0.11 The carter and reagan years: 1977-89

The fact that the President in reorganizing the science advisory apparatus decided not to make use of a formal outside group such as the President’s Committee on Science and Technology has come under some criticism.

—Frank Press, 1980

Quite simply, basic research is a vital underpinning for our national well-being.

—George A. Keyworth, 1984

Too many scientists have only one mode of discussing federal funding for science–and that’s to predict disaster unless they get more.

—George A. Keyworth, 1985

Reorganization plan no. 1

New President Jimmy Carter waited two months after his 1977 inauguration to designate MIT geophysicist and former PSAC member Frank Press as new OSTP Director. The appointment won high praise from the science community. Philip Boffey, “Frank Press, Long-Shot Candidate, May Become Science Adviser,” Science (February 25, 1977).

Carter was more intent, however, on reducing the size and complexity of the White House bureaucracy than he was on nurturing science policy. In the first Executive Office reorganization plan he submitted to Congress in July, the number of office units was reduced from seventeen to ten. While OSTP survived, its staff was cut from thirty-two to twenty-two, leading Olin Teague (D-TX), chairman of the House Committee on Science and Technology, to ask whether the office was capable of coordinating a vastly expanded federal R&D system as envisioned by Congress when it passed the OSTP Act in 1976.

The reorganization plan abolished or downgraded most of the functions of OSTP that Congress hoped would give the White House a long-range, comprehensive view of national science policy. Of the three external committees mandated by the Science Policy Act, only the Intergovernmental Science, Engineering, and Technology Advisory Panel (ISETAP) was left intact. The Federal Coordinating Committee for Science, Engineering, and Technology (FCCSET) was removed from the OSTP and made a sub-cabinet–level committee chaired by the science advisor—a move that congressional critics felt reduced its effectiveness.

More significantly, Carter abolished The President’s Committee on Science and Technology, eliminating its annual federal science and technology survey, and transferred responsibility for the biennial Five-Year Outlook on Science and Technology and the Annual Science and Technology Report to the Congress to the National Science Foundation. Congressional critics questioned whether NSF had sufficient authority among other agencies to produce reports reflecting the original intent of the Congress. The author was director of NSF’s Office of Special Projects from 1979 through 1983 and in that capacity was responsible for preparing both the Five-Year Outlook and the Annual Report . In preparing the first Outlook , released in 1980, NSF awarded a contract to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to produce a portion of the report dealing with trends in several important disciplines. The NAS published this portion of NSF’s report separately under the title, Five-Year Outlook . On at least one occasion when testifying before a Senate oversight committee, Press referred to the Academy’s publication as the Five-Year Outlook , making no mention whatsoever of the more comprehensive report prepared by NSF.