Pebrrcrsry 1952
WALTER J. MURPHY, EDITOR
Help For the
AEC
own publication philosophies also will color the situation through such important elements as the administrative machinery the contractor provides for carrying out the mechanics of publication. Clearly, the commission needs to devise a publication program that will be effective in the face of these difficulties. It is gratifying to report that such an effort is being made. Following a recommendation in December 1948 by its Industrial Advisory Group, headed by J. W. Parker, of Detroit Edison, a special committee of technical editors was formed in 1949. This committee has worked closely on the problem with A. F. Thompson and N. H. Jacobson, of AEC’s technical information office, and has received strong encouragement from top AEC officials. A large meeting was held last November, attended also by representatives of the major contractors, which yielded among other results the recommendation that expenses of preparing papers and releases for technical and trade publications by the contractor be made reimbursable. A big job remains in making the technical community aware that AEC is actively interested in obtaining the widest possible use of its knowledge consistent with security safeguards. It is a matter of record that AEC is anxious to learn what information should be widely distributed, and t o share its specialized knowledge with organizations and individuals who can make good use of it. It is happy to receive inquiries of all sorts, and will not be embarrassed if some of them might not be answerable on security grounds. Nor does it think the asker should feel embarrassed if certain questions cannot be answered for that reason. I n the past we suspect that many inquiries have died a t birth beoause the originator did not want to be thought prying into secrets he had no right to know. This viewpoint is most unfortunate. Our security does depend on restricting certain facts. But it also depends on keeping our technology virile through the widest possible dissemination of technical information that need not be kept secret. Only classification experts can make the subtle distinctions between the two classes. AEC has them, and their proficiency will advance to the extent they learn the broad utility of the subjects they are reviewing for classification. The nonexpert should not try to anticipate the specialist’s decision in determining whether or not to inquire. James Thurber wrote a classic little “fable for our times” that has a distinct pertinence to this problem. I t s title was ‘‘The Bear Who Could Take It or Leave It Alone” and the moral was “You might as well fall flat on your face as lean over too far backward.”
prospects for an attractive young lady may M be very slow to develop if she happens to be the daughter of the chief of police. The strict security safeguards that ATRIMONIAL
prevail over the work of the Atomic EnergX Commission obviously are necessary. But they are so formidable that the AEC, like the girl, has had great difficulty in developing those normal healthy relationships that should exist between a great public agency and the industries and institutions that are its neighbors. A substantial fraction of AEC’s research is unclassified. An additional fraction is classified but would be declassified if i t were known to be of general industrial interest and value. Information may have to be classified originally but later the need may no longer exist. With the tremendous volume of records the AEC has accumulated, the information may remain classified indefinitely unless the whole area in which it falls is declassified. This situation has blocked many of the channels through which technical information flows to others who can benefit. AEC scientists have published numerous valuable papers but the psychological burden of their security responsibilities inhibits free communication except with each other. As a consequence their contact with others “outside the fence” becomes weaker. Some reach the point where they feel their discoveries will be useful only to those carrying out AEC work, and internal seminars and reports substantially satisfy their urge to “publish.” I n the engineering and production phases of AEC work, the fundamental technological advances must be carefully extracted from the more “sensitive” practical purposes of the work if general publication is the object. With rare exceptions, such as in vacuum technology and fluorine and fluorocarbons, the result has been almost no publication of engineering information. Security barriers have virtually neutralized the normal activities of technical editors, whose encouragement is very often influential in the publication of new and interesting information. Only a handful of them have the clearances that will gain them access to classified information. Editors generally are helpless in pointing out specific classified developments that have enough wide interest to justify special efforts at declassification. I n fact, AEC security regulations allow much less latitude for editorial initiative than is the case with the activities of the armed services. To complicate things further, the great majority of the program is carried out by private organizations under contract to AEC. Publication activities are thus subject not only to AEC security regulations but t o their interpretation by the contractor which may tend to the conservative. The contractor’s 243
