Leó Szilárd's Journal

8 Sept 1942
I do not believe government and academia are mutually compatible; had they merely funded our research when I first brought this to their attention, not stalled for years and then insisted on having an active role in managing it, we would have solved this problem years ago. Instead we are subject to needless compartmentalisation which may or may not slow down the Germans (I still do not think they are sufficiently concerned that Houtermans' warning had no trouble reaching its destination) but certainly interferes with us.

And now, the most recent reorganisation not actually having made anything more organised, obviously the thing to do is reorganise again. The signs are all there, though they seem to think this is a great secret. It seems to be a peculiar blindness of the sort of person who thrives in a bureaucracy; since he cannot understand or predict our actions, he finds it axiomatic that we cannot understand or predict his.

Alas, I fear that rather than learning their lesson, they may do something so foolish as bring the military in - and while of course the military has a valid interest in the outcome, putting them in actual charge of the day to day operations cannot possibly be an improvement. Military engineering is admirable but it never attempts to cover new ground; we are not building a bridge, and scientific breakthroughs are not something that can be done to schedule.

Current Mood: annoyed