SCIENCE SERVING THE NATION — DXJBRIDGE 185 



book, not by counting uniforms or rank, but by finding a man or a 

 small group of men who have created the spirit of the place and who 

 know how to preserve that spirit. 



There really haven't been very many spectacularly productive ap- 

 plied research organizations — civilian or military — in this country. 

 And the reason is just that so few men have been fomid who have this 

 inner feeling for the spirit of organized research. It is something 

 that cannot be advertised for, cannot be explained to Congress or 

 to the Chiefs of Staff. But it is there, and it is very real, and it is 

 vitally important that we seek it out and exploit it to the fullest when 

 it does appear. 



If one keeps in mind the essentiality of this intangible "spirit" 

 of a research organization, one can understand why there are so many 

 arguments about the best way to "manage" military research. There 

 are in fact many ways to "manage" it — if the spirit is there. There is 

 no way to manage it if the spirit is absent. From this point of view 

 many of the familiar arguments fall into proper perspective. 



For example, the argument about whether it is best in a labora- 

 tory to have a military or a civilian director misses the point. A 

 good military officer will clearly be better than an incompetent civilian 

 and vice versa. The main advantage of a civilian — assuming equal 

 competence — is the matter of continuity — and continuity is very im- 

 portant in maintaining spirit. Also one is more likely to find able, 

 inspired research directors among civilians, because many years of 

 experience in research is helpful in developing this innate feeling for 

 its spirit. Experience in a fighting organization is not intended to 

 develop this same characteristic. 



Again, the arguments about the relative merits of government opera- 

 tion versus contractor operation now fall into persf)ective. The 

 Government can and does find and employ good civilians — and it has 

 created some excellent applied research centers. However, the diffi- 

 culties are somewhat greater. A government civil service bureau 

 geared to employ a million clerks and secretaries may not be an efficient 

 mechanism for employing a few hundred scientists. And a govern- 

 ment financial system geared to a budget of 70 billion dollars a year 

 may lack some of the flexibility needed for the rapidly changing needs 

 of a research laboratory. For these reasons the Government, when it 

 delegates applied research operations to a contractor, buys an impor- 

 tant asset in additional flexibility of the administrative, personnel, 

 and financial policies which a contractor may supply. And this flexi- 

 bility is, in turn, an attraction to good scientists — thus increasing the 

 probability of finding and maintaining high-quality leadership and 

 performance. 



