A new report implores the next US president to keep the White House science office as well as the position of science adviser to the president, according to ScienceInsider.
"There are many things about [White House Office of Science and Technology Policy] and the science adviser's job that have been shown to work pretty well over the years," author Neal Lane, who served as science adviser during former President Bill Clinton's administration, said at a press conference according to ScienceInsider.
The report, which was written by Lane, Kirstin Matthews, and Kenneth Evans from Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy, says the next president will have to grapple with policy issues that touch on emerging diseases like the Zika virus, chronic diseases like cancer, environmental concerns, and security threats, all of which will require scientific expertise to handle.
In the report, the trio further offers advice both for the next president and for the next science adviser. For the president, Lane and his colleague recommend choosing a science adviser straightaway who is a nationally respected scientist or engineer and leaning on that person when choosing other sub-Cabinet and agency heads with science- or technology-related responsibilities. They also recommend that the newly elected president draw up a strategy that outlines the new administration's science and innovation goals within the first 100 days.
Meanwhile, for the science adviser, the trio recommends that he or she act as the president's public face for science issues, draft that science and innovation strategy paper, provide confidential and unbiased science advice, and help draft the annual budget.