Science advisor John Holdren with President Obama
Forty years ago today, on May 11,1976, President Gerald Ford signed the “National Science and Technology Policy, Organization, and Priorities Act of 1976” into law. The act outlined a national policy for science and technology (S&T) and established the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) within the Executive Office of the president. OSTP, historically a very small office, has wide range of responsibilities, including advising the president on all matters related to S&T and ensuring his or her policy priorities are implemented in research activities, budgets and regulations across the federal government. The 40th anniversary of the office is an occasion to recognize the important role of S&T in federal policymaking within the White House and commend the visibility given to science during the Obama administration.
The director of OSTP has traditionally also served as the president’s advisor on S&T, informally referred to as the president’s “science advisor.” President Obama’s science advisor, John Holdren, has held the title Assistant the President for Science and Technology — reporting directly to President Barack Obama —throughout his remarkable, seven-year tenure with the administration. His title, access to and trust of the president has not been the case for all science advisors.
Ford’s legislation came just three years after President Richard Nixon abolished the White House Office of Science and Technology (OST) amid growing tensions between Nixon and the scientific community during the Vietnam War. The members of the President’s Science Advisory Committee (PSAC), an independent advisory panel to the president, openly opposed Nixon’s supersonic transport and anti-ballistic missile programs and resigned in protest. In response, Nixon eliminated the position of science advisor and chose to not re-staff PSAC, dismantling the S&T advisory structure in the White House developed during the early Cold War. OST’s civilian duties were moved to the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the position science advisor was transferred to NSF’s then director, H. Guyford Stever.
Ford recognized the importance of S&T advice in the White House and, in light of Nixon’s actions, decided to establish OSTP, and the position of its director, through legislation, rather than by executive order. He nominated Stever to serve as its first director. Ford stated upon signing the bill into law:
“Those of us here today share a very strong view that science and engineering and technology can and must continue to make great contributions to the achievement of our goals. We look to the men and women of our scientific and engineering community to provide new knowledge and to provide new products and services that we need for the growth of our economy, for the improvement of our health and for the defense of our Nation and for a better life for all.”
Since Ford’s remarks, advances in S&T have continued to shape federal policymaking in a growing number of areas including national and domestic security, energy, climate change and the environment, health and medicine, public safety, education and space science and exploration. OSTP is involved in each of these areas, through its advisory role to the president and in coordinating S&T research programs and activities across the federal government. One such example is the National Nanotechnology Initiative, created under President Bill Clinton in 2000 with the help of his science advisor, Neal Lane, who today serves as a senior fellow in science and technology policy at the Baker Institute. The program now involves 20 federal agencies and has an annual budget of approximately $1.5 billion. Research activities and funding for NNI are managed by an office within the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), OSTP’s cabinet-level council dedicated to coordinating S&T across the federal government.
OSTP has expanded considerably over the past four decades to meet new public policy challenges, and today staffs a record number 130 members. OSTP also houses the Presidential Council of Advisers on Science and Technology (PCAST), an independent advisory board co-chaired by the director of OSTP, who reports to the president, similar to PSAC. PCAST, originally created by executive order under President George H.W. Bush, has been notably active during the Obama administration, holding a public meeting every other month and releasing regular reports at the president’s request. Holdren, his staff at OSTP, and PCAST have been instrumental in a wide range of S&T initiatives and policies including scientific integrity, public access to data, energy and climate change research and STEM education. Their efforts demonstrate the growing number of ways S&T can be used to meet the needs of society.
Kenneth M. Evans, Ph.D., is a postdoctoral fellow in science and technology policy at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. His research focuses on how science impacts public policy and how the public impacts science research and development.