736 HISTORY OF THE COMMITTEE ON SCIEN( I AND TECHNOLOGY 



MIXED REACTION TO DR. DILLAWAY 



Dr. Dillaway visited the offices of the subcommittee chairmen 

 and staff. There was a mixed reaction to his mode of operation. Some 

 subcommittee chairmen felt he could perform a useful function in over- 

 sight pertaining to activities of the agencies under the Science Com- 

 mittee jurisdiction; others felt that he was simply overlapping or du- 

 plicating useful oversight work already in progress at the subcommittee 

 level. 



Colonel Gould, who had endorsed Dr. Dillaway's qualifications 

 as looking extremely good on paper, began to have reservations about 

 his methods of operation. In a May 25 memorandum to Swigert, 

 Gould noted: 



As I have indicated before, the Dillaway oversight plan, which apparently has 

 been endorsed, is an overly ambitious undertaking and would probably take 3 or 4 

 years to complete. Further, some of the issues outlined in the plan are present-day 

 viewpoints, which may not prevail even during the next session of Congress. 



Meanwhile, Dr. Dillaway was assembling a rather sizable staff which 

 included personnel borrowed from the Congressional Research Service, 

 General Accounting Office, and other sources. At times, news would 

 filter back concerning strange telephone calls emanating from Dr. 

 Dillaway. NASA Administrator Fletcher was ordered to appear in 

 his office within one hour, and Dr. Fletcher called around to try to find 

 out who Dr. Dillaway was and why Dr. Fletcher's presence was so 

 peremptorily needed. (P.S., he did not come.) There were also strange 

 meetings and private business relationships which appeared to be 

 commingled with committee business. On August 10, a meeting of 

 the full committee was held, at which time Swigert presented the 

 SSIO request to hire two consultants. McCormack, Goldwater, and 

 Hechler raised a number of questions about the nature of the investiga- 

 tions and qualifications of the consultants, who were being hired for 

 oversight over ERDA. 

 Mosher asked: 



Is it contemplated that these consultants would be hired before the subcommittee 

 has met? As far as I am aware, the subcommittee has never met to consider its role, 

 its jurisdiction. 



Temporarily chairing the meeting, Hechler suggested that action on 

 hiring the consultants be deferred until such time as the SSIO Sub- 

 committee could meet. Goldwater in supporting the recommendation, 

 added that the subcommittee should at the same time work out 

 "proper coordination'* with the subcommittees. So far as the two 

 energy subcommittees were concerned, there was a strong feeling that 

 Dr. Dillaway was clearly getting into areas which the subcommittee 

 already had in hand, in process, or contemplated in the future. 



