III. EXCHANGES WITH THE SOVIET UNION The United States has a long and varied tradition of engaging in international exchanges. There is a vast literature which describes the benefits which flow from the broadening of cultural contacts both for our own people and for those of other countries. In our relations with the Soviet Union, all of these hold true, but exchanges with the Soviet Union also pose particular problems and challenges. The very nature of the Soviet Union and the overriding importance of relations between the two countries for ourselves and the rest of the planet create a somewhat different context for exchanges. we speak primarily of nonscientific, academic and cultural exchanges. Here The United States registered its outrage with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan by, among other actions, allowing the General Exchanges Agreement to lapse in 1980. The experience in the years following demonstrated that the United States is an open society to which the Soviet Union had access at its own discretion, but without the mechanism of a reciprocal exchanges agreement, American access to the Soviet Union was enormously hindered, well beyond what had been the case in the 1970's. After careful consideration, the Administration proposed the negotiation of a new exchanges agreement, which was signed at Geneva on November 21, 1985. That agreement based on the past experience of exchanges with the Soviet Union was much more complete and comprehensive than any heretofore signed between the two countries. There are many reasons for engaging in exchanges with the Soviet Union, not all of which are applicable to each exchange program. As a general proposition, we believe that given the lack of information available to the Soviet population about the outside world that exchanges with the United States can only serve to give Soviet citizens, including the leadership, a more accurate picture of the diversity and vitality of American society. Encounters with American exchange participants, visits by Soviet citizens to the U.S., exposure to American exhibitions and performing artists, professional contacts, and longterm institutional relationships provide information to Soviet citizens about the United States that only we can give them. To the extent that exchanges serve to open up, even a crack, the closed nature of the Soviet Union, they will help in breaking down stereotypes and misperceptions. Our own understanding of the Soviet Union has been greatly enhanced by exchanges, particularly longterm academic exchanges and repeat visits by American specialists in many fields. Our professional cadre of Soviet specialists both inside and outside the government have testified in a variety of reports and studies to the importance of their exchange experiences in their professional development. By and large, the Soviet Union reports little about its inner workings, thus on-the-ground experience is one of our main channels of learning more about how that society actually functions. We are aware of and concerned about attempts by the Soviet Union to utilize programs for purposes incompatible with the goals of exchanges. The U.S.Government has in place adequate procedures for ensuring that these programs conform to their stated purposes, but we continue to evaluate both programs and procedures. We are, however, committed to the proposition that the values of our society stand on their own merits, and that we have nothing to fear from, but a great deal to gain from, the open contacts between citizens of our country and those of the Soviet Union. Enclosed is the report you requested concerning the National NOAA is interested in several areas of proposed future study, such as air-sea interaction and research in the Bering Sea and Arctic Ocean. Participation in such projects, however, must benefit the United States. US-USSR WORLD OCEAN AGREEMENT The Agreement on Cooperation in Studies of the World Ocean (World Ocean Agreement) was signed by the US Secretary of State and the USSR Foreign Minister in 1973. It was extended in 1978 and again in 1981. In July 1985 it was extended for an additional three years, effective December 15, 1984. Following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, the Agreement became inactive. Per National Security Council guidance, no policy-level meetings with the Soviets have taken place since 1981. US management for the Agreement is in place and ready to work. The Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Dr. Anthony Calio, serves as the American Co-Chairman of the Agreement. Dr. Ned Ostenso, currently the Director of the National Sea Grant College Program, serves as the US Executive Secretary. From 1973 to 1979 the Soviet Executive Secretary was Alexander Metalnikov of the USSR State Committee on Science and Technology. From 1979 to 1985 the Agreement was inactive. Though the Agreement was renewed in 1985, the Soviet government has yet to appoint a Co-Chairman or Executive Secretary. Any projects undertaken by NOAA agencies have been funded through the participating agency. No additional funds have been provided. Estimated management costs from 1973 to 1979 were $75,000 per year. There were no management costs from 1980 through 1984. Management costs in 1985 and 1986 have been negligible. During the 1970's NOAA and Soviet scientists working under the Agreement studied biological productivity and biochemistry. Biological studies, conferences, and scientist exchanges carried out under the Agreement have contributed to our understanding of marine biological processes. American participants have considered these interactions to be of great benefit, particularly since results of Soviet research are often published in obscure journals and thus excape attention. Between 1974 and 1981 the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) of NOAA was involved in a number of exchanges with the All-Union Scientific Research Institutie of Marine Fisheries and Oceanography of the USSR. These exchanges did take place under the World Ocean Agreement, and included joint symposia, workshops, visits, cruises, and working group meetings, the majority of which were held in the USSR. Until 1981 funding was provided by the NMFS Northeast Fisheries Center, and expenses were approximately $30,000 annually, mainly for travel and organization costs. Many activities under the Agreement have involved other federal agencies. Soviet scientists participated with US scientists, for example, in some of the major programs of the international decade of ocean exploration. Two such projects were POLYMODE and International Studies of the Southern Ocean. POLYMODE, conducted by US scientists under sponsorship of the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Office of Naval Research (ONR), investigated the dynamics of large eddy circulation features in the Northwest Atlantic. Soviet scientists also cooperated with the US and other interested countries in the International Southern Ocean and possible impacts on other ocean regions and climate. The Soviet Union also participated in the Deep Sea Drilling Projects, and may join with Canada, France, UK, FRG, Japan, European Science Foundation and the US in the new Ocean Drilling Project. Both sides have benefitted from cooperative activities under the Agreement. The US delivered more in access to advanced scientific equipment and in project conceptualization and development; the USSR provided more ship time and some access for research purposes, e.g., in the Black Sea and Sea of Okhotsk areas in early years of cooperation. The acquisition of data from cooperative ocean programs has been of great benefit to US commercial, scientific, and defense interests. NOAA is prepared to participate in a more active World Ocean Agreement subject to budget constraints and provided that such participation would contribute to our national goals for scientific interactions with the USSR. |