[beauzero]

For context. This is how it was done during the Manhattan Project. https://www.osti.gov/opennet/manhattan-project-history/Peopl...

[rawgabbit]

The article you cited said it was done during wartime. It was a way to keep the scientists and technicians who were drafted into military service... so they can keep working in the laboratories they are already working in.

As a solution, the Manhattan Engineer District (MED) in May secured authorization to establish the Special Engineering Detachment (SED) to which technical and scientific personnel could be assigned upon being drafted

[Teever]

This was also why Werhner Von Braun was made an officer in the SS.