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3 

 INTRODUCTION 



Our recommendations for strengthening federal environmental R&D pro- 

 grams fall into four categories: leadership and the research agenda, strength- 

 ening the R&D infrastructure, linking and coordinating programs, and 

 building a strong intellectual base. 



We first suggest several organizational and process modifications that 

 we think would substantially improve the capacity of the Executive Office 

 of the President and senior department and agency officials to direct federal 

 R&D efforts. Effective leadership is essential in a highly decentralized re- 

 search and development system. This is panicularly true for environmental 

 R&D programs, which require carefully orchestrated multidisciplinary and 

 interagency programs. 



Our second set of recommendations is directed at the individual 

 depanments and agencies that comprise our federal environmental R&D 

 system. Every federal department and agency has a mission (although these 

 missions often overlap and are sometimes not well defined), and each relies 



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