PCAST Meeting

The President’s Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) met this Monday to discuss a wide-range of topics. Two items are of particular note to the physics community:

LARGE HADRON COLLIDER:

Kerri-Ann Jones, OSTP Associate Director for National Security and International Affairs, commented on the Large Hadron Collider several times. She called for greater public education on international science and technology projects, citing the LHC. There is great support for the LHC within the high energy physics community, but, she warned, the public has a “tremendous amount of ignorance about that program.” While Congress has become increasingly supportive of the LHC as it learns more about it, Jones said there is still “a lot of homework to do.”

Both the LHC and the space station programs are “on track” she said, but both show how difficult international cooperation is. She told PCAST the “most important thing” it can do to support the LHC program is to educate the public and the Congress.

OSTP Director John Gibbons characterized the new LHC management plan as a “win-win” situation. He agreed with Jones that more needs to be done to inform the public and Congress about the benefits of the program. Gibbons added that House Science Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-Wisconsin) now supports the collider. PCAST met with Sensenbrenner today for breakfast.

One PCAST member commented that the world had not been sufficiently educated about the importance of the potential discoveries of the LHC, adding, “The Unified Theory is great, but what does it mean” to the average person?

BUDGET PERSPECTIVE:

Office of Management and Budget Director Franklin Raines briefly addressed PCAST during the morning session. This was his first appearance before them. With the budget deal settled, Raines predicted that OMB could now look at larger, longer-term issues. He had both good and bad news to report. On the good news front, non-defense discretionary spending would be $120 billion more through 2002 than Congress had originally scheduled. Nevertheless, this will be around 14% less in what will be needed to maintain the current level of services when adjusted for inflation. The will result in a “substantial real reduction” and a “very tight” situation.

Spending cuts in government programs will be uneven, Raines said, with about 1/2 of all programs seeing real declines. With the total amount of future discretionary spending set each year, there will be vigorous competition among programs for federal dollars. Under this new regime, the OMB Director said, “success” in budgeting will be defined as a program that remains current with inflation The Administration continues to favor science and technology as an investment for the future. He expects Congress to continue to support it, with continuing disagreements over the nature of this support. While rising congressional support for biological sciences seems fairly certain, it is less certain if it will exist for all disciplines. “Choices have to be made,” Raines said, since there is “always more demand than resources.” He called on PCAST, and the science community, to help make these choices.