Posted by Eugene Volokh:
Interesting Crime-Facilitating Speech Incident:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2005_06_12-2005_06_18.shtml#1118878158
It was [1]in the news several days ago, but I missed it, and thought
other readers might have, too:
The federal government has asked the National Academy of Sciences
not to publish a research paper that feds describe as a "road map
for terrorists" on how to contaminate the nation's milk supply.
The research paper on biological terrorism, by Stanford University
professor Lawrence M. Wein and graduate student Yifan Liu, provides
details on how terrorists might attack the milk supply and offers
suggestions on how to safeguard it.
The paper appeared briefly May 30 on a password-protected area of
the National Academy of Science's Web site. . . . [T]he Department
of Health and Human Services, which asked the academy to stop the
article's publication. . . .
The paper gives "very detailed information on vulnerability nodes"
in the milk supply chain and "includes . . . very precise
information on the dosage of botulinum toxin needed to contaminate
the milk supply to kill or injure large numbers of people," [HHS
Assistant Secretary Stewart Simonson wrote in a letter to the
science academy chief Dr. Bruce Alberts]. . . .
The NAS did indeed pull down the paper and delay its publication, and
they're apparently reviewing it further. I'm naturally interested in
this as an example of [2]crime-facilitating speech -- but also as the
father of a boy who drinks lots of milk.
The NAS is a private organization, and as best I can tell, this was a
request, not a command or even a threat, so there's no First Amendment
problem here. But it's still an interesting question about public
safety, scientific openness, and what mix (and timing) of openness and
secrecy is the best way to deal with potential security problems.
Wein describes the problem in the course of arguing in favor of some
potential solutions, such as "that the FDA guidelines for locking milk
tanks should be made mandatory, and . . . the dairy industry should
improve pasteurization to eliminate toxins." To get such potentially
expensive procedures implemented, one may well need to explain
precisely why they're necessary, and do so publicly, so that it's
harder to sweep the objections under the rug. On the other hand, there
are obvious costs to public disclosure, too. A hard and important
question.
References
1. http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/06/06/milk.terror/
2. http://www1.law.ucla.edu/~volokh/facilitatingshorter.pdf
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