Research, ideas, and leadership for a more secure, peaceful world
U.S. Research Policy: A Status Report
The debate in recent years in the United States on science andtechnology policy has been conducted mainly by academicsinterested in positioning the output from science and the utilityof technology in their views of the economy, the "Cold War," andthe global market. The discussion has never had much tractionwith the public except in the life sciences and health. Thediscussions in the U.S. Congress have been marred by ideologicaldifferences on what constitutes legitimate federal support forscience and technology. Since the end of the discussion onresearch and development policy between Vannevar Bush, PresidentTruman, and Senator Kilgore in the late 1950s, there has beenlittle serious effort to coordinate, direct, or organizestrategically the federal role in research. The question today is,since the ad hoc approach has seemed to serve us fairly well, dowe need to reassess where we are and try seriously to develop anational policy? Dr. Good believes that it is necessary to undertake thischore and that the "sages" of science, technology, and governmentneed to get together to review the political realities for settingsuch a course. An overview of where we are will provide somedirection and urgency to such an undertaking.
