LJWorld.com

Felix Moos has been busier than usual this week fielding inquiries about an intelligence training program he helped spearhead.

The pickup in discussions is due to a front-page article published this week in the Chronicle of Higher Education about the Pat Roberts Intelligence Scholars Program, which the Kansas University anthropology professor proposed shortly after the 9-11 terrorist attacks. The program, which started last year, gives language and culture training at universities to government intelligence analysts.

"I get these every day," he said, sorting through a stack of e-mails from people with questions or comments about the program. "Most of the reaction has been, 'Where can I sign up, and where can I get the money?'"

He's hoping the article, which quotes both supporters and critics of training intelligence officers in college classrooms, will help spark a dialogue about the role that universities should play in intelligence-gathering activities. He said those discussions had been lacking since intelligence failures were cited in not detecting the 9-11 terrorist attacks.

As part of that dialogue, he'll answer questions as part of an online chat with the Chronicle at noon today.

"I just want to open a dialogue," Moos said. "I'm not encouraging having spies on university campuses. That's not what I intend to argue for."

The Pat Roberts program, named for the Kansas senator who serves as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, currently includes 110 intelligence analysts enrolled at universities across the country. Participants receive up to $25,000 annually to go to school in exchange for spending at least 18 months working as an analyst.

The initial program proposed by Moos was for traditional college-aged students, not current analysts. Moos also said he thought it should be a "transparent" program -- the pilot program, because it includes current intelligence employees, will not provide a list of participants, and participants aren't required to share their affiliation with professors or research subjects.

The Chronicle of Higher Education Simons: Roberts and Moos: Right men, right place, right time (7-24-04) Letter: Don't be misled (7-27-04) Wanted: Spies for hot spots (7-16-04) KU prof's CIA training proposal passes Congress (11-28-03)

That perceived secrecy is the biggest concern among opponents of the program.

"A key defining feature of an open, vibrant democracy, it seems to me, is that there are sectors of society, including higher education, that should be independent of the state -- particularly from agencies of the state that are involved in things like propaganda dissemination and spying," David N. Gibbs, associate professor of history and political science at the University of Arizona, told the Chronicle.

Moos said some of the complaints he'd heard about the Pat Roberts program had been personal in nature. But he noted that he'd had a series of e-mails with one of the program's loudest opponents, David Price, an associate professor of anthropology at St. Martin's College in Lacey, Wash.

"I think that's what we need more of," Moos said. "If the Chronicle of Higher Education article uncorks these kinds of issues, that would be wonderful."