1009 



In summing up the constraints imposed by diplomatic barriers, 

 Brown sees no prospect of radical improvement in exchange programs 

 with the Soviet and East European academies: 



. . . We do not foresee marked changes in the political relationships which 

 determine the ground rules for scientific contacts. Therefore we believe that our 

 best interests are served by seeking as normal and fruitful scientific relations in 

 this region as are possible and . . . expanding programs gradually in accord with 

 needs and desires of our scientists and those of the USSR and Eastern Europe.*^' 



Contributions of Soviet and Eastern European Exchanges to Science 



An objective evaluation of the impacts of Soviet and Eastern 

 European exchange programs on the advancement of science and on 

 international cooperative scientific relations between the United 

 States and the Communist-bloc countries would require a compre- 

 hensive survey of the specific activities undertaken by exchangees 

 in the laboratory and of the quality and quantity of scientific publica- 

 tions resulting from exchange visits. Such an undertaking is beyond 

 the scope of this paper. And apparently no agency of the Government 

 has ever conducted a comprehensive survey along these lines.*^* Unlike 

 some of the bilateral scientific agreements administered by NSF, 

 the Soviet and Eastern European bilaterals do not require separate 

 or joint annual reports on activities. The Soviet and Eastern European 

 Exchanges Staff, NAS, requires its grantees to report on activities 

 undertaken while in the Soviet bloc countries. No specific reporting 

 forms are required; thus the content and quahty of these reports 

 probably varies, with most being limited to narrative descriptions 

 of activities pursued and statements of problems relating to housing, 

 accommodations, access to laboratory facilities, and the like. In view 

 of the personal information included in these reports they are not 

 generally made available to the public, and apparently the Academy 

 has never pubhshed a comprehensive report on the scientific aspects 

 of the programs.*^* 



The only information available on the scientific benefits of the 

 program comes from public statements made by the President or the 

 Foreign Secretary of the National Academy of Sciences. Summing up 

 the general progress of the program, Dr. Handler reports: "This 

 exchange experience to date," he remarked to the Congress, "should 

 be regarded as an only slightly qualified success scientifically, but 

 may also be regarded as one of the ice-breakers that paved the way 

 for the Moscow accords." **° 



The "qualified scientific success" of the programs is elaborated upon 

 in annual reports of the Office of the Foreign Secretary. According to 

 the Academy, the "purpose of these programs is to enable American 

 scientists to visit and conduct research in institutes of the respective 

 Academies abroad and in other research institutions and to facilitate 

 visits to the United States b}'' scientists of countries whose presence 

 is particularly desired by their American colleagues." "^ "It is hard to 

 recall in 1971 how little most of our scientists — with notable exception 



«? Ibid., p. 171. 



M8 The President's Science Adviser reviewed U.S. -Soviet scientific and technical exchange activities 

 in an unpublished report prepared in 1972. No eSort was made to systematically evaluate the inter- Academy 

 exchanges along these Unes. (Interview, SCI, Department of State, July, 1973.) 



«• Information on NAS reports reqmred obtained in interview, Mr. Lawrence Mitchell, March 16. 1971. 



**o "The Moscow Agreements and U.S. -Soviet Scientific Relationships," op. cit., p. 8. 



Harvey, et al., suggest that Soviet participation in bilateral scientific and technological agreements are 

 designed, almost solely, to provide foreign scientific and technical information, and are of little benefit 

 to the other country. (Science and Technology as an Instrument of Soviet Policy, op. cit. Chap. 5.) 



"' "Proposal for Continuation of the Program for Exchange of Scientists." op. cit., p. 1. May 28, 1970. 



