ABSTRACT
The President of the United States, like other responsible executives, requires a vast amount of information as he makes the decisions required by his office. It must come from sources at many levels both inside and outside the departments of the government and the Executive Office over which he presides. The situation that has obtained since President Reagan's announcement of the Strategic Defense Initiative is unprecedented. Perhaps it is often called by a nickname — "Star Wars" — because of the lack of prior consultation with the scientific community. If the traditional structure to provide science policy advice to the President had survived and were serving President Reagan as it served some of his predecessors, some present problems would be at least addressed. A great many critics of the influence of the scientific community on Presidential policy will probably be jubilant to attack this proposal.
