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Office of Science and Technology Sets Up Shop Small but powerful, OST will wield tremendous influence over government R&D at policy level Now officially in business, the Government's new Office of Science and Technology is beginning to take shape in staff, organization, and direction. Small but powerful, it will wield tremendous influence at the policy level across the entire spectrum of government research and development activities. Set up by President Kennedy's Reorganization Plan No. 2 which, unopposed, went into effect on May 31, the new executive office is to coordinate the scientific programs of various agencies and advise the President on science plans, policies, and programs (C&EN, April 9, page 3 6 ) . It also has taken over some of the National Science Foundation's statutory authority which NSF has been unable or unwilling to assert—namely that of advising the President on coordination of federal research policies and evaluating the research programs of government agencies. Three Hats. OST is headed by President Kennedy's scientific adviser, Dr. Jerome B. Wiesner, who retains his title as Special Assistant to the President. His post of director requires Senate confirmation. In general, Dr. Wiesner has three major organized responsibilities in the new office. He is the director of the office and responsible for providing staff assistance to the President in accordance with the reorganization plan. He will continue as chairman of the President's Science Advisory Committee. And he continues as chairman of the Federal Council for Science and Technology—an organization set up at the recommendation of the Science Advisory Committee to bring together policy-level scientific administrators within the Government to discuss common problems, common programs, administration, and planning. There are indications that the Administration would like to have representation on the Federal Council at the assistant secretary level. A step in this direction was the appointment 28
C & E N J U N E 2 5, 196 2
Dr. Jerome B. Wiesner Stronger voice for government R&D
of Dr. John H. Hollomon as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Science and Technology. Comparable positions may be set up in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and the Agriculture Department. The council includes: Dr. Harold Brown, Director of Defense Research and Engineering; Dr. Hollomon; Dr. Roger Revelle, special assistant to Interior Secretary Udall for science and technology; Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg, Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission; the heads of the National Science Foundation and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration; and policy-level representation from Agriculture and HEW. Small Staff. Dr. Wiesner's present staff probably will be transferred to the new Office of Science and Technology. This amounts to some 25 people, of whom 12 are scientists and engineers. The President's Science Advisory Committee will stay in the White House. But the scientific and technical consultants to the committee —which have ranged in number up to 200—will be administered by the new office.
Staff of the new office, according to White House sources, will be kept small. "We don't expect that this office is going to blossom into a complete government agency," says one. The new office is concerned with the total $12 billion R&D activity of the Federal Government. It will pick and choose its problems, emphasizing problems largely of an interagency nature—where the national interest transcends that of the individual agencies. In this way it hopes to strengthen and encourage scientific and technical competence within the agencies to enable them to make their own decisions better and work in harmony with the other agencies. OST wants to avoid getting too involved in advising on the specific activities of the various agencies. To do this, it fears, would begin to focus the whole management of the R&D program in one office., largely because it happens to be at a higher echelon than other agencies. Basic Research. Many of the problems which plagued Dr. Wiesner in his role as science adviser to the President will be carried over to the new office. Basic research is one. The Department of Defense, for one, has been criticized for the relatively small role it has assigned to basic research when it comes to funding. But Defense R&D administrators feel that their mission is that of hardware development primarily, and that the bulk of the basic research should be handled by someone else, such as the National Science Foundation. With limited budgets and specific target dates to meet on hardware, they have been forced to balance short-term urgent needs against possible gains over the long haul through basic research. Basic research generally loses out in these situations. OST will work to keep the individual agencies' scientific research activity strong and to bolster the National Science Foundation as the central agency for the support of general purpose basic research. It will stress
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the need for diversity in the support of basic research so that all agencies conducting R&D will have close contact with the most creative elements in the scientific community. The Administration wants to avoid the dangers of one agency's having exclusive responsibility over all basic research.
Overhead Costs.
In the area of
supporting basic research, President Kennedy has attacked Congress' attempt to limit reimbursable overhead charges in research grants to colleges and universities to 15% of the direct costs (C&EN, May 7, page 2 3 ) . Annual appropriation bills for the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare since 1957 have contained this limiting clause. Now the House Appropriations Committee has served notice that it intends to add the 15% limit to every appropriations bill reported by the Committee—those for NSF, AEC, and NASA. President Kennedy feels that the Federal Government must shoulder the responsibility for the primary support of basic research in the universities. Although the research benefits the university as well as the Government, he believes that the private resources cannot be found to support as much basic research as is needed for our national security, welfare, and economic growth. The Administration feels that there is an immediate, urgent need to expand the number of highly qualified and creative scientists and to assure their support and encouragement. Manpower Need. These and other manpower needs will be another prime concern of Dr. Wiesner's new office. The enormous demand for scientists and engineers by the military and space R&D efforts will overtax our present resources. And OST will have to come up with both a long- and short-term answer to this problem. A few steps have already been taken in this direction. For example, this fall NASA will start a new training program at 10 universities designed to increase the supply of scientists and engineers for its own future needs (C&EN, April 16, page 4 7 ) . Although modest at the start, the program is expected to grow considerably in future years. And a bill to get more mileage out of scientists and engineers by turning out more technicians capable of taking over routine work is now before the House Special Education Subcommittee (C&EN, June 11, page 2 6 ) . But these steps 30
C&EN J U N E 25, 1962
only come to grips with part of the manpower problem. Much more work is needed to determine and make provisions for the country's long-range needs in science and technology. This will be one of OST's top priority targets. Communications Breakdown. Another related trouble spot is the dissemination of scientific and technical information. Reports by a subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Government Operations have warned that the Government may be wasting large amounts of money each year through duplication of effort because of inadequate communication of scientific and technical data on governmentsupported R&D. Some government agencies do a better job than others in getting the results of their R&D into the hands of others both in Government and on the outside who can use it. The AEC, for example, has a well developed program for scientific information. And it is now taking steps to improve it even further, particularly with regard to the "industrial fallout" of its R&D program (C&EN, May 7, page 2 5 ) . On the other extreme, the Department of Defense has shown a rather lackadaisical attitude toward scientific information, considering the size of its R&D budget. The new office will try to develop a government-wide rationale and guidelines for the agencies so that they can tailor their technical information activities to both their missions and to the over-all national needs. It will work closely with government R&D organizations and particularly with the National Science Foundation, which has important responsibilities as a clearing house within the Government for technical information activities of the federal agencies. Stimulate Industrial R&D. Perhaps one of the thorniest problems facing the new office is that of trying to stimulate industrial growth by the use of R&D (C&EN, June 18, page 4 0 ) . The poser here is what role, if any, should the Government assume in stimulating innovations in industry as a direct, rather than an indirect objective. The Administration's attitude is one of caution. According to one source, "We have to be careful in this area to build on, rather than to upset, the traditional motivations and values that we attach to our system of healthy competition." But, he adds, there may be ways that Government can assist in-
dustry in doing its job better. "It is important to remove unnecessary barriers to private investment and to stimulate the taking of risks in ventures in new technology in order to keep this country ahead internationally and to provide a strong domestic economy." Despite the Administration's attempts to play up the possibility of rewarding industrial "by-products" from such tremendous R&D efforts as the military and space programs, many sources close to the subject say privately that industry will reap a meager harvest. What course OST will pursue along this line is still unclear. International Science. The new office will also have a large role in international science. It will plug the potential of science and technology in pursuing U.S. foreign policy objectives. For example, in planning assistance to underdeveloped areas, the Administration has placed new emphasis on research and development aspects —particularly on research aimed at a better understanding of the problems and possibilities of economic development in certain regions of the world. In the past, foreign aid programs have been geared more to, say, specific construction projects than to mapping criteria that should be followed in assisting countries of different cultures and economic growth. An important innovation in the area of foreign aid by the Kennedy Administration was the establishment of an office of research and development within the Agency for International Development. This office could have far-reaching potential in mobilizing the intellectual resources of the academic and industrial communities. Other areas of international science involving national policy include: student exchange, international scientific cooperation through scientific organizations, intergovernmental organizations, and bilateral cooperation, such as with the U.S.S.R., in selected fields. Still another matter of increasing importance is the support of research overseas, its rationale, limits, and effects on the international policies and relationships in foreign countries. Hopefully, OST will be able to soothe some of the friction between the Department of Defense and the State Department on this score. It will attempt to answer the basic question in this area: Is there a danger point beyond which one begins to intrude on the healthy development of a nation's science and education?
How Spencer's new "Poly-Em"* Emulsions helped create an unusual new product: A completely different way to launder hosiery was introduced recently. T h e innovation is a n unusual new preparation called Hosiery M a t e (above)—made b y Country Lane, Limited, Chicago, a n d marketed by S. M . Quigley Co., New York City. I n addition to removing soil, Hosiery M a t e cuts down wear and tear. Because it contains Spencer's new "Poly-Em," a polyethylene emulsion, as a key ingredient, Hosiery M a t e does even more. I t eliminates high sheen, improves color retention, reduces wrinkling a n d makes stockings more pliable. T h i s advanced hosiery care product is just one example of t h e m a n y end use areas where " P o l y - E m ' s " outstanding physical characteristics offer important advantages. Just what is "Poly-Em"? It's Spencer's trademark for a n advanced series of emulsions m a d e by a unique polymerization process. Initially, two polyethylene emulsions are being produced: " P o l y - E m " 10016 anionic, a n d "Poly-Em" 20017 nonionic. These white, odor-
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C&EN CHARTS This month's crop of statistics contains a few hints that business expansion in the chemical industry, under way now for only a little more than a year, may be running out of steam. The most recent indication is in the Federal Reserve Board's production data. Although chemical output was up a bit more than 1 % in April from March, it was still slightly under
the February level and less than 1 % ahead of last December. Since the end of 1961 output has been relatively stable, although at record levels. Sales also have stopped moving upward. After allowing for seasonal factors, industry sales were off 1 % in March from February, off another 1 % in April. Not since sales began to improved late in 1960 have they
SALES AND INVENTORIES Billions of Dollars
Seasonally Adjusted
CHEMICALS AND ALLIED PRODUCTS —•1961
-1962
4.5
_ 4.0 INVENTORIES 3.5
3.0 SALES 2.5
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This Week In Business faltered for two consecutive months. The profits picture also is clouded. Although sales volume was at a record high during the first quarter, about 3 % above the preceding quarter, profits dropped by nearly 4 % , according to figures from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Trade Commission. Industry earnings had not been lower since the
JUNE
2 5,
1962
Statistics for only a couple of months are too few to delineate a trend, to be sure. And all recent figures are well above year-ago levels —first-quarter profits were up 2 3 % ; sales were up 1 5 % in April and production was up 1 0 % . But in any case, business certainly is not moving upward at the same pace as a year ago.
first quarter of last year. And profit margins for the quarter dropped to about 7 . 2 % of sales (also the lowest level in a year), compared with 7 . 6 % for the last quarter of 1 9 6 1 . Still another sign of slackening pace is the slight dip in chemical companies' capital spending expected during the second half of this year (C&EN, June 1 1 , page 17).
RATIO O F I N V E N T O R I E S T O S A L E S '.".'•'•! ALL MANUFACTURING
CHEMICALS AND ALLIED PRODUCTS
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Seasonally Adjusted. 1957-100
DJ F M A M J J Seasonally Adjusted. 1957-100
A S O N D
INORGANIC CHEMICALS
ORGANIC CHEMICALS
RUBBER & PLASTIC PRODUCTS
160
160
160
140
140
120
100
100
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J U N E
2 5,
1962
C & E N
33
