Bush's Shrinking Safety Zone

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From EE Times of 31 July 2006

Quashed report tracks design exodus
A controversial report suppressed for two years by the Bush administration provides what critics claim is the most exhaustive look yet at the outsourcing of U.S. high-tech jobs. The congressionally mandated report, compiled by the Commerce Department's Technology Administration, also contains stark predictions about the future of U.S. chip design as many more U.S. engineering jobs emigrate to low-cost locations like India.

The 356-page report--details of which were first reported last week by the newsletter Manufacturing & Technology News--was written in July 2004. But it was withheld during a presidential election year, after political wrangling between the White House and Democrats on the House Science Committee failed to reach a compromise on terms of its release. A 12-page summary published at the time omitted many of the final report's controversial findings. This spring, Science Committee members finally reached a deal to pressure the Bush administration to release the full report.