5L3 



Congressional Requirements for Technical Information 



Information gathered from many such sources needs to be processed 

 in forms suitable for use by the Congress. Congressional needs for 

 technical information bearing on political issues are at two levels: 

 factual detail for the "specialists'' and the accurate summary for the 

 "generalists.'' On any given issue, those who are active members of 

 the interested legislative committees tend to become "specialists." 

 Other Members are "generalists" with reference to the particular issue. 

 The information needs of the two groups are different. The specialists 

 require sufficient detail to enable them to participate in the resolving 

 of the technical issue ; they need to bring the technical findings to bear 

 on the resolution of the political issue, in order to report the recom- 

 mendations of the committee to the total membership of the Congress. 

 The general membership, on the other hand, needs to be satisfied that 

 the committee has given to the technical issue competent and full con- 

 sideration, and that it is reflected in the political decision. 



The specifications for the information on technical issues that will 

 best serve the requirements of the Congress in decisionmaking are that 

 it must be — 



(1) Pertinent to the technical issue, and to the subordinate 

 technical questions involved ; 



(2) Authoritative, accurate, reliable, unbiased, technically 

 sound ; 



(3) Complete, within the limits of germaneness ; 



(4) Fully developed and structured ; and 



(5) Adequate in scope to reflect relationships with other pub- 

 lic goals, programs, interests, and institutions. 



Each of these five sets of criteria has its own implications as to the 

 appropriate ways required to meet it. 



Ways To Secii^re Information Pertinent to the Issue 



The first step in securing pertinent information is the preparation 

 of a precise definition of the technical problem or issue ; the delinea- 

 tion of its scope ; identification of subordinate, related qiiestions ; and 

 tabulation of the information requirements to deal with it. The opera- 

 tion usually includes — 



Initial reconnaissance of the issue ; 



Definition of the issue ; 



Determination of the subordinate questions ; 



Informal consultation within the staff on approaches ; 



Informal consultations by the staff with informed persons out- 

 side ; 



Preparation of a staff study ; and 



Preparation of a preliminary list of detailed questions about 

 the issue. 

 An important distinction exists between investigative and legisla- 

 tive hearings. A legislative hearing is largely structured by the legis- 

 lative proposal before it, and questions or information not pertinent 

 to the proposal tend to be discouraged. On the other hand, in the in- 

 vestigative hearing the quest for information about the need for legis- 

 lation, the way a program or agency is functioning, the nature of a 

 problem, and so forth, is open-ended and needs to be structured by 

 careful advance planning. Even so, more latitude is needed in an 

 investigative hearing, by its very nature. 



99-044—69 34 



