Friday, 27 March 1987 Washington, DC

1. BALANCING THE NATIONAL INTEREST: U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY EXPORT CONTROLS AND GLOBAL ECONOMIC COMPETITION,
the report of a two-year study by a National Research Council panel (WN 16 Jan 87), has had an immediate impact in Washington. The report, which argues that a broad view of national security must include economic vitality, has resulted in a major shift of power from Defense to Commerce. It presented convincing evidence that DoD policies had done little to control technology transfer to the Soviets, but were having a devastating effect on US exporters. New regulations easing license requirements for exports to our allies were announced by Commerce on Wednesday. Yesterday, at a National Academy seminar, Rep. Don Bonker (D-WA), Chairman of the Subcommittee on International Economic Policy and Trade, reported on legislation intended to reaffirm the primacy of Commerce in export controls and explicitly restrict the role of the Department of Defense. He called the report "the catalyst needed to get things moving." Secretary of Commerce Malcolm Baldrige, speaking in the same session, congratulated the study panel on the exquisite timing of the report release, which came just as Congress and the Administration were focusing on global competitiveness as a major concern. It seems he was being too modest. The report was released prematurely after a draft was leaked to the Washington Post. It is generally believed that the Commerce Department leaked the report because they suspected the Defense Department of plotting to bottle it up on national security grounds.

2 . THE NSF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY CENTERS,
contained in the FY 88 budget request, have yet to be described in any detail. Erich Bloch, NSF Director, has requested the National Academy of Sciences to assemble a panel to help articulate the structure governance, review mechanisms, support and appropriate fields of research for such centers. A similar panel, organized by the National Academy of Engineering, helped shape the Engineering Research Centers. The panel, which will be headed by Richard Zare of Stanford, has only until 1 Jun 87 to complete its study. Five of the eleven members of the panel, including Zare, are members of APS. The others are Praveen Chaudhari of IBM, Dan Kleppner of MIT, William Press of Harvard and Larry Smarr of the University of Illinois.

3. THE DEPARTURE OF FOUR OUT OF FIVE NSF DIVISION DIRECTORS
in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate appears to have been largely a coincidence and not the result of mass disatisfaction with NSF policies toward the physical sciences, although an element of that does exist. In any case it creates a serious problem, and Erich Bloch is appealing to the scientific community to identify outstanding persons willing to render a service to science and the nation in these positions.



Bob Park can be reached via email at whatsnew@bobpark.org
THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
Opinions are the author's and are not necessarily shared by the University, but they should be.