999 



. . . Because of the curtailed budget and international events, Dr. Harrison 

 Brown, on August 29, postponed his visit to Bulgaria which had been scheduled 

 for September 1968 to discuss development of scientific exchanges.^'* 



Another funding problem is the requirement, common to most 

 exchange programs, that the American sponsoring agency, in this case 

 the NAS, pay income taxes for foreign exchange visitors. Dr. Brown 

 favors an amendment to the income tax law to "reduce the UabUity 

 of foreign guests to iacome tax. The amount of taxes to which they 

 are subject are neghgible, but bookkeeping for income tax purposes 

 is time-consuming and expensive." ^^^ Brown estimated that it would 

 cost the Academy $7,000 to support income tax obUgations for all 

 Soviet and Eastern European visitors in fiscal year 1970."*°° 



According to a recent commentary, the costs of the new 1972 

 Soviet-American scientific accords will far exceed funds expended for 

 previous scientific exchange programs. The Honorable Mc George 

 Bundy told the House Committee on Science and Astronautics that: 



If we are indeed to move from the age of exchange to that of active cooperation,, 

 there will be significant budgetary implications. . . . Active cooperation is much-, 

 more expensive than technical and cultural exchanges. . . ."' 



United States-Soviet Programs: Numbers and Subjects oj Exchanges 



A serious obstacle to assessment of the numbers and types of 

 exchanges conducted is the lack of readily available, comparable, and 

 rehable data. NSF data on these programs are generally reliable but 

 they cannot be used to evaluate trends in subjects or duration by 

 subject. NAS data give subject and duration for each subject sum- 

 marized for four-year periods, making it impossible to use these data 

 to identify annual fluctuations and trends in subject and duration. ^°^ 

 Within the limitations of available data, some general observations 

 are offered below. 



SPECIFIC observations: small numbers of exchanges and. 



PROBLEMS IN FILLING QUOTAS IN EXCHANGES 



As noted above, the size and duration of visits under inter-Academy 

 exchange programs are determined on the basis of reciprocity. Al- 

 though the terms of exchange agreements have gradually expanded 

 the size of the program over the years, the number of exchanges 

 actually carried out has enlarged slowly, and in fact, seems to have 

 stabilized in the last few years. The duration of visits, however, seems 

 to be consistently increasing. Specifically : 



— compatible with the "reciprocal" provisions of the exchange 

 agreements, approximately equal numbers and man-months of 

 U.S. and Soviet scientists were exchanged each year, during. 

 1959-1970; 



^^ National Academy of Sciences, Office of the Foreign Secretary, "Status Report of Scientific Exchanges 

 tinder the 1966 Memoranda of Understanding between the National Academy of Sciences and the Academies 

 of Sciences of Eastern Em-ope, October 1, 1968— December 31, 1968," Report No. 11, January 1, 1969. 



'" Brown, In: International Cooperation in Science and Space: Hearings, op. cit., p. 154. 



400 "Proposal for Continuation of the Program for Exchange of Scientists . . ., May 28, 1970," op. cit., 

 p. 7. 



<i" U.S.-U.S.S.R. Cooperative Agreements: Report, op. cit., p. 12, see also comnnents of Dr. Philip Handler, 

 U.S.-U.S.S.R. Cooperative Agreements: Hearings, op. cit., p. 85. 



«» As described in detail above, there are two general sources of data on these programs. The NAS provides 

 lists of exchanges completed for the period 1959-1970, giving names, numbers, and subject areas of grantee, 

 and locations in the United States. These data are differentiated into short and long terms and are arrayed 

 in blocks of four year periods, thus precluding analysis of annual trends. The NSF gives annual data on 

 total number of exchanges, sometimes differentiating between long and short visits and sometimes giving 

 duration of total visit in man-months. Foundation data do not describe the subject of the visit. 



