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