# Office of Science and Technology Policy The **Office of Science and Technology Policy** (OSTP) is the component of the [[Executive Office of the President Hub]] that advises the president on science and technology. It was created by the National Science and Technology Policy, Organization, and Priorities Act of 1976. Its director is Senate-confirmed and usually doubles as the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, co-chairs [[PCAST]], and runs the National Science and Technology Council that coordinates research agencies. ## In the second Trump term OSTP became the institutional home of two agendas at once: deregulating AI and re-engineering federal science. - **People.** Director [[Michael Kratsios]], the first-term U.S. CTO, was confirmed on March 25, 2025. [[Sriram Krishnan]] served as senior AI policy adviser until his portfolio moved to the National Economic Council in early 2026. The [[AI Action Plan]] was drafted with AI czar [[David Sacks]]. - **"Gold Standard Science" (EO 14303, May 23, 2025).** The order requires agency science to be reproducible, transparent and peer-reviewed, and tells OSTP to issue implementing guidance. It also has each agency head designate a *senior appointee* to judge alleged violations, correct scientific information and refer employees for discipline. Critics such as the Union of Concerned Scientists read it as rolling back scientific-integrity protections. A political appointee now sits between career scientists and the published record. - **The Genesis Mission (EO, November 24, 2025).** This is a Department of Energy–led push to pair federal scientific datasets and lab computing with AI. The OSTP director provides "general leadership." In July 2026 the White House announced $5 billion in commitments, although Congress had appropriated only about $300 million. - **"Science: A New Golden Age" (July 21, 2026).** Kratsios's framework for re-engineering federal R&D. It invokes [[Vannevar Bush]]'s *Science, the Endless Frontier* and proposes funding individual scientists, alternatives to peer review, ARPA-style "X-Labs" and AI-native research institutions. It is binding on agencies: those with over $3 billion in R&D must file implementation plans and build the guidance into their FY2028 budgets. ## Why it matters for the KB The 1976 office was built to advise. The second-term office sets the rules for what counts as valid federal science, through appointee review under Gold Standard Science, and redirects where research money goes, through the Golden Age framework. This happened while the administration was proposing deep cuts to the budgets of [[NIH]] and the [[National Science Foundation]]. See [[Science Funding in America]] and [[History of Science Hub]]. ## See Also - [[Michael Kratsios]] · [[Sriram Krishnan]] · [[David Sacks]] - [[AI Action Plan]] · [[Department of Energy]] · [[PCAST]] - [[Science Funding in America]] · [[NIH]] · [[National Science Foundation]] - [[National Quantum Initiative]] — the 2018 federal quantum program and its funding politics