SOVIET RESEARCH AND TRAINING FUND

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP84M00395R000800250018-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 13
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 20, 2007
• Sequence Number: 18
• Content Type: REPORT

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SOVIET RESEARCH AND TRAINING FUND
PROBLEM: Over the past decade Soviet power has grown dramatically
as has the Soviets' ability to project that power to expand their
empire and damage our interests on a global scale. As an indis-
pensible complement to that power the Soviets have made a massive
investment over the same period in their capacity to analyze
America. Our own course has been just the opposite. Financial
support for analysis of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe has
been massively withdrawn, our research effort is shrinking and our
preparation of new cadres of specialists faces catastrophic decline,
in both quality and quantity. Adequate numbers of American special-
ists on critical areas of Soviet economics and politics, minority
nationality dynamics, foreign policy and Soviet behavior in
strategic Third World sectors, are not being prepared or utilized
due to a faltering university and government support structure.
While our information on Soviet hardware is excellent, our political,
social and economic analysis is obviously in jeopardy and certain to
deteriorate further unless something is done quickly. Our national
capability to analyze the Soviets and their empire is being dismantled,
and once gone, it would take decades at enormous costs to recreate.
PROPOSAL: In response to a clear national security need, a legis-
lative Act is proposed which will provide a one-time-only appropria-
tion of the sum of $40,000,000 to establish a Soviet Research and
Training Fund. This sum is to be invested and reinvested in debt
instruments of the U.S. Treasury, the interest from which will be
used to support a national program of (1) advanced research and
dissemination of research findings to the Government and the public;
and (2) the training of research specialists under university
auspices, including on-the-ground experience in the Soviet Union
and Eastern Europe.
RESOURCE BASE: Three existing national institutions are already
organized to carry out such a program: the National Council for
Soviet and East European Research, the Kennan Institute of the
Wilson Center, and the International Research and Exchanges Board.
They have agreed that the Fund would be administered and its
resources allocated by the Board of Trustees of the National Council
for Soviet and East European Research. These organizations draw
upon a broad set of constituencies in the university and research
sectors; the International Research and Exchanges Board alone
represents a consortium of 110 major university centers across the
country. Confirmation of this critical need can be found both
within those constituencies and among leading representatives of
the defense and intelligence communities.
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INTRODUCTION
The steadily growing national security need for reliable know-
ledge about the Soviet empire is coinciding with-a critical decline
in our national capacity for research on the USSR and its allies.
This paper and attached draft legislation proposes a one-time-only
appropriation of the sum of $40,000,000 to establish a Soviet Research
and Training Fund. This sum is to be invested and reinvested in debt
instruments of the U.S. Treasury, only the interest from which would
be expended insupport of the purposes of the Act.
The goal of the Act is to help stop the decline and stabilize,
on a national scale and long range basis, our capacity for research
needed to understand the changing strengths and weaknesses of the
Soviet empire. The Act would contribute a small, but essential,
Government share of support to advanced research, to development of
a steady stream of research specialists, and to the availability of
independently verified factual knowledge about the USSR.
Three existing private institutions are already organized to
carry out this work: the National Council for Soviet and East Euro-
pean Research, the Kennan Institute of the Wilson Center, and the
International Research and Exchanges Board. Through these organiza-
tions the funds could be used efficiently and effectively, and no
new Federal executive organization would be created.
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STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Since the Second World War the Soviet Union, by massive determined
effort, has emerged as a powerful empire, hostile to United States
interests on a global scale. Whatever the future course of that
secretive and intentionally deceptive power, and of its relations with
the United States and the rest of the world, it is self-evident that
we must maintain our national capability to develop reliable knowledge
of it, to make that knowledge available to the Government and the
public, and to assure a steady stream of highly trained specialists
for service in the Government and private sector.
As conditions within the Soviet empire become more complex,
as Soviet power and activity expand and as more raw data become
available, our national need for knowledge and the analytic research
that produces it increases. This rising national need has, perverse-
ly, coincided over the last decade with a grave decline in resources
devoted to research, to the point that our national capability is
endangered.
For a quarter century after World War II, universities, private
foundations, business and government joined to support Soviet studies.
Faculty, research libraries, fellowships, space, support facilities
and labor were provided, centers of advanced research and training
were created and a network of Soviet and East European studies reach-
ing down to high school courses was established. That effort cul-
minated in passage of the International Education Act in 1967, which
authorized $40,000,000 in FY-68 and $90,000,000 in FY-69 for advanced
research and training. That Act was never funded. Private foundations
have left the field; Ford alone, which contributed some $20,000,000
a year at its peak to international studies, has reduced its support
to essentially zero. Business support, which was tied to expectations
of expanded USSR trade, is drying up. Universities, under general
financial pressure, are curtailing funds and facilities. The govern-
ment, which spends billions on the collection of information on the
USSR, much of which remains unused, has reduced its own capacity for
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basic research, and spends next to nothing on basic research outside
government, or on ensuring a cadre of research specialists for the
future. By 1975-76 university centers of advanced research on the
USSR and Eastern Europe had suffered a 64% reduction of budgets from
their 1965-72 average, and the decline has continued.
Thus, the entire national capability is eroding. Fellowship
money is almost nonexistent. Specialized research libraries are
curtailing holdings, acquisitions and staffs. Faculty positions are
being cut. Research journals face closure. Talented, experienced
research scholars, young and old, are shifting to other fields of
study, while fewer and fewer gifted graduate students are entering
it. In the 1980s, more than 45% of America's present experts on the
USSR will leave the field by retirement alone. Once the national
capability is let go, it will take decades and enormous costs to
recreate it.
Ironically, the comprehensiveness and sophistication of Soviet
studies of all aspects of American society is being expanded as a
matter of State policy. In addition to the work of specialists in
the central Party and government apparatus, study of the United States
in Soviet universities has increased, the American sections of research
institutes under the Soviet Academy of Sciences have grown, and a de-
cade ago a special Institute for the study of the U.S.A. was founded
in Moscow which now has a staff of some 400. Their increasingly
sophisticated knowledge of America's strengths and weaknesses is
manifest in their actions and propaganda. (Please see Appendix I).
The heart of the proposed legislation provides a fund of
$40,000,000, to be held by the U.S. Treasury, the interest on which
would be used to give partial support, on a competitive national
scale, to five functions essential to the nation:
1. advanced research on the USSR and Eastern Europe;
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2. contact and collaboration among Government and private
research specialists,; and greater use of Government-held
data;
3. research and first-hand experience in the USSR and Eastern
Europe by American specialists;
4. specialized advanced training for research;
5. delivery to the Government, and public dissemination of
research results, data and methods. .-
There are several important advantages in the draft Act.
First, no new federal bureaucracies with additional administra-
tive staffs and costs will need to be created. Three existing private,
nonprofit institutions -- the National Council for Soviet and East
European Research, the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies,
and the International Research and Exchanges Board -- have established
offices and trained staffs which can carry out the administration of the
Fund. All of these organizations currently receive public funds,
are respected in government and academic circles, and could turn the
Fund to useful work immediately.
Second, Congress and the Executive Branch would have oversight
through existing committees, and Congress could withdraw the prin-
cipal amount (or augment it) as it saw fit. The delays and uncer-
tainties of annual appropriations, especially of the small amount
represented by annual interest on the Fund, would be avoided. They
tend to cancel the long range stabilizing effect that is sought, and
inhibit the systematic planning necessary to basic research and career
training. The result is often not only waste, but a reluctance among
the most able candidates to become involved.
And finally, it is precisely the creation of such a Fund that
will testify to the profession as a whole that the time-consuming
acquisition of special skills, and the extraordinary difficulties and
frustrations of gaining and maintaining competence on the Soviet empire
are valued by America and are therefore worthwhile.
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D RAF T (April 25, 1981)
An Act
To help ensure the nation's independent factual knowledge
of the Soviet empire, to help maintain the national capability for
advanced research and training on which that knowledge depends,
and to provide partial financial support for national programs to
serve both those purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
That this Act may be cited as the "Soviet Research and Training
Act of 1981."
Findings and Declarations
SEC. II. The Congress hereby finds and deglares that:
(1) Factual knowledge, independently verified, about the Soviet
empire is of the utmost importance for the national security
of the United States, for the furtherance of our national
interests in the conduct of foreign relations, and for the
prudent management of our domestic affairs.
(2) The development and maintenance of such knowledge depends
upon the national capability for advanced research by highly
trained and experienced specialists, available for service in
and out of Government.
(3) Certain essential functions are necessary to ensure the
existence of that knowledge and the capability to sustain it.
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Namely:
(A) postgraduate training;
(B) advanced (postdoctoral or equivalent) research;
(C) public dissemination of research data, methods and
(D) contact and collaboration among Government and
private specialists and the facilitation of research
based on the extensive data holdings of the United States
(E) first-hand experience of the Soviet empire by
American specialists including the conduct of. advanced
training and research in those areas to the extent
practicable.
(4) It is in the national interest for the Federal Government
to supplement the support for these functions provided by local,
state, regional, and private agencies, organizations and
individuals, and thereby to stabilize the conduct of these
functions on a national scale, consistently, and on a long
range basis.
(5) Three existing institutions are already organized to
conduct these functions on a national scale:
The National Council for Soviet and East European Research
The Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies of the
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
The International Research and Exchanges Board of the
American Council of Learned Societies
Establishment of Soviet Research and Training Fund
SEC. III. (1) There is hereby appropriated, on a one time only basis, the sum
of $40,000,000 to establish a Soviet Research and Training
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Fund (hereinafter the "Fund"), to be invested and reinvested in
debt instruments of the United States Treasury; the interest from
which shall be used for support of the functions listed in Section
II paragraph 3, of this Act, in the following manner.
Execution and Administration
SEC. IV. (1) Whereas the National Council for Soviet and East
European Research (hereinafter the "National Council") is a
not-for-profit corporation organized under the laws of the
District of Columbia in 1978, which conducts a national program
of .advanced research on Soviet and East European social, political,
economic, and historical development; and whereas its Board of.
Trustees (hereinafter the "Board of Trustees") is composed of
nationally recognized specialists on the USSR and Eastern
Europe, two thirds or more of whom are designated by the
presidents of leading American research universities and institu-
tions*; and whereas its competitive selection practices and its
administration could readily be expanded to encompass also the functions
identified in Section II, paragraph ,3A and.- 3C of this. Act'
(advanced training and dissemination):
(2) Whereas the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies
(hereinafter the "Institute") established in 1974 at the Woodrow
Wilson International Center for Scholars at the Smithsonian
Institution provides facilities and fellowships in Washington, D.C.
for the conduct of advanced research on the USSR by American
* The Chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley; the Presidents
of the University of Chicago, Columbia University, Duke University, Harvard
University, the University of Illinois, Indiana University, the University
of Michigan, the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University, The
American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, and The
Chairman of the Academic Council of the Kennan Institute for Advanced
Russian Studies.
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specialists on a nation-wide basis; and whereas the Institute
also regularly holds working meetings for those specialists and
their counterparts in Government and in the private sector:
(3) And whereas the International Research and Exchanges Board
(hereinafter the "IREX"), organized in 1968 by the American
Council of Learned Societies and the Social Science Research
Council, conducts a national program of visits by American
specialists to the USSR and Eastern Europe for advanced training
and research, on an exchange basis in such a manner as to ensure
maximum reciprocity: be it enacted that
(4) The Board of Trustees of the National Council shall also
comprise the Board of Trustees of the Fund and shall be des-
ignated to administer and oversee the Fund.
The interest from the Fund shall be received by the Board of
Trustees annually and divided into four ,equal parts:
(A) One such part shall be!paid over to the Institute for
use by it in support of the function identified in Section
Ii, paragraph 3D of this Act (Washington-based research and
collaboration). Specifically the Institute shall:
(a) Provide fellowship support and research facilities
for American scholars to conduct advanced research using
the extensive data on the Soviet empire available in
the Washington, D.C. area;
(b) Hold seminars, conferences and other kinds of
working meetings that will facilitate contact and
research collaboration among Government and private
specialists in that field.
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(B) A second such part shall be paid over to the IBEX for use
by it in support of the function identified by Section Ii,
paragraph 3E of this Act (on-site research and training).
Specifically the IREX shall conduct specialized programs of
advanced training and research on a- reciprocal basis in the
USSR and the nations of Eastern Europe in such a manner as
to provide access for American specialists to.research
institutes, personnel, archives, documentation, and other
research and training resources in those areas.
(C) A third such part shall be retained by the National
Council to be used by it in support of the function identi-
fied in Section II, paragraph 3B of this Act (advanced
research). Specifically:
(a) In consultation with an interdepartmental committee
of the Executive Branch the members of which shall be
designated by the Secretary of State (hereinafter the
"Interdepartmental Committee"), the Board of Trustees
shall, from time to time, define the research agenda of
a national research program at the postdoctoral or
equivalent level.
(b) The Board of Trustees shall publicize the program
broadly and shall solicit proposals for research con-
tracts, on the basis of shared costs, from American
institutions of higher education and other not-for-profit
American corporations.
(c) The Board of Trustees shall. review such .proposals.____
periodically, but not less than annually, and shall
award contracts for such research projects as it deems
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will best serve the purposes of this Act, and as funds
will allow.
(d) The Board of Trustees shall deliver reports of
the findings of research which it funds to the
Secretary of State for distribution-within the Government.
(D) The Board of Trustees shall expand the National Council's
functions to encompass those identified'in Section II,
paragraphs 3A (advanced training) and 3C (dissemination) of
this Act, and shall retain the remaining fourth such part of
the interest for use by the National Council in support of
these functions. Specifically:
(a) In consultation with the Interdepartmental Committee,
the Board of Trustees shall define a program of graduate
fellowships for advanced training in Soviet and related
studies; and a program of stipends for teaching appoint-
ments at American institutions of higher learning on a
shared cost basis.
(b) The Board of Trustees shall publicize the programs
broadly and solicit applications for fellowships from
qualified individuals, and for shared cost stipends
from institutions.
(c) The Board of Trustees shall review such applications
periodically, but not less than annually, and shall
award such fellowships and stipends as it deems will
best serve the purposes of this Act.
(d) In consultation with the Interdepartmental Committee,
the Board of Trustees shall also provide support for at
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least one, but not more than three professional journals
dedicated to the open public dissemination of research
data, methods, and findings in the Soviet and related
fields, in the form of publication subventions, in
such manner and to the extent that it deems will best
serve the purposes of this Act.
(5) Should the Institute and/or the IBEX at any time or for any
reason cease, in the opinion of the Board of Trustees, to serve
the--functions assigned to them by this Act, or its purposes, the
Board of Trustees may, in consultation with the Interdepartmental
Committee, withhold further distribution of interest to either
or both the institute and the IBEX. Moneys so withheld shall be
either (a) held .in escrow -until such time as the .Institute .and/o:E
the IBEX resumes such functions and the service of such purposes
in the opinion of the Board of Trustees, dr in its opinion some
successor institution do so, or (b) reinvested in the corpus
of the Fund; at the determination of the Board of Trustees in
consultation with the Interdepartmental Committee. All or part
of moneys held in escrow and/or the appropriate annual share of
interest from the Fund may be used by the Board in the estab-
lishment or development of a successor institution for the
Institute or the IREX.
(6) If interest from the Fund accrues in any year to a sum
which, in the opinion of the Board of Trustees, is greater than
that which may be prudently used in the normal operations of
the Institute, the IREX, or the National Council, in fulfillment
of the purposes and provisions of this Act, the excess moneys
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shall be reinvested in the corpus of the Fund.
Reports to Congress
SEC. V. (1) The Board of Trustees shall provide the Congress of the
United States with an annual report ofthe operations of the
Fund, which report shall include both a narrative account of the
measures taken in fulfillment of the purposes and provisions
of this Act and a financial audit by a qualified firm of certified
public accountants.
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