Reply #11: Some more on Vest....but not relating to the Voting Project...interesting [View All]

[KoKo]

MIT joins the cover-up

A committee called Phase One Engineering Team (POET) was appointed by a special agent hired by the US Department of Justice to examine the 1997 TRW test results. Two researchers from the MIT Lincoln Laboratory played major roles, with one of them appointed as the chairman of this committee.

Their report exonerated TRW from the accusation previously leveled by Schwartz that TRW, with the Pentagon’s collusion, faked the test results. Uncritically basing its conclusions upon the manipulated test data provided by TRW, instead of demanding and utilizing raw data from the tests, the report claimed that discrimination algorithms “are well designed and work properly.”

Professor Postol conducted his own analysis of the 1997 TRW test and found the conclusions drawn by the POET team utterly unwarranted. Suspecting scientific fraud, he wrote to MIT President Charles Vest to initiate an inquiry into the conclusions of the POET report.

When Postol’s letter elicited no action, even after nine months, he then lodged a formal complaint against Vest in January 2002. He appealed to the chairman of MIT Corporation, Alexander V. D’Arbeloff, charging that Vest had failed to take any action to investigate “a serious case of scientific fraud that has taken place under his oversight of the MIT Administration.”

Initially, the MIT administration claimed the report issued by POET belonged to the government and the university had no obligation to investigate its accuracy. However, because of media publicity given to Postol’s charges, MIT was forced to open an inquiry. The university appointed Dr. Edward F. Crawley, head of the department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, to look into these charges. After several months of deliberation, Dr. Crawley recommended a formal investigation in December 2002. The MIT administration is yet to publicly comment on what it will do to implement this recommendation.

w.wsws.org/articles/2003/mar2003/nmd-m14.shtml+Charles+Vest+joins+board&hl=en