SciFri
 FEEDBACK

The topic: espionage.
We asked how to balance scientific openness with the need for security.

Here's what some of you had to say...

---

The best ways to protect security are:

1. Do very thorough background checks on all employees of secure installations before they ever walk into the workplace.

2. Make it impossible to download information from any computer in the secure complex to any portable medium.

3. Locate the supervisor or "superuser" of the computers for any one complex remotely at another complex. Never allow the users of a system to meet those supervisors

---

One matter concerning scientific dialogue vs. secrecy that might require much more emphasis in the future is that a given item of knowledge *by itself* might not seem to convey any useful information to one's adversary, but put together with other pieces, could constitute a valuable part of the heretofore-missing whole. (I write long sentences...)

---

The CIA is very involved in trying to get information from American scientists. We should acknowledge that the Chinese "stealing" of data is not any different than what our own CIA does.

---

Your last caller made one of the most important points of the entire program; that the U.S. does not develop its own talent to full potential. Your guests neatly sidestepped this issue and it was never addressed in the final seconds of the program.

Mr. Moniz' last statement that the U.S. needs visiting scientists to pursue its programs was a blatant admission that we are loath to spend our money on education but we are perfectly willing to cantalever our sensitive R&D on the educational systems of other countries, even those of non-allies.

We ought to be ashamed that this is the case.

---