The response to the proposal was three boards and committees. The Secretary of War convened the "Lassiter Board" in 1923, composed of general staff officers who fully endorsed Patrick's views, and adopted the policy in regulations. The War Department acknowledged the necessity of improving its Air Service and desired to implement the Lassiter Board's recommendations, which it termed "Major Project No. 4", but the Coolidge administration proved a major obstacle, choosing to economize by radically cutting military budgets, particularly the Army's. Patrick's proposal that appropriations for the Air Service be coordinated with the larger budget of Naval aviation (in effect, shared), was rejected by the Navy, and the reorganization could not be implemented.