Document From: Subject: What's new? July 1993 To: Cc: July 2 1. STILL REELING FROM LAST WEEK'S VOTE, SSC HAS ANOTHER BAD WEEK. John Dingell, Chair of the House Energy and Commerce Oversight Subcommittee, led an unrelenting nine-hour assault on the Super- collider management. At Wednesday's hearing, held in the marbled magnificence of the Rayburn Building, Dingell aimed much of his fire at potted plants in the grim converted warehouse that serves as offices for the SSC. But he also charged URA, the university consortium that manages the SSC, with mismanagement and obstruc- tion of government auditors. Could it get worse? It did. The Secretary of Energy, describing the attitude of the laboratory leadership as "arrogant and self-important," said that within 30 days she would decide whether to terminate URA's contract, limit URA to purely scientific matters, or impose tighter accounting rules. URA president John Toll acknowledged "the appearance of an obstruction of information." Overruns had been disguised in a separate "management reserve" account that was in the red. And an overzealous employee ran amuck with a rubber stamp, marking everything in sight "confidential"--even press accounts of the failure to attract foreign participants. The leadership of the laboratory was unaware of these problems until last week. The GAO now puts the final cost of the SSC at more than $11B. 2. DEBATE OVER THE REDESIGNED SPACE STATION MOVES TO THE SENATE. Early this week, the House approved a VA/HUD/IA appropriations bill that included $2.1B for the Freedom-Lite space station. An amendment to kill the station failed 220-196. It was authorized by a single vote margin a week earlier (WN 25 Jun 93). Yesterday, in a Senate hearing, NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin warned: "If there is no space station, there is no destination for the space shuttle. If the shuttle is terminated, it will end the astronaut program." An APS representative presented the position adopted by the APS Council on 20 Jan 1991: "Scientific justification is lacking for a permanently manned space station in Earth orbit." 3. ADMINISTRATION REPORTEDLY DECIDES ON A "NO-FIRST-TEST" POLICY. Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary apparently tipped the balance away from resumption of testing. Also, congressional opposition to testing solidified after Senator Exon (D-NE), who had cosponsored the law allowing 15 more tests before 1996, changed his position. The President was pressured to resume testing by the Pentagon, Britain, France and the weapons labs. A Russian moratorium also expired yesterday; President Yeltzin pledged no-first-test and said he will work with President Clinton toward a global ban. 4. EXPERIMENT GOES HORRIBLY WRONG! MURDER RATE IN CAPITAL SOARS. To the scores who have asked: No, we did not make up the story about the anti-crime field (WN 25 Jun 93)! No, the $4M is not federal money! String theorist Hagelin, a 1992 presidential candidate (WN 4 Sep 92), is chair of the physics department at Maharishi International University. The murder rate is way up. Robert L. Park opa@aps.org The American Physical Society -------------------------------------------------------------- July 9 Posted: Fri, Jul 9, 1993 4:04 PM EDT Msg: HGJD-6040-7874 From: RPARK To: whatsnew Subj: What's New for 070993 lmW|WHAT'S NEW (in my opinion), Friday, 9 July 1993 Washington, DC 1. HOW MUCH SCIENCE IS ENOUGH? AS MUCH AS IT TAKES TO BE NUMBER ONE! A new report by a National Academy panel proposes a clear, albeit chauvenistic, goal for American science policy: The U.S. should maintain clear world leadership in areas critical to our national interests--and at least stay even in other areas. The report, "National Goals for a New Era," produced by the Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy, calls for independent panels of experts to assess the comparative performance of U.S. research in major fields. No massive infusion of new funds would be needed, the authors claim, since we are spending too much in some areas. It is a startling proposal, coming amidst calls for increased international cooperation in research, but at least one highly placed politician seems to embrace the principle; in his endorsement of the SSC, President Clinton warned against compro- mising the U.S. position of leadership in science (WN 18 Jun 93). 2. RECOMMENDATION ON B-FACTORY PROPOSALS EXPECTED LATE NEXT WEEK. The review panel, chaired by Stan Kowalski at MIT, has made its decision, but needs another week to finish its report. No need to hurry; the appropriation process for DOE is on hold while SSC supporters in the Senate try to devise a rescue strategy. Among the desperate schemes being discussed is a plan to block passage of an energy appropriation bill; a "continuing resolution" might keep the SSC alive, but it would be bad news for the B-factory. 3. NSF REQUEST: A NAIL THAT STICKS OUT ALWAYS GETS HAMMERED DOWN. There was a glaring omission in the VA/HUD/IA appropriation bill that passed the House (WN 28 May 93); there was no money for the National Service Program. The President had requested $394M for the program, but Louis Stokes (D-OH), chair of the appropriations subcommittee, did not include it because an authorization had not been passed. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Stokes' counterpart in the Senate, is waiting for the authorization, but where will she find $394M? The best bet is budgets that show increases. The $347M increase requested for NSF makes it the most obvious target. 4. "SPACE ADVERTISING PROHIBITION ACT" INTRODUCED IN BOTH HOUSES. The act denys launch licenses for space billboards, bans import of products advertized on space billboards and asks the President to seek an international agreement banning space advertising. The legislation is a response to the public outcry over plans to put a mile-long inflatable billboard in Earth orbit (WN 16 Apr 93). The APS Executive Board has issued a statement opposing "any deployment of commercial advertising messages in Earth orbit." 5. SHEILA WIDNALL PICKED BY PRESIDENT TO BE AIR FORCE SECRETARY. A professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT, Dr. Widnall is a Fellow of the APS and served on the APS Panel on Public Affairs from 1984-86. Her name has been mentioned since February, but no one accuses this White House of rushing into appointments. Robert L. Park opa@aps.org The American Physical Society ------------------------------------------------------- July 16 Posted: Fri, Jul 16, 1993 4:19 PM EDT Msg: GGJD-6056-1346 From: RPARK To: whatsnew Subj: what's NewWhat's New for 071693 WHAT'S NEW (in my opinion), Friday, 16 July 1993 Washington, DC 1. PHYSICIST NEAL LANE NAMED TO HEAD NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION! Lane, who is Provost at Rice University, has been nominated by President Clinton to fill the vacancy created by the departure of Walter Massey (WN 29 Jan 93). In selecting Lane, the Administra- tion seems to be reaffirming the key role of NSF in the support of basic research. Lane, who first joined the Rice faculty in 1966, has remained remarkably productive in the theory of atomic collisions while holding a series of administrative positions. In 1979, he took a year of leave from Rice to direct the physics division at NSF and later chaired the NSF Committee for Advanced Scientific Computing that helped create the NSF supercomputer centers. He was Chancellor of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs for two years before returning to Rice in 1986 as chief academic officer. Lane also served the APS in numerous capacities, including chair of the Panel on Public Affairs. 2. PHYSICIST MARTHA KREBS NAMED TO HEAD OFFICE OF ENERGY RESEARCH at the Department of Energy. Krebs has been an associate director of Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory since 1983, prior to that she was staff director of the House Subcommittee on Energy Development and Applications. She had been mentioned for the DOE job since Will Happer was fired after a dispute with Vice President Gore's office (WN 7 May 93). A holdover from the Bush Administration, Happer had the temerity to suggest actually monitoring uv levels before reacting to concerns about ozone depletion. Lysenko won. 3. APS SEARCH COMMITTEE FORMED TO SEEK A NEW EXECUTIVE SECRETARY! Citing differences of view over Society management policies and practices, N. Richard Werthamer has resigned as the Executive Secretary of The American Physical Society, effective today. A committee, chaired by past-president Ernest Henley, has been formed to search for a successor. Pending appointment of a new executive secretary, APS Treasurer Harry Lustig was designated Acting Executive Secretary in addition to his other duties. APS President Don Langenberg thanked Werthamer for his work with APS and wished him success and satisfaction in future undertakings. 4. U.S. QUIETLY DROPS "BROAD INTERPRETATION" OF THE ABM TREATY. Yet another relic of the "Star Wars" missile defense program has been abandoned. In 1972, the Senate voted 88-2 to ratify the ABM treaty with the understanding that the treaty banned development and testing, as well as deployment, of space-based ABM systems. Thirteen years later, however, a White House lawyer claimed to find a loophole in the negotiating record that permitted testing and development of systems based on "new physical principles"-- the so-called "broad interpretation." Like all religious visions, only the faithful could see it. The lawyer, Abraham Sofaer, is now working for Moammar Gadhafi, representing Libya in the Pan Am 103 case for an undisclosed fee. The Clinton Administration this week reaffirmed the "narrow" interpretation of the ABM treaty. Robert L. Park opa@aps.org The American Physical Society -------------------------------------------------- July 23 Posted: Fri, Jul 23, 1993 4:25 PM EDT Msg: FGJD-6070-6657 From: RPARK To: whatsnew Subj: What's New for July 23, 1993 WHAT'S NEW (in my opinion), Friday, 23 July 1993 Washington, DC 1. NATIONAL SECURITY CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM IS UNDERGOING REVIEW. In 1982, Ronald Reagan reversed a 30-year trend toward reduced classification with Executive Order 12356. His order could be paraphrased as, "when in doubt, classify." And classify they did, 2,000,000 new documents that year alone. The order even allowed reclassification of documents that had been declassified. Pres- ident Clinton directed the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) to lead an interagency task force in drafting a revised classification system by 30 November 1993. But groups favoring major revision are skeptical; ISOO is run by the same people that have been in charge of the secrecy system for the past 12 years. While no one questions the need for secrecy in a dangerous world, the cost of excessive classification has been high. Protected from normal scientific scrutiny and debate, erroneous scientific information and flawed technical concepts were used as the basis of costly and impractical programs. A critical 1987 APS study of the directed energy weapons that were the basis of the SDI was held up for more than seven months awaiting declassification. 2. THE $350M QUESTION: FUND BEST IDEAS OR FUND NEEDY DISTRICTS? The Advanced Research Projects Agency and the National Institute of Standards and Technology are cooperating in the distribution of $350M for the new Technology Reinvestment Program intended to help businesses hurt by defense downsizing to diversify. "We will pursue the best ideas--we have a long-range view," ARPA director, Gary Denman, assured the House Technology Subcommittee. The money "will allow industry to take a risk it wouldn't be able to take otherwise." The government absorbs the risk; industry takes the product to market. But subcommittee members from some of the hardest hit regions had one question: "What about my district?" As Jane Harman (D-CA) saw it, "Open competition is fine, but you have to explain why some states aren't funded." Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) was more specific, "You should be trying to save the aero- space industry." NIST and ARPA anticipate over 4000 proposals. 3. BUT ARE MURDERS IN WASHINGTON BEING COMMITTED MORE HUMANELY? Physicist John Hagelin promised to reduce violent crime by having one thousand TM experts meditate coherently (WN 25 Jun 93). Oops! Preliminary results suggest they got the polarity wrong; homicide hit a record high level. But, at a press conference yesterday, Hagelin offered a lesson in data analysis: although murder is up from a year ago, there has been a decrease of 2.3% in "brutal crime." A clean shot between the eyes maybe. Could the drop in brutal crime be due to the increase in D.C. police surveillance and a new summer jobs program? Those programs, Professor Hagelin explained, have been more than offset by the heat wave--so the field must be working. Patched through to the press conference via satellite link from Holland, Zen master Maharishi Yogi, the intellectual force behind the experiment, explained the success of the experiment: "No one wants to be shot--it's painful." Amen. Francis Slakey opa@aps.org The American Physical Society ----------------------------------------------