130 ORGANIZING SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH FOR WAR 



One policy which OFS followed consistently was that it would function 

 only on direct request from a branch of the armed forces or from another 

 Government agency, and that personnel made available would be loaned 

 for an initial period not to exceed six months. It was understood, of course, 

 that should the extension of such loans be desired by all parties concerned, 

 including the individual himself, this would be effected. The title "Field 

 Service Consultant" was given to all OFS field service representatives to dis- 

 guise their specific functions and to provide latitude in the performance of 

 their duties. 



Major Categories of OFS Activity 



By the time of the surrender of Japan OFS activities had extended to 

 every theater of the war and had included every type of assistance foreseen 

 in its charter. It had dispatched nearly 300 scientists and technical men on 

 missions overseas, two thirds of them to the Pacific; had assigned 200 to 

 project activities in the United States; had interviewed several thousand 

 technical men; and had devoted considerable energy to answering questions, 

 giving advice and looking up personnel in response to a host of assorted 

 requests from the armed forces. 



The technical accomplishments and personal adventures of the scientists 

 who represented OFS are dealt with in a separate volume, called Combat 

 Scientists. These men came from all the divisions of NDRC and from the 

 special committees and panels of OSRD. Most of them had some previous 

 affiliation with OSRD or its contractors, for OFS learned that the greatest 

 need was for the specialist, highly skilled, fully acquainted with the in- 

 tricacies and limitations of his equipment, able to command the respect of 

 technically trained ofi&cers and facile in teaching the GI how best to employ 

 the bewildering gadgets placed in his hands. 



The varied functions of OFS fell into the following major categories: 

 (i) procurement and processing of civilian specialists in science and tech- 

 nology for loan to war activities, predominantly for temporary duty over- 

 seas in theaters of military operations; (2) indoctrination of personnel pro- 

 cured for field service in developments of NDRC, in military procedures, 

 or in the application of certain scientific techniques to problems of warfare; 



(3) establishment, staffing and supervision of "projects" on direct request 

 from the armed forces, both at home and abroad; these covered a broad 

 range both geographically and in fields of special scientific knowledge; 



(4) informal assistance from both the central office of OFS and from its 

 field men to the Army, the Navy, units of OSRD, or other war activities in 

 matters of procuring scientific personnel, exchanging technical information 

 or setting up and manning activities that had scientific or technical aspects; 



(5) informal assistance in the placement of officers, enlisted personnel, or 



