Balancing Scientific Publication and National Security

["Hamaker, Chuck" <cahamake@email.uncc.edu>]

I recommend reading "Balancing Scientific Publication and National
Security Concerns: Issues for Congress" Jan. 10, 2003 by Dana A. Shea,
Consultant, Resources, Science and Industry Division. Congressional
Research Service/Libary of Congress.
X-edited-by: aokerson@pantheon.yale.edu
Date: Sat, 15 Feb 2003 21:33:47 EST
Reply-To: liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
Sender: owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.2 -- ListProc(tm) by CREN
Precedence: bulk

http://www.fas.org/irp/crs/RL31695.pdf

The review discusses proposals for addressing "sensitive" but not
classified information that might impact biological, chemical or other
areas of security.

Although the report mentions discussions among Scientists, Societies,
Editors and Journal publishers, it mentions no inclusion of librarians or
library organizations in the ongoing discussions. I believe this is a
significant error. At least one proposal mentioned would directly impact
library support and access of the scientific literature. (others would as
well, but -read the report..)

"It has been suggested that access to sensitive, but unclassified research
esults could be controlled by the publisher through secure,
password-controlled websites." (see page CRS-25 of the report)

This proposal was made in :

R.A. Zilinskas and J.B. Tucker, "Limiting the Contribution of the Open
Scientific iterature to the Biological Weapons Threat," Journal of
Homeland Security, (December 2002, an article available at a free journal
site: <http://www.homelandsecurity.org/journal/> Journal of Homeland
Security which is a peer reviewed journal provided by ANSER.

Libraries pay publishers for journals for campus access. This proposal,
for example, implies that institutionally purchased e-journals would have
areas that only certain individuals on campus might have rights to access.

Chuck Hamaker