Epilogue

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DREO has imprinted on its history the effects of broader societal changes over the years. As society changed over six decades, so did DREO.

Society’s changed attitudes about alcohol consump­tion at work events—and the acceptability of driving after such events—has changed the tone of DREO’s social events. We’ve come a long way since the Establishment hosted beauty contests. We’ve come a long way since it was acceptable to describe the female defence research staff, as they were in a newspaper article in 1958, as “attractive, refreshingly feminine women.” Back in the day, the parties were a little wilder, and the gender typing was a little easier.

DREO has witnessed an increase in the bureaucracy involved in research, and the evolution of a business model for research and development that is far more service-oriented and less oriented towards pure research.

In 2001, sixty years after the formation of Chemical Warfare Laboratories, DREO is at the beginning of a distinctly new period of its existence. Reorganized to function within the structure of the new Defence Research and Development Canada, DREO’s stated mission is to serve as the DRDC authority and centre of expertise for the exploita­tion of the electromagnetic spectrum to meet the future needs of the Canadian Forces, Department of National Defence and Canada.