Yes, They Were Guilty. But of What Exactly? [NYT FINALLY admits Rosenbergs were guilty!]

NY Times ^ | June 15, 2003 | SAM ROBERTS

[nopardons]

It's what he said ... I have no reason to make it up. Leo Szilard was the uncle of two boys I played with as a very little girl. He was sometimes there and I liked to listen to the grownups talk, when I was little. I have a far better than average memory and this is what I recall. Since Dr. Szilard is now dead, I can't get him to tell you this himself. :-)

[MEG33]

Scientists have complained about security measures.Many left Los Alamos or threatened to leave after the controversy over security and oversight broke.I went back and reviewed some articles from Wired News,the latest May 1.U of C wasn't doing its job.

[liberallarry]

they were useful idiots

They seem to have been wrong about some things too. International control didn't develop in the way they thought or hoped. The competitive struggle for dominance continued - eventually resulting in the break-up of the Soviet Union.

I'd very much like to know the details of their thought on this. Russell in 1920 already wrote about the drive for power - that the Russian Marxists had erred in ignoring this. I'd guess they thought that atomic weapons would channel competitive energies into different, less destructive endeavors.

[HISSKGB]

Following your tip about Los Alamos, a search revealed shocking details of missing classified data and equipment. The University of California has a tawdry history of very serious security violations.

It is also interesting to note that this university first received these long term contracts on the merits of having the spy Oppenheimer as a faculty member.

[MEG33]

I love this thread.It makes me search and I've learned a lot.I don't know what the final decision is or will be about U of C and Los Alamos.It used to be automatic renewal.The link to Oppenheimer ties into the rest of the discussion.Over 50 years and still part of the ongoing story.Did you read the story in Wired News about the author's ease getting into Los Alamos!

[HISSKGB]

I saw that! It's hard to believe the University of California is so sloppy and errant in its management of Los Alamos that reporters can wander through areas of highest security without any given permission.

What astounded me even more was that Wen Ho Lee had been caught stealing secrets that benefited the Red Chinese three or four times over the years. This smells like another Rosenberg deal, including Lee's sympathetic treatment in the press. Time mag and the Washington Post are only two of the many that worked hard to whitewash Lee.

I am curious to learn if the branch of U of C that manages Los Alamos is at Berkeley, the left coast hot bed of communism.

[MEG33]

The reasonable (?) explaination I read about why Lee wasn't prosecuted was because to do so would require the govt. to reveal topsecret information and harm national security in a trial.After all the prosecutor must state what Lee is accused of revealing or stealing.

[HISSKGB]

I found the PBS 1999 "On Line News Hour" in which Walter Pincus of the Washington Post said, referring to the Lee case, security was so great that no one could do what Lee did in 1993 and 1997. I interpreted that to mean Pincus didn't think Lee did any thing bad in 1999.

[Pagey]

Read this thread later

[MEG33]

I googled wen ho lee..plea bargain.Acronym.org/uk had a good article.

[liberallarry]

Einstein to Roosevelt, August 2, 1939
Documents on the decision to use the atomic bomb
Leo Szilard Online

It's easy to let political differences and political partisanship obscure the true enormity of Szilard's accomplishments. He managed to convince the United States to invest an enormous amount of time and effort in developing an untried weapons technology - despite divided scientific opinion. He was that sure of his physics and that forceful in presenting it. That's what the first document is about.

The second details the development of the man's moral approach to atomic weapons.

The third is an overview of his life and achievements.

Sorry to be so slow but this research takes time - more time than a real-time conversation allows.

[MEG33]

The beginning of the thread has a lot of info.

[Doctor Stochastic]

Not to mention that Szilard and Einstein had about 45 joint patents for several types of refigerators. Einstein was always a tinkerer even from his Patent Office days.

[MEG33]

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