Because more than twenty federal agencies conduct R&D without comprehensive plans, President Clinton has directed the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) to establish clear national goals to ensure that federal science, space, and technology policies and programs are developed and implemented to effectively contribute to those goals. All agencies sponsoring federally funded R&D programs have been asked to avoid duplication of effort and to better allocate funds by working together within the framework being developed by each of the nine committees created by the NSTC. High-level officials throughout the federal government have been asked to serve on these committees which cover a wide array of R&D areas including: health, safety and food, information and communication, national security, civilian industrial technology, fundamental science, international engineering and technology, environment and natural resources, transportation, and education and training. Interagency working groups or subcommittees have formed under many of these committees so that strategies can be developed to address specific issues.
The NSTC was established through Executive Order 12881 on November 23, 1993. The president has demonstrated a strong commitment to this new body by serving as the chairman and enlisting for membership the vice-president, and the secretaries of agriculture, commerce, defense, education, energy, health, and human services, interior, labor, state, and transportation, the directors of the Office of Management and Budget and the National Science Foundation, the administrators of the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the assistants to the president for economic policy and domestic policy. John Gibbons, assistant to the president for science and technology in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, will function as both a member of NSTC and a co-chair of the president's committee of advisors on science and technology, an advisory group to the NSTC representing industry, education and research institutions, nongovernment organizations, and state and local governments.
The NSTC's review of federal R&D budgets will result in FY 1996 R&D budget recommendations for the Office of Management and Budget that will reflect broad national objectives rather than agency missions.
