The chief of the supply service of the War Department was authorized in 1936 to purchase materials for the Chemical Warfare Service or the Signal Corps in whatever manner he deemed most economical. This authority was delegated to the chief of the supply service in order to prevent secret military information from being divulged to the public.[464] A 1939 Act to authorize the procurement, without advertising, of certain aircraft parts and instruments or aeronautical accessories, contained a similar provision.[465] If a secret order was necessary, the Secretary of War, after certification to that effect, could submit the proposed purchase to three reputable concerns for their respective bids.[466] After the fall of France, an act of June 28, 1940 to expedite national defense authorized the Secretary of the Navy, whenever deemed necessary by the President during the existing emergency, to negotiate contracts with or without advertising or competitive bidding upon determination that the price was fair and reasonable.[467] A few days later a more general statute gave the President plenary power to authorize the War Department to purchase urgently needed military hardware during the great national defense revival of 1940-41, with or without reference to advertised bids.[468] As long as the President could justify his actions as necessary “to provide for emergencies affecting the national security and defense,” (and who, within the Congress or among the public, had access to the information essential to challenge the military necessity for given presidential action), he had virtually a _carte blanche_ authority to write his own ticket. The great atomic bomb project, involving the ultimate in secrecy, was carried forward without the Congress being aware that the two billion dollars subsequently appropriated for the Manhattan Project were being expended for development of a weapon that might never work.[469] Title II of the First War Powers Act, enacted shortly after Pearl Harbor, permitted the President to “authorize any department or agency of the Government exercising functions in connection with the prosecution of the war effort, ... to enter into contracts and into amendments or modifications of contracts ... without regard to the provisions of law”.[470]