MILITARIZATION OF THE SOVET ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP05T00280R000300380004-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 19
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 19, 2012
• Sequence Number: 4
• Content Type: MISC

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/04/19: CIA-RDP05T00280R000300380004-1
Militarization of the Soviet
Academy of Sciences*
John R. Thomas
Reprinted from
SURVEY
Vol. 29. No. 1 (124). Spring 1985
by The Eastern Press Ltd.
London and Reading
" The Leninist approach to the Academy of Sciences
determined its subsequent development. After 50 years of
Soviet rule, the Academy was converted from an associa-
tion ofscientists, which it was before the revolution, into the
largest centre of Soviet science.... It. . . leads the world on
many problems, having most important significance ...
for ir-crea ing the defence might of our Motherland."
M. V. Keldysh, Former President of the USSR Academy
of Sciences, in Lenin i Sovremennaya Nauka, (Lenin and
Contemporary Science), Moscow 1970, p. 18.
T IIE USSR Academy of Sciences, the largest research and develop-
ment (R&D) network in the world, is more deeply involved in
military-related work-and has been for a longer time-than is com-
monly believed in the West. What is equally important, the Academy's
scientific-technical capabilities are likely to be even more involved in
such work in the future, as a result of the perception of Soviet political and
military leaders (a perception shared by the Academy's own leaders) of
the strategic challenges and geopolitical requirements confronting the
USSR, in particular those posed by the US.
The Soviet Regime's Transformation of the Russian Academy
The current militarization of the Academy (detailed below) stems from,
and is reinforced by, its traditional role in the Soviet S&T system, and any
future increase in its role in military R&D will be the logical extension of
such tradition. Indeed, the Academy's deep involvement in military-
related work at present cannot he understood without reference to its
historical evolution. Only by such reference can one appreciate the full
extent of the Academy's transformation and militarization under Soviet
rule, and the likelihood of still further change in that direction in the
future.
Shortly after seizing power in 1917, Soviet leaders began to expect and
count on the Academy to help in the development of the USSR's
industry, which also subsumed the development of Soviet military
capabilities. These expectations were fully in tune with the original role
intended for the Academy by its founder Peter the Great. He created the
The views expresud in this aiticic do not nece?artly to loo thou of the LIS State t). pa1uncnt.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/04/19: CIA-RDP05T00280R000300380004-1
 Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/04/19: CIA-RDP05T0028OR000300380004-1
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