Word: adl
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
THESE PRINCIPLES are totally inadequate to deal with the complex role of the scientist--working through the universities and through companies like ADL--in developing the super-sophisticated weaponry now in use in Indochina. "People sniffers," laser- and TV-guided bombs, remote-controlled planes, and computerized bombing patterns were all developed by American scientists, yet the link is rarely direct. The weapons are developed component by component, subcontract by subcontract, so that the scientist rarely creates the entire weapon and almost never receives a government contract stamped "for use in Indochina...
...Even if ADL has refused to accept any more government contracts for offensive weapons to be used in Indochina, that is not enough. Many companies subcontract from others rather than directly from the government and can claim ignorance as to the use of their products. (This is one dodge Raytheon uses in claiming, "We don't know of any of our products being used in Vietnam." In fact their Sparrow and Sidewinder missiles are standard equipment there...
...essential elements of developing a particular weapon usually include basic research which frequently has civilian uses as well. The company can thus claim that it would have done the research anyway for the civilian market but that it conveniently found military funds to finance the research. For example, ADL currently holds a contract with the Navy Air Systems Command to test the effects of corrosion on metals. This study is as indispensable for the Navy's furture aircraft as another company's production of guns, but Bunting--in true liberal fashion--cannot see the connection...
...ending scientists' role in developing automated weaponry for this war and for future wars are no military contracting, no subcontracting on military contracts, and no basic research which would be directly helpful to the military. Bunting refuses to adopt these principles, and thereby destroys her chance of ending ADL's usefulness to the military...
...suspect, Bunting is joining ADL's board more as an old friend of Gavin's than as a champion of the public interest, then she is doing the public a disservice by lending prestige, credibility, and a liberal image to a company which deserves none of these...