Sam Nunn security program earns grant

The MacArthur Foundation recently renewed a grant to Tech's School of International Affairs to continue its Sam Nunn Security Program, an initiative that reaches out to scientists and engineers and trains them in policy issues. Many national security issues require the expertise of both security experts and engineers. The program was created three years ago to address this concern.

"The real thrust of the program is based on the premise that a lot of our national security problems can benefit from the attention of science and engineering, that there is a technological component to a lot of these problems," said Seymour Goodman, an International Affairs professor and co-principal investigator for the program. "We want to generate interest among science and engineering people in [policy issues]."

The grant was given to 10 major universities in addition to Tech three years ago, originating from the growing concern that the gap between the security community and the science and engineering community will lead to serious problems in the future.

"We were uniquely situated with access to the Tech pre-docs and post docs in computer science and engineering, but we're also connected with GTRI, the CDC and the national labs in Tennessee," said John Endicott, an International Affairs professor.

The Sam Nunn Security Program awards 10 to 20 fellowships yearly to pre- and post-doctoral scientists and engineers, mostly from Tech, who then participate in classroom discussions, negotiation simulations and field trips to government institutions such as Washington, D.C. and the national laboratories of Oak Ridge, Tenn. to talk with scientists in the field and policy makers.

"[Institute President Wayne] Clough is an example of exactly what we mean, because he is really active in government. For several years he's been on [committees] looking at innovation," Endicott said.

Bill Hoehn, Goodman and Endicott have primarily taught the program.

"The three of us basically teach the course and have an interaction on different subjects. Last week we were talking about the 9/11 commission and the assessment of the 9/11 commission in the wake of the Katrina tragedy. We had assigned readings and had a very good discussion. This coming week we'll be looking at infrastructure protection," Endicott said.

"Over the entire year we always take them on one offsite like Oak Ridge or Huntsville.for a day or two days talking with people in the field.and at the end of the semester we take them all to Washington D.C. for a week interviewing with the policy community and go to the CIA, the State Department, the Pentagon, the NSA, the NSC... and we try to make sure that they have good access to a lot of the people who are dealing with scientific questions in the security community."

Goodman said the Tech program is significantly different from the other nine recipients of the MacArthur Grant in its choice of fellows.

"The most distinct feature of our program is that attention on pre-doctoral students; in awarding fellowships we probably put more attention on pre-docs than any of the other schools," Goodman said.

"So far we have fellows from 14 schools [from Tech] here. We really do make it a Tech-wide program.The MacArthur Foundation is very prestigious and we're in good company," Goodman said.

Other schools with programs funded by the MacArthur Grant include MIT, Carnegie-Mellon, Stanford and Harvard, and most of these focus on post-doctoral researchers, unlike the Sam Nunn Security Program.

"It puts Georgia Tech as one of the serious contenders in this field. In 1996 Sam Nunn lent his name and bebcame more involved in the program, and so it's another one of those things that leads to greater recognition of Georgia Tech as a university that's doing things that are broad in nature and scope and policy-related. Tech gains; there's no program like this at Duke or the University of North Carolina," Endicott said.

With the new grant, the program will add a new aspect in the form of four main research drives, each of which the fellows can get involved with directly.

These research areas include the restructuring of the nuclear weapons non-proliferation treaty (NPT), emergency response communications and two significant cyberspace security initiatives.

Goodman, for example, will be heading up the two cyberspace drives in securing wide area networks such as the internet from criminal threats, as well as the use of information technology in reconciling nations after conflicts.

"If we're trying to think of better policies or technologies, why can't students take part in it? We were all students at one point. .For example if we're trying to develop more secure VOIP technology, [the students] will be writing the code and working on the design," Goodman said.

"What I should really point out is that we have no intention.to bring these folks into our field. What we want to do is make them aware of what we do...so that in later years when they are scholars and specialists in their fields and the security community needs to draw on their specialization for unbiased advice, that's what we want them for," Endicott said.

"We've got really wonderful support from the college administration. the university has committed itself to continuing to fund this program after the MacArthur money expires. And there are other kinds of support from President Clough, Charlie Liotta."

Goodman said President Clough was a good example. He was recently appointed to chair of the National Academies/National Research Committee on New Orleans Regional Hurricane Protection Projects.

"[This program] fits what Senator Nunn has in mind. The reason he came and associated his name with Georgia Tech is because he believes the ability to bridge this gap and make science and technology really contribute and make good policy," Endicott said.