SCIENTISITS DEFY PENTAGON ON RESEARCH RESTRICTIONS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000705920002-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 2, 2011
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: September 21, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/02 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000705920002-0
ARTICLE APREARED
ON PAGE
WASHINGTON POST
21 September 1985
Scientists Defy Pentagon
On Research Restrictions
By Michael Schrage
Washington Post Staff writer
Presidents of the nation's leading
scientific and engineering societies
have broken 'With the Pentagon
over its efforts to restrict access to
unclassified research, declaring that
their organizations will no longer
sponsor restricted sessions at their
meetings.
Thq effect of the presidents' ac-
tions would be to shut out from
their society meetings the papers of
any defense-funded scientists work-
ing in "sensitive" but nevertheless
unclassified areas. In effect, the
organizations, which range from the
American Association for the Ad-
vancement of Science to the Amer-
ican Association of Engineering So-
cieties, are now refusing to deal
with any papers the Pentagon may
restrict.
In a Sept. 17 letter to Defense
Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger,
the group accused the Defense De-
partment of creating a new system
of classification on research. It said,
in effect, that if the Pentagon wants
certain subjects restricted, it should
take them out of open meetings or
set up classified meetings.
"Responsibility for implementing
controls for such information must
lie with the government and not
with our organizations," the letter
said. "Therefore, our organizations
will not be responsible for, nor will
they sponsor, closed or restricted-
access technical sessions at meet-
ings or conferences conducted un-
der their auspices."
The 17 societies have a member-
ship of more than 2 million scien-
tists and engineers.
The executives maintained that
"it is in our mutual best interest to
minimize the amount of unclassified
information that is subject to these
controls .... We will be pleased to
work with you to define measures
that will achieve this goal."
"We're still formulating a re-
sponse," said Col. Donald I. Carter,
acting deputy undersecretary for
defense research and advanced
technology. "We had been working
with [the societies] over the last
three or four months. I guess they
were unhappy with the progress we
were making." The crux of the is-
sue, Carter said, lies in the 1984
Defense Authorization Act and the
Export Administration Act that en-
able the Pentagon to determine
what "technical data" merits special
protection.
"Compare it to proprietary data,"
Carter said. "If we were a private
company investing in research and
development .. , we would hold the
data proprietary to assure we got
first use."
What should be noted, Carter
said, is that "technical data is dif-
ferent from scientific information.
Scientific information is basic prin-
ciples and scientific phenomenon;
technical data is engineering data-
taking scientific data and converting
them into useful systems."
Carter said his office is placing
restrictions on "critical technolo-
gies" data that are subject to export
control so they will not fall into the
hands of Soviet bloc countries.
A new Pentagon report indicates
that the Soviet Union has ex ensive
efforts under wa to acquire sen-
sitive U. . technologies and re-
search, and this is-the main reason
for what has dome a new level of
classification for researchers.
At the Society of Photo-optical
Instrumentation Engineers meeting
in April, the Pentagon used the rule
to block presentation of 25 papers.
It eventually allowed the papers to
be presented to U.S. citizens and
selected foreign scientists who
signed nondisclosure agreements.
"What we're saying is the extent
to which export control limitations
are placed on information go well
beyond what we would see is the
intent of export controls," said Rus-
sell C. Drew, a vice president of the
Institute of Electrical and Electron-
ics Engineers. "We're not going to
be a party to carrying out these re-
strictions. We maintain certain
guidelines on the free exchange of
information and we're not going to
bend them or break them just to
meet current Defense Department
desires."
Staff writer Stuart Auerbach
contributed to this report.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/02 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000705920002-0