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.
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