40 Research and National Purpose 



tics. This work has paid off handsomely not only for the 

 Navy but the DOD generally in the present situation in the 

 Far East. In such areas it is necessary to recognize the sig- 

 nificance of a field long before its practical importance. With- 

 out this kind of imagination applied research often becomes 

 little more than research on how to solve the problems which 

 will have disappeared or changed unrecognizably by the time 

 solutions are found. The secret of successful research planning 

 is to have the science ready when the time is right. 



In fields of research whose importance to a mission is shared 

 with other agencies, the problem is often not so much one of 

 stimulation as of maintaining close contact with a broad area 

 of science and technology and being in a position to influence 

 its evolution and identify the technological opportunities 

 emerging from it at an early stage. Here a combination of in- 

 house and extramural effort is desirable, with organizational 

 devices to maintain contact with as broad a base of extramural 

 effort as possible. The Joint Services Electronics Program, sup- 

 ported jointly by the three military services, is a good example 

 of the kind of device which is valuable. From the university- 

 based JSE Laboratories have flowed a steady stream of con- 

 tributions, direct and indirect, to the development of naval 

 equipment and weapons systems. 



It was from work supported in these laboratories that the 

 ideas for the maser and the laser emerged, for example. In- 

 creasing sophistication of signal detection methods, in guid- 

 ance and control technology, in antenna design, in radio navi- 

 gation systems, in high power microwave tubes, and in a host 

 of other areas have emerged from this long-supported activity. 



The third area of support I mentioned earlier is that of 

 fields whose relevance to an agency's mission is not at all 

 obvious or readily demonstrable in a before-the-fact sense. 

 This is, perhaps, the area in which the general philosophy of 

 mission-oriented support of research is most under attack today, 

 and where the attitude of "let George do it" is most evident 

 both inside and outside the agency concerned. I am not here 



