Friday, 11 December 1987 Washington, DC

1. BIPARTISAN AGREEMENT ON THE FUTURE OF SDI
was reached by the Senate Appropriations Committee on the eve of the INF summit. An amendment to the defense appropriations bill calls for SDI to concentrate on "long-term research into new technologies such as directed energy," and states that SDI budgets must reflect "realistic projections of available resources...and must not undercut other important Department of Defense programs." Translation: bag the stuff about early deployment of a kinetic-kill missile defense, knock-off the strapped-down-chicken demonstrations and get back to real research. The amendment achieved its objective of demonstrating unity prior to the summit. It was offered by Bennett Johnston (D-LA) and Ted Stevens (R-AK), which is roughly equivalent to Larry Flint and Jerry Falwell agreeing on a definition of pornography.

2 . THE ACCURACY OF STAR WARS ADVICE TO THE PRESIDENT
was still being questioned as the summit began. Roy Woodruff, the Livermore physicist who first blew the whistle (WN 23 Oct 87), has just been promoted to head of the laboratory's treaty verification program, which takes on new significance with the signing of the INF treaty.

3. THE SUPERCOLLIDER SITE SELECTION SHORT LIST
is not due to be released until 4 Jan 88, but a preliminary list is reported to include Illinois, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas and North Carolina, with some versions giving Arizona, California and Mississippi honorable mention. A panel headed by Ed Frieman, Director of Scripps Institute, was convened by the National Academies to cull a list of 36 proposed sites (WN 18 Sep 87). Rumors of a nascent short list were circulating last week among the state development officers and concrete contractors assembled in Denver for the National SSC Symposium (WN 4 Dec 87). This week, reports appeared in the Chicago Tribune and several other papers. The National Academy released a statement declaring that the committee has not completed preparation of a list and that the press accounts are not accurate. The selection of a "best site" from the short list will be made by the DOE's Energy Systems Acquisition Advisory Board sometime in the summer.

4. THE FIRST US/USSR BILATERAL EXCHANGE CONFERENCE SINCE 1978,
when the US backed out in protest over the sentencing of Yuri Orlov, was held in Santa Barbara this week. The meeting was largely devoted to superconductivity theory. It took place amidst grumbling over clumsy government efforts to shield the Soviet delegates from information about high-temperature superconductors during visits to industrial laboratories in New Jersey, and, although theory has thus far played no role in the development of the new superconductors, the organizers eliminated a reference to superconductivity in the title of the conference to satisfy the gumshoes from the State Department.



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.