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P HW THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON THE PRESIDENT HAS SEEN April 7, 1972 ACTION MEMORANDUM FOR: THE PRESIDENT VIA: JOHN EHRLICHMAN FROM: KEN COLE SUBJECT: Recomputation of Retired Military Pay and Reform of the Military Retired Pay System FOR DECISION: The legislative and political strategy for handling subject issue. BACKGROUND: In 1968, you issued a statement supporting recomputa- tion of retired military pay. In the fall of 1971, in order to fulfill this campaign promise, you decided to propose a one-time Recomputation of retired military pay coupled with a proposal to Reform the military re- tirement pay system. Both proposals were to be advanced simultaneously to Congress this spring. The dual proposal, product of an interagency committee chaired by Roger Kelley, Assistant Secretary of Defense, would result in a net savings to the Federal Government of roughly $30 billion over 30 years. (Savings from Reform would be $44 billion, minus a Recomputation cost of $14 billion.) (First year costs of $296 million are already in the FY '73 budget.) CURRENT SITUATION: The Recomputation legislation is ready to go, but the Reform proposal is blocked because Secretary Laird cannot get the military leadership's approval on the current form of the Reform proposal. Laird has thus directed further study (which some view as a stall) that will take at least six more months. With this delay, some feel we may never get Reform legislation since the proposals have been known for at least five months. In short, we face mounting pressure and dissatisfaction from retired military groups because the Recomputation legislation has not yet gone to the Hill. As things stand now: 1. Secretary Laird wants to submit the Recomputation legisla- tion now, but delay sending the Reform legislation until it