Senator MAYBANK. When you say working for the War Department, you are talking about the man working in the bomber plant as well as in the office? General HANDY. Not unless the War Department operates a bomber plant. Senator MAYBANK. Does not the War Department operate a bomber plant? General HANDY. I do not think so. They operate the arsenals. General HANDY. Well, the engineers have many activities. General HANDY. Yes; I think probably he would. Senator MAYBANK. I would like to ask him. Senator BURTON. The engineers have a power plant set up on the Columbia River. General HANDY. Yes. Senator MAYBANK. They keep continually dredging the harbors, too. General HANDY. Yes. Senator JOHNSON. Is this total of 1,178,000 the total for the United States, continental and everything, employed by the War Department? General HANDY. Yes, sir. Senator JOHNSON. Home and abroad? General HANDY. In the United States. We do not know what they hire overseas. This is what the War Department hires over here. Senator KILGORE. We do not have many civilians overseas. General HANDY. Most of the work would be done with military personnel overseas. Senator JOHNSON. Does this include Hawaii, Alaska, and the Canal Zone? General HANDY. I think it does, yes; after investigation it was learned that the answer to this question was "No." Hawaii, Alaska and the Canal Zone are not included. These are civil-service people in the United States under the War Department. But Mr. Waller, as I say, can give you full information on that. Senator MAYBANK. Does not the Army operate the airways? Senator MAYBANK. Don't you have a lot in Alaska? General HANDY. Yes. I have here a break-down as to where all these civilians are. You remember yesterday I showed you a chart right at the end which showed where all the military personnel was in general. I have got one here that shows where this civilian personnel is. Senator MAYBANK. Is it secret? General HANDY. Well, I would not think so; no. Senator MAYBANK. You would not want that put in the record, of course. General HANDY. This particular chart I think has both military and civilian personnel. I would like to keep the military personnel off. Senator O'MAHONEY. Why not show us the chart? General HANDY. All right, sir. Senator KILGORE. Mr. Chairman, I think we should ask the Navy for the same figures that we ask from General Handy, and we should ask General Handy to analyze the thing here for the benefit of the service, because, I believe, Mr. Chairman, you will find the biggest number of occupational deferments granted have been to the Navy and navy yards. When you read the list of the States I think you will find practically all the State deferments are in the navy yards. Senator MAYBANK. I would like you to bring General Hershey here, because I want to get it all in. Senator GURNEY. Mr. Chairman, I suggest, in order to save time that the reporter just copy that chart and include only the civilian column. That is all we want, isn't it? I think the reporter can copy the column. General HANDY. As a matter of fact, if you want to do it, you can do it easier probably off of this typewritten table than you can off the chart. (The table referred to is as follows:) Administration and training of individuals and maintenance of planes (Training Command) (79,000) Administration and training of combat crews and maintenance of planes (Combat Air (70,000) Supply and complete overhaul of planes (Air Technical Service Command) (210,000) Transporting personnel and freight and ferrying planes (Air Transport Command). (20,000) (7,000) (4,000) Commanding general (including headquarters communications, weather, and foreign assignments). (20,000) Security, including prisoner-or-war and disciplinary camps and military police units. Other service command installations, including U.S. Military Academy and Command and General Staff School. (6,000) (3,000) (3,000) (49,000) (40,000) Headquarters, including commanding general, Quartermaster, Ordnance, Medical, Signal, Chemical, Engineers, Transportation, Service Commands, and foreign assignment War Department groups (total), including Joint Chiefs of Staff and Office of Strategic Services, Secretary of War, Chief of Staff, and Military Intelligence Service, War Department miscellaneous, civilian agencies, and Veterans' Administration 3,000 General HANDY. I think that covers the main points that were brought up yesterday. As I say, Mr. Waller, who is an expert on civilian personnel, is here if the committee would like to talk to him. There were certain questions asked here by Senator O'Mahoney which we have not answered yet. If it is agreeable to you, sir, I will go ahead and answer these questions. Senator O'MAHONEY. Mr. Chairman, I move the committee prepare a list of questions and submit them to General Hershey and to the Navy so we can get precisely the information we want and you will not have to call them up here at all. Senator MAYBANK. I second the motion and ask that it be done today. Senator JOHNSON. All in favor of the motion as stated say "aye"; opposed, "no." The motion is carried. (The information desired was found to have been furnished by the Selective Service System in its monthly report-submitted under Public Law 23 of the 78th Cong., received in the Senate on February 15, 1945, and referred to the Senate Military Affairs Committeeof registratnts deferred as of December 1, 1944, because of their employmnet in or under the Federal Government, which information is restricted. Certain data, however, were supplied to Senator Maybank by General Hershey in a letter on February 19, 1945, and the letter is as follows:) NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS, SELECTIVE SERVICE SYSTEM, The Honorable BURNET MAYBANK, United States Senate. DEAR SENATOR MAYBANK: This is in reply to your request for information on the procedures of granting occupational deferments to employees of the Federal Government, and a statistical report on such deferments. On March 6, 1943, the President signed Executive Order No. 9309 prescribing the procedure for making authorized requests for the occupational deferment of employees of the executive branch of the Federal Government. On April 8, 1943, the Seventy-eighth Congress passed Public Law No. 23 regulating the granting of occupational deferments to employees in or under the Federal Gov ernment. The act specified that beginning 60 days after the enactment of the law the Director of the Selective Service System shall make monthly reports to the Congress showing, as nearly currently as is practicable, the names and positions of the persons who have been occupationally deferred because of their employment in or under the Federal Government, and showing whether or not requests for the deferment of such persons have been made in accordance with such Executive order and Public Law 23. The Selective Service System immediately following the passage of the law prescribed procedures by which Federal Government agencies should authorize the granting of requests. A report form was also prescribed upon which local boards listed as of May 15, 1943, all occupationally deferred Federal Government employees. At the same time, another form was set up, providing for reports on monthly changes in such deferments. This system of authorization and of granting deferments has been retained with minor changes up to the present time. The number of occupational deferments of Federal Government employees reported by selective service local boards in the continental United States and Territories increased from 86,368 in May 15, 1943, to 130,605 as of December 15, 1943, and to 354,202 as of December 1, 1944. This increase, although large is, however, proportionately similar to the increase in the number of occupational deferments granted to workers not employed by the Federal Government. Thus, on December 1, 1943, only 2,205,009 registrants 18 through 37 years of age were deferred because of employment in war production or war supporting activities, while as of December 1, 1944, the total was 5,104,476. More than 72 percent of all Federal Government employees occupationally deferred on December 1, 1944, were 30 years of age or over. About 80 percent of the 265,909 not physically disqualified were 30 years of age or over, and less than 1 percent were under 26 years of age. Those under 26 years of age not physically disqualified totaled only 2,452, of whom 1,261 were employed by the Navy Department and 623 were employed by the War Department, in munitions plants, shipyards, and other war-production activities. Most of the others were agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and scientists in the Weather Bureau, Bureau of Standards, and Coast and Geodetic Survey. The State of registration of the young deferred registrants not physically disqualified further indicates the kind of work in which they are engaged. More than 700 are registrants of Hawaii local boards, and most of the others are registrants of States with important navy yards and munitions plants. The Navy Department was the employer of 155,888, or 44 percent of the total occupationally deferred Government employees, as of December 1, 1944, and the War Department of an additional 112,995, or 32 percent. The Post Office Department employed 33,076 others, or another 9 percent of the cases. A profound change occurred from December 15, 1943, to December 1, 1944, in the age of all registrants who were given occupational deferments because of employment under the Federal Government. The number under 26 declined from about 41,000 at the end of 1943 to 27,000 in December 1944, of whom only 2,500 were not physically disqualified for military service. The 26-through-29-year age group increased numerically, though not proportionately to the total deferments, from 33,000 in December 1943 to 72,000 by December 1944, of whom 52,000 were not disqualified physically for service. Those 30 through 37 years of age increased both numerically and proportionately from 56,000 at the end of 1943 to 255,000 on December 1, 1944, of whom some 211,000 were not disqualified for service. The great increase in occupational deferments of Federal Government employees was in the age group 30 through 37. It did not represent an increase in the number of such registrants employed by the Federal Government. It represented a change in the basis for deferment. A great many of these Federal employees were previously deferred for dependency and hence not reportable as occupationally deferred. When dependency was no longer a reason for deferment many such registrants were then granted deferment on the grounds of occupation. Last May the armed forces stated that they wanted the men under 26 years of age. In order to meet the requirements of the armed forces for young men, classification policies were adopted by the Selective Service System under which men over 29 are granted occupational deferment upon the mere test of being regularly engaged in an essential activity. These tests apply to public and private employment, including agriculture, industry, and Government. While it may appear, therefore, that Federal Government deferments have substantially increased in the 30-through-37 age group, the fact is that such occupational deferments are largely the result of the transfer of men from dependency deferment to occupational deferment as a result of the demands of the armed forces for younger men. This headquarters appreciates your interest in this matter and will be glad to furnish such other information as you may find useful. Sincerely yours, LEWIS B. HERSHEY, Director. General HANDY. One of the questions asked by the Senator is: Is there a central personnel officer in charge of assignments to all branches of the military service, or does each branch have independent jurisdiction? The answer to that question is that each major command has its own personnel assignment system. However, there is a personnel division in the War Department General Staff that fixes over-all policies that govern assignment of personnel. Senator O'MAHONEY. Is there any competition among them for personnel? General HANDY. Of course, there is competitive always. That is one reason you must have a coordinating staff. Naturally, there is competition, yes, sir. Senator O'MAHONEY. How does this coordination operate? General HANDY. Well, we have a General Staff Division in charge. of personnel. A good deal of the competition should be taken care of by the policies that are established. Sometimes individual cases might get up that high. Senator O'MAHONEY. Do you have a policy with respect to the percentage of men who are brought into the Army and who shall be assigned to each branch? General HANDY. Yes, sir; I think possibly we might cover that a little bit later. If I can go ahead with these questions just as you have them, I would prefer to do that. The next question is: What function does The Adjutant General of the Army now perform with respect to personnel assignments to various branches? The Adjutant General issues instructions for the transfer when the War Department directs or the two commands concerned agree. Who issues the actual orders and keeps the records? Personnel entering the armed forces through selective service are divided at induction stations between the Army and Navy. The Army portion is further divided among the Air, Ground, and Service Forces in accordance with policies and procedures established by the War Department. Once personnel is assigned to a major force, it is under the jurisdiction of the commanding general thereof. Units and individuals trained by the Air, Ground, or Service Forces upon shipment overseas come under the jurisdiction of the theater commander, whose assignment and transfer jurisdiction is the same as that of the commanding general of one of the major commands. Individuals are transferred between the major forces or overseas theaters only when such transfers are mutually agreeable to the commands concerned or are specifically directed by the War Department. The Adjutant General issues orders involving such transfers. What authority determines how many troops are assigned to each of these groups? That is to the Air Forces, Ground Forces, and Service Forces? The number of troops assigned to the Ground Forces, Service Forces, and Air Forces is determined by the General Staff. The number of tactical units provided in each category is determined by approved theater requirements as submitted by the theater commander concerned, which in turn are based upon missions and objectives assigned to the several theaters. Personnel allotted to the three major commands in the continental United States for zone of interior use is allotted by the General Staff (G-3) in collaboration with other interested War Department agencies, including the War Department Manpower Board and the three commands themselves. How many men over 37 have been discharged over the past year for other than physical reasons? The answer to that is during the 11-month period, January 1 to December 1, 1944-we do not yet have the records for Decemberthere were 5,960 men over 37 discharged for reasons other than health. The next question was: How many over 30? There were 22,596 over 30, which includes those men over 37, of course, too-the 5,960. Senator BURTON. That is for an 11-month period? General HANDY. That is right. The December records for that apparently were not available. Senator O'MAHONEY. That is a sizable number, when you consider. that, according to the information given to this committee, the demands which are being made for the next 6 months will be segregated into a monthly period. General HANDY. Yes, sir. Senator O'MAHONEY. Twenty-two thousand men could approximate one-half, perhaps, of the whole month's demand. |