The Strategic Scientific Reserve was formed in 1940 on the orders of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Although the United States wasn't directly involved in World War II at the time, Roosevelt knew that the situation was only temporary, because Adolf Hitler and his Third Reich were the greatest threat to the free world. Shortly after, they organized the rescue of Abraham Erskine from Castle Kaufmann, where he was being held by Johann Schmidt, the commanding officer of HYDRA. Phillips sent one of his best agents, Peggy Carter, to secure Erskine's release.