OSTP Nominee Defends Record, Tech Research Investment

It’s important the U.S. government fund research for novel science and technology that industry isn’t willing to invest in, said Eric Lander, President Joe Biden’s nominee for Office of Science and Technology Policy director, during his Senate Commerce Committee confirmation hearing Thursday. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, questioned whether the Endless Frontier Act (see 2104270045) is a misguided attempt to outspend China in R&D. If the government is willing to spend $100 billion, Lee said, why not put up $250 billion or $1 trillion? He asked if there’s a point at which government spending becomes counterproductive. Lander, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor, said it’s appropriate to be developing ways to move things from fundamental research into industry by filling the gaps between the two. In opening remarks, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., and ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., questioned things that have surfaced from Lander’s past. Duckworth said she’s troubled by claims of his “downplaying” contributions of female Nobel Prize laureates; his “toasting” of James Watson, a scientist criticized for racist, misogynistic and anti-Semitic views; and his attending lunch meetings with Jeffrey Epstein, who was charged with sex trafficking. Lander said he met Epstein “briefly” at two separate events over three weeks in 2012: "Epstein was an abhorrent individual, and my heart goes out to his victims. I chose to have no association whatsoever with him." If confirmed, Lander said OSTP staff will look like the U.S., with a diverse mix of talented women and minorities. Lander has a degree in mathematics from Princeton and a doctorate from the University of Oxford, where he was a Rhodes scholar. He received a MacArthur “Genius” award in 1987 and helped lead the Human Genome Project. Introducing him, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., called him a scientist “to his bones,” who believes in data. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., called him one of MIT’s most “beloved” teachers. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., asked Lander if the U.S. needs to better train its cyber workforce. He responded that the U.S. doesn't "have enough people trained in [cybersecurity] to be able to both defend and then think about how to construct systems that are less hackable.”