l Committee's charges against the service were "to some
extent" justified and warned naval commanders that if they failed to
take a more positive approach to equal opportunity they would be
ordered to take actions difficult for both the Navy and the community.
Better "palatable evolutionary progress," he counseled, than "bitter
revolutionary change."[22-25]

[Footnote 22-25: Ltr, Chief, NavPers, to CONUS
District Cmdrs et al., 22 Apr 63, attached to Memo,
Chief, NavPers, for Distribution List, 24 Apr 63,
sub: President's Committee on Equal Opportunity in
the Armed Forces, SecNav file 5420, GenRecsNav.]

Air Force officials had also considered the problem of command
responsibility in the months before submitting their outline plan. As
early as December 1962, Under Secretary Joseph V. Charyk admitted the
possibility of confusion over what the policy of base commanders
should be concerning off-base segregation. He proposed that the staff
consider certain "minimum" actions, including "mandatory evaluation of
all officers concerning their knowledge of this program and the extent
to which they have complied with the policy of anti-discrimination."[22-26]
Secretary Zuckert discussed Charyk's proposal with his assistants on
23 January 1963. It was also considered by McNamara, who then passed
it to the other services, calling on them to develop similar
programs.[22-27] Finally, Air Force officials discussed command
responsibility in preparing their critique of Gesell Committee
recommendations, and Secretary Zuckert informed Assistant Secretary of
Defense Paul that "the responsibility for this [the Air Force's
anti-discrimination] program will be clearly designated down to base
level."[22-28] Despite this attention, the subject of specific command
responsibility was not clearly delineated in the Air Force's outline
plan.

[Footnote 22-26: Memo, Actg SecAF CofSAF, 8 Dec 62,
sub: Anti-Discrimination Policy in the Military
Service, SecAF files.]

[Footnote 22-27: Memo, SecDef for SA and Navy, 4 Mar
63, sub: Anti-Discrimination Policy in the Military
Service, copy in CMH. McNamara received the Air
Force document from Charyk through Yarmolinsky. See
Memo, Benjamin Fridge, Spec Asst for Ma