On one hand, some, including PCAST members, say that discussing such potentially sensitive matters as AIDS research and bio- diversity in closed meetings enables the council members to be more candid and objective in offering their advice to President Bush and the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). Closed meetings, they say, also allow for more give-and-take of contrasting views within the group, formed by the administration in early 1990.
WASHINGTON, D.C.--Election-year politics was sprinkled amid science issues as the President's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology (PCAST) convened here for its regular June meeting, dealing with issues including the superconducting supercollider (SSC) and federally funded AIDS research. A portion of the meeting was ordered open to the public by a United States District Court judge in Washington. In contrast to the panel's previous practice, the open portion of the meeting was expanded to include both the morning ...
