National security restraints of the federal government on academic freedom and scientific communication in the United States

Abstract

This paper examines the historic and continuing conflict between academic freedom and national security. Both are defined and viewed in a historical perspective. Two questions are addressed: Will national security actually be endangered by a lack of exchange and communication of scientific ideas, and how extensive is the leakage of national security information in academia? Topics covered include regulations and the agencies that enforce them, restricted technologies, international committees, statutes, and Executive Orders. The Corson Report, which deals with scientific communication and national security, is analyzed and evaluated. A discussion of the inherent problems with the numerous governmental controls on technical data and of the probable solutions to these problems conclude the paper.