He was the former president of the Alchemist Association who also helped and mentored Rust back then when Rust first joined and knew that the Basic Research Department is very vital to the Alchemist Association as a whole.
Well up until Halhammer got demoted and he left like he said in this chapter part, alongside the fact that the Basic Research Department dwindled down to just Rust (he also left due to the dumbass current president that fucked up the BRD even more instantly i.e BRD is no more in the AA) and the outcomes is both funny (for us readers) and bad (for both the AA and the capital itself to their downfall) and yeah, both got totally ruined, mainly by the head of the Arms Department who caused it all (and by other factors too)