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I did have precedents, I think, for making them co-equal arms. I still think that hindsight is a mistake.l3/ Col. Stanley Beerli, who was mentioned by Mr. Bissell, was also interviewed early in 1976 and he fully supported Bissell's position that DPD had suf- ficient world-wide responsibilities so that it needed to retain its independent status; but by assigning his second in command, Col. George Gaines, as the Air Officer on the JMARC Staff, DPD was able to meet all of its commitments to Project JMARC. Beerli vigorously denied that there was any serious friction between his office and JMARC. He stressed that DPD was, in effect, a service organization charged with carrying out the tasks which were determined by WH/4. DPD might bring to the attention of WH/4 various options available, but the decisions were made by WH/4, not by DPD. 14/ Another aspect that Beerli stressed in favor of retaining DPD's independence was that DPD had direct communication with our units through our own communications organiza- tion .•. not just the normal one that the Agency had, but a separate one. DPD had its own secure communications organ- ization through which we could contact Eglin [AFB] directly •.• later on Retalhuleu ... and then later, the forward 15 -