A Case Study in NASA-DoD - The Black Vault

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civilian scientific community, President Eisenhower, on March 5, 1958,
approved a memorandum recommending the establishment of a space agency
using the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) structure
as the core.
The memorandum declared that "...an aggressive space
program will produce important civilian gains in general scientific
knowledge and the protection of the international prestige of the
U.S...."
and the "...long-term organization for federal space programs
... should be under civilian control." (8 ) The memo acknowledged DoDs
competence and leadership in space activities but recommended against
DoD because of the desire for civilian emphasis and DoD's deep involvement
in the missile programs. The memo indicated that relationships
between NASA and DoD would have to be worked out.
Subsequently, the administration's draft legislation establishing
NASA was submitted to Congress on April 2, 1958. This bill was drafted
by the Bureau of the Budget (BoB) with assistance from the National
Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and Dr. Killian's office.
The DoD
was not brought into the picture until the end of March 1958, when the
(7)
draft bill was sent to various agencies for comment. The Eisenhower
schedule for introducing this legislation was driven by his interest
in getting it to Congress before the Easter recess, which left insufficient
time for a thorough department review. ( 7)
The administration
described this draft legislation as a "...bill to provide for research
into problems of flight within and outside the earth's atmosphere and
and-leadership not only for the U.S. antimissile missile research programs,
but also for space projects already under way or envisioned in
DoD. ARPA's mission, as prescribed by law, was to cut across the traditional
levels of authority of the military services and to fund and
manage outerspace projects. At the time ARPA was established, it was
viewed by the administration as an emergency and temporary agency because
of the anticipated Congressional resistance of setting up DoD as
an operating agency for space programs.( 6 ,1 1 )
One Eisenhower Administration reaction to Sputnik I was to grant
American scientists increased access to the highest echelon of national
policymaking. In the two weeks following Sputnik, rpre scientists met
with the President than in the previous 10 months.(1 4 ) This access was
institutionalized by Eisenhower's announcement in his November 7, 1957,
speech that he was establishing the position of Special Assistant to the
President for Science and Technology and appointed Dr. James R. Killian,
president of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as his first science
advisor.