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The legislative branch doesn't lack for watchdog offices, but as agencies continue to adopt emerging technology at an accelerating pace, lawmakers and good-government groups have reviewed their calls to bring back the Office of Technology Assessment.
Whether or not Congress resurrects the defunct Office of Technology Assessment, the head of the Government Accountability Office says his agency plans to increase its capacity to oversee technology issues.
Congress, as an institution, doesn't appear to have the technological skills and knowledge to ask the right questions when it comes to increasingly complex agency IT programs. The congressionally-chartered Office of Technology Assessment was defunded in the mid-1990s and former staffers say its absence is sorely felt today. Many people say the time is right for a reboot of the OTA. This article is part of the Federal News Radio special report, A New Era in Technology.