The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting a Gold Star in lieu of a Second Award of the Legion of Merit to Captain Parker L. Folsom, United States Navy, for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services to the Government of the United States from January 1958 to August 1962 while serving in the Development Programs Division, Office of the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (Development). During this period, Captain Folsom, in addition to other demanding duties in connection with the development of the Navy’s operations control centers, communication systems and electronics warfare systems and equipment, served in the highly important capacity of project officer for the development of the revolutionary Navy Tactical Data System (NTDS). This project has produced a computerized network which increases the accuracy and tactical data handling capacity of the naval command control system many-fold and, at the same time, lightens the burden heretofore borne by the commander involved.