[ RadSafe ] Quiz: United States Rolls Out Red Carpet for Former Soviet Weapons Scientists

[Emil]

Is Red carpet rolls out for the scientists or.. 
their children?

Why would those sov. scientist want to go to the US?

Let me guess, 

a) Russian economy is in such bad shape, despite the record high oil
prices and they can NOT do their experiments in Russia but can in the
US. 

b) Russian Social Security System is in troubles and they want to
secure their retirements with the STRONG US Social Security.

b) They want to see the world but can not afford airplane ticket to
the US.


c) Their kids want to go to Disney World but parents can not afford
airplane tickets to Florida, so the US State Department pays for the
travel.



-I would guess, it is better to work in valet parking and park cars
somewhere in Sunny San Diego than do respectable work but ride a bus
somewhere in Cloudy Gorkyi. :-)

Seriously,

Many of those folks are in their "mature" years of life. It will be
very, very hard = impossible for them to adapted to a new country. 
Professionally, for them to work in the equivalent programs in the
US,  forgeeet about it...
The best case scenario for the double PhD's (Post Docs), they may
find a technician job with a huge luck after 5-8 years of residency.
R&D budget has been shrinking and continue to do so. In 5-7 years
there will be NOT much left for the R&D but just D&D of R&D...
I've known a few folks who did East=>West move for their children's
sake...... their children will have a blast....
Well, children are our future, aren't they?


Emil.


>>>
CQ HOMELAND SECURITY – WEAPONS
April 25, 2005 – 7:58 p.m.
United States Rolls Out Red Carpet for Former Soviet Weapons 
Scientists
By Sean Madigan, CQ Staff

The United States is extending and expanding a visa program aimed at 
encouraging about 500 former Soviet weapons scientists to move to the

United States.

The Homeland Security Department’s bureau of Citizenship and 
Immigration Services (CIS) issued a rule published in the Federal
Register on 
Monday that would allow as many as 950 scientists to enter the 
country under the Soviet Scientists Immigration Act (
PL 102-509
), which took effect in 1992.

“The point is to keep these folks off the market,” said Chris 
Bentley, a spokesman for CIS.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, the United States and other 
Western countries worried that thousands of scientists who had worked
to 
develop chemical, biological and nuclear weapons might offer their 
skills to enemy nations or terrorist groups. 

The visa program was created to give scientists access to the U.S. 
job market and steer them toward peaceful research. 

The original law called for 750 visa slots. But by the time the 
original program lapsed in 1996, only about 450 visas had been
granted. 
The program was reauthorized in the Foreign Relations Authorization
Act 
of 2003 (
PL 107-228
) but does not go into effect until May 25.

By adding 200 new visa slots to the 300 from the original program, 
immigration officials said there will be openings for about 500 
scientists, not including their families.

The visa program does not require former scientists to have jobs 
lined up in the United States. Under the new rule, State Department 
officials will be responsible for verifying applicants’ backgrounds.

Many of the eligible scientists are already known to the State 
Department, which spends about $30 million a year to engage former
weapons 
scientists in Russia and the former Soviet republics in research 
programs. 

Fears that underemployed former Soviet scientists might work for U.S.

adversaries are beginning to diminish, said Raymond Zilinskas, a 
bioweapons expert at the Monterey Institute’s Center for
Nonproliferation 
Studies.

“The Russians don’t want to work for terrorists,” said Zilinskas. 
“They want to win Nobel prizes. You don’t win Nobel prizes working in

secrecy for terrorists.”

Zilinskas is involved with a State Department program called the 
BioIndustry Initiative that helps former Soviet citizens learn
English 
and otherwise acclimate to the United States. As part of the program,

scientists are taught about nonproliferation. 

The goal is for the scientists to collaborate with colleagues in U.S.

industry who are developing drugs and vaccines. 

Zilinskas said it is advantageous for U.S. researchers to work with 
their Russian counterparts, especially because research is so much 
less expensive in Russia. Animal studies there can be conducted for 
one-tenth the cost of U.S. studies.

Last week, Rep. 
Curt Weldon
, R-Pa., challenged academics and executives in the biodefense 
industry to form partnerships with Russian scientists.

“If we would have listened to Ken Alibek . . . [w]e would have a much

better understanding of where we need to be today,” Weldon said 
during a speech at a Virginia conference, referring to a Russian
scientist 
who published an insider’s account of the Soviet bioweapons program 
after he defected to the United States in 1992.

Sean Madigan can be reached at smadigan at cq.com.
>>>>





		
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