The National Research Council (NRC) was formed in 1916 as a special organization, established under the national charter of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), against the backdrop of the First World War. As concerns grew about the lack of America’s preparedness should the United States become involved. , The Academy’s Foreign Secretary George Ellery Hale, wished to broaden the Academy’s scope of activity, following years of NSA relative inactivity, and the war proved and opportune time to push for “a national organization for the coordination of scientific and technological research and development.” [1]
On April 26, 1916 NAS President William H. Welch , along with other members, went to see U.S. President Woodrow Wilson to present a resolution unanimously passed at the NAS’s last meeting, of which Wilson gave oral agreement to the proposal:
That the President of the Academy be requested to inform the President of the United States that in the event of a break in diplomatic relations with any other country the academy desires to place itself at the disposal of the Government for any service within its scope.
The Committee for the Organization of the Scientific Resources of the Country for National Service held their first formal meeting on September 20, 1916, drawing original membership from the government, the various branches of the military, the universities, and private research laboratories. The committee included Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research director and vaccine developer Dr Simon Flexner. [1]
Hale became the NRC’s first chairman and following the end of the war he recommended the Research Council continue, which it did by President Wilson’s Executive Order No. 2859 of May 11, 1918 which recognized the Research Council’s contribution during the war and perpetuated it as an organization. [2]
On July 13, 2021 the National Academy of Sciences formed a new body called the Strategic Council for Research Excellence, Integrity, and Trust (SCREIT). The formation of this Strategic Council stems from 2015/2016, 2017 and 2019 reports which recommended the “creation of a body to elevate the excellence and safeguard the health and welfare of the research enterprise” to”develop ways to promote high-quality research practices and to anticipate and address challenges to research ethics and integrity.”