John Foster Jr. is a distinguished scientist whose career working in the U.S.
weapons complex dates back to the early years of the atomic era. Closely affiliated
with a long line of hardline policy initiatives, Foster was a member of two
hawkish advocacy outfits—the 1970s incarnation of the Committee
on the Present Danger (CPD) and the American
Security Council. He collaborated on the controversial Team
B exercise and led a congressionally appointed panel (the so-called Foster
Panel), which played a role in pushing for new nuclear weapons production.
In May 2006, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
commissioned a study to assess the U.S. Stockpile Stewardship Program and the
potential of the Reliable Replacement Warhead, and empanelled the Nuclear Weapons
Complex Assessment Committee, of which Foster was a member.
The AAAS study, released in April 2007 and entitled The United States Nuclear
Weapons Program: The Role of the Reliable Replacement Warhead, was notable
for its critical stance regarding the Bush administration's argument for
building a new generation of nuclear warheads. Summarizing its findings in
a speech at the MacArthur Foundation, which helped fund the study, Jonathan
Fanton said: "The AAAS report The United States Nuclear Weapons Program,
could not have been better timed. Made public in April, it provided
a coherent argument that urged caution as the United States proceeds toward
a Reliable Replacement Warhead, outlined its probable impact on the nuclear
Stockpile Stewardship Program (SSP), and drew attention to how an RRW program
could undercut international efforts to stem the spread of nuclear weapons. Soon
after, the House of Representatives passed the 2008 Defense Authorization
Bill. This version of the Bill reduced funding for the RRW and called
for the development of a comprehensive new nuclear weapons strategy before
steps were taken to produce new warheads."
In a separate comment attached to the AAAS report, Foster dissented with many
of the report's conclusions. He wrote: "Although I am in agreement with
many of the specific recommendations in the report, I am disappointed that
in my judgment it does not provide adequate focus on its terms of reference:
to assess the degree to which RRW would alleviate risks in the SSP. Rather,
it is long on risks and short on reducing risks (the value of RRW); long on
raising uncertainties and short on recognition of answers to many of them already
provided by Congress and DOD/NNSA officials. The report fails to recognize
the urgency of initiating the RRW program to reduce risks in the stockpile
by: failing to recognize the DOD requirement for diversity; failing to recognize
the need to proceed with RRW-1 to provide a back-up to the Trident warhead;
and providing an opportunity for retiring experts to train the next generation.
Instead it conveys the impression that, despite such urgency, RRW be held hostage
to the resolution of domestic and international political nuclear weapons issues,
which are real, while all other nuclear powers have already initiated programs
similar to RRW."
Foster has served as an executive at several government contractors. A biography
provided in the AAAS report summarizes the various posts Foster has held during
the past 50 years: "John S. Foster is chairman of the board of GKN Aerospace
Transparency Systems, chairman-emeritus of Technology Strategies & Alliances,
and a member of the board of Wackenhut Services Inc. He currently is co-chair
of the Nuclear Strategy Forum. He was director of defense research and engineering
(DDR&E) for the Department of Defense for eight years (1965-73); served
on the president's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (1973-90); was chairman
of the Defense Science Board (1990-93); and currently serves as a Senior Fellow
of the DSB. Before his appointment as DDR&E, he was director of the Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory and associate director of the Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory. Mr. Foster retired from TRW Inc. as vice president of
science and technology in 1988. He continues as a consultant to Northrop Grumman
Space Technology."
Earlier in the Bush administration, Foster was instrumental in pushing for
new nuclear weapons research as head of the congressionally mandated Panel
to Assess the Reliability, Safety, and Security of the U.S. Nuclear Stockpile
(or "Foster Panel"). As Stephen Schwartz wrote in the Bulletin
of the Atomic Scientists ("The New-Nuke Chorus Tunes Up," July/August
2001): "Congressional advocates of nuclear testing and new weapons production
have not been particularly subtle. Consider the 'Panel to Assess the Reliability,
Safety, and Security of the United States Nuclear Stockpile,' created in 1998
by Republican Sen. Jon
Kyl of Arizona, a longtime foe of the comprehensive test ban. Known as
the 'Foster Panel' after chairman John Foster, a former director of Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory, the group was established to 'assess whether
[the Energy Department's stockpile stewardship program] would prove adequate
should the suspension of testing be extended indefinitely under the proposed
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. ... In its second and most recent report, released
in February, the panel recommends, among other things, spending $4 billion
to $6 billion over the next decade to 'restore needed production capabilities
... to meet both current and future workloads'; to construct a small-scale
plutonium pit production facility at Los Alamos; to continue design work on
new warheads; and to shorten the time needed to prepare for tests at the Nevada
Test Site from 24 to 36 months to just three to four months. The Energy Department
is reported to be working now on increased preparedness for testing."
Foster's affiliation with hardline policy initiatives dates back at least
to the mid-1970s, when he was a member of the CPD, an advocacy outfit partially
inspired by neoconservatives associated with Sen. Henry "Scoop" Jackson
that helped revive aggressive anti-Soviet policies and roll back détente,
and his work on the Team B initiative, which was headed by noted anti-Soviet
crusader Richard Pipes and
staffed with the likes of Paul
Wolfowitz. (For more on CPD, see GroupWatch Profile: Committee
on the Present Danger. See also Right Web's profile of the latest
incarnation of the CPD , which was created shortly after the 9/11 terrorist
attack to support the Bush administration's "war on terror.")
In her book Killing Détente: The Right Attacks the CIA, which
details the history of the Team B affair, Anne Cahn writes that at the same
time that Foster was a member of the Ford administration's President's Foreign
Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB), he was "chief instigator of the PFIAB-mandated
competitive threat assessment [Team B]," which was charged with reinterpreting
intelligence gathered by the CIA on Soviet strategic capabilities and intentions.
Foster recommended the anti-Soviet hardliner Pipes to chair Team B's Strategic
Objectives Panel, the most well-known and controversial team. As alternates,
he suggested William
Van Cleave or Albert Wohlstetter, both anti-Soviet activists and experts
in strategic weapons programs.
Foster is the recipient of numerous awards. In 1960 he received the Ernest
Orlando Lawrence award "for unique contributions, demanding unusual imagination
and technical skill, to the development of atomic weapons." He has also
received the Defense Department Eugene Fubini Award, the Founders Award from
the National Academy of Engineering, the 1992 Enrico Fermi Award, the Defense
Department's Distinguished Public Service Medals, the James Forrestal Memorial
Award, the H.H. Arnold Trophy, the Crowell Medal (1972), the WEMA Award (1973),
and the Knight Commander's Cross (Badge and Star) of the Order of Merit of
the Federal Republic of Germany (1974). Foster is also a commander in the Legion
of Honor, Republic of France.
In a 2000 article for Physics Today entitled "The Evolving Battlefield," Foster
argued: "National defense with maximum precision and minimum unintended
damage should be an attractive challenge for scientists seeking to improve
the human condition."
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Affiliations
Nuclear Weapons Complex Assessment Committee: Panel Committee
American Defense Preparedness Association: Former Member
American Security Council: Former Member of the National Advisory Board
National Security Industrial Association: Member
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics: Member
California Council on Science and Technology: Member, Board of Directors; Fellow
Committee on the Present Danger: Former Member
Government Service
Panel to Assess the Reliability, Safety, and Security of the U.S. Nuclear Stockpile ("Foster Panel"): Chair (1999-2002)
Defense Science Board: Chairman (1990-1993)
President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board: Member (1973-1990)
Department of Defense: Director of Defense Research and Engineering (1965-1973)
Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA): Member of the Ballistic Missile Defense Advisory Committee, 1965
President's Science Advisory Committee: Panel Consultant until 1965
Army Scientific Advisory Panel: Member until 1958
Air Force Scientific Advisory Board: Member until 1956
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory: Director (1961-1965)
California's Public Interest Energy Research Program: Chair of the Review Panel (1998-2001)
Private Sector
Northrop Grumman Space Technology (formerly TRW, Inc.): Consultant
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp.: Consultant
Defense Group Inc.: Consultant
JAYCOR: Board Member
Areté Associates: Board Member
Wackenhut Services, Inc.: Consultant
TRW, Inc.: Member, Board of Directors (1988-1994); Former Vice President, Science & Technology
Technology Strategy and Alliances: Partner, Board Chairman
Nine Sigma: Former Member, Strategic Advisory Board
Education
McGill University, Montreal: B.S.
University of California, Berkeley: Ph.D. in Physics
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