The Jasons

A provocative inside look at the elite scientists who have worked behind the scenes to influence American science and policy for half a centuryThey call themselves Jason. Their group is a child of the Manhattan Project by way of the cold war, and they count among their ranks scientific stars like Freeman Dyson and Murray Gell- Mann, and among their mentors Edward Teller and Hans Bethe. They've inherited a mission from the Manhattan Project—to counsel the government on the military uses of pure science—and have gathered every summer since 1960 to solve highly classified problems for the…