Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site pur-phy.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxn!ihnp4!inuxc!pur-ee!CS-Mordred!Pucc-H:pur-phy!piner From: piner@pur-phy.UUCP (Richard Piner) Newsgroups: net.physics Subject: APS "What's New" Message-ID: <1845@pur-phy.UUCP> Date: Sun, 18-Aug-85 23:32:47 EDT Article-I.D.: pur-phy.1845 Posted: Sun Aug 18 23:32:47 1985 Date-Received: Fri, 23-Aug-85 23:52:07 EDT Distribution: net Organization: Purdue Univ. Physics Dept., IN Lines: 63 Posted: Fri Aug 16, 1985 4:37 PM EDT Msg: PGIF-2053-2805 From: RPARK To: WHATSNEW CC: RPark Subj: What's New WHAT'S NEW, Friday, August 16, 1985 Washington, D.C. 1. CLOSED SESSIONS AT TECHNICAL MEETINGS, that is, sessions for U. S. citizens only, continue to be scheduled by the Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering. Such sessions are planned for their l8th International Technical Conference, to be held in Seattle in October, entitled "Materials for Space--the Gathering Momentum," and also for their l7th International Technical Conference, entitled "Overcoming Material Boundaries," to be held at Kiamesha Lake, New York, also in October. Most of the closed sessions will deal with metal matrix composites, as they have in the past. Meanwhile, the DoD, which prefers the euphemistic term, "export controlled sessions," has been working on a statement of policy and guidelines for the presentation of DoD-sponsored scientific and technical papers. The stated purpose is to establish policy for the dissemination of scientific and technical information in the possession or under the control of the DoD. A number of societies, including The American Physical Society, have firm policies barring any participation in conferences that place restraints on communication of unclassified scientific information. 2. THE OFFICE OF INNOVATIVE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, of the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization, has been having its own trouble with the issue of freedom of scientific communication. Although IST Director Jim Ionson has insisted from the beginning that there would be no restrictions on the dissemination of research results or of participation of non-US citizens for on-campus research sponsored by IST, the funds all come from the DoD 6.3 category, which is designated for development. As such, it falls outside the DoD policy guaranteeing openness in fundamental research conducted on campus for the DoD. Apparently, not everyone at SDIO was aware of Ionson's policy, and universities have received mixed signals concerning their responsibilities in obtaining clearance for contacts with the press or the release of technical papers. At an urgent meeting last Friday, DoD officials drafted a letter from Ionson to military procurement officers, instructing them that 6.3a research ("a" denotes SDI) in universities will be treated as 6.1, which is the designation for basic research. An intemperate memo from the commander of an Army Corps of Engineers' laboratory at the University of Illinois, calling for an end to all contacts with university researchers who had signed an anti-SDI petition, contributed to the atmosphere of confrontation. The memorandum was later withdrawn with an apology. Robert L. Park American Physical Society THAT'S ALL 8/16/85