SCIHNCr IX THE WHITE HOUS1 653 



executive branch). It would mean that a major objective of the survey, 

 the review of the relationship between individual aspects of the Federal 

 science, engineering, and technology effort would not be studied and 

 evaluated." 



DIFFERENCES OVER INTERPRETATION OF THE 1976 ACT 



The struggle between the committee and the White House over 

 the interpretation of the 1976 act continued into 1978. Although the 

 committee stopped short of charging that President Carter, like 

 President Nixon, had actually dismantled OSTP, there was considerable 

 unhappiness with the manner in which the White House was inter- 

 preting the breadth of OSTP's assignment. For example, Dr. Press 

 told Mosher and his associates that the President's Committee on 

 Science and Technology, responsible for the important two-year 

 survey, should not be reestablished because it was the President's 

 policy to do away with advisory committees. The OSTP staff was cut 

 down from 32 to 22, but at least the organization survived. On the 

 positive side, Mosher reported: 



In general the impression created by the discussion at the meeting was that Dr. 

 Press and his staff are well established in the White House. They are working with 

 other Presidential staff and with the departments and agencies on a number of science 

 policy issues, and they appear to have a good working relationship with OMB. This 

 function of bringing science back into the White House was undoubtedly the major 

 purpose of the Science Policy Act and Dr. Press appears to be off to a good start. 



On February 24, 1978, President Carter issued an Executive order 

 which confirmed the transfer of responsibility for preparing the two 

 science policy reports to the National Science Foundation. He also 

 reestablished the Federal Coordinating Council for Science, Engineer- 

 ing and Technology and the Intergovernmental Science, Engineer- 

 ing and Technology Advisory Panel — established by Congress in 

 the 1976 Act, and abolished by the President in his 1977 reorganization 

 plan. But the President's Committee on Science and Technology, which 

 the 1976 Act stipulated should prepare a two-year survey, and which 

 had been abolished under the reorganization plan, was not reestab- 

 lished by the Executive order. 



As the months went on, it was clear to the committee that the 

 OSTP was a fully operating entity, and that Dr. Press as Science 

 Adviser was generally performing the functions called for in the 1976 

 Act. Yet the committee was increasingly concerned that the title III 

 survey and other independent evaluations were being ignored. During 

 the summer of 1978, it was decided to schedule a full committee review 

 in September which would cover the manner in which the 1976 act 

 was being administered, the effects of the reorganization and Executive 





