170 ORGANIZING SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH FOR WAR 



arriving at their proper destination, and in many cases the individuals in- 

 terested did not receive the reports of the corresponding British or Ameri- 

 can group. A number of the divisions sent visitors to England, who re- 

 turned w^ith a greatly increased fund of knowledge and with up-to-date 

 information on research in their particular fields. Detailed information on 

 many problems, however, was lacking, and it was not possible for the small 

 permanent staff in London to obtain these details, especially in some of the 

 more complex fields. As the first step to expansion Hovde returned to the 

 United States as Assistant to Conant in accordance with the agreement 

 under which the former had originally gone to London, and Bennett 

 Archambault replaced him as permanent head of the Mission. After Archam- 

 bault's arrival in London in April 1942, the staff was augmented to provide 

 permanent representation in all the important research fields. 



Arrangements which had been set up at the time of Conant's visit to 

 England provided that the OSRD reports of interest to the British would 

 be forwarded to the London Mission for distribution to the Ministries. At 

 the same time, it was agreed that the reports from the various Ministries 

 would be sent to the Mission for transmittal by pouch to the United States. 

 With the establishment of the Central Scientific Office, later the British Cen- 

 tral Scientific Office (BCSO), in Washington early in 1941, under Dr. 

 Charles G. (now Sir Charles) Darwin and with the able assistance of 

 Dr. W. L. Webster, however, there was set up a second channel which 

 was available during the war for the transmission of information in both 

 directions. Every OSRD report which was sent to England was also sent 

 to the BCSO, and in a few instances multiple copies were sent to the latter 

 office in order that some individual within it might forward a copy to the 

 group in England which he represented. 



The BCSO was of great help when the Liaison Office was establishing 

 its procedures in 1941, particularly by centralizing the requests of various 

 British agencies in Washington. The staff of the BCSO was also of consid- 

 erable assistance in the guidance of prospective travelers to England by 

 furnishing details of British research organizations. 



Development of the Liaison Office under OSRD 



Executive Order No. 8807 of June 28, 1941, establishing OSRD directed 

 that organization in Article 2(g) to 



Initiate and support such scientific and medical research as may be requested by 

 the government of any country whose defense the President deems vital to the 

 defense of the United States under the terms of the Act of March 11, 1941, en- 

 titled "An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States"; and serve as the 

 central liaison office for the conduct of such scientific and medical research for 

 such countries. 



