STAT: Why President Trump needs to finally name a science adviser
John P. Holdren, professor of environmental policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and former science adviser to President Obama and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

“…[I]t would be unwise in the extreme for the president to let the current vacuum in science advice in the White House persist. Insights from science and technology are relevant to many of the decisions about actions and policies that a president must make … While scientific insights won’t be the only factors the president considers in any given decision, it would be foolish for him to make policy or take action without having the relevant scientific facts. … Every president stocks the White House with people who can advise him on the economy, national defense, and foreign relations. And nearly all presidents in modern times have understood that science and technology are so central to all of those top-tier issues — and practically every other issue on the nation’s agenda — that science and technology advice in the White House is no less essential. One must hope that President Trump comes to understand this, too” (4/5).