Science Advising in the Legislative and Executive Branches

Details Science Advising in the Legislative and Executive Branches Science Advising in the Legislative and Executive Branches

Apr 2002

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002aps..apr.k6002z&link_type=abstract

American Physical Society, April Meeting, Jointly Sponsored with the High Energy Astrophysics Division (HEAD) of the American As

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Scientific paper

Almost every action of modern government has some scientific and technical component. However, most senior officials who must set policy and make decisions have little or no scientific training. As a result a small, but growing, number of professional scientists have left their research careers for new ones providing the needed technical advice. Interestingly enough, the job of "science adviser" is very different in the Executive Branch than it is in Congress. The major part of that difference comes from the responsibilities of the parent organization: the Executive actually sets the policies, proposes budgets, and then must perform. As science adviser to the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency and, after its merger with the State Department, I felt that I had a direct effect on how some issues were resolved. Congress, on the other hand, has the responsibility for authorizing and appropriating funds and setting the terms for their use. It exerts much of its power through holding hearings to make points to the public and the administration, but the adviser is usually placed bureaucratically much closer to the Senator or Congressman being advised than to a principal within the Executive Branch and may have more opportunities to communicate with his boss A science adviser is paid to advise on science, not policy, and must do his or her best not to shape the science to fit a desired outcome, the adviser's or the boss's. There are never enough scientists on staff to cover the territory; in all likelihood, there never will be. That makes it incumbent upon the adviser to reach out to his colleagues in ever-widening circles and across boundaries of disciplines. It certainly means learning new science along the way -- when I joined the SFRC staff last summer, I never dreamed that I would have to learn so much biology and medicine in a matter of days. The science community also has an obligation if it wants to see good science advising in Washington: be available; provide information; and help expand the circle of people on tap to give sound scientific information as uncolored by ideology as possible. In the end, of course, the success or failure of science advising at either end of Pennsylvania Avenue depends upon the chemistry between the adviser and his or her principal. I have been incredibly lucky in that respect. Solely the opinions of the author and not necessarily of the Foreign Relations Committee, the U.S. Senate, or the U.S. Government

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