Where Aid Is Paid

While the nation's military men argue over how much the U.S. should spend for defense, they agree on one point: the U.S.'s foreign allies should spend more. Last week the Pentagon, under pressure from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, revealed how much each of these allies has received in U.S. military aid deliveries--statistics that have been held secret for a decade. Like a rich uncle's will, the report contained many surprises. Biggest surprise: some of the wealthiest countries have received the most--and given the least.

One country, France, with $4.3 billion, got more than twice as much as any other over the last ten years. The Pentagon explains that most of the funds went out in the early 1950s, when the French were fighting in Indo-China. France contends that it well deserves a large aid lift because it budgets so much for defense, 8% of its gross national product v. the U.S.'s 10% of its G.N.P. (But most of France's defense spending goes to wage the war in Algeria.) Next highest recipient in the 1950s was Italy, which got $1.8 billion, but budgets only 4% of its G.N.P. for defense.

A change is under way. The U.S. now aims most of its aid at poorer lands that support big armies, and richer NATO partners that accept missiles (and thus share the risk of becoming Soviet targets themselves). The top eight for fiscal 1960 in millions of dollars worth of aid deliveries :

Korea $254

Nationalist China $207

Italy $137 (incl. Jupiter IRBMs)

Turkey $137

Britain $132 (incl. Thor IRBMs)

Japan $115

France $114

Greece $113

Even so, many countries with high incomes and low defense budgets still collect sizable sums. In fiscal 1960 the U.S. will deliver $38 million in military aid to Norway, which pumps only 4% of its G.N.P. into its own defense; $48 million to Denmark, which budgets 3% of its G.N.P.; $58 million to The Netherlands, which puts up 5% of its own G.N.P. The European countries are slowly--very slowly--raising their defense budgets. Since 1950, free Europe has increased its defense spending from $8.8 billion to about $14.5 billion, while the U.S. has more than tripled its military spending, from $13 billion to $41 billion. At those rates, every military man figures that the U.S. will have to carry a heavy aid load for years to come.

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