Contradictory U.S. Roles in the Development and  

Control of Biological Weapons  

~ Professor Jonathan King

 

U.S. role in the development and control of biological weapons has been murky. Professor King will review the first roller coaster phase of BW regulation beginning with the Nixon and Reagan administrations. Professor King will then address events following  9/11: the US lobbying to weaken the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) and the transformation of US programs by the Department of Homeland Security, including funding distribution to medical schools and microbiology departments. The BU lab is the natural local example.

 

How the Pentagon Funds University Research  

~ Subrata Ghoshroy

 

The marriage of science and the military was forged in the crucible of the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb in 1945. It has thrived for seven decades after the end of WWII - throughout the Cold War, and now a quarter century after its end. The Pentagon spends $80 billion annually for research and development of weapons. It gives a total of about $12 billion of that amount to the universities. As the Cold War paradigm of maintaining technological superiority over the Soviet Union remains unchanged, so does the dependence of the universities on the Pentagon. Unbeknownst to most people, the inevitable militarization of science continues with ramifications for science and the larger society, and for war and peace.