In its 2000 report, Advancing Innovation: Improving the S&T Advisory Structure and Policy Process, the Center sounded an alarm to marshal the nation’s best scientific and technical minds to master the changing post-Cold War environment. Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, CSP focused on responding to terrorism by presenting the insights of Senator William Frist, Presidential Science Advisor, Dr. John Marburger, Nobel Laureate, Dr. Joshua Lederberg, Dr. William Schneider, VAPENA Science Board Chairman, and Distinguished University of Michigan Professor of Physics, Dr. Homer Neal, in Marshalling Science, Bridging the Gap. The Center also began folding much of its science policy work into Homeland Security roundtables and science-based initiatives.
Currently, as part of its Agenda 2008 Initiative, the non-partisan Center is organizing working sessions on critical national challenges for the 2008 Presidential candidates, partnering with the National Academy of Sciences, American Association for the Advancement of Science, National Science Foundation, Defense Science Board and leading corporate research centers and universities in this effort. The suite of health care issues—soaring medical costs, uninsured citizens, the need to protect against and respond to natural disasters and possible bioterrorist threats, and improving the delivery of quality medical and public health services—are at the top of most candidates’ lists. While the halls of Congress and the White House are strewn with unsuccessful efforts to address these challenges, the Center believes it can help find a path forward. This belief is based on experience. CSP has broken through partisan barriers and bureaucratic stovepipes on public diplomacy, smuggled nuclear weapons, homeland security, and the loss of civility and creativity in government. Agenda 2008 working sessions will focus on the Presidential Science Advisor, the science policy process, and key policy and R&D issues such as alternate energy sources, delivery and paying for quality health care, homeland security and the economic benefits of a strong R&D budget.
CSP will convene a wide range of experts from the health community, public policy organizations, academia and current or former government officials for a frank, off-the-record discussion of key science, health, and technology issues. These sessions will produce one or more briefing papers that describe the nature of the challenge, set forth various policy options and the resources required to pursue each, and explain why Presidential action is critical to overcoming this national vulnerability. Recommendations from these sessions will build common ground among the participants, frame the Presidential debates, and help prepare the next Administration to address these challenges with the support of creative Members of Congress, their staff, the private sector, public policy organizations, health groups, the media and the American public.
Report to the President-Elect 2000: Improving the Policy Process: Science, Technology and Innovation
Issue Paper 12 - A Long-Term Response to Bio-Terrorism: Homeland Security Leaders Need Shared Intellectual Framework and Greater International Cooperation by Michael L. Moodie, President, Chemical and Biological Arms Control Institute, Former Assistant Director, U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency
For more information on the Center’s Science, Health, and Technology Initiative, please contact Dr. Thomas Kirlin at 202-872-9800 or via e-mail.
