Office of Technology Assessment The Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) was created in 1972 as an analytical arm of Congress. OTA’s basic functionis to help legislative policy- makers anticipate and plan for the consequences of technological changes and to examine the many ways, expected and unexpected, in which technology affects people’s lives. The assessment of technology calls for exploration of the physical, biological, economic, social, and political impacts that can result from applications of scientific knowledge. OTA provides Congress with independent and timely information about the potential effects—both beneficial and harmful—oftechnological applications. Requests for studies are made by chairmen of standing committees of the House of Representatives or Senate; by the Technology Assessment Board, the governing body of OTA; or by the Director of OTA in consultation with the Board. The Technology Assessment Board is composed of six members of the House, six members of the Senate, and the OTA Director, who is a nonvoting member. OTAhasstudies under way in nine program areas: energy and materials; industry, technology, and employment; international security and commerce; biological applications; food and renewable resources, health; communication and information technologies; oceans and environment; and science, educa- tion, and transportation.