Congress's Own Think Tank

In 1972 the United States Congress established the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) as a small analytical agency to become better informed about implications of new and emerging technologies. OTA's principal products - technology assessments - were designed to inform Congressional deliberations and debates about issues that involved science and technology dimensions but without recommending specific policy actions. OTA's unique governance by a bicameral and bipartisan board of House and Senate Members helped ensure that issues the agency addressed were tightly aligned with the Congressional agenda and that assessments were undertaken with partisan and other stakeholder bias minimized. Over a span of 23 years OTA completed 755 reports on a wide range of topics including health, energy, defense, space, information technology, environment, and many others until Congress terminated the agency's annual appropriation of funds to operate in 1995 as one of a series of budget austerity measures. A number of organizations have sought to fill the gap left in the wake of OTA's closure, but with mixed results to date. Congress' Own Think Tank recaps the OTA experience - it's creation, operation, and circumstances of its closure - and that of organizations attempting to fill the gap since OTA's closure as well as a number of new forces shaping the current context for science and technology issues facing the Congress. All these factors are important to consider in fashioning new or adapting existing sources of science and technology advice for the Congress.