Regents running out of patience

Wednesday, July 26, 2006 | 7:28 a.m.

The fight within the university system over whether to make public a heavily censored federal grant application submitted by the Institute for Security Studies has some regents questioning whether UNLV should sever ties with the secretive counterterrorism organization.

"This institute has totally strayed from its original mission of academics," Regent Steve Sisolak said Tuesday. "This is not what was presented to the board when this program was approved three years ago.

"We need to have a discussion of the full board on whether we should be involved with programs where there can be no public scrutiny or accountability."

Regent Mark Alden agreed.

"If they don't want full disclosure, we shouldn't be doing business with them," Alden said. "I'm stunned that they're trying to keep this secret. This is public money."

The regents' concerns - which will be aired at a special Aug. 4 meeting - came as a new obstacle was put up Tuesday to the release of an uncensored version of the institute's application seeking $2.5 million from the Energy Department's National Nuclear Security Administration.

Last week UNLV officials said Energy Department guidelines prevented them from fully releasing the institute's application. Monday, however, Energy officials insisted it was up to UNLV, not them, to decide whether to release an uncensored copy of the application.

Then on Tuesday, UNLV General Counsel Richard Linstrom said that a new reason had emerged to keep key portions of the document secret.

Institute officials have told him, Linstrom said, that three subcontractors have asserted their right to keep secret their dealings with the institute.

At the request of UNLV and the institute, two of the companies - Senteras of Appleton, Wis., and Agora Communications Group of Fairfax, Va. - Tuesday faxed letters insisting that information blacked out in a copy of the 26-page application requested by the Sun remain confidential. Both companies cited proprietary and national security reasons, arguing that American lives could be at risk if the information became public.

The two firms also provided the university with copies of confidentiality agreements that they signed last month with the institute.

After receiving the letters, Linstrom said he believed the best legal course for UNLV was to keep secret the matters in the application related to those two companies.

"I'm concerned that we may have a legal obligation to protect proprietary information with which we've been entrusted," Linstrom said.

He is waiting to see a letter from the third subcontractor, which he declined to identify, before deciding what to do with information in the application related to it, Linstrom said.

Sisolak and Alden will get an opportunity to detail their concerns about the institute at next week's special regents meeting. Sisolak is hoping that several internal audits of the institute, which since 2004 has received $8.9 million, most of it federal money, will be completed by then.

The National Nuclear Security Administration is conducting a separate investigation into why the institute failed to keep it abreast of its changing mission over the past three years.

The institute, among other things, has come under fire for not living up to its promise of turning UNLV into a leading academic authority on homeland security.

This month, the institute, which is part of the UNLV Research Foundation, a nonprofit fundraising arm of the university, turned over control of its stalled master's program to the university. It plans to merge completely with UNLV as early as next month.