AAAC Meeting: October 13, 2006

OSTP Update

Rob Dimeo & Jon MorsePhysical Sciences and Engineering

Office of Science and Technology PolicyExecutive Office of the President

AAAC Meeting: October 13, 2006

White House Office(Homeland Security Council, Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, Freedom Corps)

Office of Management & Budget

(OMB)

Office of the Vice President

National Security Council

(NSC)

President’s Foreign Intelligence

Advisory Board

Council ofEconomic Advisors

(CEA)

Council ofEnvironmental Quality

(CEQ)

US Trade Representative

(USTR)

Office of Administration

Office of National Drug Control Policy

Office of Science & Technology Policy

(OSTP)Mix of detailees, career, political

Primarily political staff

Primarily career staff

Domestic Policy CouncilNat’l Economic Council

Nat’l AIDS Policy

Executive Office of the President (EOP)

AAAC Meeting: October 13, 2006

OSTP-What We Do• Advise the President and others within the Executive Office of

the President on the impacts of science and technology on domestic and international affairs;

• Lead interagency efforts to develop and implement sound science and technology policies and budgets;

• Work with the private sector to ensure Federal investments in science and technology contribute to economic prosperity, environmental quality, and national security;

• Build strong partnerships among Federal, State, and local governments, other countries, and the scientific community;

• Evaluate the scale, quality, and effectiveness of the Federal effort in science and technology.

AAAC Meeting: October 13, 2006

OSTP-Who We AreDirector

Assistant DirectorSpace

& Aeronautics

Assistant DirectorTechnology

R&D

Assistant DirectorLife Sciences

Assistant DirectorPhysical Sciences

& Engineering

Assistant DirectorSocial, Behavioral &Education Science

Assistant DirectorTelecom

& Information Tech

Assistant DirectorEnvironment

ADMINISTRATIVESTAFF

AdministrationBudgetSecurityOffice SupportComputing

FUNCTIONALSTAFF

Legal affairsLegislative affairsBudget analysisCommunicationsInternationalNSTCPCAST

Assistant DirectorHomeland Security

Assistant DirectorNational Security

Assistant DirectorNatl. Security/

EmergencyPreparedness Com.

Associate Director and Deputy Director for Technology

Deputy to the Associate Director Technology

Associate Director and Deputy Director for

Science

Deputy to the Associate Director Science

Senior DirectorHomeland and

National Security

Deputy Director forHomeland and

National SecurityChief of Staff

Deputy Chief of Staff

PCASTNSTC

AAAC Meeting: October 13, 2006

1. OSTP & OMB issue guidance

memorandum on R&D priorities

2. Agencies prepare and

submit proposed budgets

to OMB

3. Passback, negotiations, &

appeals between agencies and

EOP

4. President makes final decisions and

sends Budget Request to Congress

5. Congress reviews,

considers, & approves overall Budget Request

6. Appropriations hearings with agencies

& EOP on individual programs

7. Congress marks up &

passes agency appropriations

bills

8. President signs or vetoes appropriations

bills

9. Agencies make decisions on allocation

of resources consistent with

enacted appropriations and

program plans

The Budget Cycle

AAAC Meeting: October 13, 2006

It’s the most wonderful timeof the year

• Currently under a CR• Next potential time for Conference will be after

the mid-term elections• FY08 agency budgets submitted to OMB-

currently under review

AAAC Meeting: October 13, 2006

National Science & Technology CouncilNSTC StructureNovember 2005

Biotechnology

Infrastructure

WH: Sharon HaysDOD: Ken KriegDHS: Charles McQueary

WH: Richard RussellDOC: Ben Wu

WH: Sharon HaysDOC: Conrad LautenbacherEPA: George Gray

NSTCDirector, OSTP

WH: Sharon HaysNSF: Arden BementNIH: Elias Zerhouni

Aquaculture

Human Subjects Research

Dom. Animal Genomics

Plant Genome

Physics of the Universe

Education & Workforce Dev.

Research Business Models

Global Change Research

US Group onEarth Observations

Disaster Reduction

Ecosystems

Toxics & Risks

Water Availability & Quality

Air Quality Research

Committee on Environment &

Natural Resources

Committee on Environment &

Natural Resources

Committee on Science

Committee on Technology

Committee on Homeland and

National Security

WMD Medical Countermeasures

National Security R&D

Aeronautics S& T

Prion Science

Trans-Border Research Materials

Multinational Orgs*

Oceans S & T

IWG on Dioxin

Networking & Information Technology

Nanoscale Science, Engineering &

Technology

Advanced Technologies For Education & Training

Manufacturing Research &

Development

International*

R&D Investment Criteria**

*in development

**InformalExport Controls for S&T

Standards

Biometrics

Decontamination Standards

and Technologies

Foreign Animal Disease Threats

Social, Behavioral & Econ.

Scientific Collections

Regional Stability and Nation Building

AAAC Meeting: October 13, 2006

Interagency Working Group on the Physics of the Universe

• Originally established to formulate an implementation plan for the opportunities identified in the 2002 NRC report Connecting Quarks with the Cosmos: Eleven Science Questions for the New Century

• Report released in February 2004

AAAC Meeting: October 13, 2006

Interagency Working Group on the Physics of the Universe

The IWG based its prioritization of the eleven questions upon an assessment of each question’s fit to the following criteria:

Current potential for scientific advancement

The timeliness or urgency of each question

The technical readiness of projects necessary to advance the science of each question

Existence of gaps in the overall suite of projects addressing the question

Step 1: Prioritize the Questions

Setting Priorities

Step 2: Identify Potential Activities

Step 3: Group Related Elements

AAAC Meeting: October 13, 2006

Interagency Working Group on the Physics of the Universe

AAAC Meeting: October 13, 2006

Interagency Working Group on the Physics of the Universe

Wher

e ar

e we

now?

AAAC Meeting: October 13, 2006

Interagency Working Group on the Physics of the Universe

• IWG re-established and had first meeting March 22, 2006

• Co-chairs: Robin Staffin (DoE-SC), Joe Dehmer (NSF-PHY), Eric Smith (NASA-SMD)

• Will report on progress made towards interagency coordination on items discussed in the PoU report.

• Interagency Task Force on High Energy Density Physics under the auspices of the PoU IWG

• Dark energy

• Interagency Lessons-Learned Task Force: an ad-hoc task force under the auspices of the PoU IWG

AAAC Meeting: October 13, 2006

Physics of the Universe IWGNASA’s Beyond Einstein Program

• PoU report endorsed (among other things)

– NASA/DoE Joint Dark Energy Mission– LISA, and Constellation-X “part of a powerful and complementary suite of

tools aimed at the discovery of gravitational waves and exploration of the physics of strong gravitational fields around black holes.”

• NRC study will assess each of the BE missions (Con-X, LISA, JDEM, a black hole finder, and an inflationary probe) for scientific impact, technological readiness, management plans, and cost estimates.

– Recommend which mission should go first and R&D investment strategy for subsequent missions.

– Inform the next Decadal Survey on ordering the remaining BE missions.

– Report scheduled for release in September 2007 to inform FY09 budget process.

AAAC Meeting: October 13, 2006

Task Force on High Energy Density Physics

• 2003 NRC/Davidson report: Frontiers in High Energy Density Physics: The X-Games of Contemporary Science

– Identify the scientific opportunities and establish a unifying theme for the field

– “The need for a broad, multi-agency approach to support the field of HEDP”

– “It is recommended that federal interagency collaborations be strengthened in fostering high energy density basic science. Such program collaborations are important for fostering the basic science base, without the constraints imposed by the mission orientation of many of the Department of Energy’s high energy density programs.”

AAAC Meeting: October 13, 2006

Task Force on High Energy Density Physics

• 2004 NSTC/Davidson report: Frontiers for Discovery in High Energy Density Physics

– Chartered by Interagency Working Group on the Physics of the Universe– Summarize research opportunities and identify opportunities for interagency

coordination– Identified 15 thrust areas in

• Astrophysical systems• Beam-induced HEDP• Stockpile stewardship facilities• Ultrafast, ultraintense laser science

– “Interagency cooperation is particularly important for rapid scientific progress in this quintessentially interdisciplinary area.”

• HEDP TF convened under PoU IWG to establish a plan to coordinate the multidisciplinary activities across agency boundaries

• Draft report outlining a Federal coordination plan in progress

AAAC Meeting: October 13, 2006

Task Force on High Energy Density Physics

From Frontiers for Discovery in High Energy Density Physics, OSTP National Task Force on High Energy Density Physics (July, 2004)

AAAC Meeting: October 13, 2006From Frontiers for Discovery in High Energy Density Physics, OSTP National Task Force on High Energy Density Physics (July, 2004)

AAAC Meeting: October 13, 2006

Lessons-Learned Status

• Lessons-learned activity coordinated under the NSTC Physics of the Universe Interagency Working Group (3-22-06)

• Group planning meeting on 4-19-06 at OSTP attended by agency reps: Hertz (NASA), Staffin (DOE), Van Citters (NSF), and Friel (NSF)

• Multiple projects discussed: GLAST, VERITAS, GSMT, JDEM, LHC, LSST, NVO

• Scope includes interagency project aspects only (not international)

• Individual project teams and program managers completed questionnaires

• Agency reps met at OSTP to discuss the findings 8-7-06• Draft writing in progress