Jet Propulsion Laboratory (U.S.). Arroyo Center.

In May 1982 the U.S. Army approached the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) with the concept of an analysis center, patterned after the RAND Corporation and its relationship with the U.S. Air Force. The Arroyo Center was to be a high-quality, interdisciplinary, future-oriented research and analysis organization. The purpose of the Center was to support the U.S. Army in studying a broad spectrum of long-range issues critically important to the Army's senior military and civilian leadership.

JPL established a study group to consider the Army request in May 1982. The Army Analysis Program (AAP) was run from JPL initially from Division 80, the Defense Programs Office. In May 1983, the Army Analysis Program was named the Arroyo Center and placed in Division 10, reporting directly to the JPL Director.

In October 1982, a committee was formed to establish the charter and mode of the program, and to explore the problems and opportunities the Army Analysis Program would pose for JPL. This committee was comprised of people with backgrounds in the defense community and the Caltech faculty. The Committee was chaired by former Lab Director William H. Pickering, called back into service for JPL. The report submitted to JPL by Pickering in January 1983 proved to be unsatisfactory to many of the other members on the Committee, as it represented the opinions of Pickering only, and had not been discussed with the other committee members. Three of the committee members voiced their displeasure with the report in correspondence to Pickering and disassociated themselves from it.

The Search Committee for a director for the Arroyo Center was chaired by JPL Deputy Director Charles H. Terhune. In September 1983, after a lengthy interview process, Richard A. Montgomery, Vice President of R&D Associates, was named as Director of the Arroyo Center. He was to be the equivalent of a JPL Assistant Laboratory Director. Research activities were undertaken and a few reports completed.

Major concerns among the Caltech faculty regarding the Arroyo Center surfaced in several Faculty Board meetings in November and December 1983. Caltech President Marvin L. Goldberger reported to the faculty in December 1983 that he had failed to adequately keep them informed about the development of the Arroyo Center. The faculty was concerned mainly with three issues: the extent of the Arroyo Center's classified work; Caltech's reputation if connected to military work at a center located off lab; and the lack of Center oversight by the Caltech and JPL administrations and the Caltech faculty.

In January 1984, the Caltech faculty voted for Caltech to divest itself of the Arroyo Center, arguing that the work of the Center was not making the best use of Caltech and of JPL. In September 1984, the U.S. Army Chief of Staff decided to transfer the Arroyo Center to the RAND Corporation. The JPL Arroyo Center was closed at the end of January 1985. The Arroyo Center continues today as a Federally Funded Research and Development Center.