Science, Technology, and Global Security

Past Projects – 1980s

• The Tritium Factor: The Academy co-sponsored a workshop to explore the feasibility of the United States and the Soviet Union agreeing to halt production of the radioactive, warhead-boosting agent tritium and to pace steady, significant reductions in their arsenals at the relatively rapid rate of tritium’s decay – the so-called “tritium factor.” U.S. nuclear reactors authorized to produce tritium were closed because of safety and environmental contamination. Some argued that the impending lack of tritium threatened the deterrent capability of the United States; others saw the termination of production as an opportunity to formally negotiate an arms control measure. The book presents an exploration of these different security philosophies and their implications.
  
  PROJECT DATE: 1988-1989
  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS: Paul Doty (Harvard University) and Paul Levanthal (Nuclear Control Institute)
  RESULTING PUBLICATION: “The Tritium Factor: Tritium’s Impact on Nuclear Arms Reduction,” eds. Paul Doty and Paul Levanthal. Nuclear Control Institute and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, 1989. (out of print)
  SOURCE OF FUNDING: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
  COLLABORATING ORGANIZATION: Nuclear Control Institute
  
  
• Defending Deterrence: Managing the ABM Treaty Regime into the 21st Century: This study analyzed ways in which the underlying objectives of the 1972 Antiballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. could continue to be realized in the future. Participants reviewed the underlying concepts and goals of the ABM Treaty, especially with a view to making the treaty regime adaptable to both future technological developments and possible reductions in offensive nuclear forces, and to providing more effective mechanisms for settling compliance disputes. The resulting volume contains a foreword by U.S. Senator Sam Nunn, then chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services.
  
  PROJECT DATE: 1986-1989
  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS: Paul Doty (Harvard University) and Antonia Handler Chayes (former Under Secretary of the Air Force)
  RESULTING PUBLICATION: “Defending Deterrence: Managing the ABM Treaty Regime into the 21st Century,” eds. Antonia H. Chayes and Paul Doty. Washington, DC: Pergamon-Brassey’s International Defense Publishers, Inc., 1989. (out of print)
  SOURCES OF FUNDING: Carnegie Corporation of New York, Ford Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Inc.
  
  
• European Missile Defenses: This study addressed the question: Does Europe need missile defenses and against what manner of threat? This question was the cause of considerable turmoil and disagreement within NATO; the issues it raised were so complex and interlinked with other questions that the Allies found it difficult to reach a consensus. The authors examined the political and technical aspects of missile defenses, as well as the implications of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Agreement and the U.S. Strategic Defense Initiative.
  
  PROJECT DATE: 1985-1988
  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS: Jeffrey Boutwell (American Academy), Donald Hafner (Boston College), and Sir James Eberle and John Roper (both of the Royal Institute for International Affairs)
  RESULTING PUBLICATION: “ATBMs and Western Security: Missile Defenses for Europe,” eds. Donald L. Hafner and John Roper. Cambridge, MA: Ballinger Publishing Company, 1988. (out of print)
  SOURCES OF FUNDING: Johnson Foundation, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Ford Foundation
  COLLABORATING ORGANIZATION: Royal Institute of International Affairs
  
  
• Crisis Stability and Nuclear War: A study group composed of policy figures, military experts, and policy analysts studied such issues as the technical and political aspects of the U.S. and Soviet command and control systems over nuclear forces; the devolution and delegation of authority to use nuclear weapons; and the synergistic effects of U.S. and Soviet actions during a crisis. The final report included discussion of how the two nations can maintain stability during a crisis.
  
  PROJECT DATE: 1985-1988
  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Kurt Gottfried (Cornell University)
  RESULTING PUBLICATION: “Crisis Stability and Nuclear War,” eds. Kurt Gottfried and Bruce G. Blair. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988. (out of print)
  SOURCE OF FUNDING: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
  COLLABORATING ORGANIZATION: Cornell University Peace Studies Program
  
  
• The Niels Bohr Symposium: In 1985, the Academy hosted a major international symposium commemorating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Niels Bohr, the great Danish physicist and the “father of quantum mechanics.” Academy Fellows and members from around the world attended, as did younger scholars, graduate students, and other leading figures in the sciences and the history of physics. The symposium explored Bohr’s life and work in its broadest dimensions, ranging from his discoveries in quantum theory to the influence of his thought on recent developments in physics, chemistry, and biology, as well as on intellectual currents outside the sciences. The gathering concluded with a session devoted to the threat of nuclear weapons and the future of East-West relations – issues that were of deep concern to Bohr. The symposium’s papers were published in collective volume in 1988.
  
  PROJECT DATE: 1985-1988
  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Herman Feshbach (MIT)
  RESULTING PUBLICATION: “Niels Bohr: Physics and the World,” eds. Herman Feshbach, Tetsuo Matsui, and Alexandra Oleson. New York: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1988. (out of print)
  SOURCES OF FUNDING: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, American Science & Engineering, Inc., Cabot Corporation Foundation, Inc., Exxon Research & Engineering Company, General Electric Company, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Niels Bohr Institute, Raytheon Company, Thord-Gray Memorial Fund of the American-Scandinavian Foundation, University of Copenhagen
  COLLABORATING ORGANIZATIONS: National Academy of Sciences; American Physical Society, American Institute of Physics; Institute for Advanced Study; History of Science Society; Niels Bohr Institute; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Harvard, Brandeis, Tufts, Northeastern, and Boston universities
  
  
• Strategic Defenses and Space Weapons: This London symposium examined the nature and implications of participation by Western European countries in the Strategic Defense Initiative being undertaken by the United States. The resulting book reviews the technological prospects and limitations of defenses against ballistic missiles, the positions of the U.S. and Soviet governments regarding such defenses, and the reactions of European governments to recent developments on this issue. Particular attention is given to the potential impacts of strategic defense programs on the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, and the effects of such programs on the nuclear arms race, on the weaponization of space, and on the chance of nuclear war.
  
  PROJECT DATE: 1985-1987
  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS: John Holdren (University of California, Berkeley) and Joseph Rotblat (University of London)
  RESULTING PUBLICATION: “Strategic Defences and the Future of the Arms Race: A Pugwash Symposium,” eds. John Holdren and Joseph Rotblat, with a foreword by Lord Zuckerman. London: Macmillan Press, Ltd., 1987. (out of print)
  SOURCES OF FUNDING: Joseph Rowntree Social Service Trust, Nuffield Foundation, American Academy
  COLLABORATING ORGANIZATION: The Pugwash Council
  
  
• Weapons in Space: In response to a 1983 speech by President Ronald Reagan, the U.S. military and scientific communities offered to study the science of defense against nuclear weapons. The Department of Defense had established a major new program, the Strategic Defense Initiative, to support a greatly expanded research program designed to avoid nuclear destruction. This so-called Star Wars proposal meant bringing weapons to space and required a change in U.S. strategy from the retaliatory nuclear deterrence model for defending against nuclear attack to an untried system dependent on new technologies of uncertain capabilities and reliability. Participants in this Academy project attempted to deal constructively with the principal issues raised by the SDI. The resulting report, initially published as a double-issue of Dædalus, does not reach conclusions about the desirability or feasibility of the SDI; rather, it presents favorable, opposing, and skeptical views about the relevant scientific, technological, strategic, and political issues involved.
  
  PROJECT DATE: 1983-1986
  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS: Franklin A. Long (Cornell University) and Donald Hafner (Boston College)
  RESULTING PUBLICATION: “Weapons in Space,” eds. Franklin A. Long, Jeffrey Boutwell, and Donald Hafner. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1986. (out of print)
  SOURCES OF FUNDING: Johnson Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York
  
  
• International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis: IIASA was formed in 1972 to provide a venue for collaboration between Western and Eastern bloc scientists on non-military matters, such as global energy needs, environmental change, and human health concerns. The U.S. government initially funded U.S. membership in the Institute, but withdrew that funding in 1983. The Academy stepped in as the U.S. National Member Organization, and for the next decade, raised private funds to support the U.S. membership. In 1992, the U.S. government resumed full funding of the U.S. contribution to IIASA, but the Academy remained the sponsor of the U.S. Committee for IIASA. In 2003, the National Academies resumed its position as the U.S. National Member Organization. The American Academy still provides intellectual guidance to the Institute’s analysis of such issues as global climate change, land and water resource use, mitigation of natural catastrophe risk, the social impact of new technologies, the emergence of worldwide communication and information networks, and changing population dynamics. Go to IIASA website.
  
  PROJECT DATE: 1983-2003
  COLLABORATING ORGANIZATION: The National Academies
  
  
• The European Security Study: This study addressed an urgent issue: How can NATO improve its conventional weapons capacity to enhance its deterrent to aggression and lessen its dependence on possible early use of nuclear weapons? The project’s leaders assembled a large group of Americans and Europeans with experience in government, the military, defense analysis, and international relations. Participants determined that the central purpose of NATO is to maintain peace and political stability in the North Atlantic Treaty area, and to protect its members against military aggression or intimidation by the Soviet Union. The project showed that while NATO should continue to have nuclear weapons as a component of its deterrent, it must improve its conventional capabilities to avoid reliance on the early use of nuclear weapons in resisting any Soviet conventional aggression. The project resulted in two publications, one suggesting proposals for strengthening European security and the other developing a specific program for improved conventional weapons capabilities.
  
  PROJECT DATE: 1981-1985
  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS: Carroll L. Wilson (MIT) and Robert Bowie (Harvard University) RESULTING PUBLICATIONS:
  “Strengthening Conventional Deterrence in Europe: Proposals for the 1980s,” a report of the European Security Study. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1983. (out of print)
  
  “Strengthening Conventional Deterrence in Europe: A Program for the 1980s,” a European Security Study Report of the Special Panel. Boulder and London: Westview Press, 1985. (out of print)
  
  SOURCES OF FUNDING: Cabot Corporation Foundation, Inc., Thomas D. and Virginia W. Cabot, Robert A. Charpie, Ford Foundation, Sibyl and William T. Golden Foundation, Richard Lounsbery Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, David Rockefeller, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, William H. Shurcliff, Stiftung Volkswagenwerk, Richard H. Ullman, Thomas J. Watson Foundation
  COLLABORATING ORGANIZATION: BDM Corporation
  
  
• The Nuclear Weapons Freeze and Arms Control: This conference had its origins in the divergence that was clearly taking place in 1982 between the traditional arms control community and the freeze movement. Much of the arms control community viewed the freeze movement with skepticism and insisted that what was proposed would require many years at best, thereby robbing the freeze supporters of the expectation of quick and visible results that fired their movement. This 1983 conference at the Academy brought together freeze proponents, arms control specialists, government officials, and public interest group leaders in the hope that some differences could be resolved, the essential issues identified, and an agenda of work formulated. The proceedings were subsequently published.
  
  PROJECT DATE: 1982-1983
  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Paul Doty (Harvard University)
  RESULTING PUBLICATION: “The Nuclear Weapons Freeze and Arms Control,” Proceedings of a Symposium held at the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, January 13-15, 1983. (out of print)
  SOURCES OF FUNDING: W. Alton Jones Foundation, Ploughshares Fund, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Rockefeller Family Fund, Mortimer Zuckerman
  COLLABORATING ORGANIZATION: Center for Science and International Affairs at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
  
  
• History of Women Scientists in America: The increased role of women in science in this country was the result of the convergence of two trends: the growth in higher education and expanded employment for middle-class women on the one hand, and the growth, bureaucratization and professionalization of science and technology, on the other. However, many viewed women as appropriate only for “womanly” activities, i.e., soft, delicate, emotional, nurturing activities, and science was seen as almost the opposite, i.e., tough, rigorous, rational, masculine, etc. Much of the history of women in science reflects tension between these two mutually exclusive stereotypes that affected both women’s and men’s behavior. The Academy provided an institutional home for unaffiliated scholar Margaret Rossiter as she traced the career development of American women scientists in the U.S. Her resulting volume describes the activities and personalities of numerous women scientists -- astronomers, chemists, biologists, and psychologists — who overcame extraordinary obstacles to contribute to the growth of American science through 1940. The book won the 1983 Berkshire Prize from the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians.
  
  PROJECT DATE: 1978-1982
  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Margaret W. Rossiter (American Academy)
  RESULTING PUBLICATION: “Women Scientists in America: Struggles and Strategies to 1940,” by Margaret W. Rossiter. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982. Available from Publisher.
  SOURCE OF FUNDING: National Science Foundation
  
  

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