Office of Science and Technology Policy

The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is an office of the White House whose director advises the president on science and technology. The director, who also carries the title of assistant to the president for science and technology, is confirmed by the Senate.¹²³ It is distinct from the Central Intelligence Agency's former Office of Science and Technology.

Lander

Eric Lander, the geneticist whom President Joe Biden made director and a member of the Cabinet, headed an office of about 140 people. On February 7, 2022, Politico reported that a two-month White House investigation had found "credible evidence" that Lander had bullied his general counsel, Rachel Wallace, and "credible evidence of disrespectful interactions with staff by Dr. Lander and OSTP leadership." Fourteen current and former OSTP staff described "a toxic work environment." Wallace, a career civil servant who had worked at OSTP under both Obama and Trump, had complained in September 2021. As discipline, the White House required Lander to hold more collaborative meetings, such as "brown bag sessions." After learning of the story, Lander wrote to staff: "It's my responsibility to set a respectful tone for our community. It's clear that I have not lived up to this responsibility." Wallace said the apology "did not come close to addressing the full extent of his egregious behavior."⁴

That evening Biden accepted Lander's resignation. Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the president accepted it "with gratitude for his work at OSTP on the pandemic, the Cancer Moonshot, climate change, and other key priorities."⁵

In March 2022 Politico reported that Schmidt Futures, the philanthropy of the former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt, had paid for staff working in the office: its chief innovation officer, Tom Kalil, remained on the Schmidt Futures payroll for four months while serving as an unpaid consultant to OSTP, and the organization indirectly covered the salary of the office's chief of staff, Marc Aidinoff, for about six weeks. Wallace raised ethical concerns about the arrangement. Schmidt called the report "largely false."⁶⁷

Prabhakar

The Senate confirmed Arati Prabhakar as director on September 22, 2022, by 56 to 40, after invoking cloture the day before by 58 to 38. Ten Republicans voted for her (Senators Blunt, Burr, Cassidy, Collins, Lummis, Moran, Murkowski, Portman, Rounds and Tillis), and one Democrat, Joe Manchin, voted against.¹ Under Biden the office also published a "Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights," which described the use of automated systems "in ways that threaten the rights of the American public" as "among the great challenges posed to democracy today."⁸ During the same period Jason Matheny, founding director of the Center for Security and Emerging Technology, served as OSTP's deputy director for national security,⁹ and Jeff Alstott of the RAND Corporation as its assistant director for technology competition and risks.¹⁰

Kratsios and the AI Action Plan

On March 25, 2025, the Senate confirmed Michael Kratsios of South Carolina as director by 74 to 25, after a cloture vote of 73 to 25; 53 Republicans voted in favor, and all 25 votes against came from Democrats and independents.² The reporter Caleb Ecarma described Kratsios as a former board member of the Foundation for American Innovation (FAI), a former chief of staff and principal at Thiel Capital, a former chief financial officer of Clarium Capital Management and a former employee of Scale AI, and wrote that he had interviewed engineers for the Department of Government Efficiency.¹¹

In March 2025 FAI's chief economist, Samuel Hammond, answered OSTP's request for comment on the plan, asking the administration to "drive AI adoption within the Federal government," to review federal IT procurement rules and to exempt AI data centers from parts of the National Environmental Policy Act.¹¹

On July 23, 2025, the White House released America's AI Action Plan, whose cover reads "Winning the Race" and which the White House announced as "Winning the AI Race: America's AI Action Plan." The release said it identified "over 90 Federal policy actions across three pillars." The plan's introduction is signed by three officials: Kratsios, as assistant to the president for science and technology; David O. Sacks, special advisor for AI and crypto; and Marco A. Rubio, assistant to the president for national security affairs.³¹² It opens with a statement by Trump that it is "a national security imperative for the United States to achieve and maintain unquestioned and unchallenged global technological dominance," cites Executive Order 14179 of January 23, 2025, "Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence," and states that "President Trump rescinded the Biden Administration's dangerous actions on day one." It quotes Vice President JD Vance's remark at the Paris AI Action Summit that onerous regulation "would not only unfairly benefit incumbents... it would mean paralyzing one of the most promising technologies we have seen in generations." Among its recommendations is that the National Institute of Standards and Technology revise its AI Risk Management Framework "to eliminate references to misinformation, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and climate change."³

Kratsios said in the White House release that the plan "galvanizes Federal efforts to turbocharge our innovation capacity, build cutting-edge infrastructure, and lead globally." Sacks said "we must center American workers and avoid Orwellian uses of AI," and Rubio, then also acting national security adviser, said "Winning the AI Race is non-negotiable."¹²

Staff and Alumni

Daniel Correa, chief executive of the Federation of American Scientists, was OSTP's assistant director for innovation policy for four years under Obama.¹³