925 



program categories from one year to another making it difficult 

 for the researchers to compile a valid history of how these programs 

 evolved."* 



The NSF amendments of 1968 expanded the jurisdiction of the 

 Subcommittee on Science, Research, and Development, House 

 Committee on Science and Astronautics, to authorize appropriations 

 for the NSF. In 1971 the Committee requested that the Foundation 

 present the Congress with a line item budget."^ In response to this 

 request the Foundation began to use a consistent format for reporting 

 international scientific activities."^ 



Since the fiscal year 1971 all specifically labelled international scien- 

 tific activities have been included in one section of the report and are 

 differentiated by program titles corresponding to budget presentation 

 categories. Although these changes improve the Foundation's report- 

 ing, several major problems still remain. First, its support of co- 

 operative science projects and international travel fall under two 

 budget categories: International Activities and Special Foreign 

 Currency Program. No attempt is made to explain whether activities 

 under one categor}* also fall under the other. Second, more than 90' 

 percent of the Foundation's international activities are administered" 

 by divisions other than the Office of International Programs. The 

 revised budget category, "International Cooperative Scientific 

 Activities," reports only those progiams administered by the OIP. 

 The Foundation does not report to Congress totals of other grants- 

 (such as in research grants, national research centers, and education) 

 that involve foreign or international activities carried on abroad. 

 In 1970 the Foundation began an experimental program requiring 

 program directors to indicate on a proposal form those grants with 

 international implications. These categories were further subdivided 

 into : 



foreign travel ; 



foreign citizens; 



operations or projects at a foreign site including cooperative 

 projects; 



foreign procurement of goods or service; 



liaison with or support of international organizations; and 



participation in an international program. 



i« For example the agency's programs in international science were first justified in terms of supporting 

 the growth of domestic science, thus early programs were included under either one of two program cate- 

 gories: "Dissemination of Scientific Information: international information exchanges;" or "Science Edu- 

 cation, international." Thus, early in the Foundation's history, travel programs and exchange programs 

 with the USSR and Eastern Europe were included under the category of international information ex- 

 changes, which included also translations and support for obtaining foreign science information. Sometimes 

 the category of foreign science information also included the subcategory of participation in "international 

 science information activities." Different figures have been given to report actual expenditures for a partic- 

 ular program. At times the P'oundation has distinguished among participation in meetings, international 

 travel grants, and the USSR-EE program, but not always. Similarly the U.S. -Japan Cooperative program, 

 which like the Soviet and Eastern European program, includes exchange of personnel, was not included 

 under the category of international information exchanges, like the Soviet program but under the support 

 category of "Scientific Research," which included also national and international research programs. Thus 

 annual reports of grants and awards sometimes categorized the USSR-EE program as an international 

 cooperative activity, and other times as international information exchange. In addition, the icience edu- 

 cation category has been used to report international activities which involved more than education, further 

 compounding difficulties in tracing the history of programs. 



145 "There are numerous reasons for instituting a line item budget for NSF at this time. The sheer size of 

 the NSF budget, together with its expected increases in the future, warrant closer congressional control and 

 overview." U.S., Congress, House, Committee on Science and Astronautics, Authorizing AppropTiatiom to 

 the National Science Foundation [FY 1972]: Report No. 9S-m, 92d Cong., 1st sess.. May 17, 1971, p. 63. 



1" Under this new format, the category of "International Information Exchanges" is no longer used. USSR 

 and Eastern European exchange programs are no longer listed under travel programs, they are subsumed 

 under the category of "Cooperative Science Programs," which .includes reporting for all the bilaterals the 

 Foundation adininisters. 



