THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY

1230 YORK AVENUE NEW YORK, NY 10021
October 23, 1986

 

TOSHUA LEDERBERG

PRESIDENT

Dr. Ivan Bennett
Professor of Medicine

and Dean
New York University Medical Center
550 First Avenue ‘
New York, New York 10016

Dear Ivan:

Thank you for sending me the dissertation: I will certain-
ly read it with great interest.

Lynn Rusten is moving very quickly towards a draft trans-
script of our meeting in Moscow and you should be getting a
copy of that pretty soon for your own comments and corrections.

Meanwhile Paul Marks and I have been trying to put the
question of scientific exchanges on vaccines etc. up through
channels, so far the NAS and NIH. At some point we are going
to have to counter the resistance that will almost certainly
rise on technology export restriction policy considerations;
and your input at that time would be particularly helpful.

I've also been briefing Bob Mikulak and agency people
about my impressions of the meeting and of the Soviet story
on Sverdlovsk 1979. I think it would be a good idea if we
simply stop talking about the epidemic and go to the more pri-
mary questions in BW verification, namely what's going on in
the facility and so forth. I tend to believe the account that
Nikiforov gave; but I doubt if it will ever be possible to col-
lect enough evidence to be totally compelling. Even more than
that might be needed in order to get some of the people to
budge off the limb they have crawled out on during these past
many years. So my line is not that you have to believe their
story; but that they have provided enough information to give
it some face credibility. It is therefore no longer profitable
to continue to press the airborne escape hypothesis whatever
one's private belief may be.
Dr. Ivan Bennett
October 23, 1986

-2-

The Soviets of course deserve great criticism for their
unwillingness until now to talk about it; but I think we ought
to offer them some reinforcements for their change of posture
and hope that they continue to be forthcoming in more important
areas. I'm sure you will be having your own private conversa-
tions on the same subject but of course none of us wants to be
involved in any public embroil.

Matt Meselson has been holding to a similar line although
I believe he is now organizing another trip to Moscow with
more experts; and I suspect that the outcome of that will be
some fairly strong public statements. I am not sure that
sharp confrontation is all that constructive but there may not
be that much that we can do about it.

Without going to any public media, I wonder if it would
not be worthwhile to spend a few minutes briefing the DSB on
our visit. I've offered that to Bert Fowler and if that comes
off would you play whatever part you would care to in the dis-
cussion?

Yoyxs sincerely,

   
 
 

Shua Lederberg