Letter to Senator Akaka on Homeland Security Federal Workforce Act

Honorable Daniel Akaka
U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Senator Akaka:

We are writing to you regarding S.589, the Homeland Security Federal Workforce Act. COSSA and APA commend you and your co-sponsors for recognizing the importance of securing for the Federal Government the best and most knowledgeable scientific and engineering personnel to combat terrorism.

We are however, perplexed by the exclusion of the social sciences from the definition of science in Section 5397B(5), thus making those studying in these disciplines ineligible for the fellowships provided by the bill.

As S. 589 moves to the Senate floor, we hope that you will remedy this oversight and remove the exclusionary language and allow those who study these important sciences eligible for the fellowships to help produce a federal workforce capable of dealing with all aspects of our nation's war against terror.

In your statement in the Congressional Record you quote from the Hart-Rudman report: "The U.S. faces a broader range of national security challenges today, requiring policy analysts and intelligence personnel with expertise in more countries, regions, and issues." It seems to us understanding the political, economic, social, and cultural aspects of those areas of the world, which social scientists study, are vital to homeland security efforts. This is especially true, since terrorists are people and terrorism is behavior.

The exclusion of the social sciences from the definition of science is also disturbing since the major science agencies of the federal government all recognize their importance. The White Office of Science and Technology Policy has an Assistant Director for the Social, Behavioral, and Education Sciences. Presidential Science Adviser John Marburger has stated repeatedly the importance of the social sciences to the anti-terrorism effort. Indeed, one of the four interagency working groups formed under Dr. Marburger's Antiterrorism Task Force is dedicated to social, behavioral, and educational R&D issues.

In addition, the National Science Foundation has a Directorate for the Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences, and the National Institutes of Health has an Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research. In recent years, both of these agencies have enhanced their support of the social/behavioral sciences.

The National Academy of Sciences also includes a Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. It has issued two reports on terrorism: Discouraging Terrorism: Some Implications of 9/11 and Terrorism: Perspectives from the Behavioral and Social Sciences that clearly demonstrate the importance of these sciences to the counter-terrorism activities.

The report issued by the full academy Making the Nation Safer: The Role of Science and Technology in Countering Terrorism also makes the point of the role the social/behavioral sciences can play in providing knowledge about risk communication, human responses, first-line responders, and other aspects of terrorist attacks. Lewis Branscomb, chair of the NAS Committee that produced the report, reiterated this during his talk to the COSSA Annual Meeting in 2002.

Furthermore, during the response to 9/11 in New York City the importance of Geographic Information Systems developed by geographers was effectively demonstrated. Also, over the past few years, behavioral and social scientists have worked closely with the FBI and elements of the defense and intelligence communities in their anti-terrorism efforts.

Social and behavioral scientists bring important knowledge and insight to the factors necessary to study and defeat terrorism. To exclude them from programs designed to help achieve that end seems not only unfair, but counter-productive. We hope that you will correct this as S. 589 goes to the full Senate.

Thank you for your time and attention. If you have any questions or need more information please let us know. We look forward to discussing this matter further.

Sincerely,

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