Scientific Openness and National Security

Recent advances in biotechnology present both opportunities to further scientific knowledge and possible threats to national security, depending on how the related scientific information is used. Even as the United States embarks on an aggressive biodefense research agenda, there are fears that the information generated and disseminated from it may be exploited for malicious purposes. A major concern is how to strike a balance between traditional scientific openness and national security needs in the new age of terrorism.

The National Academies and the Center for Strategic and International Studies co-sponsored a public meeting to bring together scientists and policy-makers to discuss whether current publication policies and practices in the life sciences might lead to the inadvertent disclosure of "sensitive" information. The meeting's goal was to start a dialogue between the life sciences and national security communities that might eventually lead to the development of a common set of publication policies for journals in the life sciences.

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