THIN ANTI-BALLISTIC-MISSILE SYSTEM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP70B00338R000300100083-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 12, 2006
• Sequence Number: 83
• Publication Date: September 21, 1967
• Content Type: OPEN

Approved For Release 2006/01/30 :CIA-RDP70B00338R000300100083-3
September ~1, 196' CONGRESSIONAL RECORD -SENATE S 13407
i
the demilitarized zone. The barrier, in short,
will be manned by native troops, not U.S.
Marines.
This, at least, is the plan in the back of
the mind of Secretary of Defense Robert S.
McNamara and no military commanders in
the field here dispute him. While not wildly
enthusiastic, these commanders believe that
even the first portion of the barrier along
an already cleared strip of land called "the
trace" will make it far more difftcult for
Ho Chi Minh's northern legions to penetrate
deeply into Quangtri Province.
It is only atwo-minute hop by helicopter
from the advance Marine base here at
Dongha up to Conthien, the scene oP the
most" savage fighting oP the war and only
one mile from the DMZ. Through the pelt-
ing rain, the first portion of the terrain
cleared for the barrier is easily seen. It runs
from the hilltop Marine stronghold of
Conthien east for ten miles to Giolinh.
This first stretch oP the incipient barrier
still has neither fortification nor electronic
devices installed, but these will start being
emplaced soon. The work is excruciatingly
slow and painful because of its easy access
to enemy rackets from across and within the
DMZ.
But from the vantage point of Marine Brig-
Gen. Louis Metzger's helicopter, the military
advantage oP the barrier becomes instantly
clear. The ten mile "trace" covers the flattest
ground along the whole 45-mile DMZ: It is
through this inviting stretch of easy terrain
that the enemy has mounted his successive
attacks on Conthien, slipping through in
twos and threes at night, then regrouping
for a dawn attack on the Marine strong-
hold. Block this open door and the North
Vietnamese will be forced either west, into
rough and hilly country, or east, into the
costal swamp that parallels the South China
sea.
The succeeding portions of the barrier will
be constructed later, and they will not fol-
low the natural contour of the land, cling-
ing instead to the valleys and avoiding the
mountains. From Conthien to the border oP
Laos, the land rises from the coastal plan
steeply to a aeries of razorback mountains,
each one higher than the last.
Consequently, the barrier will not at all
-resemble the ill-fated Maginot Line. It will
be a series of pieces, like a jagged Pence; with
gaps where there are no valleys.
Details 4P the fortifications to be built
within the cleared strip oP terrain are top-
secret, but' they will include the usixal
border-style tort at periodic intervals, barbed
wire, and highly-sophisticated electronic de-
vices.
As long as this war lasts, the enemy will
continue to infiltrate across the DMZ, but
when the barrier is completed, getting across
to attack our troops will no longer be as
easy as a midnight stroll in the park.
The longer-range purpose, however, is
more important: The Johnson Administra-
tion is now planning far what is hopefully
defined here as "the postwar period" and
the barrier is a major component, built in
advance, to help South Vietnam defend -it-
self against the North without 600,000 Amer-
ican troops. But that time is still far, far ofY.
METRIC SYSTEM OF WEIGHTS AND
MEASURES
Mr. PELL. Mr. President, the Scale
Manufacturers Association, Inc., has,
in the person of its executive secretary,
Arthur Sanders, spoken strongly in
favor of the legislation proposed by Con-
greS5men GEORGE MILLER, RICHARD OT-
TINCER, ROBERT MCCLORY, DON EDWARDS,
and me, authorizing the Commerce De-
partment to study the feasibility of the
United States converting to the metric
system of weights and measures. In an
article written for the Scale Journal, Mr.
Sanders. has eloquently supported the
need for making such a study as soon as
possible.
Mr. Sanders' arguments are so sound,
Mr. President, that I ask unanimous con-
sent that they be printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the article
was ordered to be printed in the RECORD,
as follows:
L9 GONGRESS GOING TO FORGET "ALL ABOUT
THE METRIC SYSTEM AGAIN?
(By Arthur Sanders, exeautive secretary,
Scale Manufacturers Association, Ino.)
As these words are written, it appears
highly grobable that Congress will fail to
act on important resolutions by Senator
Claiborne Pell of Rhode Island and Con-
gressmen George P. Miller of Galifornia and
Richard Ottinger of New York. Bills have been
introduced by Congressmen Don Edwards
of California and Robert McClary of Illinois
also.
in case you've forgotten, Senator Pell and
these Congressmen want to authorize the
Commerce Department to make a serious
study of just exactly what might be involved
if the United States were to forsake measure-
ments in pounds and ounces, inches and feet,
and convert to the more precise, easier-to-use
metric system.
Aside from the scientific and business com-
munities (and weights and measures people,
of course!) it seems awfully hard to get most
folks much interested. At a time when wa,r,
race relations and higher taxes hold the head-
lines, it just doesn't seem vital to most
Americans what units of weights and mea-
sures we use .. ,and mote's the pity for that.
The United States is fast finding itself stand-
ing alone as we stand pat and take no
action ... or, worse still, seek no hard facts
on what might be involved if we gat in step
with the rest of the world in this vital
matter.
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson,
James Madison, and John Quincy Adaxns (to
mention only a few Presidents) each in turn
called upon Congress to take definitive ac-
tion in the weights and measures field. 'We're
still waiting.
Washington, our first President, called
upon the First Congress to establish a uni-
form system of weights and measures. It was
much needed. In the early days of ou:r Re-
public, weights and measures were chaotic.
As John Perry has pointed out in his book,
The Story of Standards, in those times a
bushel of oats, for example, varied all the
way from 32 pounds in Connecticut to 38
pounds in the Washington Territory. There
were many different "gallons". French, Dutch,
Spanish and English weights and measures
were in use in different areas of the United
States. It hurt trade and confused business.
Instead of setting up a unified system of
weights and measures, Congress responded by
appointing a Committee ... whioh asked the
-first Secretary oP State, Thomas Jefferson, to
recommend what ought to be done. Jefferson
gave his recommendations :. .and nothing
was done about them.
In 1817, Congress got .around to looking
into the matter of a national weights and
measures law again. Another Committee
asked then Secretary of State John Quincy
Adams what ought to be done. The younger
Adams' report on weights and measures is the
most famous and scholarly treatise on the
subject up to modern times. It fe a classic
study. But no action resulted from it, either.
Finally, the welter of confusing, confiiet-
ing standards aP weights and measures be-
came an intolerable burden on business and
trade. A Treasury Department employee,
Ferdinand Hassler, acting on his own, virtu-
ally "adopted" a system of weights and
measures for the United States-and made
his decision stick. Hassler collected stand-
ards from Europe and adapted these to
AlxLerfcan use. Trade, commerce-and. the
collection of taxes-demanded that standard
units of weights and measures which meant
the same thing to all men,
When Congress found out what Hassler
was doing, instead of being unhappy, it
seems to have heaved a collective sigh of re,
lief, and passed a Resolution urging him to
hurry along with his work.
So far, so good-in spite oP the delay.
Hassler's units of weights and measures were
adopted by the states... .the basis for our
present system.
Critics of Congress have often pointed a
scornful finger at our national legislature for..
its reluctance to pass laws in the weights- and
measures field. But, in some ways, it may be
a sign of Congressional prudence and wis-
dom-rather than the reverse. Taxes may go
up or down, alliances may be formed or
broken. But, when you go messing around
with the weights and measures laws, it is
controversial as well as important. Chaos
can result if you don't know what you're
doing. As Kings and even Dictators have
found, it isn't merely a matter oP "passing
a law". Usage must follow ..custom is
important.
But where does that leave us in the im-
portant matter oP studying the metric sys-
tem? In the early days of the Republic, inac-
tion and lack oP hard facts .hurt .but
perhaps- not too much. Modern science and
technology, however, has transformed the
world beyond recognition Prom what it was
in Jefferson's time, for example. Then it
might take a clipper ship two years to jour-
ney-say-to China and return, Today, the
transmission of news is instantaneous. De-
fense needs, commerce, trade and travel have
been accelerated to the same ratio.
WE OUGHT TO HAVE FACTS, INFORMATION
The Resolutions of Senator Pell and Con-
gressman Ottinger call Por studies .not
Por legislation compelling anybody to do any-
thing. In a matter as important as weights
and measures, it's absolutely vital to have
the best facts and the most informed, im-
partial opinion that it is possible to have.
Every single thing that man wears,; eats, or
uses have been weighed or measured at least
once-and often many times in its'manu-
facture, processing, distribution or sale.
What might be involved in the wider use
oP the metric system in the United States?
If America ultimately switched over to it?
For years, we've had debates and discus-
sions. But most of these are by ardent advo-
cates or ardent opponents of the metric
system.
The work of the National Bureau of Stand-
ards of the Commerce Department com-
mands universal respect among informed
and intelligent people. It is neither an advo-
cate nor an opponent of the metric system.
Why. not let such an informed, impartial
study be made? Then the discussion could
be clarified. Decisions, if any, could be made
on a more informed basis.
Since 1866, the metric system has been
legal but not compulsory in the United
States-by Act of Congress which provided
a conversion table to Hassler's weights and
measures. Japan, Korea, India and Great
Britain are recent converts to the metric
system. Some 90% of the world's popula-
tion now uses it. The United States, alone
among the great powers and commercial
nations, stands by our cumbersome system
on the basis oP custom and practice.
As the National Geographic Society re-
cently pointed out:
"In daily life, Americans employ at least
85 different weights and measures. Length
comes by the inch, Poot, yard, chain, rod,
furlong, league, and mile. Area may be in
square miles or acres. Volumes and weights
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 51340$ Approved For Fe~~e~l~~~1/~~:~~'~Iq~~70B~p~33~8~Q003001(~.Q~>~3~~3ber 21, 19E~
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are stated in teaspoons, quarts, pecks, gal-
lons, barrels, bushels, drama, gilts and cords,
There are three different torts, two pounds,
three ounces, three quarts and three mites.
The IInited States' inch dii3ered from that
of Canada until 19b9:'
The National t}eographic 6celety notes:
"btany of our measures grew out of the
Egyptian, Roman, and British gauges based
on the httman hand and foot."
The Egyptian cubit was the distance be-
tween the elbow and the middle finger tip.
The mile, from the Latin midde, or thousand,
was determined by the thousand double
steps of an average Roman soldier. Sing
Henry I eatabiished medieval England's yard
by measuring the distance between the tip
of his Hnger and the tip of his nose. Ah
early Scottish Sing defined the inch as the
average width of the thumbnails of three
men-large, medium, and small."
It is true, of course, that the coats of
converting to the metric system would be
high. But how high? Gniy a factual study
can tell us this.. And also, perhaps, how high
the cost of continued inaction might be.
'Way back ih,l9ofl, Dr. Alexander Graham
Belt, Inventor of the telephone and one of
America's most distinguished sciontiats, ad-
vocated the metric system. "It is a labor-
saving device of the greatest importance and
value," Bell sstd.
It would be well ii Senator Pall's Resolu-
tion or one of the House bills .. ,mere
passed. Then, perhaps, we would start getting
some informed answers on this important
ANTI-BALLISTIC-MISSILE
SYSTEM
Mr. McGEE. Mr. President, in today's
edition, the Christian Science Monitor
has focused upon the remarkable pero-
ration of Defense Secretary McNamara,
which wound up his recent San Fran-
cisco announcement about U,S. plans tcl
construct a thin anti-ballistic-missile
system. The Monitor does not see Mos-
cow more willing to give up the power
struggle, or forego stirring up the status
quo, than in the past. But !t does find
both 1Nashingtvn and Moscow more wlll-
ing to concede reasonableness to each
other than at any time since the rela-
tions between the superpowers began tci
thaw. It was reasonableness that Mr.
McNamara called for !n San Francisco,
and it is reasonableness which the world
needs, rather than a new rape toward
armament.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent
that the Monitor's editorial be printed in
the RECORD.
There being no objection, the edi-
torial was ordered to be printed in the
RECORD, aS-follows:
REnsotvear.$x>rss
"In the end, the root of man's security does
not lie in his weaponry.
"In the end, the root of man's security lion
in his mind..
"What the world requires in lta 22d Year of
the Atomic Age is not a new race to-
wards armament.
"What the world requires in its 22d Year of
the Atomic Age la a new race toward
reasonableness,"
These words were Bart of the remarkable
peroration with which Defense Secretary
McNamara wound up his aunottncement ra
Ban Francisco that the United States had
decided an "Chinese-oriented ABM deploy-
ment "
By an apt coincidence Mr. McNamara was
speaking on the eve of the formal opening in
New York of the 22d Genera! Aasembip of
tho United Nations, With all Sts limitations
and lmperiectione, the UN is still the best
instrument utat men have devised set tar to
bring the sovereign states of the world to-
ward reaaoaabieness and the rule of law.
Few have high hopes that ibis latest IIN
gathering will bring the world aigniHcantip
closer to a solutlan of its chronic problems
and dioputes-hunger, over-population, Viet-
nam, the Middle East, Cyprus, and Sashmir,
to cite only a few of them. But there 1s some-
thing novel about this 22d General Assembly.
For the first time, tltla annual gathering
will be presided over by the regreaentatice
of a Communist land, Romanian Foreign
Minister Manescu. Admittedly Romanians
these days are. a rather. special brand of Com-
munists, Allied with Moscow, they have Linea
out to the nos-Comtattniet West and also try
to maintain amenities with Peking. But Mr.
Manescu's acceptabliitp ea assembly presi-
dent to boat Moscow and Washington-with-
out which he would not have gat the job-ia
atin a token of thee. growing measure of rea-
sonableness in relations between the two
nuclear superpowers..
Certainly the Russians' installation of a
limited ABM system of their own has played
ao small part !rt convincing the Johnson ad-
ministration that the IInited States could
no longor stay naked W terms of this latest
innovation in defense, Yet Mr. McNamara
leaned aver backwards to telegraph to Mos-
cow that VVaehington'e decision to put Sn an
ABM system did not mean a sharpening of
American attitudes toward the Ruealans. The
American system, he insisted, was "designed
against a possible Chinese attack:' Aad
American deployment of the system "in no
way indicates that we feel an agreement
with the Soviet Union. on the limitation of
strategic nuclear offensive and defensive
tortes to ang the less urgent or desirable."
ile so spoke because both Washington and
Moscow are more w111dng to concede reaaon-
ab'lenesa to Bach ether than perhaps at any
time since the thaw began. This does not
mean that the Russ[ana will retrain from
stirring the statue quo when it is to their
advantage to do sa. Th1e does not mean that
the power struggle between them fa over,
But tt does mean that both recognize the
responslbilltlea Which go with being a nu-
cieir superpower-11 the world is sot to be
blown to smithereens.
This IB a measure of reasonableness for
which we can be grateful, even it we regret,
that ]t was atilt not broad enough to make
unnecessary the mutual deployment of ABM
systems.
FRANCIf3 X, GALLAGHER, OUT-
STANDING MARYLAND PUBLIC
SERVANT
spectacular ti.efensive player on the same
team. Over the years, the unsung hero
award has b+;come one of the mast sig-
nificant awards a high school boy in the
Baltimore al'ea can earn. This award
brings the unsung hero to the public's
attention; he has already earned respect
of his fallout- teammates long before he
receives the liward.
Mr. Presid~:nt, there should be an un-
sung hero award for citizen contribution
iri the field ~f publicaservice and civic
activities. If such an award is ever de-
veloped at ti +e national level, Maryland
has a unanimous choice for receipt of
the national award. My reference is to
Francis Xavier Gallagher, lawyer, public
servant, civic Ieader, businessman, father,
and advisor to many of the principal
political leaders in the Free State.
I first met. Frank Gallagher when we
were bath students at the University of
Maryland School of Law. As any law stu-
dent can tell ,rou, studying law is no part-
tilne occupa~ion, However, Frank Gal-
lagher had the mental dexterity and
physical stanlina to wdrk for his master's
degree in political science at the J'ohns-
Hopkins University, work as a part-time
reporter for the Baltimore Sun, teach at
Loyola College, and assist in an investi-
gation for the Baltimore City solicitor's
office-ail at the same time he was com-
piling an enl'fabte record at the Mary-
land law schr:rol. This excellent perform-
ance in a va_?iety of activities has been
typical. of Frt+nk Gallagher's career from
that day to this. _
Mr. Gallal:,-her's political acumen is
well known in the State of Maryland. He
is one of the most respected political ad-
visors to the ~eaders oP the Free State of
both parties. He may well have been
elected Governor of the State of Mary-
land at the a;e of 38 had he chosen this
course of serv'iee,
As a Knight of Saint Gregory, he is
recognized as one of the foremast Cath-
olic laymen in the United States. He is
the principal legal adviser to Lawrence
Cardinal 51:,ehan, Maryland's great
churchman. Tn addition, he is recognized
as one of the ~ most knowedgabie attor-
neys in the held of church law in the
united state+.
i had the pleasure of serving itl the
Maryland Ho+ise of Delegates with Flank
Gallagher. Flank Gallagher now has the
great opportl.nity to breath new life into
Mr. TYDINGS. Mr. President, for the Mal?Zlanr. Legislature as a delegate
many years a large company iIi Balt1- til the Maryii+nd Constitutional Conven-
mcre City has presented an annual tion and chairman of the committee on
award far outstanding contributions in the legislative branch,
high school athletics known as the "un- Frank Gallsgher's service to the State
sung hero award." This annual award is of Maryland has not been confined to
given to that player in high school foot- the legal, -~oliticaI, and legislative
bail and lacrosse in the Maryland Echo- worlds. He has served as chairman of
lastic Association who, although having the Baltimore City Hospital board, as
gone unnoticed by the press and most regional chat?man for the National Con-
fans, has provided steady and inspire- Terence of Christians and Jews, as presi-
tfonal readership on the football or Ia- dent of the Hibernian Society, as a mem-
crosse field. Often the recipient is an bar of Mar land's Fair Employment
offensive football lineman who has Opportunity i:'ammission, and as a mem-
tenaciously protected his quarterback bar of the Beard of the Citizens' Hous-
and consistently opened the holes in the ing and Planning Association. In 19fi5,
opposing line. On other occaslans the he was namf?d Haly Name Man of the
award is given to a defensive captain ar Year and before that he was named
middle Linebacker who has displayed Young Man :lf the Year by the junior
constant and steady performance al- chamber of c+>mmerce. Frank Gallagher
though his work may have gone un- is also active irl the business world. As
noticed because o1 a more colorful ar a member of the board of directors of
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