Friday, 24 June 1988
1.
A SLIGHT THAW IN THE PENTAGON'S FREEZE ON NEW R&D AWARDS
was announced today by Deputy Defense Secretary William H. Taft IV.
New contracts will be permitted after June 30th, but until the
end of the fiscal year, they will be limited to 75% of the
monthly average to date. Priority will be given to minority
contractors and small companies, and exceptions will be given
where national security is at stake. It is not clear where that
leaves researchers at universities (WN 10 Jun 88).
Indeed, the
impact on universities is not mentioned in the Pentagon release,
nor were universities mentioned once during two hours of
testimony by Taft before the acquisitions policy panel of the
House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday. This could just be
an oversight. The Pentagon procurement office is, after all,
understandably distracted right now. More likely, it simply
reflects the timidity of universities in complaining to either
Congress or the agencies. Purchases of weapons have been
unaffected by the freeze. Taft expressed satisfaction with the
freeze, which he claimed had saved $500M in six weeks. That's
pretty clever. A permanent freeze would save billions.
2
. THE FBI'S LIBRARY AWARENESS PROGRAM
was the subject of
hearings on Monday before the House Subcommittee on Civil and
Constitutional Rights, chaired by Rep. Don Edwards (D-CA). The
most interesting development was the testimony that wasn't
heard. James Greer, Assistant Director of the FBI, was scheduled
to testify last, following a string of librarians and library
association representatives. In fact, advance copies of Greer's
testimony were circulated at the start of the hearings. As they
recounted the clumsy intrusions of the G-men
(WN 3 Jun 88),
however, the library people seemed to refute every point in
Greer's testimony, both as to the justification for the FBI's
program and the conduct of its agents. When it came Greer's turn
to testify, Rep. Edwards, himself a former FBI agent, called a
recess and left with Greer. He returned later without Greer and
adjourned the hearings, announcing that the FBI would testify at
a later date. The next hearings are scheduled a week from today.
3. RESTRICTIONS ON ACCESS TO UNCLASSIFIED DOE TECHNICAL REPORTS
came to light when the DOE's Office of Science and Technology
Information offered "some limited reports" to university
libraries if they would agree to grant access only to government
agencies and principal investigators on DOE contracts. Most
libraries refused on principle, but they wanted to know what they
weren't getting. In response to a Freedom of Information request
from the National Security Archive, however, DOE refused even to
provide a list of titles, claiming the information was stored in
a computer and thus could be retrieved only by writing a new
program! The Office of Hearings and Appeals last week overruled
DOE, pointing out that agencies would otherwise be allowed to
conceal information simply by putting it in computerized form.
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