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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
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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