American negotiators have proposed two significant changes in any future agreement with the Soviets. "We want it to be 'the basics,' said McSweegan "It's going to be in geology earth sciences, chemistry, life sciences, to take advantage of same of the fields where the Soviets are world-class,"
US. officials also envision a streamlined process that will allow individual scientists, no matter where they work, to initiate proposals for joint projects.
The emphasis on pure science was controversial during exploratory talks last year, McSweegan said. The Soviet Site Committee for Science and Technology at first argued for restoration of the 1972 Umbrella Science and Technology Agreement, with access to applied science and technology.
But another faction. represented by the Soviet Academy of Sciences, recognized the benefits of conducting basic research with American scientists. "I suppose on another level," McSweegan added, "The Soviet Academy members looked on it as a way of ...
