piner@pur-phy.UUCP (Richard Piner) (01/11/86)
Posted: Fri Jan 10, 1986 3:19 PM EST Msg: SGIG-2154-1436
From: RPARK
To: WHATSNEW
Subj: What's New, 10 January 1986 Washington, DC
1. THE WHITE HOUSE SCIENCE ADVISOR POST HAS BEEN FILLED on
an acting basis by John P. McTague, who will also hold the
title of Acting Director of the Office of Science and
Technology Policy. McTague, who has been serving as Deputy
Director of OSTP, is a respected chemist with experience in
industry with North American Rockwell, academia with UCLA,
and most recently at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Great Britain is also looking for a chief scientific
advisor to replace Sir Robin Nicholson, a metallurgist who
came on board at about the same time as Keyworth.
2. EXPANDED USE OF POLYGRAPH TESTING authorized by the
President in National Security Decision Directive 196, which
is itself secret, has led to an expansion of the DoD
Polygraph Institute at Fort McClellan, Ala. The Institute,
which trains polygraph examiners for all government agencies
with the exception of the CIA, is expanding the basic
examiner course from twelve to fourteen weeks and tripling
the size of the classes. A new $3 million facility is
planned to accomodate the expansion. A briefing report
prepared by the General Accounting Office for the Senate
Armed Services Committee questioned whether there were
adequate safeguards to protect the rights and privacy of
individuals subjected to polygraph examinations, including
army recruits who are used as subjects in training exami-
nations. General Richard Stilwell, until recently Deputy
Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, had repeatedly assured
Congressional committees that examiners avoided subjects
touching on political beliefs and lifestyles. As a result of
the GAO investigation, however, the DoD has directed the
school to discontinue the use of a 60-page instruction on
personnel screening techniques. Among the "non-lifestyle"
questions in the 60-page instruction were "Have you ever had
an abortion?" and "Have you ever had sex with an animal?"
3. THE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH INITIATIVE OF THE DOD may be an
early victim of Gramm-Rudman. Originally conceived in
response to Congressional pressures for the DoD to increase
its support of research in American universities, it survived
numerous attacks in the appropriations process to emerge at a
relatively healthy $100 million. Initially planned for
$200 million, the generals picked away at it until only
$25 million was included in the Administration's budget
request. Congress eventually raised the figure to its
present $100 million, but it still had to survive an attempt
by Senator D'Amato to earmark one-third of it for Syracuse
University. As a separately identifiable program, however,
it is likely to catch the eye of Gramm-Rudman hatchet men.
Robert L. Park (202) 429-1946
American Physical Society THAT'S ALL 1/10/86