Down A New York Rabbit Hole

[GenerationIke]

For all of you who are concerned about where to find rabbit holes, here's one I think you'll enjoy--these are the articles I promised to help you understand more about Changemasters and Japan 2000. I'll start typing them by hand, and as I can later copy and paste.

RIT Chief Gets Called --Rose adccepts secret, temporary assignment by Jennifer Hyman, the Democrat and Chronicle February 8, 1991

The president of Rochester Institute of Technology, M. Richard Rose, will leave RIT next week to serve on a special, confidential assignment for the federal government in Washington, D.C.
Rose, a retired colonel in the Marine Corps Reserves and a former high-ranking Defense Department official, has accepted the temorary assigment, which initially will be for three to four months, RIT officials said.
While in Washington, he will work on "national policies and procedures," said Jack Smith, vice president for communications.
Smith said he was unable to give any further details about the assignment "because it is restricted information."
In a prepared statement, Rose said he chose to accept the call to Washingotn because he considered it his duty as a citizen. "When so many young men and women are making great personal sacrifices on behalf of their country, the very least I can do is serve in an area that maximizes my military, educational and management experience," he said.
The 57-year-old Rose spent five years in the Marine Corps and was a colonel in the reserves until he retired in July 1986.
In the early 1970's, he interrrupted his career as an academic and university administrator to serve as deputy assistant secretary for education in the Defense Department during the Nixon administration.
From 1972 until 1974, he oversaw the sprawling educational establishment operated by the Defense Department. His responsibilities include directing policy and fiscal planning of programs relating to the military academies, the Reserve Officer Training Corps, overseas dependent schools and professional military education.
He also provided fiscal gluidance in the preparatrion of the Defense Department's multibillion dollar annual operating budget.
Rose left the Defense Department to become president of Alfred University, going on to the presidency of RIT in 1979.
"This assignment reflects President Rose's enormous experience in government and in the militlary," said RIT provost and vice president for academic affairs Thomas Plough. "It's an honor that says his reputation is well known and wideranging."
Plough is expected to be appointed acting president at a special meeting of the RIT board of trustees, called for Monday. Robert Desmond, the associate provost, is expected to fill Plough's role. Rose leaves RIT next Wednesday.
Plough said Rose's leave of absence would be treated as a sabbatical, "which he richly deserves for the long years of hard work he's put in at RIT."
During his tenure at the Henrietta college, Rose's connections with government officials and the military have occasionally given rise to controversy.
In January 1987, for example, a longtime and personal friend, former national security adviser Robert C. McFarlane, was honored by RIT--at a time when he was heavily implicated in the Iran-Contra scandal.
McFarlane, who later attemped suicide, delivered a series of lectures at RIT, a couple of which were disrupted by student demonstrations.
In March last year, Rose became entangled in a war of words with a former spy-turned CIA critric over the presence of a CIA officer on the Henrietta campus.
The dispute was with former spy Philip Agee, who challenged Rose to a debate on whether private universities should participate in what the CIA calls its Officer in Residence program. Rose declined.
But the incident highlighted the issue of RIT's involvement in proprietary research for corporations and for government agencis such as the CIA.
Reflecting, Rose's continuing interest in military education, he became the sixth recipient in May 1985, of the James F. Nickerson Medal of Merit. The award, which had previously been received by former Secretary of Defense Melvin R. Laird, is given to public leaders, educatiors and representatives of the armed services who help advance the national interest through their advocacy of and dedication to expanding educational opportunities for military personnel.
Rose and his wife, Clarice, have three sons, two of whom were officers in the Marine Corps. His son, Eric, is currently in the Marine Corps Reserve and has been called to active duty in the Persian Gulf.


May I note at this time Ms. Hyman, after writing her series on this story, won the Pulitzer Prize for her work I am sharing with you all now.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and reflect. It is a matter of national security and urgency I help people learn the truth by putting this up on this board now.

P.S. Keep track of the names and dates and the administrations. They are important in more ways than one.

[GenerationIke]

RIT President working for CIA--Rose sabbatical is spent devising training policies by Jennifer Hyman the Democrat and Chronicle

Rochester Institute of Tcdhnology President M. Richard Rose revealed yesterday the he spent the past two months working for the Central Intelligence Agency.
In a telephone interview from the Washington area, Rose ended speculation about the sudden sabbatical he took in February, to accept a confidential federal assignment.
At the time, RIT spokesmen would only divulge that Rose would be working on "national poilicies and procedures. The timing of the announcement fueled speculation that Rose, with his military background, was somehow engaged in work related to the Persian Gulf War.
In fact, Rose said he has been at work at CIA headquarters in Langley, Va, helping to devise new training and educational policies for CIA operatives that will prepapre them to deal with the post-Cold Ward world.
And he does not anticipate that the job will create credibility problems for him or for RIT when he returns in early June.
"When I was asked to take this job, I recognized that it would not necessarily be popular in all quarters," he said. "On the other hand, I believe most people who know me know I am entirely trustworthy and would never do anything to jeopardize academic freedom at RIT."
While he acknowledges the CIA has not always bed a blemish-free reputation, Rose said it has been making "a very conscious effort" to clean up its image. At the same time, he believes that much of its reputation rests "on fable, rather than fact."
According to Joan Stone, chairwoman of the RIT Faculty Council, most faculty are likely to wait until Rose returns before judging the propriety of his CIA work.
"Our concern would be that whatever we become involved in as academics doesn't limit the freedom to learn and publish what you know," she said.
Rose spoke freeely about his CIA task.
With the demise of the Cold WAr, Rose said "economic issuse are becoming more and more important as part of the national security and the agency is concerned that its officers and analysts acquire the economic skills necessary in today's world."
Now that the threat of nuclear war has faded, issues that previously were peripheral--such as terrorism--have become priorities for the agency, he said. Increasingly sophisticated technologies also placed new demands on training CIA officers.
Rose siad he was advocating sending CIA analysts--"don't call them agents; only the FBI has agents"--to civilian institutions of higher education, rather than training them internally. His reasoning is that the CIA would inspire confidence by having its officers go outside to study.
Rose estimates CIA officers currently are studying at 30 to 40 institutions around the country, including RIT, which annually hosts a student as part of the CIA Officer-in-Residence program. RIT also participates in a co-op program with the CIA, in which students do internships there as part of their course of study.
Rose, a retired colonel in the Marine Corps Reserves and a former high-ranking Defense Departrment official, has defended these programs against criticism that they imply a inappropriately cozy relationship with a covert intelligence operation.
In March 1990, Rose became entangled in a war of words with former spy-turned CIA critic, Philip Agee, over the presence of a CIA officer on campus.


Wait. It gets better and better. Remember, Rose said ECONOMIC POLICIES WERE CHANGING--BECOMING MORE AND MORE IMPORTANT IN THE WORLD THEN. REMEMBER, ALSO, WHERE YOPU FIRST HEARD THE WORD "CHANGE" USED IN POLITICS!

Remember, thirdly, this is 1991, almost 20 years ago.

[GenerationIke]

RIT students protest president's CIA work by Jennifer Hyman April 30, 1991 Democrat and Chronicle.

A group of students at Rochester Institute of Technolgy has called for the resignation of President M. Richard Rose, on the grounds that his work for the Central Intelligence Agency discredits the school.
At a meeting Thursday, RIT's Faculty Council urged the president to return within two weeks to address the campus community and answer worrisome questions about his links to the covert agency.
Rose revealed earlier this month that his four month sabbatical was being spent at the CIA's Langly, Va, complex working as a high-ranking consultant to devise educational and training strategies for future CIA officers.
Students of the RIT Community for Peace and Justice, as well as two other student organizations, have reacted by circulating a petition requesting the school's Board of Trustees to terminate Rose's presidency. The students say he has compromised the school's reputation and integrity.
"We assert that the notion of a university as a place for the free and open exchange of ideas is a fundamental part of its academic mission," the petition says. "such an ideal is incompatible with the presence of the Central Intelligence Agency . . . "
Student spokesman Brian Lang said that to his knowledge, it was unprecedented for the president of an institution of higher education to work for the CIA "and then to brag about it."
"By definition the CIA is involved in secrecy and deception," Lang said. "If academic institutions value academic freedom and open debate, they can't do things in secret."
The RIT students have forged ties with student activists at the University of Rochester to focus attention on the CIA presence on area campuses, and to bring in ex-CIA officers and experts as speakers. The first was Deborah Crawford of the Chicago-based CIA Off Campus Clearinghouse, who spoke at UR yesterday. Speakers lined up for next week include CIA whistleblower and author John Stockwello and Verne Lyon, a former CIA officer who was recruited in the 1960's to spy on his fellow Iowa State University students.
UR interest in the CIA issue has been fomenting since last fall, when the university planned to establish a government-funded intelligence "think tank" in Washington to serve as a resource for the CIA and other intelligence -gathering agencies. The idea was killed by President Dennis O'Brien after weeks of controversy on campus and vigorous protests by several academic departments.
At RIT, Rose's work for the CIA comes on top of disclosure of other links, including CIA recuiting on campus and cooperative work experiences for RIT students with the CIA. In addition, RIT is one of 10 to 12 campuses nationwide to host a CIA "Officer-in-Residence," a registered student who also teaches classes to selected, pre-screened students.
Rose could not be contacted for comment yesterday as he was out of the country "on CIA business," according to RIT officials. However, a statement he prepared for release to students and faculty Monday describes his CIA role and defends his decision as patriotic, particularly when so many Americans had been mobilized for the Persian Gulf War.
"I certainly recognized the potential for misunderstanding," he says in the statement. "I could have gone underover, that is assigned to the Marine Corps or another government agency. But as I thought about it, I grew uncomfortable with that basic notion and didn't feel it necessary or desirable."
Instead, Rose says, he accepted a high-level assignment to review the CIA's strategic goals for the 1990's, to consider personnel needs and to define future educational requirements. He promises in the statement to discuss his assignment in far greater detail when he returns, probably by June 1.
Apart from Rose's account, faculty and students will also receive a statement Monday from Board of Trustees chairman Tom Gosnell, (remember this name for a later article) endorsing Rose's decision to work for the CIA and expressing "delight" that he will return as president.
Gosnell also notified RIT's vice president for communications, Jack Smith, that the trustees approved proprietary research on behalf of business or government. "We treat all organizations seeking our help, including the CIA, under the same guidelines," Gosnell said.
After hearing student concerns Thursday, the Faculty Council decided not to endorse the call for Rose's resignation, but to urge his immediate return to confront the issue.
"The faculty is not in the mood to ask for his resignation at this point," said Jean Douthwright, a biology professor and member of the council. "But we think it is in his best interests to speak soon to the RIT community. The concern is that a very big precedent is being set and if the academic community accepts this, it means a very different role for the university." (Today, RIT is still doing research for the CIA, by the way.)
Douthwright said she personally has "very deep concerns" about Rose's job with the CIA. "I worry about what it could potentially do to the student population we are trying to draw from other countries because the CIA is known to recruit foreign students. My fear is the perception, particularly in other countries, that RIT is contaminated by this link." (RIT currently has branch campuses in foreign countries as well.)


What follows here is an editorial or two and letters to the editor and a couple more articles both pro and con concerning RIT's link to the CIA. One said many students were for it, although as I recall, it was not that many, but there were a lot of students protesting Rose's affiliation and wanted him to resign--immediately, but he wouldn't. Thus, to the next level. It gets really good in the next major articles--keep focused! And I hope Ben Fulford is reading this as well. I want him to explain the antics of these men who wrote Changemasters and Japan 2000 and why these booklets were written. It's very important to me to know why. $75 million dollars why.

[GenerationIke]

14 December 2009

• We've just learned this extraordinary little snippet of information - which is so important that we felt obliged to share it here. (A correction of the famous quote for the historical record...)

In the original draft of [President Eisenhower's] speech, it was "military-industrial-congressional complex." And the "congressional" part was taken out because the president felt that he'd had excellent relations with a Democratic Congress and didn't want to get into name-calling on his way out.

– Susan Eisenhower
Granddaughter of President Dwight D. Eishenhower

CONGRATULATIONS!! Somebody GOT IT ALREADY!!

I'll be posting much more. And keep reading.

[GenerationIke]

RIT Students, faculty object to CIA work by Jennifer Hyman Democrat and Chronicle April 30, 1991

Students and faculty at Rochester Institute of Technology yesterday accused their president, Richard Rose, of deceiving them about his four- month sabbatical working for the Central Intelligence Agency.
They say that in February, when the sabbatical began, official announcements by the school gave the impression that Rose's "confidential assignment" was related to the Persian Gulf War and that it was military in nature.
At least one report, which appears to have come from a Washington news service, identified his job as assisting in rebuilding the Middle East.
"There is a strong feeling that the faculty were deceived into thinking he was working for the war effort," said Jean Douthwright, a professor of biology and member of the Faculty Council who attended a protest and news conference at RIT yesterday.
History Professor Richard Lunt said faculty were given the impression that Rose had been called up "as a reserve officer."
"This was a clear deception and we had to wait to learn the truth from the media," he said.
Lunt opposes Rose's involvemnt with the CIA on ethical grounds. "I don't believe any educator shoud have a formal connection to any institution committed to secrecy and deception."
RIT spokesman Jack Smith yesterday denied there was any deliberate deception. "We've never said one thing that has in any way indicated that President Rose is doing anything for the military, for the command authority or for the Persian Gulf War," he said. "We didn't even know the nature of his assignment."
Smith also defended Rose's work and RIT's relationship with the CIA.
"The institution has been very open about this direction, and the fact that a few students don't agree with it, doesn't mean it has to change what it's doing," he said.
Douthwright, Lunt and several other faculty members and alumni have joined students in forming a "CIA Off-Campus Coalition," to force the school to cut its ties with the agency.
These include a CIA "Officer-in-Residence" program, regular recruiting by the CIA, cooperative work experience for students and a substantial amount of CIA-sponsored research. (This particular fact is still going strong on the campus today. It is called the RITRC)
Student members of the coalition also have called for Rose's resignation or termination on the grounds that his work for the covert agency compromises the college and damages its reputation in academic and research circles.
At yesterday's news conference, coalition spokesman Brian Lang said the CIA was not only an intelligence organization but also an organization that "has consistently violated both international law and the U. S. Constitiution. The international community perceives the CIA to be a terrorist organization no different from Stasi and KGB," he said. He referred to the former East German and current Soviet secret police.
Lang, a senior mechanical engineering student, accused Rose of acting as "an employee and an advocate of the CIA" and said he was using the RIT campus as a base of recruiting for the agency.
Officially, faculty members are not calling for Rose's resignation at this time.
They had hoped Rose would respond to a Faculty Council request that he return within two weeks to explain his assignment to the RIT community. However, Rose told council Chairwoman Joan Stone yesterday morning that the would not be back until June 3. (an evasive s.o.b. to say the least)

And the rabbit hole gets deeper.

[GenerationIke]

Skipping some irrelevent material, I continue.

His integrity intact, says Rose by Jennifer Hyman Democrat and Chronicle, May 14, 1991.

Rochester Institute of Technology President M. Richard Rose wasn't required to take an aoth of secrecy when he went to work for the Central Intelligence Agency earlier this year, he says in a letter to be distributed on campus today.
In his second letter to faculty, students and staff from the CIA's
Langley, Va, headquarers, where he is spending a four-month sabbatical as a consultant, Rose says he intends to be "very open" about his assignment when he returns to RIT in June.
In the letter, released to the media yesterday, Rose expresses "deep personal concern" over the confusion at RIT about his assignment, and about the calls for his resignation.
"Integrity is one of the most important aspects of my personal and professional life," he writes. "Like you, I try to live my life with high standards. You can then understand how offensive it is to me to have my honesty challenged." (he was neither truthful or honest about any of this as subsequent articles will prove to you.)
Rose says he will address a campuswide meeting June 6 at RIT, 12 days after graduation.
"I regret that," he writes. "Should there be sufficient interest, I would be pleased to conduct another open session in the fall."
Faculty, students and others who have formed a CIA Off Campus coalition argue that Rose's actions, coupled with other ties between RIT and the CIA, compromise the school's reputation.
Rose has declined requests from the RIT Faculty Council to return to Rochester immediately to answer questions from students and faculty.
He has called a news conference Thursday at the CIA's Langely headquarters to answer media questions about his sabbitcal work. (which will later be cancelled.)
Jean Douthwright, a biology professor and member of the CIA Off Campus Coalition, last night called the letter a "slap in the face" for the Faculty Council.

to be continued tomorrow. When I am finished with this article, I will be skipping a few more letters to the editor and an opinion column or two. But what will follow next will begin the crux of this story--why Rose lied and what was and still is going on at the RIT campus. Let me whet your appetite. Rose had worked for Richard M. Nixon at the Department of Defense for a couple of years before moving on. In that time there was sufficient work to make an inroad to Hollywood where Rose would use a major television production company to crucify a lawyer who was working to stop his man from doing damage to another institution (close to President Eisenhower) that he caused, but allowed RIT to take the fall for.

[GenerationIke]

Part Two of Integrity

"As of this evening, the faculty has not heard publicly why he will not be coming to talk to us," she said. "Yet he is holding a press conference in Washington that will be inaccessible to us."
In his letter, Rose attempts to explain some of the confusion about this assignment. Initially,when he took his sabbatical, RIT statements suggested that the assignment was connected with the Persian Gulf War.
"Before I left RIT I fully expected . . . to be reactivated into the Marine Corps as part of the mobilization," he says in the letter. "However, standard mobilization orders were for six months with a possible extension of six additional months. Rather than talking a leave for mobilization, I chose a sabbatical."
Rose points out that had he been mobilized as a Marine -- he is a former colonel in the Marine Corps Reserves -- he would not have been able to talk about this work "because the orders would have been classified under the Marine Corps."
However, the letter states that "the request for service had come from the CIA." (in a later article the CIA spokesperson will deny they ever asked Rose to work at the CIA.)
Rose says his background and experience in higher education, in the Defense Departrment and in the military suited him to the assignment.
"It wasn't surprising that the CIA felt I could play a role in determining the appropirate future education and training for the agency's employees, he writes.
It's healthy for CIA instruction to come from the civilian sector," he says. "It's important for CIA employees to gain a public view on issues rather than talking only to CIA people, which only tends to reinforce their own viewpoint."
Rose predicts CIA involvement at RIT will continue at its currrent level, and that recruiting will continue to provide the agency five to 10 new employees each year.
He defends research on behalf of the CIA as "non-covert" and says it is covered by the same guidelines that cover proprietary research for private companies. (This will also be proven to be a lie in later articles.)
He wrote that CIA-sponsored research amounts to no more than $2 million a year," a relatively small amount when compared to the total research budget of the CIA." (a crock of . . . .)
While acknowledging others' rights to hold divergent points of view, Rose says he feels no obligation to change his views and defends RIT's CIA links on the grounds that "all government agencies should be recognized and dealt with above board." (lie on Dr. Rose)
Faculty and students have argued that by their nature, clandestine espionage agences cannot be dealt with in an open way and are not subject to public scrutiny.


The next articles deal with the faculty and students' concern Rose would not return to talk to them. He would return, however, only after graduation that year to talk to a few hundred people who were still on campus.

By May 16, 1991, however, Jennifer Hyman had uncovered the true nature of the RITRC on the campus. She also discovered RIT had had major ties with the CIA since at least World War II. RIT would continue to have major ties with the CIA after Rose retired (not fired) and make millions of bucks off CIA contracts, as you will see.

[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.

[GenerationIke]

Part II of previous article

Sources close to the project, who spoke on condition of confidentiality, say there is no doubt about the purpose of the project: to produce forgeries that will better escape detection. Students involved in the work were told that an agent's life could be in the balance if his documents were detected as forgeries, the sources said.
According to Jeffrey Richelson, an expert on the intelligence community and consultant to the National Security Archives in Washington, D.C. forgery studies by the CIA are common and have been going on since World War II.
"Technological advances in printing have made documents far more difficult to forge than they used to be," said Richelson.
Dougherty, a former Air Force officer, staunchly defends RIT's work for the CIA and says the majority of people at RIT are not concerned about the link.
"Intellingence is the life blood of anyone concerned about national security and an area where we can make a contribution," Dougherty said. "Everything the CIA does on this campus is to the benefit of RIT. It is an absolutely overt relationship. It's all out there in the open and we are really quite proud of it."
Some faculty object to all CIA-funded research on principle, on the grounds that the CIA depends on secrecy and subterfuge. Any involvement, they say, compromises an institution committed to openness, academic honesty and the public scruteny of its scholarly work.
Others accept some type of CIA-sponsored research--the extraction of intelligence information from satellite or aerial flight images for example--but draw the line at assisting in document forgeries or the concealment of bugging devices.
"I have no problem whatsoever with university researchers being involved in unclassified, fully publishable research on techniques for satellite image gathering," said Edward McIrvine, dean of the College of Graphic Arts and Photograhpy, which included the Center for Imaging Science. "However, there are gray areas that do cause me concern."
McIrvine cited the security document project, which could be used for forgeries, as an example of CIA work he could not justify being done at a university. "I do not approve of the use of the CIA as a means of executing a secret foreign policy," he said. (Wait until they learn about the booklets, coming up very soon!)

the Democrat and Chronicle also found that:

The Research Corp. offers consulting services to the CIA, producing technological forecasts on topics like telecommunications in Europe and the need for the agency to restructure itself to meet the demands of the post-Cold War era.

[GenerationIke]

Part III of previous article



Although the Research Corp. is supposed to be a separate entity from RIT, there is considerable overlap in personnel, funding and accountability. The training center, for example, is in practice run by Dennis Nystrom, an RIT development officer (keep this name up in your uppermost memory!) who holds no official position in the Research Corp/

The RIT Board of Trustees has approved classified research at the Research Corp. in the interests of "national security," but a few policy guidelines exist to deal with potential ethical problems.

Outside the Research Corp. faculty members are approached from time to time by senior RIT officials and asked to do CIA work. In one case, a faculty member was asked to train CIA agents in the techniques of video surveillance.

The FEDERAL PROGRAMS TRAINING CENTER occupies a squat, two-story building of brown brick and glass on Technology Park Drive, in an area off John Street that RIT hopes to develop into a local "research triangle."
The building contains a "secure" conference room, which is regularly swept for listening devices, according to people who have worked or visited there.
The center was established in 1988, with the express purpose of providing "training and techonolgical support" for the CIA, said George Ryan, acting president and director of operations at the Research Corp. It has aproximately 30-full and part-time employees, including students recruited from disciplines such as engineering, imaging science, printing and computer science.
Although Ryan directs the Research Corp., he referred most questions on the CIA training center to Nystrom, a former dean of Applied Science and Technology who currently holds the position of development director in the school's Center for Imaging Science. With Dougherty, Nystrom is one of the chief links between RIT and the CIA.
Students who work at the center are told never to discuss the work they are doing, or to identify the CIA as their sponsor. They are asked to fill out security clearance forms and to give presentations on their work to CIA analysts, both at RIT and at Langley.
Nystrom recruits students for research projects at the center, although he claims not to know the details of the work.
"I tell them the project is confidential and that working on it doesn't mean they have any commitment to the CIA," he said. "I tell them they don't have to accept if they have a problem working for the CIA."
Juniors are paid $8 an hour for the work they do; seniors receive $9 and graduate students $10. Instead of pay, they may opt for tuition discounts, Nystrom said.
The training center works exclusively for the CIA, although it would be willing to extend its activities to other government or intelligence agencies, Nystrom said.
He said that part of the rationale behind the center was to give the CIA access to potential employees, and students a taste of what it might be like working for the agency.
"The CIA has a lot of technology," Nystrom said. "It believes in giving work support to the kids so as to build a pool of engineering skills."
He ses other benefits for the studetns as well, such as developing research skills and having a lucrative part-time job.
The program has been so successul that Nystorm predicts it will continue to double each year--meaning next year's CIA-sponsored projects might total $3 million.
RIT offricials say that in the Research Corp., CIA contracts are treated under the same guidelines that govern other sponsored, proprietary research--whether for private companies or government departments.
However, in a list of research contracts for 1990, obtained by the Democrat and Chronicle, all sponsors are mentioned by name, except the CIA.
CIA contracts are referred to as "Washington," followed by words such as "Zeus," "Spectra" and "Socrates."
Ryan said those codes probably referred to the names of the computers on which the work was done.
The KEY PEOPLE involved in CIA activities at RIT all express a strong personal ideology about the importance of national security, and a commitment to support the activities of clandestine intelligence services.
"I'm involved because the CIA is clearly a legitimate part of government and becasue it's a small thing I can do to support the United States, through supporting national security," said Nystrom.
Harvey Rhody, a professor of electrical engineering who spends half his time working on CIA-sponsored projects at the Research Corp, said he believed it to be legitimate to work for clandestine agencies.
"Those who voice suspicions that the work we do may not be appropriate just don't like the CIA," he said. (Remember this quote.) "We need clandestine services and where it is appropriate for us to make a contribution to national security, we will do classified work."
Asked who decided what research was appropriate, Rhody said those decisions were made by "people like myself who know the work." Nystrom said such decisions were based on "the moral and ethical values of the people leading the institution."
Dougherty, Rose's assistant who says he oversees all CIA work on campus, says that "morality is built into every fiber of my body."
"I have refused orders in the past," said the 26-year Air Force veteran. "No, scrub that. I am not a blind automaton and would refuse any order or request that I deemed immoral or wrong or inappropriate for RIT."
However, Dougherty said he had never had to turn down a CIA request and he is convinced the CIA would never ask for anything that was morally questionable. "They are really gun-shy about doing anything improper with an academic institution," he said.

[GenerationIke]

Follow my next posts in a new column called CHANGEMASTERS and JAPAN 2000. Does this answer your Ben Fulford questions?