The Bush administration has begun withdrawing from public release more than 6,000 documents that deal primarily with the manufacture of chemical and germ weapons, according to Sunday's New York Times.
"We're working hard for a set of guidelines so terrorists can't use information that this country produces against us," Director of Homeland Security Tom Ridge told the Times. The administration is also asking scientific societies to limit what they publish in research reports, the newspaper said.
Steven Garfinkel, former director of the government's Information Security Oversight Office, told the newspaper that attempts to obtain the reports would still be possible under the Freedom of Information Act. He said delays would be instituted to control distribution. "It comes down to a risk-benefit ratio," Robert Rich, president of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology told the newspaper. "I think the risk of forgone advances is much greater than the information getting into the wrong hands."
Ronald Atlas, president-elect of the American Society of Microbiology, told the Times a White House proposal to eliminate sections of articles that would allow other laboratories to replicate results "takes apart the whole foundation of science." The administration has asked the society to limit "potentially dangerous" information in the 11 journals it publishes, according to the Times.
News source: Reuters
"We're working hard for a set of guidelines so terrorists can't use information that this country produces against us," Director of Homeland Security Tom Ridge told the Times. The administration is also asking scientific societies to limit what they publish in research reports, the newspaper said.
Steven Garfinkel, former director of the government's Information Security Oversight Office, told the newspaper that attempts to obtain the reports would still be possible under the Freedom of Information Act. He said delays would be instituted to control distribution. "It comes down to a risk-benefit ratio," Robert Rich, president of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology told the newspaper. "I think the risk of forgone advances is much greater than the information getting into the wrong hands."
Ronald Atlas, president-elect of the American Society of Microbiology, told the Times a White House proposal to eliminate sections of articles that would allow other laboratories to replicate results "takes apart the whole foundation of science." The administration has asked the society to limit "potentially dangerous" information in the 11 journals it publishes, according to the Times.
News source: Reuters
'HEADS WILL ROLL'
Another said bluntly: "From what I've read today, if the French win the pairs dancing, heads will roll before they leave Salt Lake. If not before that."
There were many posts in various forums that cast aspersions on the origins of all parties involved in the case. They will not be reproduced here.
There were other ways Web-surfers could express themselves. Several sites, including www.harrisinteractive.com asked visitors to give their opinions in unscientific surveys on the issue.
Visitors to the Harris site were asked to complete the sentence, "The victory of the Russians over the Canadians in pairs figure skating was the result of..." Choices offered were politics, the differing opinions of judges and revenge.
In its "Readers' Opinions" section, the New York Times Web site called the scandal "Rashomon Incident of the Week: Canadians vs. Cronyism, a Love Story," the last phrase an apparent reference to the music the Canadian pair chose for their program.
Compiled before Friday's announcement, the New York Times said participants in the forum were divided on which pair deserved the gold medal.
"North Americans only have themselves to blame," one participant wrote. "Judges try to look at a performance objectively however the American crowds are so pathetically focused on their own people ... that you can hardly blame a judge for subconsciously working against an American ... Serves yourselves right!"
But another called the incident "the most bizarre thing I have ever seen in a sporting event" and offered a haiku to sum the matter up: "Poor Canadians skate so perfect/Crowd loves them/So why Russians win?"
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