Research and Development Board
Also known as RDB · DoD Research and Development Board
Department of Defense board created by the National Security Act of 1947 to coordinate military research and development; the institutional link between Eric Walker and Robert Sarbacher.
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Research and Development Board
The Research and Development Board was set up by the National Security Act of 1947 in place of the wartime Joint Research and Development Board, to coordinate research across the military departments [S1]. Eric Walker was its executive secretary in 1950–51 [S2]. Robert Sarbacher described his own association with it as "rather limited" [S3]. That overlap is why researchers later tied Walker to Sarbacher's 1950 account of crashed saucers (1950 Briefings on UFO Crash Retrievals). The board itself had no chartered role in handling UFO reports, which went to the Air Force at Wright-Patterson.
Sources
[S1] "National Security Act of 1947" | Wikipedia URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Security_Act_of_1947 Accessed: 2026-09-18 Claim: creation of the RDB, replacing the JRDB
[S2] "ERIC A. WALKER 1910-1995" | NAE Memorial Tributes Vol. 8 URL: https://www.nae.edu/188470/ERIC-A-WALKER-1910195 Accessed: 2026-09-18 Claim: Walker executive secretary 1950–51
[S3] "Sarbacher letter to Steinman, 29 Nov 1983" URL: https://santitafarella.wordpress.com/2009/08/21/two-interesting-ufo-documents-the-smith-memo-1950-and-physicist-robert-sarbachers-1983-letter Accessed: 2026-09-18 Claim: Sarbacher's limited RDB association
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