US President George Bush Receives Some Gratuitous Advice From FAS. (December 27, 2004)

      Early this month the The US Federation of American Scientists (FAS) offered the Bush administration free advice on how to improve its making of decisions with regard to matters scientific.

Whether or not it will be heeded is moot.

FAS wants both Congress and the Executive Branch to receive more and better input on policy issues which are, or should be, based on scientific knowledge as well as advice affecting the furtherance of scientific research.

In 1995 the US Congress liquidated the Office of Technology Assessment which wrote its epitaph: "The congressional Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) closed its doors September 29, 1995. For 23 years, the non-partisan analytical agency assisted Congress with the complex and highly technical issues that increasingly affect our society. The 104th Congress voted to withdraw funding for OTA and its full-time staff of 143 persons... ."

According to Science, FAS has now suggested that a US$20-million-plus-a-year replacement be inaugurated as well as increasing resources "for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to better coordinate the work of federal agencies."

FAS president Henry Kelly told Science, "Now that the election is over, we're offering non-partisan, practical solutions to meet the government's need for the best technical advice. You can't force the government to base its policies on science, but you can improve the chances that it will."

Who knows with the Executive Branch's crop of know-alls showing some signs of increasing vulnerability FAS' call just may have an effect.