It appears to us that our mandate to set up an effective plan for discovering 

 and developing scientific talent must take into account the scientific poten- 

 tialities among the 10,000,000 voung Americans now in the armed forces. 

 To this end, it is recommended that the Veterans' Administration set up an 

 adequate counseling serxice for those veterans of marked scientific talent 

 and that a complete scientific education at Government expense he provided 

 for a group of them selected on the basis of merit and irrespective of the 

 length of their military service. Here, again, we believe it best to recom- 

 mend that standards of scientific abilitv be the limiting factors rather than 

 to suggest that definite numbers be selected for training. Amendment of the 

 GI Bill of Rights, to make that law an instrument for the amelioration of 

 the deficits of scientists resulting from the war and Selective Service policy, 

 seems to us essential for the safety and continued prosperity of the Nation. 



The adequate handling of the education of the scientific and technological 

 talent now under arms will be a primary test of the effectiveness of the 

 Government in meeting the whole problem to which we have been asked 

 to direct our attention. The future scientific and technical leaders in the 

 United States are now largely in military service. Unless exceptional steps 

 are taken to recruit and train talent from the armed services at or before the 

 close of the war, the future will find this country seriously handicapped for 

 scientific and technological leadership. In peace or war, the handicap might 

 prove fatal to our standards of living and to our way of life. 



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