Self-Defeating Secrecy

IN an admirable effort to reverse the Reagan Administration's tight controls on the free exchange of information, Vice President for Government and Community Affairs John Shattuck and Director of Policy Analysis Muriel Morisey Spence '69 last week issued a 32-page report urging President Bush to undertake a "Presidential Initiative on Information Policy" that would overhaul current federal information policies.

The Shattuck report calls on Bush to revamp the classification system and reduce the existing system of export controls and other related restrictions regarding the dissemination of unclassified scientific and technical information. It comes at a crucial time, when the United States is falling behind in the race to develop new technology.

America's long-term economic decline has been greatly exacerbated in recent years by the Reagan Administration's tight policy on information controls. Over the past eight years, in the name of national security, the Reagan Administration expanded controls on the publication of scientific research, attempted to impose prepublication reviews of research results, broadened the classification of information, and restricted the free exchange of knowledge with foreign scholars.

Not only have such policies represented a substantial threat to academic freedom, they have also hindered national security. Broad controls on scientific and technological information have proven extremely damaging to the American economy as well. Japan has overtaken us in the race to develop superconductors partly because of the Reagan Administration's counter-productive attempts to restrict the free exchange of technical information with foreign scientists, a policy which has merely made research more difficult in this crucial field. A 1987 report by the National Academy of Sciences estimated that the current level of export controls cost the economy 188,000 jobs and $9 billion a year and was a major factor contributing to the nation's record trade deficit.

YET the Shattuck report addresses only half the problem that Bush must face in revitalizing the nation's economy. If the United States is to compete effectively in the world market, it must, at the same time as it loosens the classification and export control strictures, strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights.

Too often, innovation and ideas developed in the U.S. are stolen by foreign firms. Congressional legislation is necessary to help American companies fight the illegal appropriation of patented products. A more active patent policy is also vital in this regard to ensure that American remains on the cutting edge of research and development.

The Reagan Administration information policies have greatly hindered scientific research and technological innovation, thereby handicapping the American economy and potentially damaging our national security. In the spirit of the Shattuck report, we urge President Bush to put an end to a policy that has proven ethically and economically disastrous.

DISSENT

WE agree with the majority's endorsement of the Shattuck plan, but disagree with the premise that it would enhance national security by expediting technological developments. The Reagan Administration's fear that free exchange of information might threaten national security is not unfounded. Many weapons in the Soviet arsenal include technology stolen from the United States. Even if loosening restrictions on the exchange of information does not damage national security, it certainly would not enhance it.

The real problem with the Reagan administration's obsession with secrecy is the infringement on civil liberties. Prior censorship, life-long restictions on the free expression of government employees, and spying on library patrons are unconscionable violations of constitutional rights, and are inexcusable on any grounds--even national security concerns.