Gordon McDonald Quotes
It is difficult putting technical developments in a language that policy makers can understand.
Gordon McDonald, Chief Scientist, The Mitre Corporation, Speech, Intelligence and Free Society Conference, National Forum Foundation, Washington, May 30, 1989
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Referring to scientific and technological public policy issues such as the Space Defense Initiative, popularly known as "Star Wars"
Explaining the difficulty of lobbying for controls on science and technology:
The situation was actually worse as many of the best member of Congress from both parties were refusing to serve again and not running for re-election even where they had huge approval and popularity at home. Barney Frank and Olympia Snowe were then the latest examples.
His major facilities are located in Rockville, Maryland in the “Biotechnology Corridor” which is 10 minutes from the National Institutes of Health, the Surgeon General’s Office, the Food & Drug Administration and 40 minutes to the White House or Capital Hill.
even though in this case the objective The State Department, the Defense Department and most important President Kennedy had decided to get rid of Diem. Most of the Central Intelligence Agency thought that this was a very unwise policy, because Diem was a known risk, and the people who would replace him and their talents and policies were unknown. The negatives of Diem—the facts that he, a Christian, was persecuting the majority Buddhists, was totally corrupt, and not a very good leader was less distressful to the CIA than to the President and the other agencies as the intelligence agency frequently not only tolerated “offensive” allies, but actually employed them including war criminals. Another importance of this quotation is that it shows that it was by no means certain that the CIA would always follow the orders of the President and the government policy makers. Colby, who was not the agency director at that time but was the head of the South East Bureau, was one high level official who argued that the policies should always be followed even if they were unwise or foolish. Another importance of this quotation is that it illustrate a common error that administrations are frequently forced to make: making a policy decision to eliminate a problem while not having much of an idea of what the alternative or consequence would be when the policy is implemented. The Syrian Civil War in 2013 was a good example. The Government side appeared to have used Chemical Warfare on Civilians and public opinion demanded that we do something. However, having a no-fly zone or any of the alternatives to prevent (punish) the government for the Chemical Warfare would strengthen the rebel side which was made up of numerous factions—some of which were known Islamic fundamentalist terrorists and jihadists. If the balance of power were tipped toward the rebels, the consequence for the American national interests were unknown—just as the consequence of ousting Diem was unknown and turned out to also be bad and was probably worse.
Gordon McDonald was a Canadian amateur soccer player who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics. In 1904 he was a member of the Galt F.C. team, which won the gold medal in the soccer tournament.
