The Office of Technology Assessment: History, Authorities, Issues, and Options
In 2018, the R Street Institute (R Street), a nonprofit, nonpartisan, public policy research organization, proposed reestablishment of OTA in its report Bring in the Nerds: Reviving the Office of Technology Assessment. The report identifies and addresses a number of rationales that have been put forth by others as to why OTA should not be reestablished, including cost, political loss of face, perception by some of an ideological bias in OTA’s work, providing a foundation for encouraging additional government intervention, and adding another governmental expert bureaucracy. The report concludes that “Congress can most easily bolster its technology policy knowledge by reviving the OTA.” 134
