The Committee of Concerned Scientists (CCS) is a human rights
organization composed of scientists, engineers, and scholars who
promote academic and personal freedom for their colleagues
worldwide. The Committee supports the rights of scientists to
collaborate on research and share data, travel to conferences
and meetings, and emigrate if they choose. More broadly, CCS
advocates human treatment of all individuals and government
compliance with human rights agreements. The group began in 1972
as an ad hoc committee of scientists based in New York City and
Washington DC. It originally concentrated on helping Soviet
colleagues, especially refusenik scientists. The term refusenik
refers to citizens of the USSR who applied to leave the country
and were denied exit visas. Most refusenik scientists were
refused on the grounds of possessing "state secrets" that they
might share with foreigners. They often lost their jobs at
universities and research facilities and were barred from
attending scientific conferences. Som