An Assessment of the International Science and Technology Center Redirecting Expertise in Weapons of Mass Destruction in the Former Soviet Union (1996) / Chapter Skim
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Introduction and Background
Introduction and Background
Pages 3-7
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Very limited industry support and international cooperative programs make up the rest of the budget but do not cover minimal operating expenses. As a result of the funding shortages, the institutes can pay only very low salaries based on broad government guidance.
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As noted in a 1994 report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development: "in the transition towards a new system, the principal sources of resistance may be the corporatist traditions and the patterns of allegiance which have long structured economic and social life and which are now directed towards maintaining acquired advantages or appropriating new sources of wealth in a context of crisis and penury."2 Although science and technology were given a special prestigious place in Soviet society, the system also led to a number of significant drawbacks, including: ideological interference with academic freedom; a large and highly distorted research base; isolation from the international science community; separation of research, design activities, experimental development, and industrial production, even among the republics; and · an underdeveloped civilian infrastructure (e.g., communications, information, consumables, support services)
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scientists to host colleagues from the FSU for joint research in applied science and technology. NATO also provides grants to facilitate collaboration and long-term scientific linkages, and several scientific societies began new programs with the FSU: in 1992, the American Physical Society began providing a limited number of emergency grants, free membership to the society, publications, and training courses, and the American Mathematical Society and American Astronomical Society made similar attempts to alleviate the dire economic conditions and isolation of science and engineering personnel in the FSU.s of course, these programs have not reached all FSU scientists and engineers, and some organizations have already ended their activities, leaving many top scientists and engineers with little or no access to foreign support.6 These and other programs have the broader goal of helping to preserve science and technology in the FSU.
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Members of the Supreme Soviet also had a number of specific allegations concerning the agreement: First, opponents argued that diplomatic status for secretariat staff members would give them a license to SDV without the fear of punishment. Second, opponents asserted that the provision in the agreement allowing the ISTC to earn a "profit," for which there would be special currency exchange privileges, would open the door to illegal currency operations.
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Less than 10 percent of funds support scientists from the biological or chemical weapons sectors. In its 1995 annual report,~3 the ISTC noted that, of the science and engineering experts participating in ISTC-funded projects, 63 percent had a background in nuclear weapons, 3 percent in chemical weapons, 4 percent in biological weapons, 16 percent in missile technology, and 14 percent in other areas.~4 The appropriateness of this distribution is discussed in Chapter 4.
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