Congress had an office that gave expert tech analysis; let's bring it back

[Commentary] In 1995, the Congressional Office of Technological Assessment (OTA) was abolished. The OTA existed from 1972 to 1995 and was tasked with providing congressional members nonpartisan analysis on complex scientific and technical issues. When the OTA was abolished, legislators really did not contemplate the impact and the future need for such an office. They did not anticipate the rates of obsolescence and the "Malthusian" advances in science and technology. They also did not envision the economic implications for manufacturing and the corresponding economic sectors of energy, health, security, agriculture, finance, communications and transportation that constitutes the new American economy.

The time is ripe for the next Congress to consider the value of OTA as it pertains to the future applications of new technologies and processes.

[Brooks serves as the vice president for government relations and marketing at Sutherland Government Solutions. He is also vice chairman of CompTIA's New and Emerging Technologies Committee. Logsdon is the senior director of public advocacy for CompTIA.]