________________________________________________________________________Richard S. Kem
The 404 wetlands program was beginning. Trying to come up with the rules and regulations
for that, the Corps was seen as having not been interested because definitions had initially
been to apply the Corps' 404 responsibility to navigable waters only. The courts said, "No,
it's broader than that. You have to move into these other areas." A bunch of folks jumped on
that and said, "Well, it shows the Corps is not really with it." In fact, the Corps was trying to
let the system define itself. Anyway, General Morris was Director of Civil Works, and he felt
that we needed to do more. The Public Affairs Office in the Office of the Chief of Engineers
was not held in the highest regard at the time for whatever factors. The person in that job was
leaving and it was a colonel's position. Typically, at that time, it had always been filled by an
engineer and not a public affairs professional, as it is today, the thought being at the time that
the civilians provided the professional skills, but the Chief wanted somebody who
understood the Corps so the combination together would work.
So, it was sort of a natural thing for me, looking for another job, recognizing that once again
it was going to give me the same kind of broad perspective of the Corps of Engineers that I
had just gotten on the Army Staff being right outside the command group. It would let me
interact in a new, challenging arena that I had not been associated with before. So, that's how
I became Chief of Public Affairs for the Corps.
Q:
Maybe we could talk a little bit more specifically about some of the major issues that you just
alluded to. One of the questions, though, would have to do with trying to set the time when
you went there. There was a lawsuit involving a natural resources defense counsel versus the
Army on the wetlands regulations and the definition of those, which were being worked out.
That was in the early spring of 1975. Do you recall that as being one of the first kinds of
things that you confronted?
A:
As I mentioned, there was disagreement on the extent of Corps responsibilities, and that
court case expanded Corps responsibilities as we viewed them. The aftermath was active
after I arrived.
The way things worked was that the Director of Civil Works ran the 404 regulatory program,
and we in Public Affairs provided support as needed. By the time of my arrival, General
Morris had moved in to be the Deputy Chief, and General Ernie Graves had come in to be the
Director of Civil Works.
From my stead, I was trying to do what we could to improve our public affairs capabilities,
and I was taking an across-the-board approach.
Very early on I'd gone out to the annual get-together of the public affairs folks in Chicago.
General Morris came out and really laid some tough challenges down. It was almost brutal.
He said, "You guys gotta get your acts together," and things like that. So, it wasn't all just the
outside versus the inside; a lot of it was within the family.
Victor Veysey was now the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works. He was the first
to hold that position. He had very decided feelings that the Corps wasn't doing the right kind
of job in many arenas, and one of them was public affairs. He felt we didn't know how to do
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