NDRC: THE DIVISIONS, PANELS AND COMMITTEES 97 



Tropical Deterioration Committee 



(May i8, 1944 — June 30, 1946) 



G. J. Esselen, Chairman 



The task of this committee was to co-ordinate the work being done on 

 tropic-proofing military and naval equipment and included the supervision 

 of a number of fundamental studies and tests in the field. 



Authorizations: 



May 18, 1944, to June 30, 1944 $ 43,000.00 



July I, 1944, to June 30, 1945 $182,161.00 



July I, 1945, to February 28, 1946 (estimated) $242,000.00 



July I, 1945, to June 30, 1946 (actual) $ 7,192.08 



Division Administrative Group 



In May 1946, with the end of active division operations in sight, a small 

 group of technical and clerical personnel was established as the "Division 

 Administrative Group" in the Chairman's Office to carry on the remaining 

 activities of the divisions and panels. Consequently, on June 30 the divisions 

 and panels were terminated. The DAG's activities covered the same scope 

 as the divisions, which by this time was largely one of terminating in an 

 orderly manner the existing technical and administrative phases of the out- 

 standing contracts and to prepare the division records in such a manner as 

 to preserve the values attained by the divisions and their contractors. 



These activities included obtaining the final technical reports from con- 

 tractors and approving them for distribution; the examination and technical 

 approval of vouchers; the technical recommendations for the disposal of 

 property acquired under the contract; the recommendation of technical 

 reports for declassification, as well as the arrangement of the files in such 

 a manner as to preserve the valuable work accomplished by the divisions 

 so that future reference to the subject work will enable one immediately to 

 capitalize on the previous experience. The files of each division, when com- 

 pleted, were sent to the Central Records Section of the Administrative Divi- 

 sion of OSRD for review prior to being transferred to the National Archives. 

 When the Chairman's Office was closed on December 31, 1946, the DAG 

 was transferred to the office of the Executive Secretary of OSRD, where it 

 functioned until it, too, was terminated on March 31, 1947. 



