[1][2] He also held a number of government roles, such as Chair of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board under John F. Kennedy.

[5] In 1956, James R. Killian Jr was named as the 1st Chair to the new President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board by the Eisenhower Administration, a position which he held until April 1963.

Shortly after the October 1957 launches of the Soviet artificial satellites, Sputnik 1 and Sputnik 2, President Eisenhower asked Killian to serve as Special Assistant for Science and Technology, making him the first true Presidential Science Advisor.

Killian described an environment of "widespread discouragement" facing scientists and, in particular, scientists of the Technological Capabilities Panel, which had been convened by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower to develop technological solutions to the perceived possibility of a surprise nuclear attack by the Soviet Union.

Oppenheimer had expressed support for shifting U.S. military resources from offensive nuclear weapons to defensive capabilities, and following Oppenheimer's loss of his security clearance, scientists felt that it was inadvisable to challenge the thinking of the military establishment.