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PREFACE |
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Observers of science and technology policy seeking evidence of the growing prominence of their field need look no farther than the table of contents of this 1999 edition of the AAAS Science and Technology Policy Yearbook. Headlining the volume is a chapter by President Bill Clinton, based on his address to the AAAS Annual Meeting in Philadelphia in February 1998. The President spoke on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of AAAS's founding. Paired with his address, as a historical counterpoint, is President Harry S Truman's speech to AAAS's centennial meeting in Washington 50 years ago. Apart from the two presidential addresses, the book includes chapters by two Members of Congress: Vernon Ehlers and George Brown, Jr., respectively the vice-chairman of the House Science Committee and its ranking minority member. In addition, there are chapters by Associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, Stephen Breyer; Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Thomas Pickering; Japanese Minister of Science and Technology, Sadakazu Tanigaki; director of the Office of Management and Budget, Franklin Raines; and then-acting director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), Kerri-Ann Jones; as well as former OSTP director and presidential science advisor Allan Bromley. The addresses by Presidents Truman and Clinton in Part I mirror concerns of scientists in their respective eras. Truman spoke of the efforts to establish a National Science Foundation, but it was his characteristically blunt criticisms of "smears" against scientists by Communist-hunting congressmen that made headlines in The New York Times and The Washington Post. Clinton referred to Truman's speech, but his own was less controversial, focusing instead on his administration's program and presenting an upbeat picture of the role of science and technology at the dawn of the new millennium. The AAAS audience warmly welcomed the President's announcements (not included in here) that he was nominating Neal Lane (who also has a chapter in this Yearbook) as his new science advisor and former AAAS president Rita Colwell to replace Lane as director of the National Science Foundation. The remaining six parts of the book follow a form similar to that of past editions, incorporating a mix of selected papers from the 1998 AAAS Colloquium on Science and Technology Policy and the editors' selection of some of the most significant science and technology policy documents of the past year. Part 2 consists of the 1998 William D. Carey Lecture, which honors Bill Carey, AAAS executive officer from 1974 through 1985, under whose stewardship the Colloquium and many other AAAS science and technology policy activities were initiated. The 1998 lecture, delivered at the Colloquium by Representative George E. Brown, Jr., was the tenth in the series. In it, Brown combines bluntness and eloquence in calling for scientists and engineers not only to become more engaged with the political process, but also to rethink how their activities could better benefit a broader segment of humankind. An excerpt from the much-anticipated report of the House Science Committee's National Science Policy Study opens Part 3 and is followed by a sharply critical commentary by Richard Sclove, director of the Loka Institute. Other chapters in this section, which is devoted to current issues in science and technology policy, deal with science and the environment, science and foreign policy, two views of the relations between science and law, science and technology in Japan, and strategic planning for science and technology at the state level. Evaluation of research is the subject of the five chapters in Part 4. The Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA), which requires evaluation and performance-based budgeting in all government agencies and programs, is the subject of four of the articles, each of which reflects a rather different perspective. The United Kingdom has had several more years of experience with research evaluation than the United States, and the final chapter in this section describes what has been learned from this experience. The section on R&D budget issues (Part 5) includes a presentation of the administration's priorities by Kerri-Ann Jones, then-acting director of OSTP, which keynoted the 1998 Colloquium; a rather candid view of the R&D budget situation from congressional staff member David Goldston; and excerpts from new reports on research funding issues by the Committee on Economic Development and the National Science Board. Finally, Parts 6 and 7 are devoted to the interaction of science and the public and to a review of 150 years of U.S. science policy in honor of the AAAS sesquicentennial. The chapters in Part 6 include papers from a Colloquium session entitled "Scientifically Illiterate versus Politically Clueless," as well as a call by Neal Lane (then director of NSF, now science advisor to President Clinton) for scientists to reach out more actively to the public, and OMB director Franklin Raines's rather critical perspective on research universities. The concluding historical section includes a look at AAAS's role in science policy since the mid1800s, an examination of science advice in the mid-19thcentury and of technology and economic policy from the 1920s through the early 1950s, and a re-examination of the importance of the often-overlooked Steelman Report in shaping postwar U.S. science policy. This Yearbook was produced by the staff of the AAAS Directorate for Science and Policy Programs with guidance and support from the Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy. AAAS publications on related subjects include the annual series of AAAS R&D Reports, published in the spring, which examine funding trends and policy issues associated with R&D in the President's budget, and their fall counterparts, the AAAS Reports on Congressional Action on R&D in the Federal Budget, which present the results of the annual congressional budget process. Periodic updates on science and technology policy and budget issues are provided on the R&D Budget and Policy Program home page on the directorate's web site and through a newsletter, Science and Technology in Congress, published monthly in hardcopy and on the web, when Congress is in session. The directorate maintains e-mail lists to inform regular readers when updates have been posted on the web. Information about these and other AAAS science and technology policy publications, programs, meetings, and services can be found on the web at www.aaas.org/spp. A number of the Colloquium papers included in this volume are based on texts provided by the authors; others have been prepared from transcripts of tape recordings made at the meeting. All have been professionally edited and reviewed by their authors prior to publication. The reader should be aware that the views and opinions represented here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of AAAS. Many people contributed to this Yearbook and we are grateful for their contributions. Most important, of course, are the authors whose works are contained here and whose ideas are the raison d'etre for the book. We also appreciate the efforts of the editor, Rebecca Brune, and production manager Kate Ramoth. Finally, we acknowledge with gratitude the support and guidance of the AAAS Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy, as well as the direct contributions of several members of the committee who helped organize and run the Colloquium. The web site of the Directorate for Science and Policy Programs, as noted above, contains information about AAAS science and technology policy activities and publications. Information may also be obtained by contacting the Directorate at AAAS, 1200 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20005 (telephone: 202 326 6600; fax: 202 289 4950; e-mail: science-policy@aaas.org). Comments on this book and suggestions for articles to be included in future editions are welcome. Please address them to the editors at the address above (e-mail: ateich, snelson, tdrake, or cmcenane@aaas.org).
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