Lawmakers urged to revive the Office of Technology Assessment for AI and bio-threat guidance
Experts argue that reinstating the defunct Office of Technology Assessment would give Congress the impartial expertise it needs to navigate complex issues such as artificial intelligence and bioterrorism.
In the wake of the 2001 anthrax letters that killed five people, Congress turned to a 1993 OTA report for unbiased data on bioterrorism risks, despite the agency having been shuttered years earlier. OTA, created in 1972, had a long record of translating complex science—acid rain, missile defense, genomics—into clear policy options for legislators of both parties. Its impartial analyses helped shape decisions on taggants for explosives and polygraph use, even when industry and executive agencies pushed opposing views.
Budget cuts in the 1990s eliminated the office, yet recent AI safety alarms from former Anthropic and OpenAI executives highlight a renewed need for such expertise. While the Government Accountability Office now runs a Science, Technology Assessment and Analytics team, it lacks OTA’s close congressional ties. Calls to reestablish OTA have appeared in bipartisan bills, but funding has not materialized. Restoring the agency could address Congress’s chronic capacity shortfall in evaluating technical evidence and weighing policy trade-offs.
