OFFICE OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 47 



principal lines of activity were well in hand and the need for major action 

 by the Advisory Council had passed. 



For a time in 1942 it appeared that the Advisory Council would play 

 an important role in obtaining top-level consideration of the adoption for 

 field use of OSRD-developed devices in cases where OSRD personnel felt 

 that those devices were not receiving adequate consideration within the 

 Services. However, the problem of the introduction of new devices had 

 much broader aspects than that of the introduction of those of which devel- 

 opment had been completed. To meet this problem, the Joint Chiefs of Staff 

 on May 4, 1942, established the Joint Committee on New Weapons and 

 Equipment. Bush was promptly appointed Chairman of the new Committee. 

 The other members originally were a general ofi&cer of the Army and a flag 

 officer of the Navy; later a general and an admiral were added to represent 

 Army and Navy aviation. 



With the creation of the Joint Committee on New Weapons and Equip- 

 ment it was no longer either necessary or appropriate for the Advisory 

 Council of OSRD to consider the introduction of new weapons into field 

 use. Accordingly, the need for frequent meetings of the Council ceased to 

 exist, and the five meetings held during 1943, 1944 and 1945 were devoted 

 to the consideration of specific problems in the consideration of which the 

 Director sought the advice of his colleagues on the Council. 



The usefulness of the Council was not confined to its deliberations in 

 formal meetings. The members of the Council were always available for 

 consultation by telephone. The fact that they represented particular agencies 

 having specific contacts with each other and with OSRD made it an easy 

 matter for the Director to handle by telephone conversations matters which, 

 in the absence of such a convenient contact, might have resulted in consid- 

 erable delays to important programs. Meetings of the Council were informal 

 and quite frank. 



One of the most effective devices employed by the Advisory Council was 

 the creation of ad hoc committees. When two or more of the agencies 

 represented on the Advisory Council were engaged in the same field of 

 work in a manner which resulted in confusion, overlap or conflicting 

 demands for manpower, or where it was apparent that some unitary con- 

 sideration should be given to diverse programs in the same field, the Council 

 availed itself of the services of an ad hoc committee to survey the field and 

 make recommendations. The first of these committees was appointed early 

 in the life of the Advisory Council. By May 25, 1942, the number and im- 

 portance of ad hoc committees had reached the point that the procedure 

 with respect to them was somewhat formalized. According to an outline 

 prepared under that date, proposals for ad hoc committees might originate 

 by spontaneous action of the Council as a body, but were more generally 



