFFICE OF CHIEF OF INFORMATION; ACCOMPANIED BY POWELL PIERPOINT, GENERAL COUNSEL, DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY

General DODGE. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I am Maj. Gen. Charles G. Dodge, Chief of Public Information and Chief of Information, Department of the Army.

My responsibilities cover both public-or external-information, and troop or internal-information activities of the Army.

As Chief of Public Information I report directly to the Secretary of the Army on public information matters.

As Chief of Information I am a member of the Army Staff. In this capacity I report to the Chief of Staff on both public and troop information matters.

I am responsible for staff supervision of all matters relating to the troop information program. I shall limit my further remarks to that program.

I have provided you some samples of materials used by the Army troop information program and some extracts from our regulations. I will discuss each of them during my statement and will call attention to each as I get to it.

Troop information, as a formal organized effort within the Army, is over 20 years old.

The Army views its troop information program as a command activity consisting of all means used by the commander to develop in the soldier an understanding of his role in the Army and to keep him informed of the military and civil events, conditions, and policies which affect him as an individual soldier.

The top sheet you have in front of you shows the two basic elements that form the underlying philosophy of the program. They are (a) troop information is a function of command; (b) troop information is a continuing process and is exercised through all available communciations media.

This concept insists on the personal attention of the commander and clearly establishes a direct connection between effective troop information and good leadership.

For many years, during and following World War II, the troop information program featured a mandatory, formal 1-hour weekly presentation of a specific topic prescribed from the Pentagon. These topics were not only mandatory and occupied the entire presentation time available to a commander, but they were also presented according to the most detailed lesson plans. With one hand we gave the com

mander firm responsibility by telling him that troop information was his program, and, at the same time, we fully prescribed, in detail, what to say and how he should say it.

This mandatory prescription of one topic to be given worldwide during a particular week produced an undesirable uniformity in such matter when, in fact, the motivational needs of the soldier varied considerably according to his location, mission, and situation. For example, a lecture on Korean culture, which might be useful to the soldier in the Far East, was of little value to the soldier in Europe. Needs also varied within the same geographical area. Information needed to orient the infantrymen in Germany was not exactly the same as that required by the soldier on duty in a French port.

Realizing the restrictive and impractical nature of this system we reduced the number of mandatory topics programed from the Department of the Army level. We shifted to an annual list of 12 topics, 1 per month. The idea was that local topics would be added at appropriate headquarters as the program descended the organizational scale. Thus, Continental Army Command, other major commands, armies, corps, and division were given an opportunity to contribute to the program based on an analysis of command needs. It then developed that an annual listing of topics provided too little flexibility to meet needs which arose suddenly.

Therefore, we adopted the present procedure of programing topics on a quarterly basis. This enables us to take into account current situations within the Army and in the field of national and international affairs, and enables us to conduct a more timely and dynamic program, responsive to current needs.

In 1960, we began deemphasizing specific topics originating from the departmental level in favor of more broadly stated objectives into which local commanders could fit their local programs. However, there is still some mandatory input into the program by the Department of the Army. For example, certain mandatory objectives are prescribed for the commanders' troop information programs during each quarter. Additionally, on occasion, the Department of the Army prescribes certain mandatory topics when they are of particular importance to the Army. What we have abandoned is what we consider to be the unsound practice of giving responsibility while withholding authority from the commander.

The second of the two points I have listed as basic philosophy is aimed simply at getting the commander to appreciate and use, on a continuing basis, all means at his disposal to achieve the objectives of the program. A troop information program is more than a schedule of topics. It involves planning for and employment of all information techniques posters, bulletin boards, informal talks, parts of regular training, information films, official Army newspapers, periodicals, exhibits, displays, radio and television-these are the means available to the commander. In practice, the various media are used individually and in concert to accomplish specific tasks.

At the Department of Army level the Chief of Information is directly responsible for staff supervision of all matters relating to the conduct of the program. Within the United States, the Commanding General, Continental Army Command, is responsible for implementing, supervising, and inspecting the program. This responsi

bility within the United States excludes only the Army Air Defense Command, which conducts its own program under the direction of Department of Army. Certain Army component commanders overseas have been delegated responsibility by unified commanders for publishing unified command wide service newspapers, such as the Stars and Stripes, and establishing and operating Armed Forces radio and television facilities.

At Department of Army level, the Troop Information Division, under the Chief of Information, is on the same level as the Public Information Division and the Civil Liaison Division, the distinction being, of course, that it is primarily concerned with internal information as opposed to the external information function of the other two divisions.

The Troop Information Division is divided into three branches: The Plans and Media Branch, the Network Support Branch, and the Command Newspapers Branch.

The Plans and Media Branch has primary responsibility for developing Army-wide troop information plans and programs. It also develops written and visual materials to support these programs and to supplement those produced by the Directorate of Armed Forces Information and Education, Department of Defense.

You have in front of you some examples of materials produced by this branch. They include a typical poster and two representative pamphlets ("Enemy Agents and You," and "Your Soldiers") that are used in the troop information program. Materials on communism, citizenship, world affairs, and related fields are usually procured from Department of Defense for Army-wide distribution, a subject I shall discuss later. Army information films are also produced under the supervision of this branch.

In addition to publications and other visual materials, Troop Information uses radio and television, with Department of Army sharing in the operation by the Armed Forces of the 204 radio stations and 33 television stations overseas. This is the staff responsibility of the Network Support Branch. Of the total number of overseas radio and TV stations, the Army has direct operational responsibility for 98 radio and 13 television stations.

For troops stationed outside the United States, the service-operated radio facilities provide an excellent source of up-to-date news and information of national and international developments.

The Command Newspapers Branch exercises staff supervision over more than 300 official Army unit newspapers currently being published. The next group of samples in the packet you have consists of examples of various types of newspapers produced at different command levels from the division down. They include, as you can see, letterpress, offset, multilith, and mimeograph. Post and unit newspapers operate under policies established by Department of the Army, but are command activities.

Direct supervision of the publication is a responsibility of the commander. My office provides the policies and monitors publications to check compliance with those policies. General purpose materials are provided to unit newspapers in the form of "Army News Service Clipsheets," "Army News Features," and news stories, which I will comment on later.