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DISCUSSION 



Dr. McTague. I would like also to introduce Dr. Wallace Kor- 

 nack, who is our Assistant Director for Energy, Natural Resources, 

 and International Affairs. 



Mr. FuQUA. Dr. Kornack, we are very pleased to have you with 

 us this morning. 

 Dr. Kornack. Thank you. It is a pleasure to be here, sir. 

 Mr. FuQUA. Dr. McTague, you mentioned a suggestion for 

 having, possibly later this year, a meeting of the ministers of sci- 

 ence, research, and technology, however appropriately that applies 

 to the various countries. And in most of those countries, there is 

 one sole, central repository where R&D is carried forth. I am really 

 speaking basic research, not R&D. 



But we do not have that in this country. Do we need something 

 like that to coordinate our international affairs, or is the structure 

 such that it is better left within the various agencies to initiate 

 their own programs and maybe some coordination through your of- 

 fices and that of possibly the State Department? 



Dr. McTague. I think it is particularly important that we have a 

 center which sets policy direction. Ours is a government of vast 

 and differing interests, but it is important that we make sure that 

 we have a central area for policy direction, and I believe that the 

 implementation can be handled in different ways, depending upon 

 the kinds of cooperation that we are talking about. 



Clearly, cooperation involving a large facility such as an acceler- 

 ator or a fusion facility is rather different from programs, coopera- 

 tive programs, which have a significant component which involves 

 foreign affairs direction. So I think perhaps our office or some 

 other office should be clearly in the lead in the policy direction 

 area. Obviously, the State Department must be involved in all as- 

 pects. But that particular program will dictate which agencies 

 should be involved. 



Mr. Fuqua. You also mentioned big science. That has been a 

 topic that we have discussed in the course of these hearings. 

 Should all big science projects routinely be offered for international 

 cooperation, or arrangements be made, or should it be on an indi- 

 vidual basis depending on which discipline it is? 



Most of them, though, such as the SSC or the fusion program, or, 

 in the most recent cases. Space Station — and there may be others 

 that come along and others that escape my memory at this time — 

 but should we routinely subject big science projects to the possibili- 

 ty of international cooperation? 



Dr. McTague. I think it is important that we make sure that we 

 keep discussing with other nations what we see as our interest in 

 specific big projects, solicit their own interests in large-scale 

 projects, and find mutual ways of proceeding. 



I think we have been learning more and more how to do that. 

 For example, the Summit Working Groups have been participating 

 in this activity. I think the ministerial meeting will do likewise. 

 Certainly, in several areas of science, we already have very good 

 international cooperation without formal mechanisms, necessarily. 

 High energy physics is an obvious example of that truly interna- 

 tional community. 



