The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy provides internal scientific advice to the President

Presidents need scientific advice. From climate change and pandemics to AI governance and the nation’s nuclear arsenal, science is at the center of a range of foreign and domestic policy challenges arriving on the president’s desk.

Fortunately for the president – ​​and the nation – the Office of Science and Technology Policy, known as OSTP, sits just across the South Lawn from the White House, in the Executive Office of the President. Led by the scientific advisor to the presidentOSTP serves as a one-stop shop for all things science and innovation at the White House.

The Office of Science and Technology Policy is also responsible for coordinating the government’s large decentralized system of research and development policy. With dozens of participants agencies, offices and departments – and 10 with individual R&D budgets of more than $1 billion per year – OSTP works to break down silos within government and oversee the health of the nation’s vast R&D ecosystem.

As a researcher study the United States science advisory systemI am a close observer of OSTP and the scientific program of the president. President-elect Donald Trump recently selected Michael Kratsiosthe chief technology officer of his previous administration, as the next science advisor and director of OSTP.

Here’s a look back at the history of OSTP, the areas where the science advisor has made a difference, and how the office could be organized within the Trump White House.

The origins of the scientific advisor during the Cold War

Like many good stories about American science policy, that of OSTP starts with Sputnik. Just days after the Soviet Union took the lead in the space race with the launch of Sputnik I and II in 1957, President Dwight Eisenhower elevated the World War II Scientific Advisory Committee to a committee scientific advisory. President’s Scientific Advisory Committee. This single-word change signals the increased role of scientists in the White House.

The President’s Scientific Advisory Committee was extremely influential under the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations. It helped create NASA. This led the government’s response to Rachel Carson’s investigation into the dangers of widespread pesticide use, “Silent Spring”, which launched the modern environmental movement. And that was the driving force behind the spectacular growth in federal R&D spending in the 1960s.

President John F. Kennedy created the Office of Science and Technology, OSTP’s predecessor, to staff the Committee’s activities and respond to growing demands from the executive office on how best to fund federal science programs.

The influence of the President’s Scientific Advisory Committee declined at the end of the 1960sburdened by the administrative tasks of managing America’s growing R&D system and a diminishing role in national security. Some White House policy advisers also feared that the committee would put the interests of the scientific community ahead of those of the president. Some viewed the committee as a “science lobby,” mobilizing public funds to support higher education.

Tensions between science and politics, fueled in part by the Vietnam War, flared under President Nixon. After several committee members spoke out publicly against several of his flagship defense programs, Nixon abolished both the President’s Science Advisory Committee and the Office of Science and Technology in 1973.

This decision prompted Congress to act. With the support of President Gerald Ford, he adopted the Law on National Science and Technology Policy, Organization and Priorities in 1976, which established the Office of Science and Technology Policy an independent agency at the White House and consolidated the role of the scientific advisor in law. Nearly half a century later, this act remains the the nation’s only attempt establish a comprehensive national science policy.

The law designed the original OSTP plan, much of which remains intact today. OSTP is led by a presidentially appointed and Senate-confirmed director who serves as scientific advisor, up to four Senate-confirmed associate directors, and two policy advisors: the President’s Council of Science and Technology Advisors and the National Science and Technology Council. These organizations are organized to work in tandem: PCAST ​​advises; The NSTC is taking action.

With an annual operating budget of $8 million, OSTP is a small agency US Government Standards. It employs only two to three dozen full-time employees. The rest of the staff works in detail elsewhere in the executive branch.

Who has the president’s ear?

The Office of Science and Technology Policy is accused by Congress to “serve as a source of scientific and technological analysis and judgment to the President” and coordinate the US federal R&D effort of nearly $200 billion per year.

The office has been criticalespecially from inside the science policy communityas being a minor player in the White House. He has no real budgetary authority and the stature of the scientific advisor is marked by the frequency with which the president follows his advice.

However, much of what the science advisor does takes place out of public view. One of the most important positions in the job has no footprint: the scientific advisor kill bad ideas. The science advisor is often the only voice in the White House fighting to defund science to be cut of the president annual budget request in Congress.

Nevertheless, the influence of the scientific advisor was evident on many policies, often closely linked to the administration’s priorities. Allan Bromley, science advisor to President George HW Bush, developed THE the first in the country national technology policy, lay the foundations for the US government’s current approach to innovation.

President Bill Clinton’s advisers, John Gibbons and Neal Lane, defended first electric vehicles And nanotechnology.

President George W. Bush’s science advisor, Jack Marburger, stimulated the creation of the “science policy science» as a research discipline, leading to new knowledge about how science works and benefits the public.

John Holdren, science adviser to President Barack Obama, has changed federal energy And climate policy.

Biden scientists Eric Lander, Alondra Nelson, Arati Prabhakar and Francis Collins led historic policies on semiconductors, public access to federally funded research And AI.

Science Advice to the Trump White House

Until now, all scientific advisors have been qualified scientists. Before serving as U.S. chief technology officer during Trump’s first term, Michael Kratsios had executive experience in venture capital and political science training.

It’s an unconventional choice, but not very controversial. Even without an advanced degree in science, technology, engineering or mathematics, Kratsios’ selection was publicly very GOOD received by STEM advocacy organizations, a handy sign in light of Trump’s patchy first term science file And well-documented contempt of scientific consensus.

Titles matter, especially in Washington. If confirmed by the Senate, Kratsios will serve as director of OSTP as well as assistant to the president for science and technology, a title that indicates direct access to the president as senior aide to the White House. With that of Silicon Valley disproportionate influence In the Trump transition, Kratsios and OSTP appear empowered to reshape America’s vision of science and innovation.

This story is part of a profile series Cabinet and high-level administrative positions.

This story has been updated to correct a typo in the size of the OSTP budget.