SECRET RESEARCH AT UNIVERSITIES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP73-00475R000401020008-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 24, 2014
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: September 12, 1966
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release. @ 50-Yr 2014/03/24: CIA-RDP73-00475R000401020008-3
?
ANAL], YY ,A %JANA. ALkYLZ.)
? ? ? i
Secret Research. at
?
? Universities ? ? ''-;
:To the Editor:
? I agree with .your editorial:
; ("Universities and Secrecy,";:
Sept: 7) that opposition to the.; ;
war in Vietnam is. a separate!:
land irrelevant ? issue from the:
i'conduct of highly classified re- I:
;search :on biochemical warfare
!at, the. University .of Pennsyl-
vania. That is why some of my
;Icolleagues and I urged adop-
tion of a policy under which
Ithe university .yould .maintain
+its academic integrity by estab-..
,lishing 'safeguards ,on the input
;side of ?research contracts in-
'stead of the output end. This
'has begn the policy of Harvard"
...University.. ? ?
? ;:?. Dean McGeorge Bundy stated
this .policy before, the ? Senate
Committee on Government Op-
erations: "Except in time of ,
:. all-out war; it .has been the his- ,
`?toric? policy of Harvard Univer-;
sity to emphasize the importance
to the nation of open research
in basic subjects; for this rea-
. 1.
son we avoid engagement in:
1
;. secret Government research, and
we do not accept,responsibilitY
for the 'administration of se- .0
':curity.clearances of any kind." ?
',Scholars! Obligation 4
.? The Times rightly states that!.
i'?).''there are times when a higher
obligation mi.), 'supersede the
1: university's basic ,?commitinent! ?
the spread.. of .knowledge.";..
:But ? such situations. arise ? noti..
:Ionly when Weapon's like 'the,
atomic bomb are about .to bei
? ? ? . ?
reasons?public health ; and',
"decency," ?considerateness for.
living persons (in political bi-;
1.ographies)1.and scholarly cati.-
tion among them?researchers,'
in all fields; :including the hu-
rnanities, may want to defer
-publication of some ? of their !
findings for definite or. in-
definite -periods Of time.
So far as I. know, none of us j
is under obligation to publish I
',he results of. our work if, for..
? instance, we Want to take thenv.i
to ,the grave with us. We are ;
tinder professional obligation to
engage, as you put it, In the
."acquisition" and the "spread of
knowledge," .or, to put it more.
generally, . to .promote the 4e-."
velopment of knowledge.' ?
-
Nonacademic Standards .
? ? ? ?
For those scholars who .choose::
to be members of a university,
this .process of the development
of knowledge is always in part:..,
a collegial 'process. It is hindered.,
when the university becomes the.,
guardian" of classified material,,
and when it has to apply non-
academic. standards, na- ,-
tional security criteria, to
Those scholars who wish to
conduct military research, as.,
The Times puts it. now have.:
"many alternative institutions".,
available to them. They should.
opt out of the university, a basic ?
law of whose life ? is the aca.-j.
demic freedom among colleagues
to develop 'knowledge. ' . ?
? ?
HERBERT SPIRO
? Philadelphia, Sept. 7, 1966
The writer is Profcsvor of .Po-:
NicaZ Science at the'Ut#versity.
.of
?
?
?
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2014/03/24 : CIA--RDP73-00475R000401020008-3