Ash Carter Assumes DoD Post

Published on June 11, 2009 in OTA employees in the news. byEllen Mika

Department of Defense | April 27, 2009

According to a Department of Defense press release,  Dr. Ashton Carter was sworn in as Under Secretary for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics  on April 27, 2009.   Before returning to Washington,  Dr. Carter was chair of the International and Global Affairs  faculty at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and Co-Director of the Preventive Defense Project (with former Secretary of Defense William J. Perry). In 1984,  Dr. Carter prepared a report for OTA, Directed Energy Missile Defense In Space.

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Seismologists monitor North Korea’s nuclear blasts

Published on June 6, 2009 in OTA report cited. byEllen Mika

Dan Vergano | USA Today | May 29, 2009

A column about measuring the size of underground nuclear blasts by their seismic waves refers to a 1988 OTA report, “Seismic Verification of Nuclear Testing Treaties,” that suggested that it might be difficult to detect a nucleat test smaller than 5 kilotons.

In the two decades since that report, verification has improved and now smaller blasts can be detected, the article says.

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Office of Technology Assessment

Published on May 23, 2009 in Blogging on OTA. byEllen Mika

I’m starting a blog | May 19, 2009

A blog entry about starting new blogs mentions OTA and says, “I’m starting a blog about dead federal agencies.”

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Rosina Bierbaum appointed to PCAST

Published on May 22, 2009 in OTA employees in the news. byEllen Mika

The White House |  April 27, 2009

President Obama announced the members of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) at the National Academy of Sciences, according to a White House press release available here.  The council advises the President and Vice-President in areas of science, technology, and innovation.

Rosina Bierbaum, an expert in climate-change science and ecology and former OTA employee, was appointed to the council.  She is currently Dean of the School of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Michigan.  At OTA,  she directed a 1991 study Changing by Degrees: Steps To Reduce Greenhouse Gases,  a study on climate change with reports to Congress in 1993: Preparing for an Uncertain Climate—Vol. I and Preparing for an Uncertain Climate—Vol. II, and other studies.

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Tara O’Toole Nominated for Department of Homeland Security

Published on May 21, 2009 in OTA employees in the news. byEllen Mika

The White House | May 6, 2009

President Obama announced his intent to nominate Tara O’Toole as Under Secretary for Science & Technology, Department of Homeland Security, according to a White House press release.   Tara O’Toole is currently the CEO and director of the Center for Biosecurity at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, an independent organization that works to improve the U.S. response to biological threats.  She is also a professor of medicine and of public health at the University of Pittsburgh.  At OTA,  she was a project director of the study, Dismantling the Bomb and Managing the Nuclear Materials (1993) and participated in several other studies.

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Holt Testifies at Appropriations Hearing

Published on May 7, 2009 in Legislative actions and OTA in the news. byEllen Mika

Emily Yehle | Roll Call | May 6, 2009

Rep. Rush Holt testified at the House Legislative Branch Appropriations hearing Tuesday, asking the subcommittee to reinstate OTA in the 2010 budget.

“It was part of Congress. It spoke our language,” Holt was quoted as saying in the  Roll Call article. “It understood our peculiarities — how Members worked and our schedule.”

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