Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

The President's Scientist

2009; Cell Press; Volume: 139; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.cell.2009.11.024

1097-4172

Neal F. Lane, Kirstin R.W. Matthews,

Research, Science, and Academia

The science advisor to the US president has the opportunity to influence how scientific research is supported by the federal government, as well as the ways in which science and technology can be applied to meet the needs of society. The science advisor to the US president has the opportunity to influence how scientific research is supported by the federal government, as well as the ways in which science and technology can be applied to meet the needs of society. On March 19, 2009, John P. Holdren became President Barack Obama's science advisor. Holdren, a physicist, was previously a professor of environmental policy and director of the program on Science, Technology, and Public Policy at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and director of the Wood's Hole Research Center. The science advisor to the US president, who by tradition also serves as director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), has a unique role. He (to date, all science advisors have been male) is the voice for science and technology (S&T) policy within the administration. The science advisor is expected to give the president objective, confidential advice based on the best information available on the state of science and the nation's technological capabilities, regardless of political or other considerations. The science advisor position is not unique to the US. However, countries with parliamentary systems usually have a minister, whose responsibilities include science and technology; and many serve an advisory function as well. The science advisor to the US president is a member of the president's White House team, comprised of all the president's senior aides, who work together to ensure that the president's priorities are being implemented on all policy matters. The science advisor must support the president's decisions, regardless of whether he agrees with them, and avoid being seen as a lobbyist of the scientific community. As D. Allan Bromley stated in his 2004 book The President's Scientists: Reminiscences of a White House Science Advisor, “the moment the Advisor is perceived to be functioning on behalf of the scientific community…his effectiveness and the cooperation that he receives from the other senior staff members disappear almost instantaneously.” Harvey Brooks, who was considered by many to be the father of science policy in the US, found it helpful to define two kinds of science policy: “policy for science,” e.g., funding and regulation of research and development (R&D) activities, and “science for policy,” e.g., S&T applied to broader societal needs such as health, energy, environment, and national security (Brooks, 1988Brooks H. Issues in High-Level Science Advising.in: Golden W.T. Science and Technology Advice to the President, Congress, and Judiciary. Pergamon Press, New York1988: 51Google Scholar). Given the breadth of the policy domain covered by this definition of science policy, the science advisor must be knowledgeable and current on a wide range of issues such as counterterrorism and national security; climate change and the environment; biodiversity; energy production and consumption; information technology, internet access, and cybersecurity; biomedical research and health; science and engineering education and work force development; space exploration and science; food safety; R&D funding; and other issues. The science advisor works closely with his counterparts in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on all issues related to funding and regulations, e.g., ensuring that the budgets of cabinet-level departments and agencies reflect the president's S&T priorities. The science advisor also convenes agency heads or deputies, under the auspices of the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), to develop priorities for interagency activities and follow up where necessary. S&T are important to the missions of most departments and agencies, with many supporting R&D activities in universities, national laboratories, and industry. However, heads of departments and agencies have wide-ranging responsibilities and lack resources to focus on S&T activities. This is the job of the science advisor. During the G.H.W. Bush, Clinton, and Obama administrations, the position of science advisor has included the title “Assistant to the President,” a designation reserved for senior aides reporting directly to the president. The title implies that the science advisor has direct, personal access and interaction with the president, which should be used sparingly because the president's calendar is always crowded. The title also signals that the science advisor is to be considered a member of the president's team of senior advisors and is to be included in all White House discussions relating to S&T. It is important to note, however, that science advisors who have not held the title “Assistant to the President” have indicated that the lack of the title did not prevent them from communicating with the president. The Office of Science and Technology Policy or OSTP is a small federal agency, with its own budget appropriation, that is also part of the Executive Office of the President (EOP) (http://www.ostp.gov). OSTP consists of a US Senate-confirmed director and up to four Senate-confirmed associate directors. The current staff numbers more than 60, including specialists on detail from other federal agencies. OSTP was created during the Ford Administration by “The National Science and Technology Policy, Organization, and Priorities Act of 1976.” H. Guyford Stever served as the first director. The Act authorizes OSTP to advise the president and others within the EOP on the impacts of S&T on domestic and international affairs; lead an interagency effort to develop and implement sound S&T policies and budgets; work with the private sector to ensure that federal investments in S&T contribute to economic prosperity, environmental quality, and national security; build strong partnerships among federal, state, and local governments, other countries, and the scientific community; and evaluate the scale, quality, and effectiveness of the federal effort in S&T. OSTP has been able to do some of these things better than others. The science advisor has served as director of OSTP since the agency's establishment. Science advising to presidents can be traced back to World War II (WWII) and Vannevar Bush (Table 1). Bush served as head of the Office of Scientific Research and Development under Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman. In 1945, he authored Science: The Endless Frontier, a report advocating the creation of a governmental agency to fund science and engineering R&D (Bush, 1945Bush V. Science: The Endless Frontier. National Science Foundation, Washington, DC1945Google Scholar). The report served as a guide in establishing the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 1950.Table 1Presidential Science AdvisorsTrumanOliver E. BuckleyEngineer1951–1952Lee A. DuBridgePhysicist1952–1953EisenhowerLee A. DuBridgePhysicist1953–1956Isidor I. RabiPhysicist1956–1957James R. Killian, Jr.Engineer and Administrator1957–1959George B. KistiakowskyChemist1959–1961KennedyJerome B. WiesnerEngineer1961–1963JohnsonJerome B. WiesnerEngineer1963–1964Donald F. HornigChemist1964–1969NixonLee A. DuBridgePhysicist1969–1970Edward E. David, Jr.Engineer1970–1973FordH. Guyford SteverPhysicist and Engineer1973–1977CarterFrank PressGeophysicist1977–1981ReaganGeorge A. Keyworth, IIPhysicist1981–1985William R. Graham, Jr.Physicist1986–1989G.H. BushD. Allan BromleyPhysicist1989–1993ClintonJohn H. GibbonsPhysicist1993–1998Neal F. LanePhysicist1998–2001G.W. BushJohn H. Marburger IIIPhysicist2001–2009ObamaJohn P. HoldrenPhysicist2009–presentInformation based on data from the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) webpage http://www.ostp.gov and Wikipedia. Open table in a new tab Information based on data from the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) webpage http://www.ostp.gov and Wikipedia. Following WWII, Presidents Truman and Eisenhower appointed eminent scientists as advisors, but the Russian launch of Sputnik elevated the position to report directly to the president (Killian, 1977Killian Jr., J.R. Sputnik, Scientists, and Eisenhower: A Memoir of the First Special Assistant to the President for Science and Technology. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA1977Google Scholar). Subsequent presidents appointed scientists—most were physicists—and engineers to help guide science policy. During the early Cold War years, two of the highest-priority policy issues were nuclear weapons and the space race, areas that involved physics and engineering. Most presidents have appointed highly qualified science advisors; however, their impact depended on their personal relationships with the presidents and sometimes outside influences. Science advisors for both Presidents Kennedy and Johnson found their access to the presidents hindered by discontent within the scientific community over the Vietnam War. This disconnect was amplified during the Nixon administration, culminating in the resignation of his science advisor, Edward E. David, after public disclosure that members of the President's science advisory committee disagreed with several of Nixon's policies. David's duties were assigned to H. Guyford Stever, then director of NSF. When President Ford assumed office, he brought Stever to the White House as his full-time science advisor and the first director of the OSTP (Stever, 2002Stever H.G. War and Peace: My Life in Science and Technology. Joseph Henry Press, Washington, DC2002Google Scholar). Frank Press, science advisor to President Carter, taking a lesson from the experiences of some of his predecessors, emphasized that his job was to serve the President rather than represent the scientific community. The modern era of science advisors, which we will define as the end of the Cold War, began with D. Allan Bromley, President G.H.W. Bush's science advisor, who was the first to hold the title, “Assistant to the President for Science and Technology.” Bush, with Bromley's advice, issued the first technology policy statement and created an external advisory committee, the President's Council of Advisors in Science and Technology (PCAST). Bush signed the Global Change Research Act of 1990 as well as the 1992 U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, which served as the foundation for the Kyoto Accord and subsequent agreements (Bromley, 2004Bromley D.A. The President's Scientists: Reminiscences of a White House Science Advisor. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT2004Google Scholar). Bromley also gave considerable attention to international issues and coordinating the S&T activities of federal agencies. President Clinton's two science advisors, John H. Gibbon and Neal Lane, worked to improve funding for science (especially the physical sciences) and engineering research. Gibbons emphasized connections between S&T and national needs, particularly in the areas of energy, environment, climate change, and new technologies (Gibbons, 1997Gibbons J.H. This Gifted Age: Science and Technology at the Millennium. American Institute of Physics, Woodbury, NY1997Google Scholar). Lane focused on establishing Clinton's National Nanotechnology Initiative and the “Twenty-First Century Research Fund,” which provided large increases for federal research. Other priorities included energy R&D, international cooperation in S&T, post-Kyoto negotiations, the doubling of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget (a congressional initiative), stem cell research, the human genome project, cybersecurity, and missile defense. President G.W. Bush's science advisor, John H. Marburger, III, came into office 9 months into the administration. Marburger did not have the “Assistant to the President” title but indicated that he had no problem getting his advice to the president. By the time Marburger arrived, Bush had already set his policies on climate change and stem cell research. In addition, because of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, national and domestic security became the president's top priority; therefore, OSTP was focused on related R&D issues. Toward the end of the administration, Bush requested increased funding for the physical sciences and engineering and he signed the America COMPETES Act, which authorized these increases. But biomedical research faltered after the completion of the NIH budget doubling, and funding levels decreased (relative to inflation) after 2004. Marburger was also called upon to defend the Bush administration against allegations that it often placed politics above scientific integrity. There are a number of lessons we can draw from the experiences of science advisors to presidents since WWII. First, science advisors who have been most influential have been those who dealt with issues most relevant to the president, such as Vannevar Bush advising on defense R&D during WWII, Press dealing with energy issues after the oil crisis, and Bromley addressing international issues after the fall of the Berlin Wall. In the beginning of the Cold War, S&T issues were focused on narrow technical matters such as nuclear weapons, missiles, and the space race. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago, S&T has become more diffuse, especially with the emphasis on health research, oil crises, and a strong environmental push starting in the 1960s. The role of the science advisor has also become more ambiguous as a result and requires a knowledge of and ability to retain a vast array of scientific information. Second, science advisors have found their jobs to be particularly difficult during times when the scientific community was vocal in opposing the president's policies, e.g., the Vietnam War (Johnson), nuclear policies (Nixon), and allegations that the administration was placing politics above science (G.W. Bush). It is not easy to promote policies, funding or otherwise, that would seem to benefit a community that is vocal in its opposition to the president. For example, President G.W. Bush expected more credit than he received for his decision to allow the NIH to fund embryonic stem cell research on lines created before his executive order on August 9, 2001, perhaps later impacting biomedical funding. Finally, any suspicion that the science advisor has come to the White House with the primary objective of increasing funding for research, rather than supporting the president with confidential objective advice, severely limits the science advisor's credibility and effectiveness. Nixon's advisor, DuBridge, was excluded from budget discussions after arguing for increases in NSF's budget. Although it is understood that the science advisor is likely to be an advocate for S&T, including R&D funding, any arguments for increased funding must be linked to the president's top priorities. To put it in the simplest terms, the science advisor must be relevant, objective, and loyal to the president and stay out of trouble—even trouble that is not of his own making. In December 2008, during the transition period prior to President Obama taking office, John Holdren was selected to be the President's science advisor. Holdren was a familiar figure in Washington, having had a long history of involvement in public policy, and is considered a world expert on energy and climate change policy as well as national security issues, e.g., nonproliferation. He served as president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2006 and was a member of PCAST during the Clinton administration. Holdren was confirmed in March 2009, with the title “Assistant to the President,” and quickly began shaping policy within the administration. He provided advice on the appointments of other science policy-related positions, including that of the administrator at NASA and the director of NIH. Today, Holdren faces a multitude of challenges that directly relate to those faced by the President—the nation's economic collapse, record unemployment, spiraling health care costs, demands for carbon-free energy, threats from unfriendly nations and groups, a failed public K–12 educational system, and rising costs of higher education. In an environment characterized by extreme partisan politics, Holdren faces the challenge of strengthening the link between S&T and a broad agenda of national priorities, as well as advising President Obama on R&D funding priorities. Other challenges include supporting the administration's efforts to depoliticize scientific issues such as stem cell research, evolution, climate change, and research-based regulatory policies in general. In the 2009 appropriations, $151 billion was divided among several federal agencies to support R&D related to their missions; this does not count the additional $20 billion included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA, http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd/omnibus09.htm). The largest fraction of federal R&D funding goes for defense, largely major weapons development and testing. Approximately $65 billion is designated for non-defense R&D, of which $30.5 billion (roughly 47%) supports biomedical R&D funded by NIH (not counting the $10 billion in ARRA stimulus funds for NIH). The balance between biomedical research and all other fields of science and engineering is an important policy issue. Biomedical research, clearly, is important to the health of the American people. But, research in other fields, e.g., the physical, mathematical, nonmedical biological, and social sciences and engineering, also contributes to improving the quality of the lives of Americans through new discoveries and technological innovation, while also providing the breakthroughs and tools needed to advance medical diagnostics and treatment. Finding the right balance for scientific R&D funding should match with national priorities, including health and medicine, national security, energy, climate change, sustainability, and other societal needs. Holdren is also tasked to find ways to improve science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education and to address expected unmet demands for scientists and engineers in the future. The challenge includes educating all young people, whatever their career choices may be; ensuring that students have sufficient mathematics, science, and technical skills to be productive members of society and hold quality jobs; attracting more young women and men to careers in science and engineering; and improving opportunities for talented people from abroad who are interested in studying and working in the United States in critical needs areas. In the roughly 60 years since the end of WWII, science advisors have had varying degrees of influence, largely dependent on whether a president considered science advice to be important to the decisions he was facing on a day-to-day basis. With the strong support of President Obama, who clearly understands the importance of science and investing in research, and success in linking S&T issues with the nation's most pressing needs, Holdren has the unique opportunity to put the US back on track as a world leader in S&T. In addition to his impressive credentials, Holdren also has access to a very large collection of outstanding scientists within the administration and serving as advisors to the White House and federal agencies as well as many other scientists around the country who stand ready to help. One has real cause to be optimistic for the first time in nearly a decade.