983 



1972 and 1973,^^'^ have led many observers to proclaim that the United 

 States and the Soviet Union have taken a first step toward true 

 cooperative scientific relations. 



At the same tune, however, the new agreements have been criticized 

 on the grounds that their objectives caiuiot be met unless administra- 

 tors, diplomats, and scientists overcome the financial, bureaucratic, 

 and political hurdles which have characterized American and Soviet 

 and Eastern European exchanges to date,^^" and unless these recent 

 actions do, indeed, represent a real and continuing effort by the 

 Soviets to engender mutually beneficial cooperation as implied by 

 these apparent moves toward detente and a reordering of priorities 

 toward cooperation with the West.^^^ 



Tliis section ^e^^ews the origin and evolution of the Soviet and 

 Eastern European American inter-Academy scientific exchange agree- 

 ments in order to give some perspective and historical background to 

 the history, up to 1972, of the only formal program of nongovern- 

 mental scientific exchanges between the United States and the Com- 

 munist countries. 



Scope and Limitations 



The political estrangement between the United States and the Soviet 

 Union after 1945 posed insurmountable difficulties for American 

 scientists and technical personnel who wished to study, conduct re- 

 search, and lecture in the Soviet Union and in Eastern European 

 countries. Before 1959, Americans were not permitted to participate 

 in any scientific activities hi the Soviet Union.^^^ All Government- 

 s'^ As noted above, the 1972 aercements provide for ccoperation in environmental proteclion. medical 

 science and piililic health, exploration and use of outer .<;p:ue for peaceful purposes, and sci'iK e and tech- 

 nology. The June I'J, l'.i73 agreements augment these provisions to include cooperation expliciiy in siumes 

 of the world ocean, acricuiiurc, and transportation. These specific lields of cooperation will i>e handled 

 separalelv liv appropriate scientific and technical agencies in each country, cooperative res<'arch aereed 

 to in the" Science and Technology Agreement will be under the overall administration, on the American 

 side, of the Jcint Commission. The National Science Foundation has been given authority for haud'.nig 

 coordination of the American aspects of the program. Until July HC3 the executive director of the Com- 

 mission was located in tli.' Olliiv of Inlernational Scienlilic and Technologii al Affair.s, DepHrimeut of fttaie. 

 Detail? of iinpU-mcnl.nion an- still In-ing worked out. For areas of cocDcralion see: "(.enen.l .Vgreement 

 Between the U-iited States of .\merica and the fnion of Soviet Socialist Republics on Contacts. F.xchanees, 

 and Cooperation in the Fields cf Science, Technologv, Education, and Cu!iu;e, June 10. l'-73." WctUv 

 Compilation of Presidential Documents. 9. No. 2.i (1'.'73), p. 7'J6. Al.=o: "Record of the First Meeting of the 

 U.S-U.S.S.R. Joint Commission on Sciemi.'ic and Technical Cooperation," Distributed by the National 

 Science Foundation. (1973), '.t pp. plus appendices. 



The 1973 agreement also included provisions to support the renewal of the specialized agreements for 

 exchanges between (D The National Academy of Sciences o: the United States jf America and tli<- Acadoniy 

 of Sciences of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics: and (-) the American Council of Learned Societies 

 and the Acadeniv of Sciences of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. ^ rr u 



^ For a review of general reactions to the accord .see: "The U.S.-Soviet Agreement in Science and Tech- 

 nolosy." Bv Claire R. Gei.r, Science Policv Reseiuch Division, Congressional Research Servive, Library 

 of Congress. .Multilith 72-17'.i SP. August 10. 1072. The details of the new accords were reviewed by the 

 SiilK-ommiltee on International Science and Space. House Committee on Science and Astronautics, in 

 nej^rines on the L'.S.-C-^.S.R. Cooperatire Agree uktUh (1'.i72), ^OS pp. and in a report i'^stied by the Sub- 

 committee. V.fi.-L'.S.S!.R. Coopcralire Agrununls (August lii72), 28 pp. (Committee riiiit.) Dr. Philip 

 Handler, President, National Academy of Sciences, whose OfTice of the Foreign Secretary adrr.ini.^ers 

 the scientific and technical bilaterals under the cultural exchange agreements, reported to the Subcorn- 

 mitt^-e on jxissible developments required to insure suece.ss of the new accord. His testimony was adapted 

 for an aiiiele in the KAS-SRC Seirs Report (August-September 1972), "The Moscow Agretmeuts and 

 U.S.-Soviet Scientific Re!:ition.';hips. pp. 8 )l. 



33« Nicholas Wade. wTiting in Sciente magazine has called the new and "vague" 1072 agreements mere 

 "icing on the cake of Soviet -American amity." ("Nixon-Brezhnev Summit: A New Clutch of Con.pacis, 

 Science (July 6. 1073). pp. 38-40. An in-depth evaluation of the political and economic factors ^urrounding 

 recent So\-iet-.\.merican expanded cooperation may be found in another study in this series: U.S.. Congress, 

 House. Committee on Foreign Aflairs. Subcommittee on National Security Policy and Scieniific Develop- 

 ment?. V.S.-Smief Commercial Relations: The Internlay of Economics, Technology Transfer and Diplomacy, 

 By John P. Hardt and George D. Holliday. 1973. (See vol. I. pp. 525-606.) 



^'> Interview. Mr. Lawrence Mitihell. Director. USSR and East European AfTairs. OfRce of the Foreign 

 Secretary. National Academy of Sciences, >'arch 3. 1071. Tn lOf.O Professor Robert B\-rnes rep.".rted to the 

 Congress: "In 10.>6. the U.S. "had less than ten scholais who had spent an appreciable period of time in the 

 Soviet Ur.ion." (U.S., Congress. Senate. Committee on Government Operations. Subcommittee on Na- 

 tional Secnritv and International Operations. International Xiootiation: Kichnnoe of Scholars I'ith the Sonet 

 L'nion: Advantages and Dilemmas: Memorandum, 91st Cong., 1st sess., 1969, p. 5. [Committee Print.l 



