3. Involving a definable political decision of a definable issue. 



4. Concerned with a political issue having substantial scientific or 

 technological content. 



5. Presenting difficulties of communication between scientists and 

 politicians. 



Other consideration in the selection of cases included — 



1. Achievement of widely representative examples, including basic 

 research (big science, little science); applied science (the four categories 

 cited on p. 11); and technology (the same four categories); science 

 matters of local, regional, national, and international concern; 

 l^roblems concerning a science project, a regulatory problem, a treaty, 

 and legislative oversight. 



2. Achievement of widely representative examples as to the variety 

 of congressional decision mechanisms, the ways issues arise and come 

 to Congress, and the pattern of derivative subsidiary issues. 



Fourteen cases have been selected for study. It is believed that these 

 provide a sufficient range of variation in subject matter, sources and 

 kinds of information inputs needed and used, and decisionmaking 

 procedures employed by the Congress. The first case, that of the 

 battery additive controversy, is taken up to illustrate the kinds of 

 questions and issues that are evolved at the interface between science 

 and politics. Other cases to be considered include — 



The issues of basic science (Mohole, High-energy physics) ; 

 The issues of applied biomedical research (Thalidomide) ; 

 The issues of resource research (Office of Coal Research) ; 

 The issues of pollution research (1947 Insecticide, Fungicide, 

 and Rodenticide Act) ; 



The issues of behavioral research (Inclusion of social science m 

 NSF and Camelot) ; 



The issues of biomedical engineering (the Salk vaccine) ; 

 The issues of resource engineering (Criteria for water projects) ; 

 The issues of pollution engineering (Water Pollution Control 

 Act of 1948); 



The issues of social science engineering (Peace Corps) ; and 

 The issues of international science (Test ban treaty. Point IV) . 

 A concluding section will extract from the discussion of these cases 

 the salient aspects bearing on the four questions delineated on page 

 8 of the following chapter. 



In each case history, approximately the same general outline will 

 be followed. The hypothesis to be investigated is that any political 

 decisionmaking process consists of a succession of steps or events, 

 about as follows: 



(a) Identification of an issue requiring legislative action; 



(b) Accumulation of factual data about the issue, its signifi- 

 cance, and the urgency of taking action; 



(c) Determination of available alternative courses of action; 



(d) Estabhshment of technical data as to the consequences 

 and costs of the alternatives; 



(e) Estabhshment of the probable pohtical consequences and 

 costs of the alternatives; 



(/) Selection of a preferred alternative; 



(g) Estabhshment of a consensus as to whether or not to accept 

 the preferred alternative. 



