Insights from the Office of Technology Assessment and Other Assessment Experiences

This chapter begins with a synthesis of some relevant scholarship about the institutionalization of expertise and the conduct of technically sophisticated policy analysis and assessment that, written mostly after OTA s demise, may be relevant for the recreation of a congressional science advisory capacity. Based on this discussion and the histories in Chapters 2 and 3, it then identifies and explores the issues that proposals for new institutions for advice, analysis, and assessment will likely need to address.