Wiesner

THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON

March 6, 1961

Dear Dr. Lederberg:

Thank you for your good wishes and for the interesting points
you have made in your letter of January 24th.

The by-product civilian value of our military program is, of
course, of considerable national importance, One can hardly question
the impact of military technology on our industrial and economic progress
over the past 15 years, The question that you have raised, as I under-
stand it, is not whether this is taking place, but whether a more con-
certed effort should be undertaken to promote civilian benefits through
assignment of such a mission to the military services, I agree with you
that it would be a very good idea to make more effective use in the
civilian economy of the technical developments made for the military and
that ways should be found to do this.

I wonder if whatever group is given the responsibility for doing this
shouldn't also try to identify areas in which research might lead to new
products for new industries quite independent of any military justification
or need, This may be desirable because of the fact that the nature of
military requirements is drawing military technology farther and farther
away from the civilian area.

At the present time, the patent provisions in military contracts do,
under certain circumstances, permit exclusive commercial exploitation
by the contractor and thus provide an incentive for civilian application of
military~inspired technology. On the other hand, I believe that more
could be done to make generally available the unclassified technological
data and concepts contained in classified reports of military contractors,
Some progress has been made in declassification and publication of DOD-
sponsored research and development through the Office of Technical
Services in the Department of Commerce. Perhaps a more intensive and
systematic attempt to declassify and extract unclassified information
from reports could provide substantial additional dividends to our industry.
The Atomic Energy Commission has done a particularly good job in this
respect.
Dr. Joshua Lederberg March 6, 1961

I would like to have the opportunity of talking about this matter
with you the next time you are in Washington, if you can spare the time.
Iam also making your letter available to Dr. York for his information
and possible comment,

Sincerely yours,

  
 

eB. Wiesner

Dr. Joshua Lederberg
Professor of Genetics
Stanford University
Medical Center

Palo Alto, California