l6o ORGANIZING SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH FOR WAR 



bership comprising scientists and officers of the Army and Navy. Also, 

 members of NDRC divisions sat as members of committees of the Joint 

 Communications Board of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. These committees were 

 very valuable in securing close working relations between the scientists and 

 the Services. 



NDRC Division Meetings 



As a means of liaison with the Services, meetings were held from time 

 to time by the divisions and sometimes by their component sections to 

 which were invited representatives of the Army and Navy as well as of the 

 British. These meetings served a useful purpose in keeping the Services 

 informed of the progress of technical developments on which the divisions 

 were engaged; and they served at times to acquaint the division with the 

 views of officers with valuable firsthand experience or knowledge. 



EXAMPLES OF LIAISON 



The Ordnance Department of the Army was confronted with a particu- 

 larly heavy procurement program. In its initiation, assistance was given by 

 the Ordnance Association, a nationwide organization of industrial execu- 

 tives whose companies furnish supplies, materials and services to the Ord- 

 nance Department. The first and principal request made by this association 

 as mobilization began was that the Government in placing orders, refrain 

 thereafter from changing specifications. In meeting the large demands for 

 munitions, the Ordnance Department doubtless was influenced by this con- 

 sideration of quantity procurement, to the extent of avoiding as long as 

 possible any disturbance of the assembly line. In such a situation officers 

 were not responsive to change. The period of time elapsing between the 

 appearance of a need by the troops, as for a better tank, to acceptance of 

 the idea by the technical service and delivery of the hardware to the theater, 

 should have been the shortest humanly possible. A balance was needed 

 between the assembly line technique and the urgent necessity for improved 

 weapons. 



On the part of the Services the situation called for a broad vision, imagi- 

 nation, and an appreciation of the existence in the country of a vast store 

 of highly specialized scientific knowledge. Though there were some excep- 

 tions, the vision, imagination, and understanding were in general ample to 

 meet the need. On the part of science, the situation demanded honest effort 

 to master new sets of principles and constant alertness to discern ways in 

 which knowledge hitherto applied to far different uses could be made of 

 value for military purposes. Again though these were exceptions, the effort 

 was in general made, and the alertness in general continued keen. A few 

 examples on both sides of the ledger are worth noting. 



