ABSTRACT
Government policy itself, of course, must continue to be made and implemented with the consent of the governed, but the decisions should be truly informed, and providing the information to government leaders without political bias requires input from independent scientific and technical specialists. Contrast that history of Presidential scientific advice against the current situation when such critical policy issues as the regulation of biotechnology, expanded AIDS testing, priorities for space exploration, and—above all—the pace of strategic defense research are being addressed after only limited and often highly politicized scientific and technical advice. "Scientific competence among the advisors has receded to much lower levels", Wolfgang K. H. Panofsky says, "so policy often gets made without paying attention to technical and scientific realities, Even the President's Science Advisor doesn't have a high degree of stature, and unfortunately part of the job description today is that he must be an enthusiast for SDI (Strategic Defense Initiative)".
