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Special Report: Inside a Trump-era purge of military scientists at a legendary think tank
reuters.com ^ | 7/30/2019 | charles levinson

Posted on 08/04/2019 4:08:40 PM PDT by bitt

NEW YORK (Reuters) - They’re members of a prestigious academic panel with top-secret clearances who’ve advised the Pentagon on some of America’s most vexing national security issues since the Cold War. Over 60 years, they’ve won 11 Nobel prizes and conducted hundreds of government studies.

The advisory group, known as Jason, is a team of some 60 of America’s top physicists and scientists who spend each summer in La Jolla, California, conducting studies commissioned by the Pentagon and other U.S. government agencies.

On March 28, Trump appointee Michael Griffin – the Pentagon’s chief technology officer – unexpectedly moved to terminate the group.

Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration, objected, telling Griffin’s office the scientists were crucial for keeping America’s nuclear stockpile secure, according to an NNSA official and others affiliated with the Jason program. Gordon-Hagerty’s agency offered to take responsibility for the program. She only needed Griffin’s signature to make it happen.

Griffin refused.

(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: jason; nnsa
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To: bitt

“A small portion of the JASONs might have been privy to the nation’s biggest secrets back in the 1950s and maybe 1960s, but there’s no indication of that in the past few decades. They are a group of university professors doing defense-oriented research for the DoD on a part-time basis. Their papers indicate they are working on what is generally considered the cutting edge of science; but these are still the kind of things you can read about in every popular science magazine. It’s a far cry from technology descriptions that have come from the deep black programs located in the military-industrial complex.”


61 posted on 08/04/2019 6:56:17 PM PDT by Bookshelf
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To: rdcbn

Good description as to what happened.

My fond memory of the experience is Freeman Dyson. A genuinely friendly funny guy particularly to young’uns like I was at the time. I had a nice chat with him. He of course gave me unsolicited career advice which me being me didn’t follow. (Hey I didn’t follow my dear old Dad’s advice why should I follow this English guy’s advice!) Anyway I appreciated the advice (in both cases!).


62 posted on 08/04/2019 6:59:08 PM PDT by Reily
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To: centurion316

Unfortunately we have a self perpetuating coterie of leftists in the mode of John Dalton and Dick Danzig that now infest the Pentagon. Things that were once joked about (Gay Pride Day at Fort Bragg) are now realities and standards are regularly dropped so gals can be sent into ‘combat’. This board most likely reflected the current ethos.


63 posted on 08/04/2019 7:08:28 PM PDT by MSF BU
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To: Reily

Dyson was perfect example of the kind of people they used to have. Worked with a number of them late in their careers and after they assumed GOM status and it was an unforgettable honor


64 posted on 08/04/2019 7:29:59 PM PDT by rdcbn ( Referentia)
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To: MSF BU

No doubt that you are right since so many of these dandies are from academia and even the hard science in that world have become Lefties.


65 posted on 08/04/2019 7:36:06 PM PDT by centurion316
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To: thoughtomator

Notice there is no mention of just who does this “hand-picking” of these undoubtedly pompous types.


66 posted on 08/04/2019 7:42:33 PM PDT by doorgunner69
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To: JudgemAll

Wondering if they signed off on Hillary’s Uranium One deal, or had there fingers in the Iran sell out


67 posted on 08/04/2019 8:23:18 PM PDT by Steven Tyler
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To: ETCM

Oh. So they are nitwits .


68 posted on 08/04/2019 8:38:52 PM PDT by hal ogen (not funny<font)
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To: doorgunner69

Says right there... “the existing membership”. You scratch my back...


69 posted on 08/04/2019 8:58:26 PM PDT by Solson (Trump 2020!)
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To: Solson

Reuters is gloBULL warming central, yet they don’t mention any of the following (which makes up most of the Wikipedia page!)
Wikipedia: JASON (advisory group)
Although most of its research is military-focused, JASON also produced early work on the science of global warming and acid rain...
Current unclassified research interests include health informatics, cyberwarfare, and renewable energy...

Much of JASON’s public work has involved energy and the environment, including Gordon MacDonald’s project to model climate change that soon convinced him that fossil-fuel burning would lead to dangerous global warming that would outstrip any industrial cooling effects. For decades, MacDonald was a prominent scientific advocate for action on climate change. Current JASON energy research has included reports on advanced biofuel production and how to reduce the Department of Defense’s carbon footprint for strategic and environmental reasons...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JASON_(advisory_group)


70 posted on 08/04/2019 9:54:56 PM PDT by MAGAthon
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To: hal ogen

Read my original post, 28. I was comparing their mission to DARPA, not their IQ’s. They worked for DARPA at one time, but since becoming independent about 20 years ago, they are far more “green”. DOD is wise to cut them loose imho.


71 posted on 08/04/2019 11:42:34 PM PDT by ETCM
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To: ETCM

I believe nitwits can have very high IQ’s.


72 posted on 08/05/2019 4:12:45 PM PDT by hal ogen (not funny<font)
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To: Vesparado

Ah, Barstow, or as I call it: Barstool.


73 posted on 08/05/2019 4:14:56 PM PDT by Cuttnhorse (Never fear the cow)
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