Friday, 5 May 95 Washington, DC

1. FBI FINDS NO EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT SUDOPLATOV'S SPY ALLEGATIONS!
One year ago, Pavel Sudoplatov rescued himself from obscurity by alleging in his memoirs that Fermi, Bohr, Oppenheimer and Szilard were witting sources for the Soviet KGB (WN 22 Apr 94). At the urging of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, the FBI undertook a review of its classified files. In a brief letter, FBI Director Louis Freeh asserts the FBI has information that argues against Sudoplatov's allegations. Unfortunately, he offers no more documentation than Sudoplatov did--which is none. The FBI's reluctance to release 50 year-old files is testimony to the need for the Clinton declassification order (WN 21 Apr 95).

2. APS ADOPTS STATEMENT ON "POWER LINE FIELDS AND PUBLIC HEALTH"!
The Council of the American Physical Society, by a vote of 29-1, declared that purported health effects of power line fields have not been scientifically substantiated, and the cost of mitigation and litigation "is incommensurate with the risk, if any." Since EMF was first linked to cancer in 1979, epidemiological evidence has grown ever fainter and proposed mechanisms more speculative. The Council action, taken at its 22 April meeting, was a result of several years of discussion and monitoring of the issue by the APS Panel on Public Affairs, and was endorsed by the leaders of the Biophysics Division of the Society. This is the strongest position on the EMF issue taken by a major scientific society.

3. SECRETARY O'LEARY SAYS SHE WANTS TO "CUT THE CRAP OUT OF DOE"!
What she has in mind is a 27% reduction in the agency's employees over the next five years and elimination of 24 DOE offices around the country. The staff in Germantown, MD will be cut about half. The Secretary insisted the cuts will enable DOE "to do our work better and at lower cost," raising the question of why it wasn't done earlier. Predictably, Rep.Walker (R-PA) commended Secretary O'Leary, but added that, although downsizing the bureaucracy is a useful first step, "reorganization is not the end of the walk."

4. HYDROGEN BILL IMPOSES A SPENDING CAP ON ENERGY SUPPLY RESEARCH
The Hydrogen Future Act (WN 31 Mar 95) that passed the House this week limits spending on energy supply R&D to the FY 95 level for the next three years. Hydrogen research must therefore be offset by cuts in other energy supply programs. That raises a curious problem. Hydrogen (despite what the bill says) is not an energy source; unless the Second Law of Thermodynamics can be repealed, the energy to extract hydrogen from water is greater than the energy released by burning it. Backers speak optimistically of using solar energy for production, but solar energy research is one of the energy supply programs that can expect to be cut to help pay for the hydrogen research. It might be a good idea for the Office of Technology Assessment to study the feasibility of the technical goals--if Congress weren't about to abolish OTA.

THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY (Note: Opinions are the author's and are not necessarily shared by the APS, but they should be.)


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.