Congress OKs Revamping of Pentagon : Most Massive Change in 40 Years Aims at End to Service Rivalry

The House gave final approval today to the most sweeping Pentagon reorganization in almost 40 years, sending to President Reagan a bill to end the service rivalries that hampered recent military actions.

A compromise version of the landmark legislation, approved Tuesday evening in the Senate (Story, Page 13), was passed on a voice vote by the House and now goes to the White House.

Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.), among those who helped write the House version of the bill, said the legislation is “far more important to the successful military defense of our nation than the production of 1,000 MX missiles.”

Rep. John R. Kasich (R-Ohio), who also worked on the bill in the House, said it tries “to avoid the kind of problems we had in Iran . . . (and) in Grenada. We’re trying to put into the statutes the ingredients for success we recently saw in the Libyan raid.”

Top Roles Changed

The legislation makes fundamental changes in the roles of the top military and civilian chiefs and is aimed at curbing service rivalries that have plagued the military in recent operations in Iran, Lebanon and Grenada.

In the most sweeping overhaul of the Pentagon bureaucracy in almost 40 years, it focuses on the committee-like Joint Chiefs of Staff--the heads of the four uniformed services and a chairman--who now help guide military policy.

The bill makes the chairman the chief military adviser to the President, taking away what is now a joint duty of the five-member group, and creates a new post of vice chairman.

Present System Faulted

The existing system has been faulted by critics who argue that the advice it provides becomes a “lowest common denominator” position, and that its budget proposals have reflected the most grandiose of “wish lists” from the services.

The bill also gives new authority to the 10 U.S. commanders across the world who are responsible for directing military operations in their area should a conflict break out.

The bill also merges some civilian and military posts in the three military departments: Army, Navy and Air Force. Currently each department has two staffs, one military and one civilian, often working on the same issues.

Furthermore, the bill repeals the Navy’s independent operating authority, which gives that service jurisdiction over naval reconnaissance, anti-submarine warfare and shipping protection--a provision the Navy could use to argue that its units were busy with other tasks and could not come under a unified commander.