Department of Defense Nomination of William 1. Perry To Be Director of Defense Research and Engineering.

The President today announced that he will nominate William J. Perry to be Director of Defense Research and Engineering in the Department of Defense. Perry is director and president of ESL Inc.

He was born in Vandergrift, Pa., on October 11, 1927. He received a B.S. degree in 1949 and an M.S. in 1950 in mathematics from Stanford University. He received a Ph.D. in mathematics from Pennsylvania State University in 1957.

Perry was director of the Electronic Defense Laboratories at Sylvania Electric Products, Inc., in Mountain View, Calif., from 1954 until 1964, when he was one of the founders of ESL.

Besides his management duties at ESL, Perry has been engaged in the analysis of missile systems and the design of electronic reconnaissance systems. He is also a part-time lecturer in mathematics at the University of Santa Clara.

Perry serves on scientific advisory committees for the Department of Defense and the National Security Council. He has advised the Government on national security issues, beginning with a panel to study the missile gap issue in 1960, and including, currently, a study of verification problems in SALT.

He has received the U.S. Army's Outstanding Civilian Service Medal for "the development of systems for the collection of vitally important intelligence through the use of advanced electronics."

He has also been awarded the Defense Intelligence Agency's Exceptional Civilian Service Medal for his service as a charter member of the Agency's Scientific Advisory Committee.

He resides in Los Altos, Calif.