HBP 28 CONTENTS Nominations as per reference Nos. 8N and 260.- S. 3314-A bill to authorize the appointment of Joseph F. Carroll and Bernt Balchen as permanent colonels in the Regular Air Force-. Statement of Hon. Thomas K. Finlètter, Secretary of the Air Force.. Page TO AUTHORIZE THE APPOINTMENT OF JOSEPH F. CARROLL AND BERNT BALCHEN AS PERMANENT COLONELS IN THE REGULAR AIR FORCE The committee met, pursuant to call, at 10:45 a. m., in the committee room, room 212, Senate Office Building, Senator Millard E. Tydings (chairman) presiding. Present: Senator Tydings, Byrd, Chapman, Johnson of Texas, Kefauver, Hunt, Saltonstall, and Cain. Also present: J. Nelson Tribby, chief clerk, and Verne D. Mudge, staff assistant. NOMINATIONS AS PER REFERENCE Nos. 8N AND 260 The CHAIRMAN. Gentlemen, the first thing on the agenda, of course, is routine promotions in the Navy and the Naval Reserve. They are not high-ranking appointments. I think the top one is lieutenant commander. They are all routine, and I will report them favorably without objection. (Nominations covered by reference Nos. 8N and 260 were unanimously reported favorably.) S. 3314 The CHAIRMAN. The first bill on the agenda is S. 3314, to authorize the appointment of Joseph F. Carroll and Bernt Balchen as permanent colonels in the Regular Air Force. (S. 3314 is as follows:) [S. 3314, 81st Cong., 2d sess.] A BILL To authorize the appointment of Joseph F. Carroll and Bernt Balchen as permanent colonels in the Regular Air Force Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That notwithstanding any other provision of law, the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, is authorized to appoint Joseph F. Carroll, AO-948277, United States Air Force Reserve, and Bernt Balchen, AO-426630, United States Air Force Reserve, to the permanent grade of colonel in the Regular Air Force. For the purposes of determining position on promotion list, permanent grade seniority, and eligibility for promotion, each of the above-named persons shall be credited with an amount of service equal to the number of days, months, and years by which his age at the time of his appointment exceeds twenty-five years and shall be placed on the promotion list immediately below that officer appointed to the permanent grade of colonel on April 2, 1948, who is credited with the same or next greater amount of service. 1 The service credited to each of the above-named persons at the time of his appointment and his active commissioned service in the Regular Air Force subsequent to his appointment shall be included within the meaning of the term "years' service" as defined in subsection (b) of section 514 of the Officer Personnel Act of 1947 (61 Stat. 903; 10 U. S. C. 941b). The CHAIRMAN. I would like to say that Senator Knowland is not opposing this measure, but he asks, if we approve it, to hold it up for a day or two until he can get some additional facts on it. Secretary Finletter, who is here, I believe, will explain the purpose of the bill. Take a seat, Mr. Finletter. STATEMENT OF THOMAS K. FINLETTER, SECRETARY OF THE AIR FORCE Mr. FINLETTER. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, I appear in support of this bill. The bill would authorize the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint Joseph F. Carroll Senator BYRD. Excuse me one second. Do you have the questions I asked last time? The CHAIRMAN. Yes. Mr. FINLETTER. To appoint Joseph F. Carroll, United States Air Force Reserve, and Bernt Balchen, United States Air Force Reserve, to the permanent grade of colonel in the Regular Air Force. Now, we realize, Mr. Chairman, that this is an exceptional request, and therefore it has to be exceptionally justified. Before appearing before you I looked into it fairly thoroughly, and am willing to recommend to you that an exception be made to the general rule in this case. The reasons for that are the exceptional qualifications of these two men, plus the fact that there are precedents for this kind of action. Brigadier General Carroll is Director of the Office of Special Investigations under the Inspector General. He, I think, may be called the "J. Edgar Hoover of the Air Force." The circumstances surrounding his original appointment are, I think, very pertinent to why he should be continued. The Air Force, a new department, was having its troubles on matters of the prevention of crime and the investigation of security; and also of sabotage, but especially certain irregularities with which this committee is familiar. Secretary Symington at that time looked through the list of Regular officers and did not find that there was anyone within the Regular Corps who was qualified to do this highly specialized work; so he went to Mr. J. Edgar Hoover and asked for the best man that he could have for this purpose, and the best man turned out to be the then Mr. Carroll, who at that time was special assistant to J. Edgar Hoover, and I am told one of his right-hand officials. Mr. Hoover was very reluctant to let the Air Force have him, but finally was persuaded to lend him to the Air Force. Now the question is whether or not we are going to go back to where we were, or whether we are going to put the now temporary General Carroll on a permanent basis, which would hold him. The issue is just as simple as that. Do we have this man or don't we have him? The CHAIRMAN. Is it in the nature of an inspector general that his duties are to be performed? Mr. FINLETTER. No, Senator. He is under the Inspector General. I cannot describe his job better than by saying he is our "J. Edgar Hoover." He investigates all irregularities, criminal matters, not only after they have been reported but in the prophylactic sense, he helps to prevent these things by finding out about them before they get started. The security risk factor is tremendously important, of course, and that crisscrosses even into the loyalty matter. Loyalty matters, of course, are within the responsibilities of the FBI; but necessarily any question of loyalty raises a question of security, and there is also the matter of sabotage which, with your permission, I will not go into at this moment. I do not know how to put over to the committee the fact that this is a very special individual and that if we lose him--and we are going to lose him unless this bill goes through we are going to be back just where we were when Stuart Symington went to Mr. Hoover in, I think it was, 1947 or '48. Now, in the case of Balchen, of course his general activities are well known to this committee. About all I can say with respect to him is that Polar activities have a very special interest to the Air Force, and I am informed by the officers of the Air Force that this man has certain special qualifications by reason of his training and experience, the loss of which would be a real detriment to the Air Force. The CHAIRMAN. May I interrupt you to ask this question. Is it contemplated that if this bill is passed with the name of Balchen in it, that the service he will render in the Air Force will be for the most part in the latitude of the Arctic Circle and northern climates, where he has had a great deal of exploratory experience? Mr. FINLETTER. Yes, sir; that is why we want him. The CHAIRMAN. That is the main reason why you are selecting him in this unusual manner? Mr. FINLETTER. That is right. It is his qualifications in those latitudes that are of special interest to the Air Force and which, insofar as we can find out, are unique. Now, I think it is easier to bring to the committee the qualifications of Mr. Balchen than it is of General Carroll, because I think that what Colonel Balchen has done is fairly well known to the committee; without making any comparisons, I do want to lay special emphasis on this Carroll matter. I have asked all the questions that I think this committee would like to ask as to why this man Carroll is unique, and from every one of the officers that I talked to I get an especial fervor in saying that we cannot, we must not, lose this fellow. This is the fellow who at this time is responsible for keeping a lot of noses clean. The CHAIRMAN. May I ask you a question. In the event you had a situation like that which was implied in the B-36 investigation, to wit, that collusion was taking place and planes were being bought without particular regard to their keying them to the over-all picture, would Colonel Carroll, or General Carroll, investigate matters of that kind? Mr. FINLETTER. Yes. If it turned out that something wrong had been done, he would be the man. I would send for him and say "How does it happen that you did not know about this?" |