MIT President Will Rework Controversial Taiwan Program

MIT president Jerome B. Wiesner agreed yesterday to reduce the military content of the university's Taiwan program after he received a critical letter from a faculty-student committee.

The letter from the Committee on Institutional International Committment (CIIC) suggested that MIT either revise or drop the program, because a CIIC investigation found that the program's "primary objective" was "military."

A spokesman for the students' Social Action Coordinating Committee (SAAC) said yesterday that the MIT administration's agreement to reduce the program's military content is a move to ease out of its arrangement with Taiwan.

The program has drawn fire because it provides advanced inertial technology training to 15 Taiwanese students who could use their training to develop fighter aircraft and ballistic missiles, a SAAC brief about the case states.

Brian Tokar, an SAAC spokesman, said that the CIIC's letter was drafted from a resolution written by Thomas F. Jones, vice president for research who previously defended the Taiwan program.

Tokar said the SACC delivered a brief to the State Department last week stating its objections to the Taiwan program. As a consequence, the State Department may have ordered its cancellation, he said.

"There are probably people in the State Department who felt this sort of program would be beneficial if the U.S. drops permanent ties with Taiwan--then Taiwan won't be left out in the cold militarily and will be able to defend itself," Tokar said.

He said the State Department initially agreed to let MIT go ahead with the deal, unless someone found out. "The SACC found out," he said.

"The Taiwanese won't accept the program without the military stuff since they aren't interested in anything else," and MIT will thus be able to get out of the deal quietly, Tokar said.

Allegations Denied

Jones said yesterday that Tokar's charges were "daydreams."

"They have no basis in fact--we're playing it straight," Jones said.

Tokar said that the SACC "thinks things are still going on that aren't being talked about."