0.10 Resurrection? 1974-76  (Page 6/6)

Title III requires the president to establish a President’s Committee on Science and Technology (PCST), charged with conducting an extensive science, engineering and technology survey.

Without a doubt, the OSTP act is the most far-sighted, comprehensive statement of national science policy goals and principles ever to be enunciated by any branch of the federal government. But there is also little doubt that the attempt to legislate a national science policy and to define the science advisor’s responsibilities in terms of its implementation undermined both the objectives of requiring the White House to conceptualize science policy in broader terms and assuring effective presidential access to the official designated to advise the president on implementation of the grand strategy.

Although the OSTP Act became law approximately six months prior to the November 1976 presidential election in which Ford would be defeated by Jimmy Carter, Ford gave every indication that he would remain faithful to Congress’ intentions. In July, he nominated Stever as OSTP Director, and Stever moved rapidly during the next five months to implement the provisions of the new act. Philip Smith, who had served as his executive assistant at NSF, moved with Stever to the Executive Office of the President as assistant director of OSTP. The OSTP negotiated contracts with two consulting firms to plan preparation of the first Five-Year Outlook and the first Annual Science and Technology Report to the Congress . The Intergovernmental Science, Engineering, and Technology Advisory Panel (ISETAP), the Federal Coordinating Committee on Science, Engineering, and Technology (FCCSET) were activated, as was the President’s Council on Science and Technology (PCST).

By the end of his term, Ford was beginning to think in strategic terms about linking science and technology investments to national goals Ibid, 212. just as Congress had intended. Ford also took pride in having reversed the downward trend in federal R&D expenditures that had started in 1967. Between fiscal years 1968 and 1975, Federal fiscal years began on July 1 until 1975, after which they began on October 1. total federal R&D expenditures, as measured in constant 1972 dollars, declined from $18.1 billion to $14.5 billion. Science Indicators reports. During the two fiscal years in which the Ford administration presented its budget request to Congress, total R&D investments were $15.1 and $15.4 billion respectively. These upward trends were to continue throughout the subsequent Carter administration, reaching $16.5 billion in fiscal year 1980. Federal expenditures for basic research, which had declined from $2.93 billion in fiscal year 1968 to $2.54 billion in fiscal year 1975, rose to $2.60 billion in fiscal year 1976, $2.72 billion in fiscal year 1977, and to $3.13 billion in fiscal year 1980.

On August 13, 1976, the day after Stever was sworn in as science advisor, Ford nominated Simon Ramo as chairman of PCST. Nine more PCST members were named in October. At the first two committee meetings, responsibilities for each of the thirteen components of the congressionally mandated federal science and technology survey were assigned to the members, and six additional meetings were scheduled for 1977.

On March 16, 1977, the pro forma resignations of all PCST members were accepted by the new Carter administration. Thereafter, PCST and the survey it was supposed to carry out were dead letters, as was the idea that the executive and legislative branches could cooperate closely in implementing a national science policy. This was to be among several early indications that the Carter administration’s implementation of the OSTP Act would be halfhearted at best.