Asbury Park Press from Asbury Park, New Jersey • Page 27

Asbury Park PressFri, May. 17, 1985 A27 Think tanks tackle the familiar: themselves By HENRY GOTTLIEB The Associated Press WASHINGTON Think tanks, those enclaves of scholars churning out solutions to the world's toughest problems, are getting ready to tackle a topic close to their hearts: think tanks. Sometime next autumn, representatives from 50 large strategic studies research organizations will meet in Washington for two days of thinking and talking about how to improve their booming and increasingly competitive industry. The session could result in a think tank association similar to trade groups set up by hundreds of other businesses, said Brad Roberts, a research fellow organizing the conference for George town University's Center for Strategic and International Studies. "The goal is to foster cooperation and increase stability among such institutions," Roberts said.

In his witty "Political Dictionary," William Safire defines think tanks as places "where physical and social scientists can exercise and socialize in pleasant surroundings while doing profound research and planning on government and commercial assignments." Think tanks such as Georgetown, the Brookings Institution and the American Enterprise Institute have been acting as bridges between the ivory towers of academia and the front lines of government for years, getting their biggest boost after World War II when government leaders recognized the need to put private brainpower to work on public policy. Since 1946, when the Air Force set up the Rand think tanks specializing in strategic studies have germinated ideas for U.S. policies on nuclear weapons, space policies and relations with the Soviet Union and the Middle East. The organizations range in size, orientation and goals. At one end is the well-connected, non-profit, 58-year-old Brookings and its staff of 240 people.

And there are the one- or two-person research firms known to their critics as "Beltway Bandits" because of their location inside or near the highway that circles Washington and their scramble for lucrative government consulting contracts. Roberts did not know the number of think tanks now operating, but said that with the growth of government, there is no doubt that the number of research centers has risen as well. And they are beginning to bump into each other, like the atoms in a nuclear chain reaction, he said. "These institutions have reached a critical mass and might be served by more cooperation," Roberts said. At the same time, he added, the individual scholars at each institution are often in the dark about what their counterparts are doing elsewhere.

For example, Roberts is perennially interested in what other experts are studying in his specialties, which include chemical weapons. The agenda and guest list for the conference is still being planned, but Roberts said only large, private, nonprofit institutions with large strategic studies programs would be invited; no "Beltway Bandits" or centers such as Rand that get most of their money from the government Included will be many from abroad such as the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, whose annual assessment of the East-West military balance is on the "must read" list of every nation's defense department Roberts said ideas that might result from the meeting have already been identified. For example, the think tanks could: Share views on such management problems as how to increase funds. Start a periodic newsletter that would help inform scholars about the doings of researchers at other think tanks, including "comings and goings and works in progress," Roberts said. Talk about creating additional computer linkages and data bases the scholars could use in common.

Arrange to exchange drafts of rtfsearch papers so that scholars can get suggestions from other experts before the work is published. Roberts said there was no danger that increased cooperation between the think tanks would lead to regimentation that would stifle independent thinking. "There are so many institutions and so many focuses, that isn't going to happen," he said. Births MAUNrr OF AUJE0 STORES I' SAVE 40 -59 ON CHINA CRYSTAL SANGO ELEGANT 20 PC. SAVE 42 SEMI-PORCELAIN DINNERWARE SERVICE FOR 4 $69 SAVE 59...

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