[infowar.de] Atomwaffenlaboratorien wegen Irak zum Schweigen verdonnert

[Ralf Bendrath <bendrath -! - zedat - fu-berlin - de>]

Infowar.de, http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~bendrath/liste.html
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Die Regierung hat Angst, dass die Wissenschaftler etwas gegen die
offiziellen Darstellungen des angeblichen irakischen
Massenvernichtungspotentiales sagen könnten.
RB

http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/2002/10/101502.html

SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2002, Issue No. 101
October 15, 2002

ENERGY DEPT TELLS SCIENTISTS TO HUSH ON IRAQ

Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory are under orders
from the Department of Energy to evade public inquiries concerning
Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, the threat of catastrophic
terrorism, and related issues.

"Respond with 'no comment' to all requests from the news media or
other non-governmental organizations," instructed Livermore Lab
Director Michael R. Anastasio in a September 13 memorandum to the
Lab's Associate Directors.

Even official requests for information from members of Congress,
their staffs, or other executive branch agencies are to be deflected
for "coordination" with the Department of Energy Office of
Intelligence.

"Many Laboratory employees are known by name or personally to
reporters, consultants, and Congressional staffers and thus may
receive direct inquiries," Dr. Anastasio wrote.  "Please caution
your employees to be vigilant in referring all such inquiries... and
to be rigorous in refraining from comment even in 'informal' or
'confidential' situations."

The practical effect of the clampdown is to exclude Livermore
scientists from "uncoordinated" participation in unclassified public
discussion and debate over Iraqi nuclear weapons.  (They are of
course already precluded from disclosing classified information.)

Yet the importance of such expert participation in public debate was
illustrated by the recent dispute over the significance of Iraqi
efforts to acquire 60,000 "high strength aluminum tubes."  In an
October 7 speech, President Bush cited the attempted Iraqi purchase
of the aluminum tubes as "evidence ... that Iraq is reconstituting
its nuclear weapons program."  That assertion is rejected by many DOE
scientists and other experts, who argue that the tubes could have
other, non-nuclear applications.

The text of the Anastasio memo, which was first reported by Dan
Stober in the September 25 San Jose Mercury News, is posted here:

     http://www.fas.org/sgp/othergov/doe/iraq091302.html

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