piner@pur-phy.UUCP (Richard Piner) (11/15/85)
Posted: Fri Sep 6, 1985 3:43 PM EDT Msg: DGIF-2065-2171 From: RPARK To: WHATSNEW CC: RPARK Subj: WHAT'S NEW WHAT'S NEW, Friday, September 6, 1985 Washington, D.C. 1. PRIORITIES FOR MAJOR MATERIALS RESEARCH FACILITIES were recommended in a National Academy study released a year ago. It was anticipated that the highest priority recommendations would be included in the FY86 budget, but that was before the size of the deficit was known. The study, which was co- chaired by Dean Eastman of IBM and Fred Seitz of Rockefeller University, gave its highest priority to the construction of guide halls and instrumentation for exploiting the only cold neutron sources in the United States, located at the Brook haven National Laboratory and the National Bureau of Standards. American researchers currently travel to Grenoble for cold neutron studies. Alas, it was not to be! The guide halls were not included in authorization bills for either Brookhaven or NBS. The conference report for the NBS Authorization Act expressly prohibits the use of operating funds for construction of a cold neutron facility even though: The Conferees place extremely high priority on construction of the Cold Neutron Facility and urge the Administration to repropose it for the NBS. The Conferees are mindful that the NBS is a small but essential agency that has suffered severe cuts in funding and manpower in recent years. There fore, the Conferees were unwilling to permit a new construction project, however worthy, to be funded by cutting back on ongoing NBS operations, including the Center for Fire Research, the Center for Building Technology, and the Institute for Computer Sciences and Technology. 2. THE POLICY ON ACCESS TO ACADEMIC SUPERCOMPUTERS is still being debated but indications are that it will involve supersecrecy. Steve Bryen, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Economic Trade and Security Policy, is leading the charge for the Department of Defense and apparently favors a strict, no access policy for scientists from Soviet bloc countries and China. The most likely mechanism for restricting access at this time appears to be visa controls, but it is not clear just how this would work. Ordinarily visa restrictions would place certain locations off limits, but for the computer centers any telephone provides a potential terminal, including presumably telephones in Moscow. Meanwhile, British scientists are urging their government to create a national center for advanced computing, equipped with American supercomputers. It is unlikely, however, that the US would continue to allow the sale of supercomputers to countries that do not agree to access policies at least as restrictive as those we adopt. Robert L. Park American Physical Society THAT'S ALL 9/6/85