Livingston Recommends Civilian Weapon Agency

A Business School professor has called for an independent civilian agency to work for the development of "radically new weapon concepts."

The Professor's contention was partially sustained last night when the Pentagon announced that the formation of an "Advance Research Projects Agency" will be completed sometime before the end of this month.

In an article in the forthcoming issue of the Harvard Business Review, Julius S. Livingston, professor of Business Administration, claimed that the United States has lost its technical leadership and weapons superiority because the military has not emphasized long range development of "radically new weapons" or used "private initiative" to best advantage.

Bypass Military

Military agencies are geared for "maximum readiness" and are too complex for proper decisions, Livingston charged, therefore "military weapons planning procedures and organization must be by-passed."

The professor stated that the first step to regain leadership must come in the creation of an agency outside the Department of Defense and under civilian control. He charged that many recently created agencies have been superimposed upon old structures.

The Pentagon's newly announced Advanced Research Agency will still fall under some of these criticisms, since it will be under the jurisdiction of the Defense Department. But it also will have a civilian head, with a background of "broad executive experience and scientific training."

Livingston said that the government must develop means to acquire design and production of weapons utilizing "the creative capacity of the private enterprise system."

The editors of the Review sent out advance copies of Livingston's article on December 2 to President Eisenhower, vice-President Nixon, "missile czar" James R. Killian Jr., and other important Washington officials. It will appear in the January-February 1957 issue of the magazine.

He pointed out that the Soviet Academy of Sciences, the organization responsible for the development of the Russian satellites and ballistic missiles, is independent of the Soviet Ministry of Defense.