Department of the Army Historical Summary: FY 1974

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Operational Forces

Army strength declined from around 800,000 to 783,000 over the course of fiscal year 1974, but the force structure remained basically the same-13 active, divisions backed by 8 divisions and 21 combat brigades in the Reserve Components. The forward deployment of major active forces included four and a third divisions in Europe, one in Korea, two-thirds of a division in Hawaii, and special mission brigades in Alaska, Panama, and Berlin. Seven combat divisions were stationed in the continental United States.

The activations and inactivations within the Regular Army during the fiscal year are listed below. Of particular note was the activation of the first of three planned Ranger battalions in January 1974. These elite infantry units, composed of highly trained airborne-Ranger personnel, will be able to deploy rapidly to any location in the world, to infiltrate by air, land, or sea, and to operate independently for short periods or in conjunction with other U.S. or allied forces.

Europe and the Middle East

As in the previous fiscal year, the Army sought to improve the ratio of combat units to support units within United States Army, Europe (USAREUR), by reducing or consolidating several USAREUR headquarters. In July 1974 the command reduced the headquarters staff by 5 percent, which yielded 130 spaces to fill high-priority manpower requirements and increase the readiness of combat units. Responding to an October 1973 Department of the Army directive calling for substantial reductions in management

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headquarters throughout the Army, U.S. Army, Europe, planned for the elimination of two subordinate headquarters, the Theater Army Support Command and the Engineer Command, that would free 585 spaces for use in improving combat readiness during the coming year.

This year's REFORGER exercise was held during 29 September-21 November 1973. In the first phase of the exercise, 29 September-9 October, a force comprising 11,125 persons from the 1st Infantry Division and eight nondivisional units was flown in C-141 and C-5 aircraft to German airfields at Rhein Main, Ramstein, and Stuttgart-Echterdingen. After issue of prepositioned unit sets of equipment and assembly, the force moved by truck convoy to a major unit assembly area southwest of Nuremberg. Certain Charge, the field training portion of the exercise, extended from 10 to 19 October 1973. It involved extensive offensive and defensive maneuvers for all participants, which, in addition to the continental United States (CONUS) based force, included USAREUR, Canadian, and West German units. The final phase of the exercise got under way on 20 October as the CONUS units began movement to the major training area at Grofenwoehr, where final maintenance activities and test-firing of all major weapons systems took place. The main body redeployed between 30 October and 4 November 1973. The rear party, which was charged with moving all unit equipment back to prepositioned equipment storage sites, completed redeployment to home stations on 21 November 1973.

On 20 July 1973 the Secretary of Defense designated the Secretary of the Army executive agent for matters pertaining to U.S. military personnel serving as observers with the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO), an agency organized in 1948 to monitor the truce agreements between Israel and its Arab neighbors. When the Army assumed responsibility for U.S. support, the organization consisted of 217 military observers from sixteen nations, 8 of whom were from the United States, 5 from the Army, and 1 each from the Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force. Two U.S. observers served at UNTSO headquarters in Jerusalem: one, Lieutenant Colonel Nicholas S. Krawciw, U.S. Army, as chief operations officer, and the other as personnel sergeant. Two observers were assigned in Lebanon, one as assistant operations officer and one to serve at observation posts on the Lebanese side of the Israel-Lebanon border. The remaining four members of the U.S. contingent manned observation posts on the Israeli side of the Golan Heights.

When war broke out in the Middle East in October 1973, Colonel Krawciw, in the absence of the UNTSO chief of staff, was

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the senior United Nations official at UNTSO headquarters. He was responsible for observer operations and reporting to the United Nations Secretary General during the early days of the war. The U.S. military observers, some of whom were stranded for days at observation posts in the thick of the fighting, performed creditably. One observer, Lieutenant Commander Merle A. Waugaman, U.S. Navy, received the Bronze Star Medal for valor in the performance of his duties on the Golan Heights.

The U.S. government assisted in supporting the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF), which was established by United Nations resolution to supervise the disengagement of Egyptian and Israeli forces on 25 October 1973. Air transportation for a number of UNEF contingents was furnished, military assistance deliveries to Panama were expedited in order to equip the Panamanian contingent, and other materiel support was provided on a reimbursable basis upon request by the United Nations. Since the establishment of the United Nations Emergency Force, the U.S. Army has furnished $2 million in logistical support.

On 30 November 1973 a four-service augmentation force consisting of twenty-eight men deployed for duty with the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization, which raised the U.S. contingent to thirty-six observers. The new authorization, which was the same as a new Soviet contribution, reflected the understanding between the United Nations, the Soviet Union, and the United States to keep military forces of permanent members of the United Nations Security Council out of the area on a unilateral basis or as part of the United Nations Emergency Force.

A change in political conditions permitted the increased American observer force to perform duties on the Syrian and Egyptian sides of the cease-fire lines in the Sinai and Golan Heights. The four American military officers assigned by the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization to Damascus in December 1973 represented the first official U.S. presence in Syria since diplomatic relations between the two countries were severed in 1967. In both Syria and Egypt, officers of the Soviet Union and the United States performed observer duties side by side.

The Pacific and the Far East

The withdrawal of U.S. forces from the Far East continued throughout fiscal year 1974, especially from Thailand, where the most recent series of withdrawals, begun in March 1974, would eventually involve approximately 10,000 military personnel as well as strategic, tactical, and support aircraft. U.S. Army Special

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Forces, Thailand (USASFT), which had been established in 1966 to assist the Royal Thai Army in conducting counterinsurgency training, was inactivated on 31 March 1974 because the Thai Army had learned to train its own counterinsurgency forces. During its existence, the U.S. Special Forces also gave advice and assistance to the Royal Thai Army Special Warfare Center, trained Thai Special Forces such as air base security personnel, and conducted a limited civic action program. To accomplish, their mission, USASFT detachments were located with Thai Special Forces at several training camps scattered throughout Thailand. The task of the detachments was to instruct the Thai trainers. The men of the detachments, however, did not assume a direct training role and did not participate in Thai combat operations against insurgents.

Following the withdrawal of U.S. Army Special Forces, Thailand, the 1st Special Forces Group (-) stationed in Okinawa and its associated psychological operations, civil affairs, engineer, and intelligence detachments-which were collectively termed Security Assistance Force (SAF), Asia-were withdrawn from the Pacific. Most of SAF, Asia, including 1st Special Forces Group (-), was inactivated during June 1974. The only U.S. Army Special Forces unit remaining in Asia at the close of the fiscal year was an eight-man detachment in Korea.

During fiscal year 1974 the 19th Logistical Support Brigade was activated in Korea to become the major logistical headquarters in place of the 19th and 23d General Support Groups. The brigade assumed the support missions of both group headquarters, many of the supply responsibilities previously performed by Headquarters, Eighth U.S. Army, and certain logistical functions of the joint U.S. Military Advisory Group, Korea, in support of U.S. security assistance to the Republic of Korea.

For Okinawa the Department of Defense (DOD) had planned for the eventual release of 29 of 77 facilities and the partial release of 19 others. Of forty facilities controlled by the Army, twenty-two were scheduled for release. During fiscal year 1974, the Army released all or portions of 13 facilities, of which 6, covering approximately 600 acres, were returned to the government of Japan, and 7, involving an area of about 1,800 acres, were taken over by other U.S. military services.

The Army continued to provide materiel support to the armed forces of the Republic of Vietnam on a piece-for-piece replacement basis in accordance with Article 7 of the cease-fire agreement. On 1 July 1974 the Army's primary logistics role in Vietnam changed from active program management to the execution of supply actions directed by the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

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Following the withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from Vietnam in March 1973, the American Embassy in Saigon, pursuant to Article 12 of the Geneva Convention, assumed the role of monitoring U.S. obligations for 103 unrepatriated prisoners of war captured by U.S. forces and held by Republic of Vietnam forces. Of these, sixty-two refused repatriation, and forty-one were detained by the Republic of Vietnam to serve civil sentences for crimes committed while in a prisoner of war status. The first group was released into Vietnamese society in June 1973. The civil sentences imposed on individuals in the second group were commuted, and they were released or repatriated on 7 March 1974 in accordance with an agreement reached on 1 February 1974 during the Two Party Joint Military Commission negotiations.

In mid-August 1973, Army forces in the Pacific gave major assistance to flood-ravaged Pakistan. As requested by the United States Agency for International Development through the joint Chiefs of Staff and the Pacific Command, ten boats carrying disaster relief teams from the Special Action Force, Asia, then based on Okinawa, and a detachment of six UH-1 helicopters from the 52d Aviation Battalion stationed in Korea were deployed to the disaster area on 19 August 1973. The relief force evacuated personnel, supplied food, did spraying operations, and supported an immunization program. The relief teams redeployed on 10 September, and most of the aviation detachment, less the six helicopters that were subsequently turned over to Pakistan, returned to Korea on 1 October.

The Western Hemisphere

U.S. Army, Alaska, continued its mission of assisting the North American Air Defense Command and conducting the ground defense of the northernmost area of the United States. The 172d Infantry Brigade, based at Forts Richardson and Wainwright, was the command's major combat force. It participated in two joint training exercises during the year. In February 1974 it was announced that Headquarters, U.S. Army, Alaska, would be discontinued. After 1 July 1974, Army operations in Alaska were to be carried out by the 172d Infantry Brigade under the command and control of U.S. Army Forces Command, Fort McPherson, Georgia.

During fiscal year 1974 the U.S. Army Forces Southern Command (USARSO) improved its military readiness. The potential for violence directed against the Panama Canal Zone decreased somewhat because progress was being made in Panama Canal Treaty negotiations. The tenth anniversary of the 9 January 1964

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Panama in memory of those who died, passed quietly and without incident.

In preparation for discontinuing U.S. Army Forces Southern Command, which was to be completed by 31 December 1974, command of its forces was transferred to the U.S. Army Forces Command at Fort McPherson, Georgia, on 1 July 1974, and a phased reduction and transfer of functions to the 193d Infantry Brigade (Canal Zone) was begun. The U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, Fort Monroe, Virginia, assumed responsibility for the Army Reserve officer training program and other individual training and doctrinal functions in the Canal Zone. Similarly, nontactical medical units and facilities came under the command of the U.S. Army Health Services Command, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, and the U.S. Army Communications Command remained responsible for communications activities.

In other actions related to the Army's role in Latin America, the Secretary of the Army in January 1974 approved Army staff proposals designed to further rapport with Latin American military representatives. Included among these were the Secretary's meeting with honor graduates of Latin American military academies, his attending functions at the Inter-American Defense Board, and his making an address before the students of the Inter-American Defense College. Also, following a four-year hiatus, the Chiefs of Staff of the American Armies met in Caracas, Venezuela, in September 1973. The U.S. Army delegation was led by its Chief of Staff, General Creighton W. Abrams. The main conference was preceded by the Intelligence Conference of American Armies which, among other activities, prepared an estimate of the military situation in the Americas. This report was, in part, the basis for open and frank discussions related to the Inter-American Military System.

Within the United States the major change in the status of the Army forces involved air defense units. The U.S. Army Air Defense Command (ARADCOM) began fiscal year 1974 with 48 Nike-Hercules batteries (21 active and 27 National Guard) dedicated to the defense of continental United States. Additionally, ARADCOM commanded 3 air defense battalions (1 Hercules and 2 Hawk), which had the dual mission of providing CONUS air defense and maintaining mobile readiness for contingency missions overseas. A review, which was directed by the Secretary of Defense, of the continental air defense mission against the strategic nuclear threat indicated that changes should be made in light of the Soviet's increased intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) capability as compared to the diminishing capabilities represented by manned aircraft. The Department of Defense, in August 1973,

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placed a lesser priority on maintenance of the existing posture for defense against manned aircraft and directed the phase-out of the forty-eight Nike-Hercules batteries assigned to CONUS defense. The remaining four Nike-Hercules units and eight Hawk units in Florida were retained for contingency and training missions. As a consequence of the 48 battery inactivations, which began in March 1974, 2 region, 8 group, 13 battalion, and ARADCOM headquarters were planned for inactivation by December 1974. Current strategy for CONUS air defense, which takes into account the prohibition for continental defense against strategic missiles as set forth in the SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) Treaty, emphasizes attack warning and surveillance and control of our airspace rather than active defense. Available to carry out this strategy are 20 interceptor units consisting of 6 U.S. Air Force active duty F-106 squadrons; 6 F-106, 6 F-101, and 2 F-102 Air National Guard squadrons; and the 31st Air Defense Artillery Brigade, which consists of the four Nike-Hercules and eight Hawk batteries in Florida.

Readiness

Army readiness underwent steady improvement throughout fiscal year 1974. Early in the year the Army instituted a revised unit readiness reporting system under the provisions of Army Regulation 220-1. The revised system promoted one Army and total force goals by bringing Reserve Component and Regular Army units under the same reporting system. Concurrently, the Army's readiness reporting procedures were merged with the joint Chiefs of Staff readiness reporting system, thus eliminating duplication and simplifying procedures while improving accuracy and timeliness. Field commands liked the revised system for its simplicity, reduced reporting burden, and improved timeliness. By June 1974, the Army was able to classify all its major units as ready for combat.

The Army's overall logistic readiness also improved significantly during fiscal year 1974. Although reorganizational adjustments and changeover to the G series of the tables of organization and equipment caused some equipment shortages, these were overcome through intensive management programs, on-site visits, and surveillance of readiness reports. As the period closed, the availability of equipment on hand had reached authorized levels in 93 percent of all reporting units, and 80 percent of the units reported that equipment status, which includes the condition of equipment as well as its availability, was also at required levels. The established goals for this period, 90 percent for equipment on hand and 70 percent for equipment status, had been surpassed.

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Command and Control

During the past year improvements in command and control were concentrated on the Worldwide Military Command and Control System (WWMCCS). The WWMCCS Objective Plan underwent its annual review, and revisions emphasized crisis management, support of selective release of nuclear weapons, and the interface requirements between strategic and. tactical command and control systems. In Europe command, control, and communications abilities and limitations were examined, problem areas identified, and operational improvements made.

The WWMCCS automatic data processing (ADP) contract was amended to permit greater flexibility in the system's configuration and to allow a longer period for ordering and delivering remote terminals and other components. As noted in last year's report, WWMCCS computer systems had been set up during fiscal year 1973 at three sites. The remaining systems were installed and accepted as follows:

Hardware security at all seven of the completed sites was improved by the installation of off-line cathode-ray tubes, teletypewriters, and remote line printers.

Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations

The Regular Army civil affairs structure was affected by two decisions taken during fiscal year 1974. The first was to reorganize the civil affairs units at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, into a single battalion during fiscal year 1975. The second involved inactivation of the two forward-deployed civil affairs units. The 1st Civil Affairs Battalion in the Pacific was inactivated at the end of the reporting period, and the 3d Civil Affairs Group in the Southern Command will be placed on the inactive list during the coming year. With these changes in force structure only one battalion will remain to meet the requirements for civil affairs support in contingencies short of mobilization. By necessity, functional civil affairs support will be limited and emphasis placed on general support. Offsetting the change in support is the freeing of 694 spaces for higher priority combat roles.

The reorganization of civil affairs units in the U.S. Army Reserve was again deferred pending resolution of questions stemming from the proposed reduction of the Reserve Component structure by 48,000 paid drill spaces.

In the field of psychological operations, the development of the

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PSYOP Automated Management Information System (PAMIS) continued. The first system component, the Foreign Media Analysis Subsystem, currently contains a two-year data base derived from selected news media of the People's Republic of China, Democratic People's Republic of Vietnam, and Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The completion of the Foreign Area Data Subsystem led to the development, in June 1974, of a test model PSYOP bank for a specific country. The PSYOP Effects Subsystem, the final component of PAMIS, uses data from other subsystems, current intelligence, and preestablished indicators of effects. The Effects Subsystem will be designed to measure the effectiveness of PSYOP programs and campaigns. Under current Army planning, the full development of the PSYOP Automated Management Information System and the refinement of technical procedures and instructional manuals are to be completed by the end of fiscal year 1976.

Chemical, Biological, and Nuclear Matters

The Army and other DOD agencies extensively reviewed chemical warfare policies during the year. The Army accelerated programs to improve its defense against chemical, biological, and radiological (CBR) warfare in response to elaborate Soviet capabilities in this area as revealed by equipment captured from Soviet-equipped Arab forces during the October 1973 Middle East war: all vehicles and all soldiers captured were adequately equipped against CBR agents.

Subcommittees of the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committees held numerous hearings on the nation's chemical warfare policy. Findings and recommendations were not completed by the end of the fiscal year, nor had the U.S. Senate ratified the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons, and on their Destruction. The convention, which was described in last year's report, will also require the approval of the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom before it enters into force.

The Army's request for legislative authority to abolish the Chemical Corps was submitted to Congress on 22 May 1973, but no action had been taken on the matter by the end of fiscal year 1974. Legislative approval was also sought to permit the sale of 1,294 one-ton containers of obsolete phosgene stored at Rocky Mountain Arsenal, Denver, Colorado. This material is identical to a carbonyl chloride commercial chemical used in the production of plastic. Approval of the request would eliminate the re-

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quirement to dispose of this material by chemical neutralization and would result in a substantial savings to the government.

The first phase of Project Eagle, the disposal of an obsolete mustard agent stored in 3,407 one-ton containers at Rocky Mountain Arsenal, was completed in March 1974. The second phase of the project, the disposal of 21,115 obsolete M34 GB Clusters, was started in October 1973. Also, the Secretary of Defense on 13 October 1973 decided to dispose of the GB bulk agent and munition deterrent and retaliatory stockpile at Rocky Mountain Arsenal, and this task was added to the second phase of Project Eagle. The fall of 1976 was set as the target date for completing the expanded project.

As noted in previous reports, Operation Chase involved the disposal, in August 1970, of obsolete chemical munitions on a liberty ship hulk by scuttling. Afterwards, the Navy completed its fifth and last survey of the Operation Chase disposal site and found no contamination of the water surrounding the sunken hulk or evidence of any noticeable change in sea life.

In tactical nuclear operations, the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command began work on converting the broad concepts and policies contained in a paper entitled Deployment and Employment Policy for Tactical Nuclear Weapons, which was approved by the Chief of Staff in fiscal year 1973, into more detailed doctrine suitable for field manuals. The Concepts Analysis Agency was to review and refine existing methodologies for determining tactical weapons requirements to incorporate these concepts. The study, Tactical Nuclear Requirements Methodology, was scheduled for completion in December 1974.

Security Assistance

Considerable progress was made during fiscal year 1974 in planning the levels of war reserve stocks. for allied nations. In consonance with the Nixon Doctrine and congressional actions, the United States is relying more heavily on allies to develop their own defense capabilities. To aid in this process, the U.S. provides security assistance materiel and services under grant aid and sales arrangements.

In recognition of the burdens on allies and the need for rapid logistic support under wartime conditions, the United States undertook a program to acquire war reserve stocks that can be used to meet emergencies. To this end, plans were developed to use appropriated funds for war reserve stocks to meet the needs of selected countries and regions in support of U.S. strategy and national interest. Also, the U.S. Army War College Strategic

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Studies Institute began to compare and evaluate U.S. and Soviet security assistance system capabilities. The study has the aim of discovering how the Soviets can move massive quantities of equipment into any area in the world to meet political requirements, apparently on very short notice, without degrading their own readiness. It is designed to emphasize those characteristics of the Soviet system which enhance responsiveness and to identify U.S. characteristics that could be modified to make U.S. security assistance more effective.

The approach generally followed in analyzing the defense capabilities of an allied country for the purpose of providing security. assistance has been to examine its combat forces, support forces, and economic and social structure. Although military planners have done a thorough job of analyzing combat forces, they have often neglected the support capabilities that a country needs to defend itself. A major cause for this neglect has been the lack of an analytical framework. Recognizing this, the Army contracted for a study by the Stanford Research Institute to develop a framework that, when applied to a particular country, should enable the analyst to understand more fully all major factors that pertain to a country's defense capabilities and to identify more readily deficiencies in its defense posture that could be corrected by U.S. security assistance.

Foreign aid legislation for fiscal year 1074 lifted a number of the restrictions and limitations imposed on U.S. security assistance; for instance, the dollar limits on previous grant aid to Latin America and Africa were lifted, as was the requirement that grant aid countries deposit an amount equal to 10 percent of their programs. In addition, the Congress repealed the requirement that U.S. military assistance advisory groups certify the ability of host countries to use military equipment provided under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended. On the other hand, certain provisions of the law were made more stringent. Tighter control was placed on furnishing excess defense articles to foreign countries, and prohibitions were established against providing police training to foreign students outside of the United States.

United States security assistance was a major factor in support of combat operations in Cambodia during the past year. Unfortunately, the Cambodian operation drew grant aid funds away from other countries, not only in Southeast Asia, but throughout the world. For example, the full $250 million authorized by Congress for emergency security assistance was applied by the President to the needs of Cambodia principally for ammunition.

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This sum, added to the normal grant aid program, gave Cambodia a total of $375 million to sustain its defense operations.

Both Laos and the Republic of Vietnam continued to receive their military assistance through Department of Defense appropriations or Military Assistance Service Funds (MASF) during the reporting period. At the end of the fiscal year; however, funding for Laos was transferred by congressional determination from MASF to the Military Assistance Program (MAP) under the Foreign Assistance Act.

Faced with reduced grant aid in fiscal year 1974, Thailand showed increased interest in acquiring military materiel through the Foreign Military Sales program. Thailand's improved economic posture allowed this partial transition, which is in step with the U.S. policy of encouraging greater self-reliance by countries in reaching adequate defense capabilities.

During fiscal year 1974 Latin American countries endeavored to modernize their armed forces for internal defense and mutual security. Despite decreasing levels of MAP grant aid funds available to support the security assistance effort worldwide, MAP training programs were maintained in the majority of Latin American countries at only a slightly reduced level. Foreign military sales increased as emphasis on grant aid decreased.

Support to Chile was increased after the overthrow of the Allende regime. This assistance program is expected to receive a high priority as the Chilean government modernizes its military forces.

In Ecuador, the security assistance program was reestablished in fiscal year 1974 following a three-year lapse brought on by the U.S.-Ecuadorian dispute over fishing rights and territorial sea claims. The new program demonstrated U.S. interest in Ecuador through resumption of close military-to-military relations with the Ecuadorian armed forces and through promotion of mutual security interests.

Peru and the United States were also involved in a fishing dispute before fiscal year 1974. The present security assistance program is designed to improve relations between the U.S. and Peruvian governments generally, and the military forces of the two countries specifically.

Security assistance to Bolivia remained at a high level throughout the year. Materiel assistance continued to be based primarily on grant aid rather than foreign military sales credits.

For African countries, the $40 million congressional ceiling on foreign military sales was retained. Cash sales and training costs, however, were excluded for the first time in computing the ceiling. Meanwhile, several African nations, particularly those countries

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where U.S. installations are located, showed an increasing interest in receiving U.S. equipment and materiel under the Foreign Military Sales program.

In the Middle East, U.S. Army engineers and explosive ordnance demolition technicians joined elements of the U.S. Navy in helping the United Arab Republic reopen the Suez Canal. Operating as part of Combined Task Force (CTF) 65, Army troops trained and subsequently advised elements of eight Egyptian Engineer battalions and two Egyptian Explosive Ordnance Demolition battalions on minefield clearance and explosive ordnance demolition procedures. The operation, code name NIMBUS MOON LAID, began on 11 April 1974 and was originally scheduled to last at least one year. The professional competence demonstrated by both the Egyptian Army trainees and U.S. Army trainers and advisers, however, justified a more optimistic prediction. The Army portion of the Suez Canal operation should be completed in late July 1974.

Countries throughout the Middle East, particularly Israel and Saudi Arabia, expressed more interest, too, in obtaining first-line U.S. military hardware through the Foreign Military Sales program.

Training, a major military assistance activity, was supported at higher levels in fiscal year 1974 than in the previous year. Table 1 shows the fiscal year 1974 program as provided for in the Foreign Assistance Act.

TABLE 1 - MILITARY TRAINING UNDER THE FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ACT IN FISCAL YEAR 1974

1 Australia, Britain, and Canada

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Military Support to Civil Authorities

The Army gives substantial support to federal, state, and local agencies through a number of continuing programs, such as civil defense and the Military Assistance to Safety and Traffic (MAST) program, and in emergencies, such as natural disasters and civil disturbances.

On 1 October 1973 responsibility for Army support of the Department of Defense Domestic Action Program shifted from the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel to the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans. On 20 November 1973, the program was redesignated the Department of Defense Community Service Program, similar in name to the Army Community Service Program but an altogether unrelated activity. Near the close of the fiscal year, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower and Reserve Affairs acted to decentralize the program, but a final decision on whether or not it should remain a DOD program or be maintained on a separate basis by each of the military services was still pending.

A major responsibility of the Defense Civil Preparedness Agency (DCPA), successor agency to the Office of Civil Defense, is the operation of a national civil defense communications and warning system for transmitting information on impending enemy attack to all levels of government and to the public. The U.S. Army Communications Command (USACC) provides the communications support required by DCPA to carry out its communications and warning functions. A revised memorandum of understanding between DCPA and USACC was approved in March 1974, superseding an outdated 1966 agreement. Under the new agreement, USACC responds to policy guidance and requirements from DCPA on communications and warning, operates the emergency systems, has technical control over the three National Warning Centers, provides staff assistance to DCPA regional directors, and handles budgeting, funding, and supply for the DCPA communications and warning systems that it supports. DCPA oversees operations, is responsible for the warning officers assigned to the National Warning Centers, and provides funds for the development of radio warning systems.

Fiscal year 1974 was a period of reduced yet extensive explosive ordnance disposal operations. The Army responded to 787 requests from the U.S. Secret Service to eliminate explosive hazards in vehicles and facilities frequented by key government officials and other dignitaries. The Army also met over 3,300 requests from civil authorities to deal with the hazards associated with bomb

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threats, transportation accidents involving explosives, and disposal of war souvenirs. Additionally, the Army trained 500 students from state and federal law enforcement agencies to handle homemade bomb threats. By helping civil agencies to increase their explosive ordnance disposal capabilities, the Army reduced its own work load. All told there was a 7 percent drop in the number of ordnance disposal requests during fiscal year 1974.

The Army was also involved in the fight against terrorism. Public Law 92-539, enacted on 24 October 1972, had extended federal protection to foreign officials and official guests of the United States and to their families and staffs, some 137,000 persons in 182 U.S. cities. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, working closely with local authorities, was made responsible for directing operations against criminal activity, including acts of terrorism, covered by the statute. The Departments of Justice and Defense agreed that Defense would respond to reasonable FBI requests for military resources-materiel, facilities, and technical advisers to help combat terrorism. Designated by the Secretary of Defense as executive agent, the Secretary of the Army ordered the Army staff, specifically the Directorate of Military Support, to assist the FBI.

In August 1973, the Secretary of the Army approved an FBI request to purchase M16 rifles, M79 grenade launchers, M1903 sniper rifles, and associated munitions for FBI Special Weapons and Tactics teams at the FBI Academy, Quantico, Virginia. On 17 April 1974 the Under Secretary of the Army approved a second request to buy military ordnance items. Then in late June the Under Secretary approved a third request, this time for helicopters to train personnel in descending onto the rooftops of buildings to rescue hostages. Using CH-46 and UH-1 helicopters, the Marine Corps was to conduct the training at Quantico, Virginia. Initially, some sixty FBI personnel were to participate. After an evaluation by the Department of Defense, the program may be expanded to include the training of approximately a thousand members of FBI Special Weapons and Tactics teams.

Federal agencies involved in drug and narcotic interdiction continued to receive the Army's military support. Assigned Army staff responsibility in August 1973, the Director of Military Support assisted the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) by providing enlisted technicians to train DEA people how to operate and maintain radars and sensor devices and by lending and servicing military vehicles. The Army increased its loan of T-41B aircraft from four to nine. It also helped the Drug Enforcement Administration in its support of the government of Jamaica's

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"Operation Buccaneer," an attack against marijuana production and trafficking, by lending four helicopters and six trucks and training DEA pilots how to operate the helicopters.

Army support of the U.S. Customs Service during the past year included the loan and sale of radars , night vision devices, sensor equipment, and vehicles. The U.S. Customs Service also participated with the Army in the procurement of certain sensors and night vision goggles.

On 16 November 1973 the President signed legislation (Public Law 93-155) that authorized the Department of Defense to use military helicopters and service people to support the Military Assistance to Safety and Traffic Program. The new law permitted the expansion of the program from the five participating Army installations noted in last year's report to twelve posts at the close of fiscal year 1974. Three additional sites were later approved for participation in the program.

On 3 April 1974, a series of tornadoes hit nine states-Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Ohio, South Carolina, and Tennessee-causing severe damage in scattered areas. Army, Navy, and Air Force installation commanders in these states committed people, equipment, and supplies to save lives and lessen human suffering and property damage. During the first twenty-four hours of the disaster, over 275 people and 35 vehicles of the Army were involved in helping disaster victims.

On 5 April 1974, President Nixon declared sections of six of the nine tornado stricken states as major disaster areas. At the same time Fifth U.S. Army selected military officials to represent the Department of Defense in the major disaster states. These representatives worked closely with the federal coordinating officer appointed to each disaster area in providing military aid. At the height of military support the Army provided 843 people, 4 ambulances, 150 vehicles, 4 helicopters, and 12 communications packets.

Work continued during the past year on the National Communications System Plan. Details were completed on a proposal to provide mobile communications teams to support activities of the Federal Disaster Assistance Administration in major disaster areas. U.S. Army Forces Command would furnish the teams upon the request of the Federal Disaster Assistance Agency. Each team would contain twenty portable radios with a base station, equipment for two high-frequency radio nets, and sufficient people for a thirty-day, around-the-clock operation.

The Directorate of Military Support coordinated for the Department of Defense emergency bridging and transportation services at Hilton Head, South Carolina, during the spring of 1974.

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While U.S. Navy landing craft provided emergency transportation, U.S. Army engineer units from Fort Belvoir, Fort Benning, and Fort Bragg constructed an 855-foot ponton bridge over the inland waterway to handle vehicular traffic; the bridge was capable of opening and closing to allow the passage of intercoastal waterway traffic. From 3 April to 22 April 1974, 42,794 vehicles used the bridge. The state of South Carolina, which had requested assistance on 28 March, agreed to pay for the incremental costs ($80,324) associated with the project.

Anticipating that industrial pollutants in the public water supplies of Duluth, Minnesota, and other cities along the, shores of Lake Superior might require military help in providing potable water, the Directorate of Military Support surveyed capabilities of the Department of Defense to meet such an emergency and estimated the costs involved. Although emergency assistance was not required, the Corps of Engineers, acting under authority of Public Law 93-251, provided clean drinking water, costing by the end of fiscal year 1974 approximately $82,000.

On 21 August 1973, the Department of justice identified Fort Wingate Depot Activity, an Army Materiel Command ammunition storage facility located near Gallup, New Mexico, as a possible target for demonstrations by dissident Indians and indicated the demonstrators might be armed with "dynamite, grenades, a rifle, and a machine gun." By 12 September about fifty demonstrators were in the Gallup area. On 13 September the Army decided to take precautionary measures. Brigadier General William L. Mundie, assistant commander of the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colorado, headed a federal military task force, the major component of which was a military police company, that arrived at Fort Wingate on 20 September. The task force augmented the regular civilian security force and took part in patrolling operations. Overt violence against Fort Wingate, however, did not materialize, and the task force, which reached a peak strength of 220, returned to home stations on 24 September.

In January 1974, the nation's independent truck operators went on strike to call attention to energy-related problems affecting the trucking industry. After seven days, forty-two states were touched by the strike and related violence. The Army was then allowed to move essential military cargo and to loan military transport to the National Guard and civil authorities in cases involving health, food, and welfare. The Directorate of Military Support developed supporting plans with the Military Traffic Management and Terminal Service and established liaison with the Departments of Justice and Transportation.

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Military Engineering

In the Army staff reorganization prescribed by General Order 10, 8 May 1974, the Directorate of Military Engineering and Topography (D/ME&T) in the Office of the Chief of Engineers was abolished, and its principal engineering and topographic functions were transferred to other Army staff agencies on 20 May 1974. Development of the engineer elements of Army forces, including the engineer aspects of detailed force structures, doctrine, mobilization planning, training and readiness, materiel needs, engineer tables of organization and equipment, tables of distribution and allowances, combat developments, and the planning and evaluation of the Army Survival Measures Program were transferred from the Directorate of Military Engineering and Topography to the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans. Assistance in preparing policies and concepts for individual training was transferred to the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel, and technical supervision of research and development of engineer materiel required to support the army in the. field, including related international standardization activities, was transferred to the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Research, Development, and Acquisition. Primary topographic functions were also transferred to other Army elements, although responsibility for basic research in support of military engineering and topographic activities was retained. The Office of the Chief of Engineers also continued to carry out such topographic functions as support to the Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence in executing Army topographic activities, assessment of Defense Mapping Agency responsiveness to Army requirements, and management of military geographic information and hydrographic activities. The Chief of Engineers remained, however, the principal adviser to the Army Chief of Staff in all military engineering matters.

The Army's system of expedient airfield surfacing consists of prefabricated landing mats to provide strength on weak soil, prefabricated membranes to waterproof soil, and dust control materials, all of which are designed to provide Army engineers with a capability to construct airfields, heliports, and roads to support mobile air and ground operations under varying climatic and topographical conditions. Testing was successfully concluded on an extruded aluminum truss-web heavy-duty landing mat, which will support present and projected tactical and cargo aircraft, and on an aluminum honeycomb-core, sandwich-type, medium-duty landing mat to support tactical and cargo aircraft of medium loads. Testing continued on a dust control system of polyvinyl acetate water-

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emulsion material along with a sectionalized liquid distributor to emplace the material.

For mine and countermine warfare, a helicopter-delivered fuel air explosive system underwent additional testing. Once the accuracy of the delivery means has been demonstrated, and when doctrine for employment has been developed, the system will be considered for general Army use. The fuel air explosive system is expected to provide an effective means of minefield neutralization in low- to mid-intensity warfare.

The development and operational testing of the Family of Military Engineer Construction Equipment (FAMECE) continued. The tests will determine which prototypes satisfy Army requirements and which development program should be continued. Also, deliveries began on the 25-ton hydraulic crane, and contracts were awarded for the 4 1/2 to 5-cubic-yard scoop loader, the T-11 crawler tractor, the utility tractor with backhoe and loader, and the 40-ton semitrailer. Delivery of the contracted items, scheduled to begin during fiscal year 1975, will improve the capabilities and efficiency of engineer construction units.

International Humanitarian Law

The first session of the Diplomatic Conference on the Law of War met at Geneva, Switzerland, from 20 February to 29 March 1974. Sponsored by the International Committee of the Red Cross, the conference was convened by the Swiss government to consider two draft protocols designed to update the Geneva conventions of 1949. Before the conference, the Army actively participated in the formulation of the U.S. position and the conduct of international negotiations on the two draft protocols. The Army helped in the development of joint Chiefs of Staff recommendations for the U.S. position and later the coordination between the Departments of Defense and State that produced U.S. position papers on the articles in the two draft protocols.

Controversy surrounding the seating of delegations occupied the first two weeks of the conference and seriously impaired its effectiveness. A motion to seat the Peoples Revolutionary government of South Vietnam was defeated by a margin of one vote. The liberation movement in Portuguese Guinea (Guinea-Bissau), which has been recognized by the United Nations General Assembly as an independent state, was seated as a government. A number of other national liberation movements recognized by intergovernmental regional organizations, for example, the Arab League and the Organization of African Unity, were allowed to participate in the conference as observers without voting privileges.

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An article extending the Geneva conventions to all armed conflicts "in which peoples are fighting against colonial domination and alien occupation and against racist regimes in the exercise of their right of self determination" was adopted by Committee I of the conference. There was a strong movement to have the conference as a whole adopt this article, but a compromise was developed that "welcomed" but did not "accept" the action of Committee I. Considerable interest was shown at the conference in introducing a "just war" concept into humanitarian law. This concept would grant protection to victims of conflicts on the basis of the cause for which they fight. It would destroy the fundamental principle of humanitarian law that all victims of conflict are equally entitled to protection and would raise the possibility that those fighting for causes not deemed "just" would be considered criminals rather than lawful combatants.

Following the conference, the Army assisted in evaluating the results and in developing recommendations on the U.S. position at the second session of the conference, which will convene in February 1975. In addition, the Army helped to develop background material for use in a conference of government experts on weapons that are said to cause unnecessary suffering. This meeting is scheduled for late September 1974.

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