JASON (advisory group)

JASON is an independent group of scientists which advises the United States government on matters of science and technology, mostly of a sensitive military nature. The group was first created as a way to get a younger generation of scientists—that is, not the older Los Alamos and MIT Radiation Laboratory alumni—involved in advising the government. It was established in 1960 and has somewhere between 30 and 60 members. Its work first gained public notoriety as the source of the Vietnam War's McNamara Line electronic barrier. Although most of its research is military-focused, JASON also produced early work on the science of global warming and acid rain.[1] Current unclassified research interests include health informatics, cyberwarfare, and renewable energy.

Activities

For administrative purposes, JASON's activities are run through the MITRE Corporation, a non-profit corporation in McLean, Virginia, which contracts with the Defense Department.

JASON typically performs most of its work during an annual summer study. Its sponsors include the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, and the U.S. Intelligence Community. Most of the resulting JASON reports are classified.

The name "JASON" is sometimes explained as an acronym, standing either for "July August September October November", the months in which the group would typically meet; or, tongue in cheek, for "Junior Achiever, Somewhat Older Now". However, neither explanation is correct; in fact, the name is not an acronym at all. It is a reference to Jason, a character from Greek mythology. The wife of one of the founders (Mildred Goldberger) thought the name given by the defense department, Project Sunrise, was unimaginative and suggested the group be named for a hero and his search.

JASON studies have included a now-mothballed system for communicating with submarines using extremely long radio waves (Project Seafarer, Project Sanguine), an astronomical technique for overcoming the atmosphere's distortion (adaptive optics), the many problems of missile defense, technologies for verifying compliance with treaties banning nuclear tests, a 1979 report describing CO2-driven global warming, and the McNamara Line's electronic barrier, a system of computer-linked sensors developed during the Vietnam War which became the precursor to the modern electronic battlefield.

Membership

The founders of JASON included John Wheeler and Charlie Townes. Other early members, known informally as "Jasons," included Murray Gell-Mann, Walter Munk, Murph Goldberger, Hans Bethe, Nick Christofilos, Fred Zachariasen, Marshall Rosenbluth, Ed Frieman, Hal Lewis, Sam Treiman, Conrad Longmire, Steven Weinberg, Roger Dashen, and Freeman Dyson.[1][2][3] JASON members all have security clearances, and they include physicists, biologists, chemists, oceanographers, mathematicians, and computer scientists, predominated by theoretical physicists.[4] They are selected by current members for their scientific brilliance, and, over the years, have included eleven Nobel Prize laureates and several dozen members of the United States National Academy of Sciences.[5] The Nobel Prize-winning members of JASON include Donald Glaser, Val Fitch, Murray Gell-Mann, Luis Walter Alvarez, Henry Way Kendall, and Steven Weinberg.[6][7]

Chairmen

In chronological order:

Early history

In 1958, a military-issues physics summer study program named Project 137 was launched by physicists John Archibald Wheeler, Eugene Wigner, and Oskar Morgenstern. Participants included Murph Goldberger, Ken Watson, Nick Christofilos, and Keith Brueckner.

Out of that program came the idea of a permanent institution for advanced scientific research, a proposed National Defense Institute, on behalf of the Department of Defense. Wheeler was offered such a position by ARPA's Herb York but turned it down, having put in the effort to establish Project 137. Murph Goldberger also turned down the request.

However, in December 1959 Marvin Stern, Charlie Townes, Brueckner, Watson, and Goldberger met in Los Alamos where several of them had been working on nuclear-rocket research and launched JASON as an ongoing summer study program, with financial and administrative support supplied by the Institute for Defense Analyses. In the early 1960s, JASON had about 20 members. By the end of the decade it had grown to over 40 members, with close ties to the President's Science Advisory Committee. In the early 1970s the backing institution for JASON was changed from IDA to SRI.[8]

The Vietnam War had a significant effect on JASON's membership and research focus. A major initiative of JASON became the McNamara Line electronic barrier. Some members critical of the war like Freeman Dyson left, and others directed JASON research into unclassified, non-military work on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy on problems like global warming and acid rain. There arose internal conflict between hawkish JASON members such as William Happer, Edward Teller, and William Nierenberg and others such as Gordon J. F. MacDonald, Sid Drell, and Richard Garwin. Public attention to JASON's involvement in the Vietnam War led to public criticism and attacks against JASON members; for example, MacDonald's garage was burned down and Richard Garwin was called a "baby killer."[1]

Recent history

In 2002, DARPA decided to cut its ties with JASON. DARPA had not only been one of JASON's primary sponsors, it was also the channel through which JASON received funding from other sponsors. DARPA's decision came after JASON's refusal to allow DARPA to select three new JASON members. Since JASON's inception, new members have always been selected by its existing members. After much negotiation and letter-writing—including a letter by Congressman Rush Holt of New Jersey[16]—funding was subsequently secured from an office higher in the defense hierarchy, the office of the Director, Defense Research & Engineering, name changed to Assistant Secretary of Defense (Research & Engineering) (ASD (R&E)) in 2011.[17]

In 2009, JASON issued its classified recommendations on the future of the United States nuclear arsenal, finding that a new generation of nuclear weapons was unnecessary.[18][19] In 2010, JASON issued recommendations for the Department of Defense to support cyber-security research.[20] In 2011, the panel published a public analysis of and recommendations for international greenhouse gas monitoring by the United States government.[21] In 2014, the panel published results of its 2013 summer-study focus on health information exchange.[22]

Research

About half of JASON's work is classified, ranging from recommendations on the United States nuclear arsenal and missile defense, to electronic surveillance and cyber-security.

Much of JASON's public work has involved energy and the environment, including Gordon MacDonald's project to model climate change that soon convinced him that fossil-fuel burning would lead to dangerous global warming that would outstrip any industrial cooling effects. For decades, MacDonald was a prominent scientific advocate for action on climate change.[23][24] Current JASON energy research has included reports on advanced biofuel production and how to reduce the Department of Defense's carbon footprint for strategic and environmental reasons. However, several other members of JASON, including past chairs Nierenberg, Happer, and Koonin, have cast doubt on climate science and policies that would limit the use of fossil fuels.[25][26][27]

JASON studies include:

References

  1. 1 2 3 Aaserud, Finn (April 16, 1986). "Oral History Transcript — Dr. Gordon MacDonald". American Institute of Physics.
  2. ↑ Aaserud, Finn (June 28, 1991). "Oral History Transcript — Dr. Steven Weinberg". American Institute of Physics.
  3. ↑ Aaserud, Finn (July 2, 1986). "Oral History Transcript — Dr. Roger Dashen". American Institute of Physics.
  4. ↑ The Jasons, p. 128
  5. ↑ The Jasons, p. xiv
  6. ↑ Aaserud, Finn (April 26, 1986). "Interview with Dr. Francis Low". American Institute of Physics.
  7. ↑ Aaserud, Finn (December 18, 1986). "Interview with Dr. Val Fitch". American Institute of Physics.
  8. 1 2 Aaserud, Finn (February 12, 1986). "Oral History Transcript — Dr. Marvin Goldberger". American Institute of Physics.
  9. ↑ Aaserud, Finn (June 24, 1991). "Oral History Transcript — Dr. Richard Garwin". American Institute of Physics.
  10. ↑ Happer biography at AIP, undated
  11. ↑ "Curtis Callan". American Institute of Physics.
  12. ↑ "William H. Press CV" (PDF).
  13. ↑ "Steven E. Koonin". Department of Energy.
  14. ↑ Lecture Series presents Roy Schwitters, 7/19/2011 : "He has been the Chair of the JASON Steering Committee since 2004."
  15. ↑ "Gerald Joyce".
  16. ↑ "Rep. Holt Expresses Concern Over DOD Decision to Disband JASON". Aip.org. Retrieved 2010-03-02.
  17. ↑ The Jasons, pp. 196–199
  18. ↑ Grossman, Elaine (Nov 9, 2009). "JASON Panel Offers Secret Nuclear Warhead Upkeep Recommendations". Global Security Newswire.
  19. ↑ Broad, William (November 19, 2009). "Panel Sees No Need for A-Bomb Upgrade". The New York Times.
  20. ↑ "JASON on "Science of Cyber Security," Recommends New Centers". Computing Research Associates. December 14, 2010.
  21. ↑ Morello, Lauren (January 28, 2011). "Elite Scientific Advisory Panel Says New Technology is Needed to Verify Emissions Cuts". Climatewire.
  22. ↑ DeSalvo, Karen (April 16, 2014). "A Robust Health Data Infrastructure". Department of Health and Human Service's Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.
  23. ↑ James, Fleming (March 21, 1994). "Oral History Transcript — Dr. Gordon MacDonald". American Institute of Physics.
  24. ↑ Weiss, Michael J. (October 8, 1979). "CO2 Could Change Our Climate and Flood the Earth—Up to Here". People Magazine.
  25. ↑ Oreskes (2008) p. 113
  26. ↑ Happer, William (February 25, 2009). "Climate change". U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. Retrieved 2009-09-25.
  27. ↑ Climate Science Is Not Settled by Steven E. Koonin, Wall Street Journal, Sept. 19, 2014
  28. ↑ The Long-term Impacts of Increasing Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Levels

Further reading

External links

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