COMMENTARY ACADEME NEED NOT FORSWEAR CIA TIES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP89G00720R000600620021-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 25, 2011
• Sequence Number: 21
• Publication Date: November 24, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/10/25: CIA-RDP89GO072OR000600620021-4
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COMMENTARY
BOSTON SUNDAY GLOBE
24 November 1985
Academe need not
forswear CIA ties
But professors' first duty must be to truth;
agency's demands could corrupt the process
By Joseph S. Nye Jr.
Special to the Globe
The Central Intelligence
Agency is in the campus
news again. In recent
weeks, Harvard has seen
controversy over CIA spon-
sorship of a conference on Middle East
studies, as well as a demonstration -
albeit a small one - against any aca-
demic relations with the agency.
How should professors relate to the
CIA? Some say. Not at all." But aca-
demics are also citizens of a democracy.
And our democracy needs an intelli-
gence agency - indeed, we need the best
we can get. In a world where Soviet nu-
clear weapons can destroy us in 30
minutes, where terrorists can strike
without warning and where the spread
of nuclear capabilities to other coun-
tries threatens our security, it would be
foolish to pretend that we can live with-
out an intelligence agency. or to erect
rigid barriers between academic exper-
tise and intelligence analysts. If these
threats are real. academics neither can
nor should ignore them.
Academics play a special role in our
society. Academic freedom requires a
commitment to truth before power.
This does not mean that academics do
not have the same frailties that afflict
their fellow citizens. But their social
role is different and puts them under
additional obligations beyond those
that follow from their roles as citizens
of a democracy. Academics must dem-
onstrate their commitment to truth be-
fore power by maintaining open-re-
search processes and peer-review op-
portunities that allow others to check
the veracity of their work.
If CIA money and information were
to corrupt such processes, the cost to
our society would be enormous. The co-
opting of academics is a potential prob-
lem. If professors begin hedging their
bets, shading their conclusions and not
disclosing the bases of their arguments,
they will fail in their social obligations.
This is not just a problem of CIA money
and information. Any powerful sponsor
from outside the university, govern-
mental or corporate, could have such
corrupting effects. The university needs
the protection of clear procedures and a
balance among its faculty between
Some say professors
should shun CIA over-
tures. But academics are
also citizens of a democ-
racy. And our democra-
cy needs an intelligence
agency - indeed, we
need the best we can get.
those who are interested in policy and
those whose orientation is more purely
"academic." It would be as much a loss
to our society to have university facul-
ties totally divorced from the outside
world as it would be to have them sub-
servient to it.
The dilemma of finding an appropri-
ate balance in the university's relation
to the outside world is best resolved by
policies and procedures that make
openness the critical touchstone. As
long as colleagues, students and other
skeptics can check a professor's rea-
soning for themselves and are aware of
the sources of his Information, they can
discount for potential biases and can
judge for themselves if an appropriate
balance is maintained. This principle is
as true for the CIA as it is for other out-
side sponsors. The sources of funding
should be openly declared, and the re-
sults of research should not be cen-
sured.
In addition, professors should also
consider the practical effects on their
colleagues' ability to do research In
fields that are particularly sensitive. If
CIA sponsorship of one professor's
work were to interfere with his col-
leagues' access to their research re-
sources. the professor would have to
consider this pragmatic question in ad-
dition to the ethical Issue of openness of
procedures.
Such a policy of openness - which is
in fact the current Harvard guideline -
helps the professor balance his respon-
sibilities as a citizen and as an aca-
demic. Ironically, however, the CIA has
If university professors
under contract begin
hedging their bets, shad-
ing their conclusions
and not disclosing the
bases of their argu-
ments, they will fail in
their social obligations.
established conflicting guidelines. A
few years ago, the CIA asked me to con-
sult for them about the proliferation of
nuclear weapons to other countries.
The money was not tempting, since
government consulting fees are trivial
compared to other sources of funds. But
I had worked on the issue of slowing the
spread of nuclear weapons when I was
in the State Department, and felt
strongly about its importance to our
national security. Thus, I was willing to
be a consultant.
However, when the CIA sent me its
consultant's contract, it included a
clause that required that I submit all
my writings to the CIA for their concur-
rence. I replied that such a broad right
of censorship was incompatible with
my obligations as an academic. I would
only submit specific writings that dealt
directly with my consulting or in which
there might be some danger of disclos-
ing sensitive sources or methods of in-
telligence. But this was not enough for
the CIA. I received a polite letter from a
deputy director stating that a broad
right of clearance was official adminis-
tration policy. I refused to consult for
them.
The effect of the CIA policy is to ex-
clude some academics from providing
their expertise on subjects that concern
them as citizens, while making others
take positions that may erode the open-
ness of procedures. In principle, there
are procedures by which academics
may balance the competing moral
claims arising from their roles as citi-
zens of a democracy and professors in a
university. The irony of the situation is
that they are difficult to apply because
of CIA policies. The net effect is that the
CIA reinforces the claims of its detrac-
tors who seek a total divorce between
the agency and the academy.
Joseph S. Nye Jr. is director of the
Center for Science and International
Affairs at Harvard'University. He was
a deputy undersecretary of statefrom
1977 to 1979. He is the author of a
forthcoming book, "Nuclear Ethics."
Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/10/25: CIA-RDP89GO072OR000600620021-4