Three on security in science

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

1. SCIENCE AND SECURITY: RESTRAINING GOVERNMENT SECRECY.  Every
government relishes the power to hold secrets.  Good news is made
public; those who leak bad news are punished.  The Presidents of
the National Academies issued a statement last Friday warning
that the Bush Administration has gone too far in attempting to
control scientific information that might aid terrorists.  They
were particularly critical of the resurrection of the category of
"sensitive but unclassified" information, invented in the early
'80s by the Reagan Administration.  Led by the American Physical
Society, which issued a strongly worded statement on Freedom of
Scientific Information in 1983 www.aps.org/statements/83.2.html ,
scientific opposition persuaded the White House to back down in
1995, issuing National Security Decision Directive 189: 
     "No restrictions may be placed on the conduct or
     reporting of federally funded fundamental research 
     that has not received national security classification,
     except as provided in applicable U.S. statutes."
The statement of the Academy presidents called on the federal
government to "affirm and maintain" the principle of NSDD 189.

2. LEAKS: ADMINISTRATION'S TOP PLUMBER VOWS TO STOP THE LEAKS.
President Clinton vetoed legislation that would have made it a
felony to leak classified information that does not involve
espionage(WN 17 Nov 00).  But although he says such leaks have
resulted in only one conviction in 50 years, Attorney General
John Ashcroft insists strict enforcement is what's needed, not
tougher laws.  Alas, conscientious government employees willing
to risk their careers by leaking classified documents, may be the
only check on government excesses carried out behind the screen
of national security.  In March, for example, The Nuclear Posture
Review, a Pentagon report describing a plan to develop a new
class of small nuclear weapons, suddenly showed up on the Web (WN
15 Mar 02).  Thirty years earlier, it was the "Pentagon Papers."

3. PSEUDO SECRETS: WAS THAT REALLY JOHN PODESTA?  So now who's
opposing government secrecy?  Well, it's not exactly on the same
level as the Pentagon Papers, but at a press conference on
Tuesday, the Sci Fi Channel released a report on "Science and the
Failure to Investigate Unidentified Aerial Phenomena."  Among
those calling for the government to give us all the information
on UFOs was John Podesta, Chief of Staff to President Clinton and
now a Washington lobbyist.  Meanwhile, Robert Gentry, "world
renowned nuclear physicist," is suing Cornell, NSF and Los Alamos
over censorship of scientific evidence against the big bang.


;;;


THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND and THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY
Opinions are the author's and are not necessarily shared by the
University or the American Physical Society, but they should be.

-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as interesting-people () lists elistx com
Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/