Friday, March 15, 2002
1. NUCLEAR POSTURE REVIEW: LEAKED DOCUMENT IGNITES HEATED DEBATE.
For more than half a century, the sole use for US nuclear weapons has
been to deter a nuclear attack. For a decade, US policy had been to maintain
existing weapons under a Science-Based Stockpile Stewardship Program.
As What's New has repeatedly warned (WN
11 Jan 02), that has all changed. This week, a classified Pentagon
report, The Nuclear Posture Review, suddenly appeared on various web sites.
It describes a plan to develop a new class of small nuclear weapons for
a nuclear strike force, even while calling for deep cuts in strategic
weapons. This has ignited a healthy public debate over nuclear policy
in a post 9/11 world. It's all reminiscent of the 1971 publication of
the Pentagon Papers by the New York Times. We aren't telling who the Daniel
Ellsberg is in the Nuclear-Posture leak, but conscientious government
employees who are willing to risk their careers by leaking classified
documents may be the only check on government excesses carried out behind
the screen of national security.
2. BUBBLE FUSION: IT'S NOTHING LIKE THE COLD FUSION FIASCO.
But it's getting there. The first warning sign that a scientific
claim is voodoo is that it's pitched directly to the media. That
didn't happen with the Taleyarkhan et al. bubble-fusion paper
(WN 8 Mar 02).
The authors went through all the hoops, submitting
their paper to a respected, peer-reviewed journal. It was Science
that seemed determined to sensationalize the work. In the course
of a year, various drafts went to 13 or 14 reviewers, which does
not inspire confidence. A number of reviewers reportedly advised
against publication and some complain that Science did not tell
them of Shapira and Saltmarsh's failure to confirm fusion claims.
The second warning sign of voodoo science is that any failure to
confirm is blamed on an "establishment" conspiracy. A Business
Week story says one author of the Taleyarkhan paper "hinted" that
Shapira and Saltmarsh were protecting "the fusion establishment."
3. NASA: WHITE HOUSE DROPS NOMINATION OF MARINE CORPS GENERAL.
The 1958 charter establishing NASA calls for the Administrator
and Deputy Administrator to be appointed "from civilian life."
When Admiral Truly, a former astronaut, took the top job in 1989
he retired from the Navy. But when the White House chose Charles
Bolden for the No.2 job, the two-star Marine Corps general, also
a former astronaut, was offered a third star to take the job. But
the chair of Armed Services, Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), and ranking
member, John Warner (R-VA), balked. The nomination was dropped.
4. BURTON AWARD: ADRIAN MELOTT IS SELECTED FOR THE 2002 AWARD.
A professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Kansas,
Melott played a key role in helping the people of Kansas reverse
a creationist inspired action of the school board
(WN 13 Aug 99).
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