GENERAL MARIS' VISIT TO THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF - 1948
On May 1, 1948, Brigadier General Maris arrived in Washington, D.C., bringing with him the completed study for "Operation Crabapple". This was a "Top Secret" study required by the Department of the Army with regard to withdrawing all United States combat forces from South Korea. While he was in Washington, he attended a number of meetings, mostly with high-ranking Army officials, including the Under Secretary of the Army, Mr. Draper. A thorough review of these documents and of the related documents of "Operation Crabapple" reveals a very important fact about the operation of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Department of the Army. Different offices apparently did not communicate well with each other. For example, one part of the "Operation Crabapple" study contemplated turning certain military equipment and material to the South Korean Government for use by the Army, Constabulary and Navy for use in the defense of South Korea. In that study , the comment was that because the Army was planning to increase its size by drafting large numbers of men, almost NO equipment could be turned over for that reason. These particular planners obviously never consulted the current and proposed budget for the military, because neither of them provided enough money to even maintain the current authorized strength, let alone to increase it. Also, there was apparently no provision by the Joint Chiefs for the operation of the Air Force, which had just become an independent department, separate from the Army. This was made evident by a question about the support of the Air Force in the Far East, which indicated that no one had even considered planning for future Air Force operations in the Far East.