WAR DEPARTMENT
                  WASHINGTON
 
                              April 4, 1942
 
My dear Mr. President:
 
                I acknowledge receipt of your memorandum of April 2, 
enclosing paraphrase of message (#507, March 31) from Louis 
Johnson relating to the matter of the United States Military 
North African Mission at Cairo and the Ferry Command activities 
in that district. I am glad to say that this is one of those 
cases in which the men in general supervisory charge of these 
operations have already diagnosed the difficulty and have 
instituted corrective measures insofar as the Ferry Command is 
concerned.
 
               A thorough reorganization of the Ferry Command is now 
under way. Colonel Harold  George is now in charge of the Command. 
We have obtained the services of the man who is reputed to be the 
ablest airline operator in the country, C. R. Smith of American 
Airlines. He is now actively engaged in reorganization of this 
Command. We propose to make him a Colonel in the United States 
Army Air Forces and Colonel George will place him in over-all 
charge of operations.  We are bringing into this organization 
outstanding operating, traffic and technical men from all scheduled 
airlines.
 
                In general, the program calls for dividing the South 
Atlantic transport and ferrying operation into five main divisions: 
first, from Morrison Field, West Palm Beach, to Natal; second, 
Natal to Coast of West Africa; third, the Transafrican operation 
to Cairo; fourth, Cairo to the Indian Terminal; and fifth, the 
Extension into China. Trained specialists will be in charge of 
each of these operating divisions. The reorganization plans are 
well advanced and will rapidly be put into effect.
 
               As a result of reports from Ferry Command officers and 
the information obtained from Mr. Bullitt following his recent trip 
to the Far Fast, difficulty seems to have arisen mainly out of the 
following factors:
 
     1. Inadequacy of personnel in the Middle East.