Friday, 9 October 1987 Washington, DC

1. THE GRAMM-RUDMAN-HOLLINGS DEFICIT REDUCTION ACT "FIX,"
signed into law two weeks ago by a reluctant President Reagan as part of the debt-ceiling extension, could be a monster that will attack its creators. The "fix" was supposed to force the President to recognize revenue as a term in the balanced-budget equation. Under the new law the deficit for FY 88 must be reduced by $23B, or that amount will be sequestered -- half from domestic programs and half from defense. It was the defense half that Reagan was supposed to find so onerous that he would agree to "enhanced revenues." So far, however, the President shows no sign of giving in on taxes. According to a staff report of the Senate Budget Committee, a full $23B sequestration would reduce Function 250, Science, Space and Technology by $600M, just about eliminating the proposed increase for NSF, which was revived only last week (WN 2 Oct 87), and impairing NASA's recovery.

2 . AT HEARINGS ON SUPERCONDUCTIVITY LEGISLATION IN THE HOUSE
on Wednesday, a parade of administration representatives argued that three House bills (H.R. 3048, 3217, 3024) aimed at establishing a national superconductivity program are not needed. According to someone named Thomas G. Moore, who heads something called the National Critical Materials Council, the Administration will send its own legislative proposal to Congress. The Administration bill will seek to: (1) amend the National Cooperative Ventures Act to permit some joint production ventures; (2) amend the patent laws to increase protection for manufacturing processes; and, (3) amend the Freedom of Information Act to allow government laboratories to withhold "commercially valuable scientific and technical information." The Administration has not revealed from whom it proposes to withhold such information (WN 14 Aug 87). Rep. McCurdy (D-OK) commented that the FOIA exemption "is going to run into a buzz saw." It would be the first attempt to abridge the FOIA on grounds other than national security.

3. THE FBI DEFENDED ITS "LIBRARY AWARENESS PROGRAM"
in a letter to the New York Library Association dated 24 Aug 87. FBI agents contacted university librarians in New York City concerning the use of their libraries by persons from countries hostile to the United States. According to the letter, "We have programs wherein we alert those in certain fields of the possibility of hostile intelligence powers or their agents attempting to gain access to information that could be potentially harmful to national security." None of the libraries in question have classified holdings. WHAT'S NEW reported a year ago (5 Sep 86) that the FBI had attempted to obtain a list of books checked out to a visiting foreign scientist at a university library. This latest disclosure of counterintelligence among the stacks came just as the FBI was assuring the public that its surveillance of prominent writers had been discontinued. During the 60's, it seems the FBI even maintained informants in public high schools.



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.