Friday, 1 January 1988

1. THE SUPERCOLLIDER PLAYOFFS ARE DOWN TO EIGHT TEAMS,
Texas (Dallas-Fort Worth), Arizona (Maricopa), Colorado, Tennessee, New York (Rochester), Illinois, Michigan (Stockbridge) and North Carolina. Although the announced date for public release of the site committee's report was not for another week (WN 11 Dec 87), the DOE yielded to pressure from the National Academies of Science and Engineering to get it out and bring an end to the speculation. Predictably, some of the rejected suitors are already demanding to know why their sites were found wanting. The DOE sought to have the report spell out the reasons for rejection, but the selection committee wasn't buying that one and no minutes were kept of committee meetings. A few of the losers seem to be relieved. Congress has yet to authorize a dime for construction, and with the worsening budget picture there is concern that the "winner" might wind up deeding the government a large tract of real estate that would lie fallow for years.

2 .CIVILIAN CONTROL OF COMPUTER SECURITY STANDARDS
is restored by the Computer Security Act of 1987, passed by the Senate in the waning hours before adjournment. The bill gives responsibility for computer security policy to the National Bureau of Standards. Although Reagan is expected to approve the measure, it overturns his initially secret 1984 directive (NSDD 145) giving authority to the DOD. That directive, which sought to extend government control over "sensitive but unclassified" information in electronic databases and led to the infamous "Poindexter memorandum" (WN 27 Feb 87), was opposed by the American Bankers Association, the American Library Association, the American Physical Society and dozens of other groups. Congress eventually agreed that the DOD's obsession with secrecy prevented a proper balance between security and the free exchange of information.

3.THE MORIBUND US SPACE-SCIENCE PROGRAM
got more bad news this week when NASA disclosed that the shuttle booster test, hailed as a success just a week earlier, was in fact a failure. The scheduled June 2 launch of the shuttle has been indefinately postponed. A delay of even two months could push some scientific programs past their launch windows. The gloom at NASA, which has come to resemble a pathetic beached whale, contrasted sharply with the triumphant return of a Soviet Cosmonaut after 326 days in space. Roald Sagdeev, the head of the Soviet space effort, has repeated his offer to include American space experiments on Soviet launches. The official US objection is that it would give the Soviets access to US technology, but Sagdeev says the experiments could be treated as "black boxes" with Soviet scientists unable to see inside. However, there is little prospect that American scientists will be allowed to accept.

NEXT WEEK! THE FY 88 BUDGET -- HOW A DIET RICH IN PORK IS CLOGGING THE ARTERIES OF AMERICAN SCIENCE.



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.