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An Editorial How much can science and technology contribute to combating terrorism? In WWII and the Cold War, scientists and engineers played a key role in achieving victories. They can do it again against this foreign foe who has killed far more people in America than any other. We obviously need better means of acquiring, analyzing, and distributing intelligence. We need better defenses of our assets to prevent terrorists from turning them against us. Our borders need greater protection to minimize the risk of the importation of weapons of mass destruction that could make the September 11 attack look like a mere opening shot. We need better ways to respond to terrorist attacks to minimize lost of life and disruption of our infrastructure. S&T has much to offer on all these fronts and others.  The greatest contribution that scientists and engineers might make, however, is in the analytical thinking they are trained to do.

Military leaders need your help on strategy as well as in devising new armaments.  Here's just one example of how the situation is actually more dangerous now than during the Cold War.  Since we don't really know who our enemies are, deterrence no longer works, and may even be counterproductive.  Suppose country X (say Iran) that hates both country Y (Iraq) and Country Z (USA) sets off a dirty (radiation) bomb or makes a bioweapon attack in Z and plants evidence against Country Y.  Z blows Y off the map, and X no longer has to worry about a nasty neighbor.  Can you devise a retaliation strategy that discourages attacks instead of encouraging them?  (Richard Butler speculates about Iraq as the source of anthrax at http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/18/opinion/18BUTL.html)

Politicians recycle slogans from earlier times to rally public support, but someone needs to help them determine strategies that are most likely to succeed against this elusive and fanatical foe -- without making things much worse. Just as the oxymoron, "cowardly suicide bomber," reveals a dangerous misconception of the terrorists, the mindless repetition of the "defending our freedom" slogan shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the threat we face. In WWII Slav POWs and Jews deluded themselves that Nazis only wanted to lock them up; actually their intentions were much more sinister. So it is with the terrorists. They don't want to deprive us of our freedom; they want to murder us (including our women and children)--and to provoke us into starting a "war" we cannot win with the one billion Muslims of the world.

Feuds are easy to start and hard to stop. Think here of Northern Ireland, Kashmir, Chechnya, most parts of the former Yugoslavia, and dozens of others simmering for decades or centuries around the world. Unfortunately, the incredible success of the September 11 attack will undoubtedly inspire a new generation of relentless enemies of America. Our biggest danger is to augment that cadre by lashing out and harming innocent bystanders. I think our enemies should be attacked where they are most vulnerable; by feeding their starving children and educating their oppressed women, while bringing criminals to justice--one by one. This wouldn't be war, but rather international development and a police action -- with military support as necessary.

As I write this, the first bombs are falling in Kabul, and paradrops of relief supplies for Afghan civilians.  This may seem like a balanced response to the West, but it will not to potential terrorists..  It's not to late to contact your representative in Congress, Parliament, Duma, or wherever your elected representative sits, and provide your analysis of the situation. We need to carefully determine what all options are, and decide on the most effective.  Think outside of the box.  The Egyptians seem to have defeated the same terrorists, but with brutal methods inconsistent with American values.  At the opposite extreme, a very wise man even said to turn the other cheek to an enemy--simply because that was the best of unpleasant alternatives. Is that U.S. base in Saudi Arabia worth an endless series of terrorist attacks, if that is really what is eating them? At this point, we have to beware of rewarding terrorists, but unless we act with prudence and intelligence, we could be drawn into a deadly and intractable conflict like that between Palestinians and Israelis, but on a worldwide scale.  And that's just the trap that the September 11 terrorists set for us.

R. D. Shelton, Editor:  rds@itri2.org
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In This Issue of ITRInews
Impact of Terrorism on R&D
Confirmation Hearing for Marburger and Bond
Arden Bement Nominated as NIST Director
WTEC Workshop on Spin Electronics Rescheduled
ITRI Chinese Telecom R&D Workshop Posted
NRC Report Finds Air Force S&T Investment Inadequate
Leading Institutes in Scientific Publishing

Featured Organizations in International S&T:
On-Line S&T Directory from NTIS
Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information
GrayLIT Network
U.S. Science Officers in Embassies Abroad

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Impact of Terrorism on R&D In an October 1 address, House Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) discussed the impact of terrorism on R&D.  He concluded, "So, the events of September 11th have forced us to alter our agenda in ways large and small.  But fundamentally, our nation's R&D and education needs remain pretty much what they were before the attacks, and, for now, at least, the resources available to meet those needs remain about the same, as well."  For the details of his analysis you can read the full speech at: http://www.house.gov/science/press/speeches/speech100101.htm

OSTP and Technology Administration Confirmation Hearing Scheduled.   At last, on Tuesday, October 9, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation will conduct a hearing on the nomination of John Marburger to be the Presidential science advisor and Director of OSTP and for Phillip Bond to be Undersecretary of Commerce for Technology.   The hearing will start at 2:30 pm in Room 253, Russell Senate Office Building, Delaware and Constitution Avenues, Washington, DC.  Seating is available on a first come, first serve basis. [You might like to attend to show that there is an important constituency that cares about S&T, but hopefully, CSPAN will carry the hearing.].  It will be a full committee hearing that Senator Wyden (who chairs the Science, Technology, and Space Subcommittee) will chair. http://commerce.senate.gov/

Arden Bement Nominated as NIST Director On Aug. 16, President Bush announced his intention to nominate Dr. Arden Bement, Jr. as Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology at the Department of Commerce.  Bement currently heads Purdue University's School of Nuclear Engineering, where he has taught since 1993.  He also serves as director of the Midwest Superconductivity Consortium. Before joining Purdue, Bement was a vice president for TRW, Inc.  Bement was also Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (1979-1980) and Director of the DARPA Materials Science Office (1976-1979), and was appointed by the previous President Bush to serve on the NSF National Science Board.  Bement holds a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/08/20010816-6.html

WTEC Workshop on Spin Electronics originally scheduled for September 14, and postponed because the airlines were disrupted, will be held on November 2.  It will be at the NRECA Conference Center at 4301 Wilson Boulevard in Arlington, VA, starting at 8:30AM. Chair Stephan von Molnar and a delegation of experts will present their findings on the state of R&D in this field in the U.S., Japan, and Europe. http://www.wtec.org/spin/invite.htm

ITRI Chinese Telecom R&D Workshop Posted This panel evaluated telecommunications R&D in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the PRC under the leadership of Magdy Iskander.  The July 17 workshop PowerPoint presentations from the U.S. and Chinese experts are now available at: http://itri2.org/telecom/

NRC Report Finds Air Force S&T Investment Inadequate A new National Research Council report finds that the Air Force's investment in S&T has fallen 46 percent in real terms since FY 1989.  The report's authors conclude that "the Air Force's current (FY01) investments in air, space, and information systems S&T are too low to meet the challenges being presented by new and emerging threats," and recommend that funding be increased to "one-and-a half to two times" the current level.  They also recommend better advocacy for S&T programs and investments within the Air Force, and actions to improve "the quality and retention" of the Air Force S&T workforce. Reps. Tony Hall (D-OH) and Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) incorporated a provision in the FY 1999 DOD authorization act which mandated an NRC study of the DOD technology base in the areas of air and space systems and supporting information technology. [I got this item from FYI, mailto:fyi@aip.org but can't find the report on the Academy website: http://www.nas.edu]

Leading Institutes in Scientific Publishing  The Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) released a survey of the research institutes worldwide that have most frequently been cited in scientific articles during the past 10 years.  In Japan, Tohoku University ranked top in materials research and the University of Tokyo ranked within the top 5 universities in three scientific areas and Kyoto University was the second from the top in chemistry.  Materials Science:  1. Tohoku U., 2. IBM, 3. UC-Santa Barbara, 4. MIT, 5. Illinois U.; Physics:  1. AT&T, 2. U. of Tokyo, 3. IBM, 4. MIT, 5. NRC Nuclear Res. Inst. (EU); Chemistry:  1. UC-Berkeley, 2. Kyoto U., 3. U. of Texas, 3. UC-SF, 4. U. of Tokyo, 5. US Cancer Res. Inst.  Harvard University was on top in seven scientific fields.  The U.S. institutions were top in 16 fields. This item is from the NSF/Tokyo e-letter. kshinoha@nsf.gov     There is some similar data posted for other fields at the ISI site: http://www.isinet.com/isi/hot/research/index.html

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FEATURED ORGANIZATIONS THIS MONTH

On-Line S&T Directory This is a portal site from the National Technical Information Service (NTIS).  It is still under development, but is already helpful. http://scitechresources.gov

Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information CISTI is one of the world's major sources for information in all areas of science, technology, engineering and medicine. CISTI's headquarters in Ottawa houses one of the world's most comprehensive collections of publications in science, technology and medicine. http://www.cisti.nrc.ca/cisti/cisti_e.shtml

The GrayLIT Network makes the gray literature of U.S. Federal Agencies easily accessible over the Internet. It taps into the search engines of distributed gray literature collections, enabling the user to find information without first having to know the sponsoring agency. Nice idea, but it's limited to DOD, DOE, EPA, and a couple of NASA centers.  http://graylit.osti.gov/

U. S. Science Counselors and Officers Abroad Science and Government Report asked Norman Neureiter, the science advisor to the Secretary of State, to compile a list of officers in U.S. Embassies with responsibility in science, technology, and the environment.  The full list in 43 locations appears in the Volume XXXI, No. 12 of SGR. http://www.cmsinfo.com/ZTISG.html Email addresses and phone numbers are included. Below are samples from some of the leading S&T countries.  There are some strange vacancies: Switzerland, Italy, Netherlands, all of the Scandinavian countries, ...
 
 

Country	Counselors or Officers	Email
Belgium	Amy E. Holman	holmanae@state.gov
Canada	Susan M Lysyshyn	llysyshynsm@us.state.gov
	Harold Foster	fosterhd@ottawwpoa.us-state.gov
China	Kurt Tong	bjembst@piblic.bta.net.cn (Beijing)
	John Whittlessey	whittleseyk@state.gov (Gguangzhou)
	Timothy McCullough	mcculloutij@state.gov (Shanghai)
France	Ray Clore	clorrere@state.gov
	Eric Derrickson	derricksonel@state.gov
	Jose Tobias	tobiasja@state.gov
	Peter Thomas	thomaspo@state.gov
Germany	Richard Rorvig	rorvigra@state.gov
	Bryant Trick	trickbp@state.gov
	Christina Jasinski	jasinskice@state.gov
India	Marco Dicapua	N.A.
Israel	William Crane	cranewh@state.gov
Japan	James Hall	halljh@state.gov
	Virginia Bennett	ustkysci@ppp.bekkoame.or.jp
Pakistan	Louis Bono	louisbono@state.gov
Russia	Deborah Linde	lindedl@state.gov
Taiwan	Joann Gilles	gillesj@state.gov
UK	Alice Tidball	tidballaj2@state.gov
	Jim Ellis	Same as above

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Copyright © 2001 ITRI, Inc. Comments to rds@itri2.org please.
 

DATE	FEATURE ARTICLE	URL
Aug 98	Left Hand/Right Hand: NSF and NAS Both Assess US Math Research	http://itri.loyola.edu/NEWS/ITRInews1.htm
Sep 98	The Y1.998K Problem: Y2K Arrives 0.002K Early. Markets Crash, PMs Fired, Orioles 31 Games Behind	http://itri.loyola.edu/NEWS/ITRInews2.htm
Oct 98	Is S&T to Blame for the Asian Financial Crisis?	http://itri.loyola.edu/NEWS/ITRInews3.htm
Nov 98	NRC to State:  Ignoring S&T is Ignorant	http://itri.loyola.edu/NEWS/ITRInews4.htm
Dec 98/Jan 99	The Bottom Line: US Trade Deficit Skyrockets	http://itri.loyola.edu/NEWS/ITRInews5.htm
Feb 99	Who's the Bear, and Who's the Bull? Japan Doubles R&D; The US Cuts It	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews6.html
Mar 99	Who's On First? (US, But Not for Long)	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews7.html
Apr 99	GPRA Metastasizes Abroad	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews8.html
May/Jun 99	Teraflops Computers Meet Gates' Law	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews9.html
July 99	More Good News / Bad News from the Academy	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews10.html
Aug 99	Rep. George Brown Adjourns	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews11.html
Sep 99	200GB Disk: 40 Films on One CD	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews12.html
Oct 99	Is International S&T Assessment Needed?	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews13.html
Nov 99	Output in Papers: We're Number One?	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews14.html
Dec 99 / Jan 00	New Technology Czar(ina)	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews15.html
Feb 00	S&T: Ready for Prime Time?	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews16.html
Mar 00	Bottom Line II: Trade Deficit Skyrocket Explodes	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews17.html
Apr 00	Who's Getting U.S. Patents?	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews18.html
May 00	Think That Government is Investing More in Research? Think Again.	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews19.html
Jun 00	American Leadership of S&T: Reality or Myth?	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews20.html
Jul 00	Science and Engineering Indicators 2000 Released by NSF	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews21.html
Aug 00	Pale Green Manufacturing: US is 3rd out of 3	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews22.html
Aug 00 (Extra)	Americans Like Being No. 1 and Want to Keep It That Way	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/ITRInews23.html
Sept 00	Industry Leads U.S. R&D	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/ITRInews24.html
Oct 00	Gingrich Praises Clinton	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/ITRInews25.html
Nov 00	Research Feasts: FY2001 Budgets	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/ITRInews26.html
Dec 00	S&T Policy of the Bush Administration	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/ITRInews27.html
Jan 01	Andreessen's Law for the Internet	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/ITRInews28.html
Feb 01	Sherwood Boehlert: New Science Committee Chair	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/ITRInews29.html
Mar 01	Research Famines: FY2002 Budgets	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/ITRInews30.html
Apr 01	As DotComs Wilt, Internet Sprouts	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N31.html
May 01	R&D Budget Crash	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N32.html
Jun 01	Nano is Huge, and Getting Bigger	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N33.html
Jul 01	Marburger to be OSTP Director	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N34.html
Aug 01	Doctors of Economic Warfare	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N35.html
Sep 01	US Technologies Lead;  US Technologists Lag	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N36.html
Oct 01	Impact of Terrorism on R&D	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N37.html