[GenerationIke]

MILLIONS IN CIA FUNDING PUMPED INTO RIT COFFERS--much of its research secret, inaccessible by Jennifer Hyman, Democrat and Chronicle may 16, 1991

The Central Intellingence Agency has funneled several million dollars into Rochester Institute of Technology during the 12 year presidency of M. Richard Rose.
In the past year alone, the clandestine agency has spent about $2 million on research at RIT, much of it secret and inaccessible to faculty and students. Over the past six years, funding has mounted to at least $4 million and possibly more, although the school won't release exact figures.
Concern among faculty and students about the extent of the RIT-CIA connection surfaced last month, with news that Rose was spending his sabbatical working for the CIA at its Langley, Va, headquarters. This is believed to be unprecedented for university or college presidents.
The bulk of the CIA money--as much as $1.5 million this year -- goes directly to a section of RIT's applied research subsidiary, the Research Corp., where selected faculty and students carry out projects for the CIA, according to documents obtained by the Democrat and Chronicle and interviews with those involved.
There, in the little-known, CIA-funding Federal Programs Training Center, located in a secure building on the eastern periphery of the Henrietta campus, small teams work on a variety of projects to assist the CIA in its espionage work. (a.k.a. the rabbit hole)
One project involves developing a step-by-step procedure to identify the different elements in documents such as passports, ID cards, drivers' licenses and vias. (And to develop the RFID CHIP/CARD) Some of those involved say the purpose of the work is document forgery. But Andrew Dougherty, (now deceased) Rose's special assistant and the chief CIA contact person at RIT, said it was his understanding that the program's purpose was to detect --not create -- forgeries (same difference, they were creating them).
Another project, now completed, attempted to perfect a system of electronically scanning 9mm spy film and digitizing the selected images and storing them on computer discs (the stuff they use on spy satellites in outer space, for one thing. I'll wager they also take pictures with this stuff of their shadow space program.)
Rose has not been available for interviews this week but in a letter distributed Tuesday to faculty, staff and students, he defended his actions and the CIA's continuing activities at RIT.
He said CIA-sponsored research, as well as the CIA's Officer in Residence Program, fell within the same guidelines as programs sponsored by private companies or other government agencies.
Nevertheless, faculty and student members of the CIA Off Campus Coalition, as well as national experts on CIA-university relations, say some of the research conducted at RIT is inappropriate for an institution of higher education.
"The pattern of everything we know about the CIA is one where all the intelligence gathered is used to support an existing viewpoint," said Jean Douthwright, a biology professor and member of the coaltion that wants to see RIT sever all its CIA ties. "The people who are instrumental in gathering that intelligence are being used, and often without their knowledge."
In the doucment reproduction project, students analyze the paper used in passports (note this!), visas or driver's licenses, as well as the ink and the type. They pay particular attention to secirty elements in the documents, such as bar-codes, Mylar strips, holograms, embossings or laminates. (note all of this!)

To be continued in the next installment.