NEWS OF THE WEEK
FORMER SOVIET UNION: U.S. urged to assist science community oncerned that "economic desperation may force weapons scientists from the former Soviet Union to offer their services to rogue states/' Sen. Claiborne Pell (D.-R.L), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, convened a hearing last week to find out what the U.S. can do to prevent such defections and, in turn, ensure its own future security. What the committee heard was a call for immediate assistance for the whole science and technology establishment in the former Soviet Union. U.S. National Academy of Sciences president Frank Press told the committee that there is a "desperate crisis" within the science and engineering communities in the newly independent republics. World-class research is being suspended because of a lack of budgetary support for such things as equipment, supplies, and even heat and electricity, and an exodus of some of the most talented scientists. There are several compelling reasons, Press says, why the U.S. should respond immediately to this crisis. First and foremost, he says, is that "scientists and engineers will play a key role in determining whether the transition to an open and market-driven society within the [former Soviet republics] will succeed or whether economic despair will invite a return to economic and political systems of command and control"—a situation clearly not in the best interest of the U.S. He then presented a plan, developed by NAS at the request of Presidential Science Adviser D. Allan Bromley, for resolving the current crisis. The NAS plan was developed at a March 3 workshop attended by 120 leaders of the U.S. science and engineering community. While applauding the U.S/s promised $25 million contribution to the new International Science & Technology Center that would employ former Soviet weapons scientists (C&EN, March 2, page 18), the NAS plan calls for an immediate, equal contribution
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MARCH 23,1992 C&EN
Bromley: NAS plan for science aid will be used in my office
for support of nonweapon scientists. The funds, it suggests, could come from the $400 million Congress has already appropriated for dismantlement of the Soviet weapons complex. For immediate impact, NAS suggests allocating additional funds to grantees of the Department of Energy, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Science Foundation for direct scientist-to-scientist collaborations, which can be implemented rapidly. This recommendation is based on the idea that U.S. researchers already know the best Soviet specialists in their fields who would make excellent research partners. In addition, NAS says a portion of the new funding for nonweapon scientists should also be made immediately available through the nine existing intergovernmental agreements that supported cooperative civilian R&D between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.
Further, NAS recommends establishment of a special multilateral assistance fund of $50 million to $100 million to help replenish and refurbish equipment, journals, and books used in Soviet laboratories of special importance. NAS says it is not proposing a welfare system for scientists there. Rather, programs supported by the U.S. should be based on mutual benefit and should not simply be a response to the economic plight of Soviet scientists and institutions. In the longer term, Press says, NAS urges the Administration to modify its apparent restrictive policy concerning the acquisition of advanced technologies and technical expertise from Soviet sources by U.S. firms. It also urges Congress and the Administration to carefully study a proposal advanced by Rep. George E. Brown Jr., chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space & Technology, calling for establishment of a science foundation involving the U.S. and the former Soviet states. Press characterized the proposal as a "welcome initiative with the possibility for longterm mutual benefit." Bromley, who was presented with the NAS plan just four days before the hearings, promised at the hearings that "this input will be used in my office and in other areas of the Administration as we structure our specific policies targeted toward the broad scientific and technical enterprise of the former Soviet Union." However, a few stumbling blocks may appear in the path to implementation of the NAS recommendations. A small one, mentioned by Bromley in his testimony before the committee, concerns the science and technology agreements originally negotiated with the Soviet Union that NAS says should be augmented. As Bromley put it, there is a "fundamental problem" with those agreements—after months of trying to identify the successor organizations for these agreements "we still do not know who to talk to in all cases!" Janice Long
