 In October 1952 , Streett was named to the Citizens Advisory Commission on Manpower Utilization in the Armed Services , popularly known as the Sarnoff Commission for its chairman Brigadier General David Sarnoff , the long @-@ serving chairman of RCA . Defense Secretary Robert A. Lovett established the commission for the purpose of identifying and eliminating excess military spending without reducing combat effectiveness . Robert Wood Johnson II , chairman of Johnson & Johnson , resigned from the commission because of the strain it took on his health , but he noted that the USAF represented by Commissioner Streett was " cooperative and open to greater progress " with the commission , directly contrasting with the U.S. Navy which he rated as " militantly resistant . " The Sarnoff Commission 's 85 @-@ page report was delivered to the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services and Charles Erwin Wilson , President Dwight D. Eisenhower 's new defense secretary , on February 17 , 1953 . It called for a ten percent reduction in military spending , amounting to the elimination of 500 @,@ 000 civilian and military personnel and the cutting of $ 5B from the military 's annual budget . After studying the report , Wilson appointed a commission to heed its main points and streamline the Defense Department so that it could more efficiently wage a war . Instead of Streett , Wilson selected retired General Spaatz to represent the USAF . 
