NOTICE

This document includes the policy statement from "Science in the
National Interest." It does not include the examples, sidebars, or
illustrations.  The examples include:

"Steering by the Satellites"
"A Key to Cancer"
"A New Chemistry for Carbon"
"Origins of the Information Superhighway"
"Monitoring the Earth"
"A Virtuous Infection"
"Seeing Inside the Body"
"Simulating Reality"
"Plastics that Glow"
"The Human Dimension"
"Bringing the Universe into Focus"


The complete version is available for sale by the Superintendent of
Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington DC
20402. Further distribution information will be posted as it becomes
available.


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SCIENCE IN THE NATIONAL INTEREST

This country must sustain world leadership in science, mathematics,
and engineering if we are to meet the challenges of today. . . and of
tomorrow.
		President William J. Clinton November 23, 1993



Science:  The Endless Resource

America's future demands investment in our people, institutions and
ideas.  Science is an essential part of that investment, an endless and
sustainable resource with extraordinary dividends.  This investment
strategy was clearly articulated fifty years ago in Vannevar Bush's
seminal report Science:  The Endless Frontier:

The Government should accept new responsibilities for promoting the
flow of new scientific knowledge and the development of scientific
talent in our youth.  These responsibilities are the proper concern of
the Government, for they vitally affect our health, our jobs and our
national security.

The bedrock wisdom of this statement has been demonstrated time and
again in the intervening half century.  The return from our public
investments in fundamental science has been enormous, both through the
knowledge generated and through the education of an unmatched
scientific and technical workforce.  Discoveries in mathematics,
physics, chemistry, biology and other fundamental sciences have seeded
and have been driven by important advances in engineering, technology,
and medicine.

	The principal sponsors and beneficiaries of our scientific
enterprise are the American people.  Their continued support, rooted in
the recognition of science as the foundation of a modern
knowledge-based technological society, is essential.  The nation's
investment has yielded a scientific enterprise without peer, whether
measured in term of discoveries, citations, awards and prizes, advanced
education, or contributions to industrial and informational
innovation.   Our scientific strength is a treasure which we must
sustain and build on for the future.

	To fulfill our responsibility to future generations by ensuring
that our children can compete in the global economy, we must invest in
the scientific enterprise at a rate commensurate with its growing
importance to society.  That means we must provide physical
infrastructure that facilitates world class research, including access
to cutting-edge scientific instrumentation and to world-class
information and communication systems.  We must provide the necessary
educational opportunities for each of our citizens.  Failure to
exercise our responsibility will place our children's future at risk.

	Science does indeed provide an endless frontier.  Advancing
that frontier and exploring the cosmos we live in helps to feed our
sense of adventure and our passion for discovery.  Science is also an
endless resource:  in advancing the frontier, our knowledge of the
physical and living world constantly expands.  The unfolding secrets of
nature provide new knowledge to address crucial challenges, often in
unpredictable ways.  These include improving human health, creating
breakthrough technologies that lead to new industries and high quality
jobs, enhancing productivity with information technologies and improved
understanding of human interactions, meeting our national security
needs, protecting and restoring the global environment, and feeding and
providing energy for a growing population.

	The challenges of the twenty-first century will place a high
premium on sustained excellence in scientific research and education.
We approach the future with a strong foundation, built by the wise and
successful stewardship of this enterprise over many decades, and with
an investment strategy that was framed during this Administration's
first month as three interconnected strategic goals:

       Long term economic growth that creates jobs and protects the
environment;

       A government that is more productive and more responsive to the
needs of its citizens;

       World leadership in basic science, mathematics, and
engineering.

The first goal was elaborated in the Administration statement
Technology for America's Economic Growth, and the second in the Vice
President's National Performance Review.  Our policies in these areas
are already working to prepare the future.  The third goal represents a
critical long-term investment, one for which we need both vision and a
sound Federal policy.

A Time of Change

We face change on many fronts, and change characteristically engenders
both opportunity and uncertainty.  The end of the Cold War has
transformed international relationships and security needs.  Highly
competitive economies have emerged in Europe and Asia, putting new
stresses on our private sector and on employment. The ongoing
information revolution both enables and demands new ways of doing
business.  During the 1980's, our Federal budget deficit grew rapidly,
constraining crucial investments for the future.  Our population
diversity has increased, yielding new opportunities to build on a
traditional American strength.  Health and environmental responsibility
present increasingly complex challenges, and the literacy standards for
a productive and fulfilling role in twenty-first century society are
expanding beyond the traditional three R's into science and
technology.

		As our institutions anticipate, manage, and respond to
change, we must continue to focus on the enduring core elements of our
national interest:  the health, prosperity, security, environmental
responsibility, and quality of life of all of our citizens.  At the
same time, we must respond to the changing character of the challenges
presented by each of these core elements.  For example, as the nature
of today's external security threat has shifted profoundly, we have
come to recognize economic and technological strength as integral to
national security.  Likewise improved science and mathematics education
for all citizens is now recognized as a strategic imperative for our
individual and collective futures.

		We must reexamine and reshape our science policy both
tosustain America's preeminence in science and to facilitate the role
of science in the broader national interest. Each core element of the
national interest requires strong commitment to scientific research
and education:

       Health requires the understanding, prevention and treatment of
disease and the assurance of an adequate, safe, and nutritious food
supply.  These activities have become more and more dependent on the
discoveries of fundamental biology research, often at the molecular
level.  Knowledge of the molecular basis of genetic diseases, for
example, will permit design of effective new treatments such as gene
therapy.  The importance of broad strength in science is evidenced by
the increasing role in biology and medicine of tools developed in the
physical sciences, such as magnetic resonance imagers whose beginnings
were in nuclear physics, or lasers that originated in fundamental
atomic and molecular physics research, or the accelerators and
instrumentation developed in the quest to understand subatomic
particles. Research is also essential in social and behavioral science
for developing effective public health strategies for preventing
disease.

       Prosperity requires technological innovation.  Basic scientific
and engineering research is essential for training innovative
scientists and engineers, for many technology improvements, and for
achieving the revolutionary advances that create new industries.
Biotechnology and optical communications are two examples, and others
will follow.  For example, fundamental science and engineering will
yield capabilities, unimaginable only a few years ago, to design and
build new materials whether electronic or biomolecular. Applications
will span areas as diverse as civil infrastructure improvements and
environmental restoration.

       Our national security has long been based on technological
superiority bred of scientific and engineering innovation and a
strategic commitment to both breadth and excellence in basic research.
This will be even more important with a reduced military establishment
facing new and varied security challenges such as verification methods
for nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction.  For example,
remote acquisition and rapid analysis of huge data streams and a new
generation of imaging technologies will be essential. These
capabilities will require advances in fundamental science and
engineering, and will have important dual uses in military and civilian
applications.

       Environmental responsibility requires much better understanding
of the complex interrelationships among components of the biosphere and
among human activities and the world around us.  We must carry out the
necessary fundamental research and develop appropriate technologies to
detect and correct environmental problems, to manage natural resources,
and to sustain the environment.  The levels of population, economic,
and industrial growth suggested by current trends and patterns of
development point to an urgent need to improve industrial processes and
products and to provide food, energy, and natural resources with
greatly reduced environmental impact.  Understanding biological and
physical processes is vital to maintaining biodiversity and healthy
ecosystems.

        Improved quality of life of our citizens involves all of these
elements, and more. Culture, inspiration, and full participation in the
democratic process are important for our citizens' lives and for
setting directions for America.  Scientific and technical literacy are
crucial for understanding and appreciating the modern world.
Sometimes, the rewards come directly from the leaps of science and
engineering that inspire us as one people and spark the imagination of
our children.  Only months ago, we experienced this with the bold
repair job on the orbiting Hubble telescope and the remarkable clarity
of the resulting images.  Such moments are themselves an important
public benefit of science, helping to satisfy humanity's age-old drive
to define itself through a better understanding of the world we
inhabit.  At a more down-to-earth level, scientific and technical
literacy will provide the gateway to an increasing number of high
quality jobs.

Thus, science, both endless frontier and endless resource, is a
critical investment in the national interest.  Science and technology
are tightly coupled, for they both drive and benefit one another.  To
address the nation's science investment strategy, we must reexamine
every element of the enterprise: the research portfolio; the
infrastructure needed for world-class research by world-class
researchers; and the education of our people in science and
mathematics.  Each element must be strong, requiring that optimization
be done within limited resources.  It is essential that we adhere to a
long-range and diversified investment strategy: nurture broadly-based
fundamental research for the decades ahead, conduct research aimed at
today's strategic areas, and undertake vigorous development activities
that spring from our accumulated science and engineering resource
base.

	While we cannot foretell the outcome of fundamental research,
we know from past experience that, in its totality, it consistently
leads to dramatically valuable results for humanity.  We have every
reason to expect that the science investment will continue to yield a
very high rate of return.

"Science reveals new worlds to explore, and by implication new
opportunities to seize and new futures to create."

Vice President Al Gore Forum on Science in the National Interest
February 1994

Setting Our National Goals

This Administration stated in February 1993 its over-arching goal for
fundamental research--world leadership in basic science, mathematics
and engineering.  To sustain the leadership position we now hold, we
must improve the conditions, capabilities, and opportunities for
well-trained scientists and engineers to pursue innovative research, to
educate the next generation, and to apply science in areas of
importance to the health, prosperity, and security of the country.  The
agenda is a broad one, and will require the resources of government and
the creative participation of industry and academia.  Therefore, we set
the following goals for our stewardship of science in the national
interest:

	- Maintain leadership across the frontiers of scientific
	  knowledge
	- Enhance connections between fundamental research and
	  national goals
	- Stimulate partnerships that promote investments in
	  fundamental science and engineering and effective use of
          physical, human and financial resources
	- Produce the finest scientists and engineers for the
	  twenty- first century
        - Raise scientific and technological literacy of all
	  Americans.

	While we pursue these goals amidst rapid change, we must not
lose sight of the core values that have enabled our nation to achieve
so much.  Over the last fifty years, the United States developed a
unique and highly successful system for advancing scientific research
in universities, medical schools, and independent research centers and
in Federal and industrial laboratories.  Our system rests on a strong
commitment to investigator-initiated research and merit review based on
evaluation by scientific peers.  This system maintains the emphasis on
excellence and brings new people and new ideas into the research
enterprise.

	A significant fraction of research, particularly fundamental
research, is performed at academic institutions.  This has multiple
benefits.  Research and education are linked in an extremely productive
way.  The intellectual freedom afforded academic researchers and the
constant renewal brought by successive generations of inquisitive young
minds stimulate the research enterprise.  A broad range of disciplines
are represented in our research universities, providing opportunity for
cross disciplinary stimulation.

	Federal support of fundamental science and engineering is
characterized by a healthy pluralism.  All Federal departments and
agencies that depend heavily on scientific and technical knowledge and
human resources support fundamental research and education in these
areas.  This improves their capacity to attain their evolving goals as
new challenges emerge.

	Several illustrations in this and following sections
demonstrate how science has improved and enriched our lives, often in
ways that could not be predicted.  This broad advance of science and
its applications represented in the illustrations originated in the
support of science by a multiplicity of federal agencies.

	The nature of science is international, and the free flow of
people, ideas, and data is essential to the health of our scientific
enterprise.  Many of the scientific challenges, for example in health,
environment, and food, are global in scope and require on-site
cooperation in many other countries.  In addition to scientific
benefits, collaborative scientific and engineering projects bring
nations together thereby contributing to international understanding,
good will, and sound decision-making worldwide.

	   Finally, we must emphasize that science advances the
national interest and improves our quality of life only as part of a
larger enterprise.  Today's science and technology enterprise is more
like an ecosystem than a production line.  Fundamental science and
technological advances are interdependent, and the steps from
fundamental science to the marketplace or to the clinic require healthy
institutions and entrepreneurial spirit across society.  Many of these
institutions need attention.  Nevertheless, we cannot afford to lose
sight of the importance of scientific research and education for
sustained progress in the modern world.

Reaching Our Goals

To reach each of the five goals articulated above, this Administration
proposes a coherent, integrated set of policies and will work to refine
and implement them in concert with the Congress, state and local
governments, academia, industry, the research and educational
communities, and our citizens.  We are all stakeholders in the
scientific enterprise, and we now must focus on a shared commitment.

	American Presidents have a tradition of strong support for
science and technology. This Administration has already taken two key
steps to help move us towards our goals.  In November 1993, the
President established the National Science and Technology Council
(NSTC) to coordinate  Federal research and development across the
government.  This cabinet-level group, chaired by the President,
elevates science and technology policy discussions to the level of
those for national security, domestic, and economic policy.  The NSTC
will couple research to the fiscal and regulatory structures needed to
facilitate application of science and technology to the national
interest.  In November 1993, the President also established the
President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST).
This group of academic and industry advisors will provide valuable
community input on major policy issues.

Maintain leadership across the frontiers of scientific knowledge

It has seldom proved possible to anticipate which areas of science will
bring forward surprising and important breakthroughs at any give time.
Therefore, U.S. scientists must be among those working at the leading
edge in all major fields in order for us to retain and improve our
competitive position in the long term.  This means that U.S. scientists
and engineers continue to make a significant share of the most
important scientific advances. They must maintain our tradition of
scientific excellence, produce a scientific, engineering and technical
workforce educated at the highest levels in all important disciplines
and technologies, and create an infrastructure able to capitalize on
and advance key discoveries no matter where they occur.  This goal will
serve the NSTC as the principal guide to investment in fundamental
science and engineering research.

	Breadth of scientific excellence is necessary to maintain the
enterprise at the appropriate standard.  Different areas of science and
their associated cutting-edge technologies are tightly interconnected.
Advances in one area often have unanticipated major benefits in totally
different areas.  Furthermore, nature yields her most precious secrets
in surprising ways,  to those who are well prepared and persistent, and
with a schedule not often amenable to detailed planning.  Thus,
although we can and must do more to identify and coordinate research
thrusts aimed at strategic goals, we must not limit our future by
restricting the range of our inquiry.  Vibrant scientific disciplines
are best guaranteed by the initiatives of talented investigators and in
turn provide the strongest and most enduring foundation for science in
the national interest.  That quantum theory would lead to today's
electronics, or investigations of DNA structure to genetic engineering,
could not be anticipated.  Countless examples could be provided; the
few which accompany this statement are tangible evidence of
inspiration, promise, and improved quality of life for our citizens.
We can be confident that our children and grandchildren will look back
at today's fundamental science and its ultimate benefit with the same
surprise and appreciation that we experience today.

	Accomplishing this leadership goal will require that the NSTC
and PCAST evaluate both the research portfolio and the status of the
physical infrastructure needed for research. Coordination of agency
responsibilities and commitments in these areas will be essential for
appropriate stewardship of the scientific enterprise during this period
of fiscal constraint.  The NSTC will initiate Presidential Review
Directives and Presidential Decision Directives to ensure that science
and technology policy decisions are implemented across the
participating agencies.  Nine NSTC standing committees, including one
specifically focused on Fundamental Science, are composed of senior
officials from the agencies and from the Executive Office of the
President.  They identify priorities and prepare technical information,
implementation plans, and milestones and measures of progress in
support of NSTC priorities. Long range planning and stable support will
be important ingredients in this Administration's strategy.

	As a result of deliberate and successful long-term investment
strategies, a number of countries now possess world-class research
capabilities.  If U.S. researchers are to sustain leadership and
strengthen participation in collaborative scientific endeavors, we must
increase our level of interaction with colleagues in other countries.
In many important areas of contemporary research, ranging from studies
of seismic activity to biodiversity to global change, our scientists
can be optimally effective only through international partnerships.  In
areas such as high energy physics, space exploration, and nuclear
fusion research  where expensive facilities are required, it is only
sensible to share with other countries both the benefits and the costs
of constructing and operating these facilities.  We should also look
for opportunities to engage developing nations more fully in the
international science endeavor. As a logical consequence of the North
American Free Trade Agreement and long-term policies, we should
continue to pay particular attention to engaging the scientific
communities of the Americas.

	There is already a considerable amount of scientist-to-
scientist interaction and collaboration.  This is the foundation of
international scientific cooperation.  However, the government has an
important role both in lowering barriers and in supporting large scale
collaborations.  For example, interoperability of data bases and
networks is crucial for enhancing collaboration, and we will continue
to work towards appropriate international standards.  Strengthened
science and technology presence overseas can aid information gathering,
identify more opportunities for effective collaboration, and provide
the basis for economic relations in technical areas.  We must enter
international collaborations with clear responsibilities and secure
commitments for each partner.  For this, we must establish with the
Congress mechanisms for prioritizing, committing to, and then
sustaining long term support for large projects.  This need applies
equally well to large American projects with multi-year time scales.

	Over the long term, U.S. investment in fundamental research
must be commensurate with our national goals.  The Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) provides the benchmark for total economic activity and
thus the most meaningful measure of the R&D investment.  Total U.S.
support of non-defense R&D is about 1.9 percent of GDP, below that of
Germany (2.5 percent) and Japan (3.0 percent).  Including all defense
R&D (most of which is applied research, development, testing and
evaluation), the U.S. total becomes 2.6 percent.  The dominant part of
the non-defense R&D investment is industrially sponsored applied
research and development, that is, activity relatively close to the
marketplace.  The special responsibility of the Federal investment in
sponsoring fundamental research is highlighted by noting that about
two-thirds of fundamental research support is Federal, in comparison to
about one-third of the applied research and development support
(including defense R&D). Still, the Federal expenditure for basic
research, the "venture capital" of our national enterprise, is only
0.27 percent of the GDP.

	We must put into place better mechanisms to evaluate our
investment strategy and to make changes as later evaluations and future
conditions demand.  This Administration's strong emphasis on shifting
the character of defense R&D towards dual civilian- military use will
help focus our overall R&D investment much more on the marketplace.
With steady progress here, a reasonable long term goal for the total
national R&D investment (both civilian and defense) might be about 3
percent of GDP.  This modest increment should be shared by the Federal
government and the private sector.  Additional work on how to assess
this long term goal  will be conducted within the NSTC.  In any event,
the private sector investment will be driven by the global marketplace
in an increasingly technology-based society, with government fiscal and
regulatory policies enabling and stimulating investment.  As the
private sector investment is likely to remain heavily weighted towards
shorter term applied research and development, properly so, the Federal
investment must further strengthen fundamental research, rebuild the
science infrastructure, and strengthen longer term applied research and
development, thereby providing the seed funds for long term health of
the R&D enterprise.

Our investment budget in fundamental science will be improved in the
short term as we examine existing resources and, to match the growing
importance of science as a foundation of modern society, increased with
future improvements in the Federal government's fiscal condition.

The NSTC will provide ongoing evaluation of America's position in
fundamental science, mathematics, and engineering and recommend actions
to assure world leadership in all major fields.

Our investment in fundamental science must be accompanied by careful
attention to support for international collaborations.  The NSTC, with
advice from PCAST, will recommend policies for long-term multinational
agreements for the support of large scientific projects.

We will work with Congress to find mechanisms for long-term
authorization and budgeting commitments for large projects whether
conducted exclusively by American scientists or in partnerships with
other countries.

Enhance connections between fundamental research and national goals

Scientific knowledge is necessary for helping us achieve our national
goals of improved health, environment, prosperity, national security
and quality of life.  Equally important are the social institutions,
markets and government programs that promote the dissemination of
knowledge, technologies, and products.  This Administration has taken
significant steps, such as strong support of the Advanced Technology
Program and establishment of the Technology Reinvestment Program,
towards accelerating the development of technologies critical for
long-term economic growth and for increasing productivity while
reducing environmental impact. Success in this effort demands sustained
commitment to fundamental science, the foundation on which technical
progress ultimately rests.  Truly unexpected technologies, some of
which reshape our work, education, recreation, and well-being,
generally stem from discoveries of fundamental research which have
given us an entirely new way to see how nature works.

	This does not mean that the societal benefits of science and
technology follow a linear progression from fundamental to applied
research, and then development into a product.  We depart here from the
Vannevar Bush canon, which suggested a competition between basic and
applied research.  Instead, we acknowledge the intimate relationships
among and interdependence of basic research, applied research, and
technology, appreciate that progress in any one depends on advances in
the others, and indeed recognize that it is often misleading to label a
particular activity as belonging uniquely to one category.  All
contribute essentially to our national strategic goals.  The synergy
between science and technology requires coherent Federal policies in
both areas.  The NSTC will be the Administration's principal instrument
to instill coherence in the Federal research and development
enterprise.  The Council will identify research thrusts of special
promise and develop the appropriate investment portfolio across Federal
agencies.

	Many Federal agencies depend upon and contribute to our science
and technology base in pursuing their missions supporting national
goals.  Federal laboratories associated with these agencies are an
important part of our national science investment and infrastructure.
For example, in addition to directly supporting agency research and
development needs, they operate large facilities for fundamental
research by university scientists and develop, maintain, and
disseminate critical data bases.   In these changing times, their
missions and contributions to national goals are changing as well.
They must be part of strengthened connections between fundamental
research and evolving national goals.

	We understand that the fruit of fundamental research
initiatives may not ripen for some time.  The time scale can be long,
and success may hinge on facilities or interdisciplinary research teams
that take years to assemble.  Even in the face of current budgetary
pressures, considerations about fundamental science, including the
social and behavioral sciences, must remain integral to the agency
planning activities.  We cannot allow a short-term mission focus to
compromise development of the intellectual capital vital to our
Nation's future.

The NSTC will foster, prioritize, and coordinate major cross-agency
fundamental research and education initiatives coupled to national
goals.
	Each agency that depends on or contributes to our science and
technology base will, with involvement of the scientific community,
delineate its fundamental research and education missions with respect
to the national goals; develop long- range plans for its fundamental
science, mathematics and engineering investment; and develop measures
to evaluate its contributions.

A cross-agency review of Federal laboratories will give particular
attention to their role in support of national goals and their
effectiveness in performance and support of fundamental science,
mathematics and engineering.


Stimulate partnerships that promote investments in fundamental science
and engineering and effective use of physical, human, and financial
resources

The Federal government can foster the conditions that stimulate private
sector investments in fundamental research and in the facilities in
which competitive research and quality education are conducted.  For
industry, these include an appropriate fiscal and budgetary
environment, a stable science-based regulatory system, a global trade
environment which encourages commercialization of technology, and
intellectual property protection.  For colleges, universities, and
medical schools, the conditions include stable policies on research
funding, establishing equitable policies for financing the
construction, renovation, and modernization of educational and research
facilities, and modernizing the costing principles for academic
buildings and equipment.

	Economic competitiveness is rooted in the health of industry at
state and local levels. That is where job creation occurs.  Thus, we
seek to leverage industry-university collaboration using existing state
mechanisms and to encourage new state initiatives.

	The underlying purpose of industrial and industrially-
sponsored research is to stimulate innovation and thereby to create new
business opportunity.  The principal determinants of success are the
quality of the scientists and engineers available to industry and the
knowledge base and core competencies which permit both informed
decision-making and technological innovations.  Thus, the continued
health of our major research universities is of utmost importance to
our science and technology-based industrial sector.  Research is, by
its nature, a long-term activity and our industrial managers should be
able to plan their commitments with the security that government
policies will be reasonably predictable throughout the research
activity.

	The heartland of fundamental science and engineering research
and advanced education is our unmatched system of research universities
and federal laboratories.  While fundamental research is declining in
much of industry, industrial leaders frequently speak of the value of
"people transfer" and "idea transfer" with academic institutions.
Faculty and student participation in industrial research and in
industrially-sponsored research can have many benefits beyond the
research product itself:  the educational benefit to the students of
learning about the industrial environment; the access of industry to
many of our most talented faculty; early identification of the most
promising students; possible long-term research collaboration on
problems of interest to industry.

	Our research infrastructure (the people, instrumentation,
information systems, institutions, and buildings) in colleges and
universities, in industry, and in Federal laboratories is an enormous
national resource.  It enables our highly successful research
enterprise to continue forward in a leadership position.  It is a
resource which must be continuously renewed and renovated.  Used
judiciously, it can also be one of our most effective resources for
addressing our national objective of improved science and mathematics
education. Stronger coupling between researchers and teachers at all
levels--from kindergarten through graduate school--will naturally bring
these resources into play to enrich our educational system.

	The magnitude of the costs of repairing research laboratories
and upgrading research instrumentation indicates a continuing need for
government  programs to modernize our research infrastructure and
policies that will encourage private sector investments. Given the
strictures on funding of discretionary government programs for the
foreseeable future, and the priority this Administration places on
strengthening the support for research funding, it is essential that
careful consideration be given to the design of an infrastructure
renewal program.  The National Science Foundation estimates that the
total cost of performing all needed repair and renovation of existing
academic research space is in the range of $7 to $8 billion.  These
figures do not include provision for replacement of space that is of
such poor quality that renovation would not be appropriate.
Institutions indicated that 13 percent of their existing research space
needed major repair to be used effectively, and an additional 23
percent needed limited repair.  An additional 3 percent was reported to
be in such poor condition that complete replacement would be needed.
Further, a survey of academic department heads indicated that high
priority scientific instrumentation needs total about $3 billion.  The
primary justification for the highest priority needs was that of making
important frontier experiments accessible to academic researchers, both
faculty and students.

	Partnerships between the Federal government and states can also
be used to develop scientific resources and talent throughout the
country. The Federal government already seeds partnerships with
participating states, and the states provide matching funds as a
demonstration of commitment to increasing their competitiveness for
merit-based Federal and private sector research support.  Such programs
frequently pay other dividends-- tying together education and research
and strengthening the research infrastructure within states.

We will work in partnership with universities and the private sector to
modernize our research infrastructure.  To stimulate private sector
infrastructure investments in our educational institutions, we will
both support elimination of the cap on tax-free bonds for such purposes
and  re-evaluate allowances for use  of facilities and equipment,
consistent with industrial practice.  The NSTC will develop options for
how to implement the Federal investment as  a systematic, long-term,
multi-agency, merit-reviewed program.

The NSTC, with advice from PCAST and the broader scientific community,
will advise on impediments to industry investment in fundamental
research and recommend policies to encourage industry investment.  The
Clinton Administration has supported and proposed making the Research
and Experimentation Tax Credit be made permanent.

The unique assets of the Federal research enterprise will be viewed as
a national resource not only for research and post- graduate education
but also for enriching the full educational continuum.  Federal
agencies and their technical facilities will strengthen programs
offering research experiences for pre-college and undergraduate college
teachers and technical training and apprenticeships for the
school-to-work transition and for displaced workers.

The Clinton Administration will maintain a strong commitment to
Federal-state-industry partnerships for forging stronger links between
the educational community and the workplace and for seeding
merit-reviewed research programs across the nation as important
investments in developing research capabilities and associated
educational benefits.

Produce the finest scientists and engineers for the 21st century

Our principal resource for maintaining leadership in fundamental
science and engineering and for capitalizing on its advances is our
talent pool of well-educated scientists and engineers. They are the
wellspring of new ideas and new solutions to challenging problems.
American colleges and research universities are unmatched in their
ability to provide advanced education and to enrich it through
forefront research.  This system has served the nation exceptionally
well, directly coupling post-secondary and advanced education with the
unique training afforded by research at the intellectual frontier.
These institutions are truly national and international in character,
bringing in students from across the nation and the globe, and then
sending them out to teach, to do research, to start companies, to
branch out into new careers with the creative energy needed to address
a broad range of challenges.

	Our goal is to maintain this excellence and to encourage the
ongoing reexamination of advanced education in our colleges and
universities.   The scientifically literate society that America will
need to face the challenges of the 21st century will require
orientation to science early in life and frequent reinforcement.
Because training scientists is a long process, we can not quickly
overcome shortfalls in trained personnel in some areas and should not
react precipitously in allocating our training support.

	We will sustain this tradition of excellence only by engaging
the talents of our diverse population.  America derives great strength
from its diversity, yet the country has not had a coherent policy for
developing all our human resources for science and technology.  Women,
minorities, and those with disabilities are underrepresented in most
fields of science, mathematics, and engineering with respect to their
proportions in the population.  Much of this underrepresentation in
science starts very early in the educational process.  It will be
essential for the future well-being of the country, and specifically of
the scientific enterprise, that we educate the twenty-first century
scientific workforce by explicitly engaging participants representative
of the nation's diversity.
	Role models are clearly important.  We must also do all that we
can to encourage excellent mentoring of individuals in underrepresented
groups and access to research experiences.  This will be stimulated
through awards to be distributed at state and local levels where the
nurturing of individuals with interest and talent occurs.  We will
continue to sponsor research experiences for members of groups who are
underrepresented in the sciences.  Our Federal laboratories will
continue to provide centers for such activities; however, beyond that,
we ask all Federal grantees to engage creatively in the process. It is
a critical investment in the future of this country.

The NSTC will produce a human resources development policy for
sustaining excellence and promoting diversity in the science and
technology workforce.

Every Federal agency's educational programs in science, mathematics and
engineering will have, as one measure of success, its impact on
increased participation by underrepresented groups.

The NSTC will develop a new program of Presidential awards for
individuals and institutions that have outstanding records in mentoring
students from underrepresented groups toward significant achievement in
science, mathematics, and engineering.

Raise scientific and technological literacy of all Americans

We must improve the U.S. educational system to give our children an
understanding and appreciation of science and the opportunity to
compete successfully for high quality jobs and to lead productive
lives.  Our educational system is the foundation of public scientific
and technical literacy.  The technology-based global economy of the
next century will place a high premium on science and mathematics
education, on knowledge of foreign languages and cultures, on facility
with technologies, and on versatility and flexibility.   Our economic
strength will depend more than ever on the ability of the American
people to deal with new challenges and rapid change.  Yet, we have
known for over a decade that the education of America's children,
particularly in science and mathematics, has fallen below world
standards for a significant fraction of our population.

	This Administration's agenda is centered on "Goals 2000:
Educate America."  This initiative calls for systemic reform of
elementary and secondary education organized around the challenging
national education goals.  Demonstrated competency in mathematics and
science by all students leaving grades 4, 8, and 12 is one of the key
goals.  All students must be prepared for responsible citizenship,
ongoing learning, and productive employment in the twenty-first century
economy.  Responsibility for implementation lies with the states, who
will develop their own comprehensive improvement plans aimed at
reaching the national education standards.  The Goals 2000 process will
promote coherence among Federal, state, and local education programs,
with Federal resources helping to provide comparable tools across the
nation for addressing the educational standards.  With respect to the
mathematics and science goals, we emphasize the special opportunities
and obligations of our scientific and technical community to help meet
this critically important national challenge.

	We are committed to facilitating expanded partnerships between
the educational community, the private sector, and government at all
levels.  America's scientific and technical communities employed in
colleges, universities, industry, and government  represent an enormous
resource for improving the science, mathematics, and technological
education of our children.  Our elementary and secondary school
teachers are also an enormous resource and deserve our support.  We
need both to stimulate more research into the application of learning
technologies and the practice of mathematics and science education,
drawing upon the experience of outstanding teachers and successful
programs, and to join the science education and research cultures
symbiotically.  Partnerships built around a common purpose are the key
to the systemic reform needed in science and mathematics education.
Only a cooperative effort by individuals and institutions will take us
to our national education goals.

	Our commitment cannot end with high school.  The school-to-
work transition and lifelong learning opportunities are increasingly
important in the workplace because of rapidly evolving technology.  Our
Administration wishes to learn from industry and from state and local
governments how Federal science and technology assets can be used most
effectively for these purposes.

	The lifelong responsibilities of citizenship increasingly rely
on scientific and technological literacy for informed choices.  Our
scientific community must contribute more strongly to broad public
understanding and appreciation of science.  Our education system must
provide the necessary intellectual tools at twenty-first century
standards.

We will work with the research and educational communities to implement
mathematics and science education standards to meet the needs for
higher achievement, to prepare students for high quality jobs of the
future, and to foster excellence in and appreciation of science.

We must involve teachers in career-long professional development where
researchers work in partnership with practicing teachers to bring the
excitement of research and its discoveries into the classroom.

Federal agencies will encourage research scientists to use their
research experiences in support of public understanding and
appreciation of science.

This Administration will encourage the development of
industry-state-local government consortia and regional alliances to
bring telecommunications and other information resources to elementary
and secondary schools, two and four- year colleges, and universities.
The National Information Infrastructure will play a central role.  We
must educate our children for the twenty-first century workplace in a
twenty- first century setting.


A Shared Commitment

We have outlined a broad program for advancing science in the national
interest.  We do so because science and technology depend on one
another for continuous advancement and, in turn, are important for the
health, prosperity and security of Americans.  We do so because
research at the frontiers of human knowledge provides unparalleled
education for the young scientists and engineers who will help shape
the nation's future.  We do so to learn more about the world around us
and about ourselves.

	The public investment is returned ultimately through
improvements in the quality of life.  We recognize that science is but
one part of a larger enterprise, and so our policies in science,
technology, education, government performance, environmental
protection, health care, international trade, information and
communications, intellectual property protection, regulation, fiscal
and monetary affairs, and other areas must work together.  A thread
running through this complex fabric of policy guidance is the pressing
need for raising the scientific and technical literacy of the next
generation to twenty-first century standards.  This is essential for
the continued enlightened support of the scientific enterprise by the
American people.  More important, it is critical for the nation's
future.

	We must all go forward with a sense of shared commitment to
common goals and to excellence.  The policies outlined here are only
the beginning of a process.  Strong federal investment and new
partnerships will be essential.  Our scientific and technical
communities represents an enormous reservoir of talent, dedication and
drive.  We challenge them to continue their vigorous exploration of the
frontiers of scientific knowledge and simultaneously to ensure that all
Americans share their vision of the excitement, the beauty, and the
utility of science in achieving our national goals.  If they,
government, and the nation as a whole accept the challenges set forth
here and meet them together, our children and grandchildren will have a
secure foundation on which to build their futures.