What physicists can do in Washington

The history of physicists in Washington is now well into its fourth phase. During World War I the interaction between science and government seemed to be on an individual basis; when I was a beginning graduate student at Columbia, I appreciated the fact that many of my professors had served as naval officers in the war, many of them in areas involving mine warfare. Of course scientific input was wider, but it did not have the organized structure that we are accustomed to today. The pattern was that of a physicist in uniform.