Wincon ’89 Due Back Amid Signs of Mild Thaw Between Hawks, Doves

After a year’s hiatus, Orange County’s annual defense technology expo will return to the Westin South Coast Plaza hotel in late January, for 3 days of discussion on weapons and technology in the 21st Century.

Early brochures imply that it is business as usual for Wincon, the controversial Winter Conference on Aerospace and Electronic Systems. But that is not exactly the case.

The conference has traditionally brought together Pentagon representatives and defense contractors for mostly classified discussions of government contracts and weapons systems. It also has been a forum for picketing, candlelight vigils and civil disobedience by members of the Alliance for Survival, the Catholic Worker and other peace activists.

Wincon ’88 was canceled after difficulties arose in finding a defense contractor to sponsor it. Wincon ’89 will be sponsored by Teledyne Systems in Northridge. Peace activists took credit for the conference’s cancellation and held a daylong expo on the conversion of military manufacturing to peacetime development in its stead.

Thaw in Air

This year, however, a thaw is in the air between the hawks and the doves.

A plan for picketing peaceniks to be embraced by Wincon fell through after 3 months of negotiations. But members of the Alliance for Survival contend that the conference has changed its slant from weapons to commercial technology since it last convened in 1987.

The conference has met 28 times, all in Southern California. During the last four meetings, participants stayed at the Westin. They were bused to the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station for most sessions, which bore such titles as “Finding the Threat.”

This year, however, there are two new arrivals on the weapons-discussion scene. Wincon ’89 brochures say the conference “explores technology in the 21st Century” and list sessions entitled “Future Technology Options” and “International Cooperation.”

“I have never seen topics like that discussed at Wincon on previous agendas,” said Marion Pack, executive director of the Alliance for Survival. “They are leaning much more toward commercial development. . . . The conference has a slightly different focus.”

Suggested Cooperation

It was this new focus--as seen in the conference literature--that sent Pack to her computer terminal to type up a letter to Wincon organizers. The letter was dated July 7, and it asked if there was any chance for the weapons conference and the alliance to cooperate in 1989.

“I believe that both our organizations share the hope that through our advancement in new fields of technology we can solve many of the world’s problems,” Pack’s letter said. “We are both, in different ways, working towards the same goal. Is there a possibility we can accomplish it more effectively by working together?”

Wincon’s answer was a definite maybe.

David Klein, associate general chairman of Wincon ‘89, denies that the conference is anything but a weapons forum and said that the two sessions in question will discuss “the future of defense, space, the Department of Defense and NASA.” But conference organizers did meet with Pack to work out how Wincon and the alliance could form a truce, if only an uneasy one.

Pack said she asked the group to allow peace activists to conduct a full panel discussion within Wincon’s schedule. The discussion would address issues such as converting military technology to peaceful use.

Wincon organizers ultimately agreed that a single alliance speaker could lecture officials from the Pentagon and major weapons makers for 20 to 25 minutes about the types of aerospace technology that peace groups could support.

By early in November, Wincon changed its mind.

Klein said Tuesday that having an alliance speaker address the conference was “one of five or 10 options” discussed by Wincon and the alliance.

“But after they (alliance leaders) talked and came back, we decided it didn’t fit into this particular forum,” Klein said. The conversation between the alliance and the convention organizers “was exploratory to see if there was a common thread. There is. We will try to channel them to take part in IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) activities, but not particularly Wincon.”