The Congressional Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) closed on September 29, 1995. During its 23-year history, OTA provided Congressional members and committees with analyses of the scientific and technological issues that were increasingly relevant to public policy and legislative action. The agency's legacy is found in the many items of legislation it influenced and in the channels of communication its staff helped foster between legislative policymakers and members of the scientific, technical, and business communities. The Office's legacy is also found in its hundreds of publications, gathered for the first time in electronic form on the set of 5 CD-ROMs: The OTA Legacy, 1972-1995. This Web site presents the complete contents of the five CD-ROMs with additional enhancements and features that facilitate access and retrieval.

Document describing the purpose, function, and makeup of the Office of Technology Assessment. Includes organization chart with handwritten annotations.

This report offers statements by the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Board, TAAC Chairman, and the Director of OTA. It also discusses OTAs work in progress, organization and operations.

This report describes the first priorities list developed by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) as a result of a new and ongoing process for selecting possible projects for study.

This report includes statements by the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the board, TAAC Chairman, and the director of the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA). The report discusses the year in review regarding the work in progress, organization and operations of OTA.

This report includes statements by the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the board, TAAC Chairman, and the director of the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA). The report discusses the year in review regarding the work in progress, organization and operations of OTA.

This report includes statements by the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the board, TAAC Chairman, and the director of the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA). The report discusses the year in review regarding the work in progress, organization and operations of OTA.

This report describes these projects in detail: the spread of nuclear materials and weapons-making capability, cancer-testing technology and saccharin, the implications of the Carter Administration’s National Energy Plan, the trade-offs between individual rights and massive computerization of the Nation’s tax information system, ways to spur research on increasing the supply of food, the prospects of solar technology.

This report includes statements by the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the board, TAAC Chairman, and the director of the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA). The report discusses many changes that have taken place at OTA during 1978: new quarters, new management, new organizational structure, a new method of establishing project priorities, a new ONE-PAGER digest of each report issued, greater outreach.

This report includes statements by the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the board, TAAC Chairman, and the director of the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA). The report discusses the year in review regarding the work in progress, organization and operations of OTA.

This report includes statements by the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the board, TAAC Chairman, and the director of the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA). The report discusses the year in review regarding the work in progress, organization and operations of OTA.

This report describes the activities of the Office in Fiscal Year 1991 within the context of the legislative agenda of the 101st Congress and the events in the United States and the world during 1991.

The report includes discussions of political, economic, environmental, and energy-related factors that affected both the 1968 leasing attempt and its successor—the current Prototype Program. The Program’s goals are identified, and its progress and status are examined to determine if those goals have been met or are likely to be met in the foreseeable future.

This report—volume III—presents the findings of a nationwide public participation effort conducted in 1978 in conjunction with the assessment. The intent of the public participation program was twofold: to solicit commentary on the issues, alternatives for personal transportation, and Federal Government policy options; and to facilitate the public’s participation in OTA’s technology assessment process.

This report analyzes the restraints of energy supply, environmental impacts, highway safety, and consumer cost on the further development of the automobile transportation system. It discusses Government initiatives that may be necessary to assure such further development.

This report is divided into two parts. The 1st part discusses incentives/disincentives, peaceful nuclear explosions, non-state adversaries, international nuclear industry, technical descriptions of fuel cycle facilities and evaluation of diversion potential. The 2nd part discuses dedicated facilities purchase and theft, and description of safeguards technology and procedures.

The focus of this report is the construction of nuclear power plants abroad, especially the problem of assuring that none of the plutonium produced in these plants is diverted for use in weapons.

This report includes statements by the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the board, TAAC Chairman, and the director of the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA). The report discusses the year in review regarding the work in progress, organization and operations of OTA.

This paper comes from a workshop held by OTA in April 1995. The report reviews some of the many test technologies and techniques available for screening chemicals-in-commerce for toxicity.

The purpose of this paper is to provide information on technology issues of immediate importance to the U.S. aquaculture industry.

This report discusses different aquatic species that are produced in the United States, including various animal and plant ornamentals, species for environmental remediation, industrial and pharmaceutical feedstocks, and products for biomedical research.

The report discusses trends in numbers of AIDS cases, approaches to AIDS prevention--changing behavior, efforts designed for the American people as a whole, and preventing AIDS among different groups.

This paper examines: 1) the effects of insurance market reforms--measures intended to make the market more equitable, or to make health care more affordable to those without insurance 2) the effects of reforms aimed at the health care delivery system.

This report assesses how well the research and experimentation R&E tax credit is currently understood, identifies inadequacies in the existing data and analyses, investigates implementation issues, considers the tax credit in the context of corporate R&D trends and Federal R&D policy more broadly, draws appropriate international comparisons, and specifies important avenues for further research.