States Army Corps of Engineers and although composed of both engineers and geologists resulted in a final report prepared by two geologists Charles Whitman Cross and Harry Fielding Reid. The report, submitted to President Wilson in November 1917, concluded that claims of repeated interruptions in canal traffic for years to come were unjustified. During this time, the United States confronted the prospect of war with Germany and the question of preparedness was raised. Engineering societies responded to this crisis by offering technical services to the Federal government such as the Naval Consulting Board of 1915 and the Council of National Defense of 1916. On June 19 of that year, then US President Woodrow Wilson requested the National Academy of Sciences to organize a "National Research Council" albeit with the assistance of the Engineering Foundation. (pg. 569) The purpose of the Council (at first called the National Research Foundation) was in part to foster and encourage "the increased use of scientific research in the development of American industries... the employment of scientific methods in strengthening the national defense... and such other applications of science as will promote the national security and welfare." During the period of national preparations, an increasing number of engineers were being elected to the physics and engineering section of the Academy, this did not, however, resolve the long-standing issue of where to place applied sciences such as engineering in the Academy. In 1863, the founding members who were prominent military and naval engineers comprised almost a fifth of the membership. during the latter part of the 19th century, this engineering membership steadily declined and by 1912, Henry Larcom Abbot, who had been elected in 1872, was the sole remaining representative of the Corps of Engineers. With the Engineering Division in the wartime National Research Council being used as a precedent, the Academy established its first engineering section with nine members in 1919 with civil war veteran Henry Larcom Abbot as its first chairman. OF those nine members, only two were new members, the others had transferred from existing sections; "... of the 164 members of the Academy that year, only seven chose to identify themselves as engineers." During this period of 1915-1916 activity by engineering societies, the National Academy of Sciences complained that there was a lack of scientists and the predominance of engineers on the Federal government's wartime technical committee, the Naval Consulting Board. One of