1945-1949: Peacetime Operations

ASWORG ⇒ ORG ⇒ OEG

As the end of World War II neared, the Antisubmarine Warfare Operations Research Group (the forerunner of CNA) was reassigned to the Commander in Chief’s Readiness Division and renamed, simply, the Operations Research Group (ORG) to reflect its work beyond antisubmarine warfare. Other divisions were also formed under the group, including Air ORG, Antiaircraft ORG (later renamed Special Defense ORG), Amphibious ORG, and the Operations Research Center.

In August 1945 Fleet Adm. Ernest King and Navy Secretary James V. Forrestal agreed to continue ORG in peacetime. Both King and Forrestal concluded that much of ORG's unique value came from its ability to provide an independent, scientific viewpoint and that the group's character would best be preserved by continuing its relationship with an academic institution.  MIT was chosen as the contractor for the ORG's work and in November 1945 the group was renamed the Operations Evaluation Group (OEG). Dr. Jacinto Steinhardt, a member of the WW II group, became the group’s new director, overseeing its responsibilities to “conduct studies for the fleets…on recent operations, the performance of new equipment, tactical doctrine, and strategic alternatives.”

Through the remainder of the 1940’s OEG published numerous analytical and historical reports on key naval operations, as well as important works on the research methodology OEG analysts had developed, including Methods of Operations Research, by Philip Morse, Search and Screening, by Bernard Koopman, and Antisubmarine Warfare in World War II by Charles Sternhell and Alan Thorndike.

1950s:  Korea and the Cold War