Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists articles from November 2000

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists archives from November 2000

Where we came in.(investigation into allegations of espionage)(Brief Article)(Editorial)
November 1, 2000... OF COURSE CERTAIN ATOMIC SECRETS MUST BE PROTECTED, WROTE F. H. Spedding, a Manhattan Project chemist. But the emphasis on secrecy had gotten out of hand. Complaining in the February 1949 Bulletin, Spedding offered his own over-the-top example:...

LETTERS.
November 1, 2000... A meeting of like minds I APPRECIATED THE "BULLETINS" SECtion article describing the mathematical approach to the nuclear weapons problem ("And the Risk of Nuclear Annihilation is..." by Sarah Horowitz, September/October 2000). I was...

Remembering John Simpson.(nuclear physicist)(Obituary)
November 1, 2000... JOHN ALEXANDER SIMPSON, WHO DIED August 31 of complications following heart surgery, was a group leader in the Manhattan Project; a star of the first magnitude in the universe of astrophysics; one of the principal founders of the Bulletin and...

The Rock is a hard place.(UK's desire to fix nuclear submarine in Gibraltar causes ill-will with residents)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Stranded in Gibraltar, a nuclear sub becomes a political hot potato In Spain, they simply call it el Penon, or the Rock--that large wall of limestone jutting out from Spain's southern coast which, to the dismay of Spaniards, has flown a...

Faster than a speeding computer.(Los Alamos National Laboratory hires Compaq Computer to create supercomputer)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Moore's Law--named after Gordon Moore, the co-founder of Intel who began observing the phenomenon in 1965--states that the density of data a state-of-the-art computer can handle doubles every 18 months. But if you have the bucks, you can make...

In brief.(news about various military events and decisions)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... * Secrets on your sleeve When the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) distributed an embroidered patch to its employees in commemoration of the launching of a new NRO satellite on August 17, the gift was more of a giveaway than intended....

Lifting the curtain on science.(plays that depict the lives of scientists)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... What do you get when you cross gene therapy, a dramatist and his geneticist daughter, and a bundle of money from a medical research charity looking for novel ways to educate the public? A play. According to Nature (August 17, 2000), Safe...

`n(y)u-kle-ar.(mispronunciation of word nuclear)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... It's not by accident that Bart Simpson (of TV's The Simpsons) chastises his sister Lisa for how she pronounces the type of plant where their father Homer works. It's "NU-CUE-LAR," Bart insists, not "NU-CLEE-AR." He goes on to drill her in his...

WEB Watch.(managing government document archives)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... In the 1960s a small number of scientists and proto-computer geeks prophesied a global network of electronic documents containing embedded links to primary sources, related documents, just about any data in the "docuverse" they were sure was...

Border brawl.(Belize and Guatemala)
November 1, 2000... CONTESTED BORDERS TEND TO BE PRETty nasty up close--barbed wire, mine fields, guys wandering around with assault rifles and aggressive German shepherds. The Koreas add giant electrified fences and forward-deployed armor; the Turkish Army likes...

The next president's full agenda.(military policy of presidential candidates Al Gore and George W. Bush; policies of Pres Clinton)
November 1, 2000... WHO WILL THE NEXT PRESIDENT BE? With election day only a few days away, no one can say with absolute certainty who will win. But what is certain is that the new president will face formidable challenges as well as opportunities when it comes...

The Limits of Coercion.
November 1, 2000... THE HISTORIC U.N. MISSION TO DISARM SADDAM HUSsein's weapons of mass destruction remains at a stalemate. U.N. inspectors left Iraq two years ago, as U.S. and British bombs were about to fall, and they have not returned since. The Security...

Help the nuclear cities, help ourselves.
November 1, 2000... Downsizing Russia's nuclear weapons complex is very much in the world's interest. EVER SINCE THE COLlapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, there has been widespread concern that the result would be a hemorrhage of Soviet nuclear weapon...

Secrecy is Back in Fashion.
November 1, 2000... THE DOMINANT ATTITUDE OF THE 106th Congress to government secrecy was that we needed a lot more of it. Those who thought otherwise were subject to insults and abuse. "Hazel O'Leary, President Clinton's Secretary of Energy from 1993 to...

SCIENTIST, FISHERMAN, GARDENER ... SPY?
November 1, 2000... "DR. LEE, I TELL YOU WITH GREAT sadness that I feel I was led astray last December by the Executive Branch of our government through its Department of Justice, by its Federal Bureau of Investigation, and by its United States Attorney for the...

A Sloppy Spymaster.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... ALMOST FROM THE BEGINNING, HOW WEN HO LEE WAS treated was compared to the treatment of John Deutch, the former director of central intelligence. In December 1996, just days after Deutch stepped down, a routine security check of his...

Recently declassified, and not a minute too soon.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... During the Cold War, the U.S. government classified millions of documents and photographs--basically anything even remotely related to its nuclear establishment. Only recently did it make available a set of photographs depicting day-today life...

150 requests.(exercising the Freedom of Information Act)
November 1, 2000... What did it take to pry Hanford's secrets from the Energy Department? Tenacity, and a whole lot of time. IN EARLY 1984, I BECAME INTERESTed in Hanford, about 150 miles from where I lived in Spokane, Washington. After an 11-year hiatus,...

"Loyal Americans".(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Because the fate of the world depended on keeping the nuclear secret safe from the commies, those scientists who stayed with the bomb program after World War II were put through a wrenching vetting process to prove their loyalty; perverse...

IN THE BEGINNING.(nuclear physics, secrecy)
November 1, 2000... The origin of nuclear secrecy THROUGHOUT WORLD WAR II AND THE Cold War, American scientists and policy-makers compromised the ideals of openness of both science and democracy for the sake of national security, creating vast enterprises...

Refusing to answer.(George Anastaplo, professor, accused of belonging to the communist party)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... IT WASN'T ONLY SCIENTISTS who were compelled to profess their anti-communism, and it wasn't only the government that demanded expressions of loyalty. In 1950, George Anastaplo, a 25-year-old World War II veteran, was finishing up his studies at...

What's left to protect.(nuclear secrets on the open)
November 1, 2000... The journalist who fought to reveal the "secret" of the H-bomb says there are, in fact, no secrets left ARE THERE REALLY "VITAL NUCLEar secrets?" The presumption to say "yes" is so strong that to challenge the statement is to risk being...

Secrets that matter.(nuclear energy)
November 1, 2000... Openness has its virtues, but protecting certain types of nuclear information is as important now as it was 50 years ago. JAFFAR DHIA JAFFAR, THE FORMER AND suspected current leader of Iraq's nuclear weapons program, surprised members of an...

THE OOPS LIST.(nuclear weapon accidents)
November 1, 2000... Why won't the government come clean about its nuclear weapons accidents? IN FEBRUARY 1958, AT GREENHAM Common airbase near Newbury, England, a U.S. Air Force B-47 experienced engine trouble on takeoff and jettisoned two full 1,700-gallon...

Operation Rollback: America's Secret War Behind the Iron Curtain.(Review)
November 1, 2000... Operation Rollback: America's Secret War Behind the Iron Curtain By Peter Grose Houghton Mifflin, 2000 320 pages; $25.00 Seven little words in the July 1947 edition of Foreign Affairs described the basic concept of a proposal for a U.S....

Undermining the Kremlin: America's Strategy to Subvert the Soviet Bloc, 1947-1956.(Review)
November 1, 2000... Undermining the Kremlin: America's Strategy to Subvert the Soviet Bloc, 1947-1956 By Gregory Mitrovich Cornell University Press, 2000 256 pages; $32.50 Although critical details about U.S. policy toward the Soviet Union during the early...

Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire.(Review)
November 1, 2000... Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire By Chalmers Johnson Metropolitan Books, 2000 268 pages; $26.00 Blowback is a worthy read for anyone concerned about the long-term future of the U.S. role in a changing word. Chalmers...

Atomic Fragments: A Daughter's Questions.(Review)
November 1, 2000... Atomic Fragments: A Daughter's Questions By Palevsky, Mary University of California Press, 2000 289 pages; $24.95 A summer evening in the late 1960s: Mary Palevsky, at home after completing her first year at the university, argues...

Chinese Nuclear Forces, 2000.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Bombers. China's bomber force is antiquated, based on Chinese-produced versions of outdated Soviet aircraft. With retirement of the Hong-5--a redesign of the Soviet Il-28 Beagle medium-range bomber--the main bomber is the Hong-6, based on the...

No nukes, or new nukes?(armed forces, innovations)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... The Last Word "EMPLOYING NUCLEAR WEAPONS IN A counter-proliferation role is almost inconceivable," said Roland Kruger, head of NATO'S Nuclear Policy Section, in an interview last year. "There are major hurdles that must be overcome, things...