ABSTRACT

During the Nixon days, for example, the President's Science Advisory Committee (PSAC) was still held in high esteem by the scientific/technical community. Unfortunately, neither the power structure within the White House nor, indeed, the various departments and agencies of the government shared this attitude. Unwanted advice is seldom heeded. Unless there is a rapport between the advisory body and its client, the system will not work. Rapport cannot be preordained. It has to be earned unless it already exists because of previous close association between the principals. There is much moaning these days about the absence of a "truly Presidential" science advisory mechanism, that is, the absence of a PSAC. The White House Science Council is not being regarded as highly in some circles, presumably because it lacks the word "Presidential" in its title. The critics expect miracles. These days, such miracles are harder to come by.