The White Falcon - 25.03.1961, Side 2

2
WHITE FALCON
Saturday, March 25, 1961
Counterforce Equals Deterrence
A primary objective of our national policy is deterrence of
war.
The Armed Forces are an instrument of our government
through which national policy can be implemented to promote peace
and deter war. Our military forces cannot fulfill this responsibility
unless they (1) Have the capability to fight and prevail in general
and small wars, (2) Have this capability well understood by tbe
American people and our allies (so they will support the force
and have the confidence and will to use it, if necessary) and by
the potential enemy (so he will not dare to aggress).
The capability to fight and prevail in a general war is depend-
ent primarily upon the capability to destroy the military forces
of the enemy, primarily those forces that could be used most ef-
fectively to destroy us.
To prevail in general war in the nuclear age requires the most
highly effective offensive and defensive aerospace forces. Also
needed is a passive defense system sufficient to insure as much
survival as possible of both the military forces needed to assure
the victory and the civilian population needed to reconstruct the
postwar world.
Counterforce is aimed at developing and maintaining the capa-‘
bility to destroy selectively the enemy military forces that couldf
most effectively defeat our military forces. Forces so designed arel
the kind most likely to prevail in war. And the kind that can bei
most firmly depended upon to deter war. Counterforce is a strategy
for protecting our Country by destroying or countering forces,
military forces.
Counterforce differs from the strategy sometimes referred to
as “counter-population” or “minimum deterrence.” Forces designed
to support a counter-population strategy could not defeat enemy
military forces that could defeat us. If the strategy of our Armed
Forces was changed to one of minimum deterrence, the larger land,
sea and aerospace forces of an aggressive nation or group of
nations could destroy not only our minimum military forces, but
our cities.
A common misconception is that the counterforce strategy is
basically a first-strike or pre-emptive-strike strategy. This is not
true 1 The counterforce strategy requires forces that can be effective
if we are attacked first.
The counterforce strategy requires forces that can survive—
through early warning, quick reaction, dispersal, hardening, mo-
bility and weapon system variety—to strike back at an aggressor;
can penetrate to all necessary targets; can conduct pre-attack and
post-attack reconnaissance; can conduct re-strikes; forces such as
aircraft (and, in the future piloted aerospace vehicles) and other
systems to seek out and destroy hard-to-find targets, including
mobile targets; can have effective command and control of their
units during combat; can minimize damage to themselves and our
people through active and passive defense measures.
★ ★ ★
Good Things Happen
One of the attributes that sets us humans apart from most
of our fellow inhabitants of this crowded planet is the desire to
help someone in need or in trouble.
Even in the best of us, this impulse of mercy may seem to
weaken under the presssures of daily living in this highly organized
and impersonal society of ours.
But, through our voluntary contributions of time and money
to such welfare agencies as the American Red Cross, we are helping
people in need as truly as if our hands were touching theirs.
More than a million Americans will be conducting a month-
long, nation-wide drive to enroll their neighbors as Red Cross
members with a “Good Things Happen When You Help” appeal.
When you become a Red Cross member, your helping hand
reaches:
Next door, where the mother, trained in Red Cross home
nursing, takes care of a sick child;
Down the block, where a man trained in Red Cross first aid,
saves the life of a traffic victim;
Across town, where Red Cross-collected blood keeps a hospital
patient alive;
Across the nation, where Red Cross disaster workers are help-
ing a tornado-stricken family rebuild its home;
To Saudi Arabia, where a Red Cross field director is helping
a U. S. serviceman make an emergency trip home, and
To Chile and Morocco, where the American Red Cross and
other members of the world-wide League of Red Cross Societies
help earthquake victims.
Truly, through your Red Cross you help make good things
happen wherever people are in need or in trouble.
The Air Force’s Military Air
Transport Service must provide
two types of airlift approved by
the Joint Chiefs of Staff for
general war.
The first is “critical” or “hard
core” airlift—and is required by
the Air Force, Army and Navy.
The second is the emergency
strategic airlift for other, less
critical deployments and for es-
sential logistical buildup. It may
be carried out either by MATS
or by other augmentation forces
under MATS control.
These forces, the other memb-
ers of the U. S. strategic airlift
a team, are the Civil Reserve Air
SFleet and Air Force Reserve and
I Air National Guard forces.
This mission was explained by
Lt. Gen. Joe W. Kelly, Command-
er of MATS, to the American
Legion National Security Com-
mission in Washington, D. C.
He also said: “Because of the
critical relationship between time
and speed, there is probably no
other command in the military
establishment as closely tied to
all U. S. Forces as MATS. Strate-
gic airlift is the fastest known
means of getting from ‘A’ to ‘B.’
MATS is this Nation’s only strate-
gic airlift force. There, in a nut-
shell, is a statement of our pur-
pose.”
Board To Meet
A selection board is scheduled
to convene at the Air Reserve
Records Center, Denver, on May
15 to select and recommend of-
ficers for permanent promotion
to the grade of colonel, AFRes.
Names of lietenant colonels in
the AFRes in an active status
with a promotion service date
prior to Jul. 1, 1956, including
those on extended active duty,
will be submitted by Hq. TJSAF
for consideration. The best quali-
fied method of selection will be
utilized.
A Personnel spokesman emphas-
izes that officers eligible for con-
sideration who desire to submit
written communication under the
provisions of Section 8362(f),
Title 10, USC, should forward it
direct to the President, Air Force
Reserve Selection Board, ARRC,
3800 York St., Denver 5, Colo.,
so as to arrive prior to convening
of the Board.
They Are People
Pedestrians are people! Does
that surprise you, or did you
know it all the time?
So why not treat them like the
fellow human beings they are?
Give them their rights instead
of the horn or hot words.
The National Safety. Council
says treat pedestrians as you
would like to ’ be treated .. the
golden rule for living.
THE WHITE FALCON
Col. Benjamin G. Willis, USAF
Commander, Air Forces Iceland
The WHITE FALCON Is an official Class II Armed Forces newspaper published weekly at
Keflavik Airport, Iceland by Air Forces Iceland of the Military Air Transport Service for
all contingents stationed at Keflavik Airport. The WHITE FALCON receives AFPS and
AFNS materials. Views and opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the
Department of Defense.
Information Officer........Capt. Warren J. Papin, USAF
Editor ...................... TSgt Wylie Mason, USAF
Isafoldarp.-entsmiOJa h.f.
Aerospace Power for

s4ir to^
Air Force Gets Space Role
Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara has assigned re-
sponsibility for space development and research projects to the
Air Force, unless in unusual circumstances he or his deputy directs
otherwise in specific cases.
Mr. McNamara gave USAF this space role in DOD Directive
5160.32, dated Mar. 6, subject, Development of Space Systems.
The directive “establishes policies and assigns responsibilities
for research, development, test and engineering of satellites, anti-
satellites, space probes and supporting systems therefore, for all
components of the Department of Defense.”
The Secretary said that the new directive deals solely with
research and development, that operational control of space vehicles
will be made on a project-by-project basis as vehicles become
operational.
Mr. McNamara said also that the new directive does not affect
space research and development assignments previously made.
The USAF role in the Department of Defense effort in space
systems already amounts to 91% in terms of money, Dr. Herbert
F. York, Director of Defense and Engineering, recently told Con-
gress.
Answering a question, Dr. York said his testimony meant, in
effect, that the Air Force is handling space developments for DOD
and that NASA is handling peace time developments.
Assignment of space research and development by Mr. Mc-
Namara does not mean that USAF has become the military space
czar. The Army and Navy, as well as the Air Force, have unilateral
rights “to conduct preliminary research to develop new ways of
using space technology to perform its assigned function within
limitations to be fixed by the Department of Defense Research and
Engineering.”
The decision as to what space research recommendations from
three military departments will be pursued further will be passed
on first by the Director of Defense Research and Engineering. He
will recommend to Secretary McNamara proposals which he believes
should be developed.
After the Defense Secretary makes his decision, it will be the
job of the Air Force to conduct the research and development
phase of the missile project regardless of service origination, unless
Mr. McNamara or his deputy directs other development procedures.
In a memorandum to the Secretaries of the three military
departments, Secretary McNamara said, “Having carefully reviewed
the military portion of the national space program, the Deputy
Secretary and I have become convinced that it could be much
improved by better organization and clearer assignment of re-
sponsibilities.”
Commenting on the directive, USAF chief-of-staff, Gen. Thomas
D. White, said that the new responsibility demands and will receive
our maximum effort and that maximum coordination must be made
with the other armed services and the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration.
“I am impressing upon all of our people the importance and
the difficulty of the task that lies ahead. I am confident that the
Air Force will be equal to the job,” General White said.
★ ★ ★
This Is Accuracy In Action
USAF has developed an atomic clock so accurate that it is
estimated it will not exceed an error of one second in 1,271 years.
The super tick-tock, technically called an Airborne Atomic
Frequency Standard, uses atomic energy as its power source and
is the first of its kind ever developed.
It’s relatively small, weighing only 66V2 lbs., and its size will
permit airborne usage in Air Force missiles and aircraft. And
the small atomic clock also has a ground role in that it can replace
the large, 600 lb. laboratory units currently in use.
Perhaps its greatest operational advantage lies in its simplicity
of use—the atomic clock needs only to be switched on and off.
This eliminates the previous need for pre and in-flight calibrations
and highly skilled operators to work the clock.
The atomic clock, developed by the National Company, Inc.,
Malden, Mass., is undergoing tests at the Wright-Patterson AFB,
Ohio, Communication Laboratory. The experts there believe the
nuclear clock will become operational in USAF missiles and air-
craft next year.
★ ★ ★
Drive The Right Lane
Most high speed roads have a special lane for entering drivers
to merge with traffic. It’s often a block or more long. The distance
is to help you reach the speed of through traffic before merging
with it. Many drivers ignore or don’t understand this special pur-
pose for the lane and automatically come to a stop at the merging
point. Through drivers do have the right of way, and entering driv-
ers must yield to them. But, says the National Safety Council,
it is proper to merge when you’re travelling at the speed of the
through traffic—if traffic will allow. So if you don’t infringe on
a through driver’s right of way, pick up your speed before merging.
★ ★ ★
AEROSPACE EVENT
March 4, 1909 — President Taft approved a joint resolution
of Congress awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to the Wright
brothers.
Peace Through Deterrence