(3 of 3)
Project 99. While OEA can do an effective job in small arenas, it cannot make a significant dent in such massive dislocations as the shift of defense contracts from the Midwest to the West. In search of ways to help smooth out the bigger economic bumps, McNamara ordered a study of the factors that account for the heavy concentration of Pentagon research and development contracts in a few university-rich areas—such as the Boston region, drawing upon Harvard and M.I.T., and the Southern California complex, centering around Caltech and U.C.L.A. Assigned to the Stanford Research Institute, the study is potentially important not only because R. & D. is a big business in itself, but also because the area that gets the R. & D. contract often gets the production contract too. By analyzing the distribution of R. & D., the Pentagon expects to be able to advise communities with a small or dwindling share of defense business on how they might get more.
Another McNamara undertaking, called Project 99,*is peering into the future in an effort to map out Pentagon procurement shifts over the next five years so that the Pentagon can warn communities ahead of time of probable declines in defense business. "It's our own kind of early warning system," explains a Pentagon official. Warned early, communities would presumably make plans to fill in the economic gaps.
In short, Gulliver is treading carefully, peering intently and sounding alerts so as to avoid harming the Lilliputians.
*It was 99th on a list of projects that McNamara got drawn up shortly after he took over as Secretary.