Avoiding Temptation

Scandal-starved Washington cocked an expectant ear for a star-spangled shocker when, two months ago, a House subcommittee set out to find out whether retired military officers were being hired by defense contractors to use undue influence on old friends and former colleagues in the Pentagon. Last week the House Armed Services Investigation subcommittee sat down to take testimony, produced only a couple of stars, few spangles, no scandal.

Called before the committee was the Navy's volatile virtuoso. Vice Admiral Hyman Rickover, 59 (see Diplomacy), who only a few months before casually told another committee: "I myself don't get pressured by outsiders, but they do go higher up and get pressure put on me that way." This time, Committee Chairman F. (for Felix) Edward Hebert of Louisiana wanted Rickover to name some names. Rickover parried and philosophized. Some Navy men, said he, are "impressed with outside experts, especially those with 'Dr.' in front of their names." Then there is the problem of "the naivete of most retired officers" who go to work in industry. "From the time they entered the Naval Academy, they've led a sheltered existence. Their friends are all in the service." As for himself, Rickover declared that "there never has been one single incident where any influence or anyone visiting me has had the slightest impact or effect on my program," and the audience burst into laughter and applause. Prodded again and again by Chairman Hebert, Rickover reluctantly agreed to submit a confidential list of names and incidents for the committee to examine.

The other star to testify was Admiral Arthur Radford, who retired in 1957 but came back recently as acting chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff while Air Force General Nathan Twining is recuperating from a lung cancer operation. Radford, 63, earns $12,000 a year as a director of the Philco Corp. (electronics), and about the same amount in retirement pay. The amount of influence exercised on Pentagon people, he said, "is very small--but I wouldn't say it doesn't exist." Besides, retired officers probably have less influence than most people think. "They are really out of it once they leave." Best way to avoid string-pulling temptation, Radford suggested, is to require a standard two-year cooling-off period for retired officers before they engage in direct selling to the Pentagon.

By week's end, Hebert's committee, satisfied so far that the uses of retired officers' influence had not gone beyond proper bounds, put off further hearings on the subject till another time. Said Hebert: "Some people have said this committee will be a bust if we don't crucify somebody. To those people, it is a bust already."

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