Office of Technology Assessment
The Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) was an office of the United States Congress from 1972 to 1995. OTA's purpose was to provide Congressional members and committees with objective and authoritative analysis of the complex scientific and technical issues of the late 20th century. It was a leader in practicing and encouraging delivery of public services in innovative and inexpensive ways, including distribution of government documents through electronic publishing. Its model was widely copied around the world.
Congress created the Office of Technology Assessment in 1972, Public Law 92-484. It was governed by a twelve-member board, comprising six members of Congress from each party. During its twenty-four-year life it produced about 750 studies on a wide range of topics, including acid rain, global climate change, and polygraphs.
Criticism of the agency was fueled by Fat City, a 1980 book by Donald Lambro that was regarded favorably by the Reagan administration; it called OTA an "unnecessary agency" that duplicated government work done elsewhere. OTA was abolished in "Contract with America" period of Newt Gingrich's Republican ascendancy in Congress.
At the time that 104th Congress withdrew funding for OTA, it had a full-time staff of 143 people and an annual budget of $21.9 million. The Office of Technology Assessment closed on September 29, 1995.
The OTA Legacy site at Princeton contains "in electronic form the complete collection of OTA publications along with additional materials that illuminate the history and impact of the agency." Critics of the closure saw the closure as an example of politics overriding science and a variety of scientists such as biologist PZ Myers have called for the agency's reinstatement.
On July 23, 2008 the Federation of American Scientists launched the Office of Technology Assessment Archive, a new website that improves on the Princeton site by including interviews, additional documents, a search engine, and current events about OTA.
References
 Chris Mooney, The Republican War on Science (New York: Basic Books, 2005), ch. 5.
External links
Office of Technology Assessment former website
Technology Assessment in Congress: History and Legislative Options, Congressional Research Service report (PDF).
Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) Legacy via Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University
*OTA publications
**
**US Congress 1994. Perspectives on the Role of Science and Technology in Sustainable Development. OTA-ENV-609. NTIS order #PB95-109674. GPO stock #052-003-01396-7 .
OTA Video "Meeting the Needs of Congress"
The Office of Technology Assessment Archive hosted by The Federation of American Scientists
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