ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author comments on science advice for Congress. He thinks that President Jimmy Carter has had to ad hoc his way through a lot of problems that he would have handled better if he had the assistance of a Science Advisory Committee. The author is certain that Mr. Carter would have dealt effectively with problems like that of energy policy that involves many complex issues of technology, economics, environmental problems and politics, if he had a continuous White House-based group supporting him. When the author was Science Adviser to President John F. Kennedy, the President’s Science Advisory Committee (PSAC) was very supportive of president. It has been stated that the Federal Advisory Committee Act and the Freedom of Information Act constitute insuperable impediments to the functioning, and therefore the re-establishment of a PSCA. People also had widely differing views of the science advisory mechanism’s purpose and particularly the Science Adviser’s role.
