THE GREAT CARRIER DEBATE: BIRD FARMS AND DINOSAURS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-00498R000100180101-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 20, 2007
• Sequence Number: 101
• Publication Date: August 1, 1979
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2007/06/20: CIA-RDP99-00498R000100180101-3
G n ~ to b ss
An AnsIt r s Appraisal
of the White House Staff
ONE OF OUR READERS recently departed the President's
staff-- of his own volition. He was a dejected person, shorn of
the enthusiasm and hope which buoyed him soon after Jimmy
Carter took office, critical of some of the Presiderft's closest and
most influential advisors. We asked him, if things were so bad,
why more people on Jimmy Carter's staff weren't leaving: he
told us, sadly,
"-I,tey came without any credentials, they haven't developed
any in 2'/ years, and they didn't resign over the new Ethics in
Government law because they still don't have anything to
peddle-"
Eitor's Note: Lest some of our new subscribers misconstrue its. we
assure them that the JOURNAL is non-partisan politically, as it has
been for 1 /5 years. We are admittedly very partisan on other mailers-
like the value of competent leadership and the importance of Rood staff
work. - it L1
'A'E :OLD SCHEMMER if he didn't get off Stansfield
Twine
'
h
"
r
s cast, t
at this was going to happen!!
Actually, several
sold:2rs are participating in "MOW" (Military Operations in
Urban Terrain) in Fannlrnd, Germany. (US Army photo.)
. he Great Carrier Debate:
Bird Farms and Dinosaurs
THE GREAT CARRIER DEBATE has been reduced to its
most fundamental terms by one of our readers, who must
remain anonymous. The House Armed Services Committee has
voted to buy a CVN nuclear-powered carrier; the Senate Armed
Services Committee says a conventionally powered, Kennedy-
clam carrier (CV) will suffice; but the Administration is still
plugging for a smaller, new type of CVV.
Trying to explain the implications of this important issue to a
member of AFJ's staff, our reader summed it all up this way.
"What it really boils down to is, 'What kind ofa bird farm are we
going to buy the Navy?"
Realizing that our staffer
clarified it all quite simply:
was still confused, our reader
`The CVN is a'super nuke'-an aircraft carrier about the size
of Long Island. The CV is about the same size, but you have to
refuel it: what number the Navy assigns to it (CV-30 or CV-81,
for instance) determines whether you refuel it on odd or even
days. The CVV is much smaller-about the size of Maryland's
eastern shore."
With that clarified, our staffer acknowledged that the issue
now seemed rather basic, and therefore couldn't understand
why the bureaucracy couldn't agree on one of those alternatives
so the Navy could get on with its new bird farm. To which our
reader then explained, "What's complicating the decision is a
general understanding that if we build the Navy one of the big
bird farms, it will be the last aircraft carrier built by this country
in this century-sort of a corporate decision that'There will be
no more dinosaurs!" And the country's never had to face that
decision before." =* 31
i
Thought for the Day
THERE'S ABSOLUTELY NO
REASON to forgive when you can get
revenge. 0* 9
Could the Problem Ise
Cheap Help?
OUR FRIEND'S APPRAISAL, of Jimmy Carter's White
House staff reminds us of a true story. never told before in print
that we know of. Soon after Dwight D. Eisenhower heenme
President, he invited ten or so distinguished citizens to a quiet
dinner at the White House. One of then. was Paul Porter of the
prestigious Washington law firm Arnold & Porter. After dinner,
Ike asked Porter to join him for an after-dinner drink in the first
family's quarters on the second floor. There Ike told him, "Paul,
you're a Democrat; I'm a Republican. You've known and served
many more Presidents than I have. But I need your advice:
what's the biggest problem a new President has to watch out
for?"
Paul Porter hardly hesitated. "I can tell you in two words, M r.
President:
Cheap Help."
AFT Denies Insidious
116th Birthday Rumor
SOMEONE HAS STARTED A RUMOR that on August 29th,
our 116th Birthday, AFJ will host a dismissal party for CIA
Director Stansfield Turner. We deny it. Instead, the Journal
staff will be taking the day off to celebrate. In* 13
Candid Self Portraits
CONGRESSMAN JIM LLOYD (D-CA) of the House Armed
Services Committee admitted to a Paris Air Show visitor who
was obviously enthralled by his technical expertise and
eloquence, "If b.s. were snow, I'd be a blizzard."
,To which an aerospace vice president rejoined, "If b.s. were
electricity, I'd he the Boulder Dam." 13* a
L , F A R E,E "S=" II
,c IM A Y
R C A IJ COR G y
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G N C I : I O C
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L, r AU S T E1:Id?k. S
J A H 'i Er
~A U BIUIRIN stIE D E Y~E
R C N N A
LEA E S H I A " A j L El R Ti S
N S I Y A Y E
C L I N l C O L N: B
U I 'L_ D -''- D K b' V S
B U K I R O V N S
M I RKAGT }yl A J O R
C E? "C O S A R.. B N
DID YOU GETTHEM ALL? t=orthose whodidn't orjust want
to make sure, the solution to last month's crossword (Con-
solidated Mess) appears above. Our thanks to Mr. John
Gloekler of Citrus Heights, CA for submitting it. N* to
Approved For Release 2007/06/20: CIA-RDP99-00498R000100180101-3 "I