26 ORGANIZING SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH FOR WAR 



ferred from the Committee to the agency operating a laboratory to defray 

 the cost of the requested work. A procedure for effecting such transfers 

 worked out in conjunction with the Council of National Defense and the 

 Bureau of the Budget was adopted at the second meeting of the Com- 

 mittee. Under it, the Committee initiated negotiations with the appropriate 

 Federal agencies for the provision of specialized services necessary to the 

 Committee's research program. After agreement with the servicing agency, 

 a statement of the project was transmitted to the Council of National De- 

 fense for administrative clearance, for clearance as to the availability of 

 funds and for accounting purposes. After this it was reviewed by the 

 Bureau of the Budget primarily to insure that funds were not transferred to 

 an agency to support work for which that agency had already received 

 appropriations. The most significant point about the rather detailed pro- 

 cedure was that it recognized the finality of the NDRC decision as to the 

 desirability of the scientific program. 



Personnel 



In setting up the NDRC, President Roosevelt set the pattern for availing 

 the Government of the services of top scientists without compensation. 

 The order specifically provided that the members of the Committee should 

 serve as such without compensation. This was one of the most important 

 elements contributing to the success of NDRC. An arrangement which left 

 Bush at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, Conant at Harvard and 

 Compton at Massachusetts Institute of Technology made it possible for 

 the Government to use the services of these men at a critical time when 

 it might not have been possible to get them if they had been called upon 

 to surrender their regular positions. 



When the NDRC started functioning, it found itself in a similar posi- 

 tion. It was frequendy possible to obtain the services of a top-flight scien- 

 tist for one or two days a week without compensation when it would 

 have been impossible to get him had there been a requirement that he be 

 employed full time by the Government. 



It cannot be too often stated that a large part of the success which at- 

 tended the efforts of the NDRC and the OSRD is due to the services of 

 persons serving without compensation from the Government. Only a few 

 whose activities touched upon administration can be named in the pres- 

 ent volume. Many of their colleagues are named in other volumes report- 

 ing in detail the activities of the NDRC and OSRD in specific subject fields. 



In building its personnel the Committee started from scratch. The Ad- 

 visory Commission of the Council of National Defense was instructed by 

 the President to lend assistance in the recruiting of personnel for the Com- 

 mittee. Initial recruitment was for secretarial and clerical assistance, as the 



