Arati Prabhakar

Abstract

about 30 senior administrators convened two weeks ago by Gibbons and Bowman Cutter of the National Economic Council. The so-called deputies' science and technology working group was asked to nominate people within their agencies to serve on panels that will develop policies for 15 topics ranging from specific issues such as medical technology to basic research itself. The goal of the group, according to Tim Newell ofOSTP, is to propose specific ways to carry out the president's technology initiative announced in February, but the group is also expected to make recommendations for programmes to be included in the budget for fiscal year 1995 that will be submitted to Congress next winter. Part of the reason for the uncertainty surrounding the new administration's plans for science are the large number of unfilled positions at OSTP and the ambiguous relationship between it and the office of Vice President Al Gore, the leading figure within the administration on technology issues. Gibbons is believed to be planning a realignment of portfolios, elevating the environment and lowering the life sciences in the OSTP hierarchy, but only one of his choices for the four vacant associate directorships has as yet been cleared by the White House and nominated by the president.