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Opposite_Match5303 t1_izs8u85 wrote

Reply to comment by AKiss20 in MIT campus will remain open to public by reveazure

It's not classified stuff, but eg building 31 needed to be locked to the public so labs could get funding from the military None of the grad students working on those projects have security clearances or anything, it just helps them get grants

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AKiss20 t1_izsad4h wrote

I worked in 31 for 10 years starting in 2010. It didn’t used to be locked prior to the renovation. Only certain rooms need to be locked and that’s not because of military issues specifically. They locked the building because before the renovation all grad students were in lockable offices. Now it’s all open floor plan and they had issues with some thefts.

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Opposite_Match5303 t1_izse08x wrote

Interesting, I was a grad student in 31 post-renovation and was told the exact opposite by my advisor

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AKiss20 t1_izsnwke wrote

There’s definitely some security around storing proprietary information, but that’s not military specific. In fact it’s sorta the opposite. Afaik the military doesn’t have a way to make information “proprietary” outside of classification (but I’m not an expert, I never worked on any military sponsored research). Private companies that sponsor research, however, almost always have proprietary information agreements and NDAs with academia as research often involves sharing data that is proprietary.

Lincoln Labs and Draper were created specifically to deal with classified research. That way MIT can claim it has an open research policy but still get that sweet DOD money lol.

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Opposite_Match5303 t1_izsoey7 wrote

My understanding was that eg darpa needed some physical security for the spaces their sponsored research took place in

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BUZZUKKA t1_izsslap wrote

There is no “military research” on the MIT campus. All of the military research is just fundamental research with military advisors trying to find military uses. They also do not have any TS/SCI secured buildings for TS research.

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giritrobbins t1_izsjw5k wrote

Physical security as a part of Government research wouldn't surprise me. Even the unclassified stuff tends to require some level of access control.

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