The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is an office in the Executive Office of the President

Executive Office of the President of the United States

The Executive Office of the President consists of the immediate staff of the President of the United States, as well as multiple levels of support staff reporting to the President. The EOP is headed by the White House Chief of Staff, currently William M. Daley...

 (EOP), established by Congress

United States Congress

The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

 on May 11, 1976, with a broad mandate to advise the President

President of the United States

The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

 on the effects of science and technology on domestic and international affairs.

The director of this office is colloquially known as the President's Science Advisor. Dr. John Holdren

John Holdren

John Paul Holdren is advisor to President Barack Obama for Science and Technology, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Co-Chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology...

, Director, nominated in December 2008, serves as Science Advisor to President Barack Obama

Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...

. Dr. John Holdren also co-chairs the President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST

PCAST

The United States President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology is a council, chartered in each administration with a broad mandate to advise the President on science and technology. The current PCAST was established by on September 30, 2001, by President George W...

) and supports the President's National Science and Technology Council (NSTC

National Science and Technology Council

The National Science and Technology Council was established in the US by Executive Order 12881 on November 23, 1993.-History:The National Science and Technology Council was established in the US by Executive Order on November 23, 1993...

).

History

The current OSTP grew out of the Office of Science and Technology which was formed in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....

 to provide advice and recommendation in response to the growing importance of space exploration and the accelerating Space Race

Space Race

The Space Race was a mid-to-late 20th century competition between the Soviet Union and the United States for supremacy in space exploration. Between 1957 and 1975, Cold War rivalry between the two nations focused on attaining firsts in space exploration, which were seen as necessary for national...

 that was taking place with the USSR.

The United States Congress established the OSTP in 1976 with a broad mandate to advise the President and others within the Executive Office of the President on the effects of science and technology on domestic and international affairs. The 1976 Act also authorizes OSTP to lead inter-agency efforts to develop and to implement sound science and technology policies and budgets and to work with the private sector

Private sector

In economics, the private sector is that part of the economy, sometimes referred to as the citizen sector, which is run by private individuals or groups, usually as a means of enterprise for profit, and is not controlled by the state...

, state

State governments of the United States

State governments in the United States are those republics formed by citizens in the jurisdiction thereof as provided by the United States Constitution; with the original 13 States forming the first Articles of Confederation, and later the aforementioned Constitution. Within the U.S...

 and local governments

Local government in the United States

Local government in the United States is generally structured in accordance with the laws of the various individual states. Typically each state has at least two separate tiers: counties and municipalities. Some states have their counties divided into townships...

, the science and higher education

Higher education

Higher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...

 communities, and other nations toward this end.

Meetings with China in 2011

In October 2011 a report from the Government Accountability Office

Government Accountability Office

The Government Accountability Office is the audit, evaluation, and investigative arm of the United States Congress. It is located in the legislative branch of the United States government.-History:...

 (GAO) concluded that meetings hosted in May by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy with the Chinese government

Government of the People's Republic of China

All power within the government of the People's Republic of China is divided among three bodies: the People's Republic of China, State Council, and the People's Liberation Army . This article is concerned with the formal structure of the state, its departments and their responsibilities...

 broke federal law that had been enacted in April 2011. Although not denying that the section in question of the Department of Defense appropriations bill had been broken the White House Office of Legal Counsel

Office of Legal Counsel

The Office of Legal Counsel is an office in the United States Department of Justice that assists the Attorney General in his function as legal adviser to the President and all executive branch agencies.-History:...

 (OLC) instead asserted that this law did not "constitutionally apply to the OSTP's diplomatic activities." Justice Department has declared that the White House has the constitutional power to override a Congress statute forbidding members of the White House Office such as the OSTP from engaging in diplomatic activities with foreign officials.

Mission

The OSTP's mission is set out in the National Science and Technology Policy, Organization, and Priorities Act of 1976 (Pub. L. 94-282). The act calls for the OSTP to serve as a source of scientific and technological analysis and judgment for the President with respect to major policies, plans, and programs of the federal government.

It further authorizes the OSTP to:

• Advise the President and others within the Executive Office of the President on the impacts of science and technology on domestic and international affairs;
• Lead an inter-agency effort to develop and implement sound science and technology policies and budgets;
• Work with the private sector to ensure Federal investments in science and technology contribute to economic prosperity, environmental quality, and national security;
• Build strong partnerships among Federal, State, and local governments, other countries, and the scientific community;
• Evaluate the scale, quality, and effectiveness of the Federal effort in science and technology.

The OSTP handles a broad range of scientific and technological issues within the Executive Office of the President. It participates in a multitude of White House Policy Coordinating Committees (PCC) that are tasked with developing policies for the federal government and are populated by senior officials from cabinet and independent agencies. The OSTP has approximately 45 staff members, most of whom are experienced scientists functioning as assistant directors or policy analysts.

Key Staff

• Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy: John Holdren
  John Holdren
  John Paul Holdren is advisor to President Barack Obama for Science and Technology, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Co-Chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology...
  
  
  • Associate Director for Science: Carl Wieman
    Carl Wieman
    Carl Edwin Wieman is an American physicist at the University of British Columbia and recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics for the production, in 1995 with Eric Allin Cornell, of the first true Bose–Einstein condensate.-Biography:...
    
     (nominee)
  • Associate Director for Technology and Chief Technology Officer
    Chief Technology Officer of the United States
    The Chief Technology Officer of the United States , formally known as the Assistant to the President, Associate Director for the Office of Science and Technology Policy is a position created within the Office of Science and Technology Policy by President Barack Obama...
    
    : Aneesh Chopra
    Aneesh Chopra
    Aneesh Paul Chopra is the first Federal Chief Technology Officer of the United States .Chopra previously served as Virginia’s fourth Secretary of Technology. Prior to his government service, Chopra was Managing Director for the Advisory Board Company, a health care think tank for hospitals and...
    
    
  • Associate Director for National Security & International Affairs: Philip E. Coyle III
  • Associate Director for Energy & Environment: Shere Abbott

Past Science Advisors

President	Name	Term
Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...	Vannevar Bush Vannevar Bush Vannevar Bush was an American engineer and science administrator known for his work on analog computing, his political role in the development of the atomic bomb as a primary organizer of the Manhattan Project, the founding of Raytheon, and the idea of the memex, an adjustable microfilm viewer...	1939–1951
Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...	Oliver E. Buckley Oliver E. Buckley Oliver Ellsworth Buckley was an American electrical engineer known for his contributions to the field of submarine telephony.-Biography:...	1951–1952
Harry S. Truman	Lee A. DuBridge	1952–1953
Dwight Eisenhower	Lee A. DuBridge	1953–1956
Dwight Eisenhower	Isadore I. Rabi	1956–1957
Dwight Eisenhower	James Killian James Rhyne Killian Dr. James Rhyne Killian, Jr. was the 10th president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, from 1948 until 1959.-Career:...	1957–1959
Dwight Eisenhower	George Kistiakowsky George Kistiakowsky George Bogdan Kistiakowsky was a Ukrainian-American chemistry professor at Harvard who participated in the Manhattan Project and later served as President Eisenhower's Science Advisor...	1959–1961
John F. Kennedy John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....	Jerome B. Wiesner	1961–1963
Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...	Jerome B. Wiesner	1963–1964
Lyndon B. Johnson	Donald F. Hornig	1964–1969
Richard Nixon Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...	Lee A. DuBridge	1969–1970
Richard Nixon	Edward E. David Jr. Edward E. David Jr. Edward Emil David Jr. is an American electrical engineer who served as science advisor to President Richard M. Nixon and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology from 1970-1973.-Life and career:...	1970–1973
Gerald Ford Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...	H. Guyford Stever	1973–1977
Jimmy Carter Jimmy Carter James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...	Frank Press Frank Press Frank Press is an American geophysicist.Born in Brooklyn, New York, Press was science advisor to President Jimmy Carter from1976 to 1980,and president of the U.S. NationalAcademy of Sciences from 1981 to 1993...	1977–1981
Ronald Reagan Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....	Benjamin Huberman (acting)	1981
Ronald Reagan	George A. Keyworth, II George A. Keyworth, II Dr. George Albert II Keyworth , U.S. physicist; presidential Science Advisor 1981-1985. He was a board member of Hewlett Packard who was asked to step down in light of the controversy surrounding disclosure of sensitive information to the media...	1981–1985
Ronald Reagan	John P. McTague (acting)	1986
Ronald Reagan	Richard G. Johnson (acting)	1986
Ronald Reagan	William Robert Graham William Robert Graham William Graham was a Deputy Administrator and Acting Administrator of NASA during 1985 and 1986.Born in San Antonio, Texas, Graham received his B.S. degree in physics from the California Institute of Technology in 1959. In addition, he earned an M.S. degree in engineering science in 1961, and a Ph.D...	1986–1989
Ronald Reagan	Thomas P. Rona Thomas P. Rona Thomas P. Rona was a 1980's era science advisor to the Defense Department and the White House under Presidents Reagan and Bush.Born in Budapest, Hungary, Rona graduated from Ecole Superieure d'Electricite ; and Massachusetts Institute of Technology...  (acting)	1989
George H. W. Bush George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...	D. Allan Bromley D. Allan Bromley David Allan Bromley was a Canadian–American physicist, academic administrator and Science Advisor to American president George H. W. Bush. At the time of his death, he had over 500 publications.-Life:...	1989–1993
Bill Clinton Bill Clinton William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...	John H. Gibbons John H. Gibbons John Howard "Jack" Gibbons is an American scientist. Between 1993 and 1998 he served as the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.- Biography :...	1993–1998
Bill Clinton	Kerri-Ann Jones Kerri-Ann Jones Kerri-Ann Jones is the current United States Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, having assumed office in August 2009.-Biography:...  (acting)	1998
Bill Clinton	Neal F. Lane	1998–2001
George W. Bush George W. Bush George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....	Rosina Bierbaum Rosina Bierbaum Rosina M. Bierbaum is dean of the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment. She was hired in October 2001 by then U-M President Lee Bollinger....  (acting)	2001
George W. Bush	Clifford Gabriel (acting)	2001
George W. Bush	John H. Marburger III John Marburger John Harmen Marburger, III was an American physicist who directed the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the administration of President George W. Bush, thus serving as the Science Advisor to the President...	2001–2009
Barack Obama Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...	John Holdren John Holdren John Paul Holdren is advisor to President Barack Obama for Science and Technology, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Co-Chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology...	2009–present