PREFACE 



The findings of this study can be stated briefly. Few politicians are 

 scientists, and few scientists are politicians. In the communication of 

 technical information from one group to another, some members of the 

 receiving group, as well as the members of the transmitting group, 

 need to have special qualifications. 



To help the Congress to assure itself of the quality and thorough- 

 ness, as well as to determine the direction and validity, of the tech- 

 nical testimony it receives calls for a strengthening of the resources 

 of personnel that serve it. The requirement is for support by special- 

 ists with adequate and sound qualifications for understanding, analyz- 

 ing, and interpreting technical testimony. 



Technical issues requiring congressional resolution are becoming 

 broader in scope ; they are more serious, more complex, and more ur- 

 gent. Information about them is voluminous and abstruse. The di- 

 vision of labor among the continuing committees of Congress, by which 

 some Members become quasi-specialists on each issue, is becoming in- 

 creasingly hard to plan and execute. Congressional penetration into 

 new technical issues is becoming more onerous and time consuming. 



Arrangements are needed to shorten the leadtime in the making of 

 congressional decisions on technical matters. Leadtime can be shortened 

 by improving the management of technical information. Sound 

 management of teclmical information can improve the sources of in- 

 formation to raise its quality. It can structure it to bring out its es- 

 sentials, analyze it to test its completeness, and filter it to eradicate 

 inaccuracies, contradictions, and irrelevancies. 



The leadtime can be further reduced. Anticipatory studies by a 

 capable staff can identify teclmical issues likely to require future 

 resolution by the Congress. The collection of reliable factual informa- 

 tion about such potential issues can take place in advance, uncolored 

 by political controversy, and unhurried by the pressures of urgent 

 need. Then, when the issue needs to be decided, the groundwork will 

 have been done and the Congress can more quickly and confidently 

 come to grips with the political assessment of the problem. 



(V) 



