Nomination of Robert Clifton Duncan To Be Director of Defense Research and Engineering

The President today announced his intention to nominate Robert Clifton Duncan to be Director of Defense Research and Engineering, Department of Defense. He would succeed Donald Alden Hicks.

Since 1986 Mr. Duncan has been Assistant Secretary of Defense (Research and Technology) at the Pentagon, Washington, DC. Prior to this, he was vice president of engineering, 1975-1986, and assistant vice president, 1969-1975, at the Polaroid Corp. in Waltham, MA. Mr. Duncan was assistant director, NASA Electronics Research Center, Cambridge, MA, 1967-1968; Chief of the Guidance and Control Division at NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, TX, 1964-1967; special assistant to the Director of Defense Research and Engineering in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, 1961-1963; and Chief, Space Programs Branch, Astronautics Development Division, Office of Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, DC, 1960-1961.

Mr. Duncan graduated from the United States Naval Academy (B.S., 1945), U.S. Naval Postgraduate School (B.S., 1953), and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (S.M., 1954; Sc.D, 1960). Mr. Duncan served in the United States Navy, 1945-1965. Mr. Duncan was born on November 21, 1923, in Jonesville, VA. He is married, has four children, and resides in Washington, DC.