U.S. Technology Exchange with the Soviet Union

A summary of work to date on a RAND project, begun in 1973, which reconsiders U.S. export control policies in the light of recent changes in the international environment, including accords signed in 1972 between the United States and the Soviet Union concerning scientific and technical cooperation. The report discusses the principal study findings on four policy questions: (1) Should existing U.S. policy on the control of high-technology exports to the Soviet Union, China, and other communist countries be made less rigid; if so, how, at what price, and in return for what quid pro quo's? (2) Is there a need for initiating policy actions in order to encourage the import of technology into the United States from the Soviet Union? (3) Can information benefits be realized from the expanding network of East-West trade and technology transactions? (4) How should government policy deal with the pricing of commercially useful technology resulting from government R&D, in international as well as in domestic transactions? The report also deals with links between East-West trade and other foreign policy and national security issues, and points for further study. (See also R-1369, R-1406, R-1414.)