The Much-Needed and Sane Congressional Office That Gingrich Killed Off and We Need Back

On October 13, 1972, in an act of bipartisanship and scientific literacy that we would be shocked to see come out of Congress today, the Technology Assessment Act was put into law. This act created the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA), an organization responsible for providing Congress with authoritative and unbiased reports on a wide range of present and emerging issues in science and technology.

When the OTA was established we were rocketing into, well, space, but also into an age of ubiquitous, pervasive, fast-growing, and complex technologies that simultaneously promised us great benefits and great risks. Throughout its existence it released over 750 studies on an impressive range of topics like the environment (acid rain, climate change, and resource use), national security (technology transfer to China and bioterrorism), health (disease and medical-waste management), and social issues (workplace automation and how technology affects certain social groups). However, regardless of the OTA's pragmatic style, attention to societal impact, and the international praise lauded on its thorough and accessible reports, the 1980 book Fat City: How Washington Waste Your Taxes argued that the OTA was redundant and unnecessary. This signaled the beginning of its long, politically-charged dirge. In 1995 came OTA’s final death knell when it was placed on the Gingrich Republican's altar of slashed budgets.