dailyemerald
Vol. 82, No. 142
Eugene, Oregon 97403
Tuesday, April 28, 1981
Photo by Erich Boekelheide
Americans can match the efficiency of Soviet government "owners" only by employing U.S.
newspapers and people to monitor the governments defense actions, Soviet emigre and author Lev
Navrozov told an audience on Monday.
Emigre implores citizens
to monitor U.S. defense
By MARIAN GREEN
Of the Emerald
In order for Western democracies to survive,
citizens — including those of the United States —
must encourage newspapers to watchdog the
government’s national defense actions.
That’s the message Lev Navrozov, Soviet
emigre and author, left with his full-capacity
audience Monday afternoon.
Navrozov, whose lecture was sponsored by
the Intercollegiate Studies Institute and the
University’s Russian and East European Studies
department, said the bureaucracies of the Wes
tern democracies, unlike those of the Soviet
Union, aren’t motivated to perform.
It’s up to the citizens to compel the govern
ment to do ’’quality” work, he said.
"There is a general belief that Soviet bur
eaucracies are paid for world conquest and
American bureaucracies are paid for defense,’’
Navrozov said.
He said Soviet bureaucracies work because
"the soviet bureaucracies are a natural, integral
part of that society — in all autocratic societies."
The “owners," as Navrozov calls the highest
Soviet officials, demand performance from the
bureaucracies.
"If the bureaucracy fails to perform, off with
their heads."
In the United States, there is no "owner”, he
said. Consequently, the bureaucracies don’t
perform at all.
Navrozov suggested two methods that do
work in the 20th Century — free enterprise,
because it is motivated by a sense of profit (not
necessarily monetary profit) and totalitarian bur
eaucracies, because they are motivated by fear
In a totalitarian society, “If you don’t perform,
you’ll find yourself in Siberia," he said.
Navarov said if matters of defense, intel
ligence and foreign policy continue to be relegat
ed to the bureaucracies, "that will be the end of
the Western world."
For Western countries to survive, he said, the
answer is a solution proposed and advocated by
Thomas Jefferson — the people of the United
States.
“Who is the customer for defense in the
United States? We know who is interested in
Russia — the 'owners’, ’’ he said. “The answer is
the people of the United States. They are the
sovereign; they are the customer.
“They must monitor the defense strategy,
intelligence and foreign policy through new
spapers checking the government.”
Nevertheless, current newspaper coverage
of government defense policy is inadequate.
"The big papers — the New York Times, the
Washington Post and the Chicago Sun-Times —
are not interested in national defense," he said.
"They want to pretend that the danger doesn’t
exist.”
An example of the U S. government bur
eaucracy’s ineptness is its blind acceptance of
Soviet propaganda, Navrozov said, noting the
CIA’s reports to Congress during the detente
years.
He said CIA officials simply rewrote pamph
lets printed by the Soviet Union and submitted
them to Congress as hard fact.
To correct this problem, Navrozov advocates
dismantling the CIA and instituting several com
peting corporations, including private organiza
tions, to take over the national defense function.
However, he cautions that "only the citizens
can compel the government to be quality cons
cious.”
And with a "certain minimum level of educa
tion" the citizens can, and should, make intel
liqent decisions about national defense, he ad
ded.
Navrozov immigrated to the United States in
1972 shortly after the Soviet Union began allow
ing immigration He is the author of a six-volume
series about life in Russia. Of that series, only one
volume has been published — "The Education of
Lev Navrozov," which describes his childhood in
Russia.
Computer Ph.D.
faces last hurdle
By GABRIEL BOEHMER
Of the Emerald
Computer science prof. Steve Hedetniemi is getting
writer's cramp.
After the University's proposed doctoral program in
computer and information science was rejected by the state's
higher education board in March, CIS department head
Hedetniemi drafted a letter to board members to make another
pitch for the program.
The board put the program "on-line" Friday, and now
Hedetniemi is writing thank-you letters.
But the doctoral program has to clear one more adminis
trative hurdle — the State Educational Coordinating Commis
sion.
The commission will review the University computer and
information science doctoral program in two or three months,
says commission representative Elinore Rogers.
The program — if approved — will begin a transmission of
research grants and computer hardware to the department,
according to Hedetniemi.
"The opportunities for computer science will double in
Oregon.”
Hedetniemi says corporations often donate equipment or
money for research and scholarships to computer science
programs offering doctoral degrees.
'It’s vaguely like a birthday gift," Hedetniemi says.
"Industry is coming to realize it needs to support educa
tion. It’s a good time to write larger corporations for public
endorsement and support."
And the information bank for computer science students
will grow, he adds Library materials, periodicals, computer
equipment and guest lecturers could be shared with Oregon
State University, which already offers a doctorate degree in
computer science.
And a Ph D. program also means the amount of research
produced by the University will increase, he says.
“In a field that moves as fast as computer science moves,
it’s important to stay current in the forefront of thinking "
The program will enroll only three students a year for its
first three years, Hedetniemi says. The faculty's ability to
handle doctoral students' theses determines the program’s
size
Hedetniemi says he expects the program will attract most
of its students from the department's master’s program.
In light of the state board's rejection of other higher
education proposals, Hedetniemi says he is relieved by the
approval of the doctorate program.
Now Hedetniemi says his biggest concern is the commis
sion’s review of the proposed doctorate degree program
‘In a field that moves as fast as
computer science moves, it’s important
to stay current in the forefront of
thinking.'
The commission doesn’t rubber stamp programs ap
proved by the higher education board, Rogers says.
For example, the commission sent the University's geron
tology certificate program back to the board for reconsidera
tion. Although the commission eventually accepted the pro
gram, the review process was delayed
The seven-member council has a broader-perspective
than the higher education board, Rogers says. The commis
sion keeps tabs on all public and private post-secondary
schools in Oregon
Concern that the University proposal duplicated OSU's
program swayed the state higher education board to reject the
prosposal in March.
But Hedetniemi says the University program is unique.
Even the chairer of the OSU program endorsed the proposal,
calling it "friendly competition,” Hedetniemi adds.
Each school has a unique approach to implementing its
computer science programs, Hedetniemi says. The OSU
program has advantages for students interested in engineer
ing, and the University program would have more theoretical
applications.