The congressional Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) closed its doors September
29, 1995. For 23 years, the nonpartisan, analytical agency assisted Congress
with the complex and highly technical issues that increasingly affect our
society. OTA put the science in "political science" and provided Congress its
deepest, most comprehensive analysis. Which is to say, we spent a lot of time
saying, "No Congressman, gene splicing has nothing to do with mending a pair of
ripped Levi's."
As an OTA analyst, I was a principal writer of the following snore-fests, I mean, publications.
Launch Options for the Future: A Buyer's Guide
(July 1988)
Reducing Launch Operations Costs: New Technologies and Practices
(Sept 1988)
Big Dumb Boosters: A Low-Cost Space Transportation Option?
(Feb 1989)