John W. Morris
cetera. All of these attempted to delineate the authorities of the EPA and the Corps. The Corps
was given responsibility for managing the permit program.
Q..
The first Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works was appointed while you were
director of Civil Works, wasn't he?
A ..
Yes, a factor which would impact all civil and indirectly military activities was the
announcement of the first Assistant Secretary of Civil Works, former congressman of
California Victor Veysey. He was an engineer and as the first Assistant Secretary of Civil
Works laid the groundwork for future assistant secretaries.
The Corps knew how to execute its mission. What we really needed and anticipated from the
assistant secretary's office was political help and advice in the legislative process and support
in senior levels of the Executive Branch. Secretary Veysey was valuable in those areas,
however, he did establish certain operational micro-management procedures which
subsequent assistant secretaries expanded upon and I contend became more counterproductive
than helpful.
General Clarke asked me, before Mr. Veysey was appointed, what I thought of the idea of an
I told him that I thought it would
Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works
be helpful if the assistant secretary dealt with those elements of the government outside of the
Corps, particularly legislative. General Clarke was not very enthusiastic, and I surmise that
he did not believe that the ASAJCW role as I had enunciated would happen, and further that
the assistant secretary would get into the operation of the Corps. Clarke was right. That, to
me, is the most serious problem that the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works
presents to the Corps of Engineers.
I don't know today, some 20 years later, how realistic my fear is concerning unnecessary
limits on the Chief of Engineers, but my guess also is that the decision-making process in the
civil works arena is less flexible than it used to be.
Q ..
How did OCE and the new
work together?
A
As an officer, I had direct association with two
Victor Veysey and Mike
Blumenfeld. Communications with the
were my responsibility as the director of
Civil Works. As Chief, General Clarke dealt with the Secretary of the Army. General
[William] Gribble was emphatically clear that he wanted to continue that arrangement. After
all, the Chief's first responsibility is to the Army; and civil works activities, while of great
importance, are only one facet of these duties.
Mr. Veysey's principal assistant was Jack Ford, who had been with the Corps for years. He
came up through the Corps-very understanding and helpful in establishing the start-up
information systems necessary for the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works to do
his job. He wrote me, as director of Civil Works, his ideas on how the directorate could
become organizationally and operationally effective in areas of interest to the assistant
secretary. I appreciated his instructions but was well aware that a new voice was beginning
to call shots in the public works arena.
I developed high regard for Mr. Veysey, and he and I worked well together from my
perspective. One of his concerns was that members of the Corps of Engineers were bypassing
him in dealing with the Legislative Branch and perhaps with higher elements of the Executive
Branch.
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