MEETING ON SEPTEMBER 19 IN MR. (SANITIZED) OFFICE WITH MR. WALTER WILCOX AND MR. J. D. CORDERO OF THE CONGRESSIONAL OFFICE OF TE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP77M00144R000600080006-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 19, 2005
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: September 19, 1975
• Content Type: MFR

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September 19, 1975
SUBJECT: Meeting, on September 19. in
Office with Mr. Walter Wilcox and Mr. J. D.
Cordero of the Congressional Office of Tech-
nology Assessment (OTA)
1. First, a few words, of background on OTA. The office
is about two years old and has a staff of about 100. It is the
technology equivalent of the Congressional Research Service
(CRS) and is designed to provide members of Congress and their
staffs with technological data and developments oh a broad range
of subjects--food production and forecasting, for example. OTA
has ,a 12-man advisory council which thus- far has not done much
advising. It consists of ten prominent non-government adivsors
(such as the president of Cal Tech) and CRS head Lester Jayson
and GAO chief Staats. In the Congress itself, there is the OTA
Board consisting of 6 Senators and 6 Representatives equally
divided between Democrats and Republicans.
2. Cordero is responsible for food management matters in
OTA and is Sen. Humphrey's man. Cordero formerly worked for
AID. Wilcox is a retired CRS.agricultur_al economist who is now
a consultant with OTA. He did most of the talking for the OTA
side,. and it was obvious that he has considerable expertise.
Both men were pleasant, attentive, and seemed satisfied with
the session. ,
3. They were interested in'the information interplay
between CIA and USDA. I lassured them that since
early 1973 USDA has been and is being well-fed by the Agency.
On the other hand, we do not always get all the information
that we would like from USDA. This is due primarily to USDA's
role in protecting the US farmer and grain seller.
4. There was also some discussion in very general terms
of CIA sources on crop production, particularly in the USSR and
PRC. In the latter case, PRC expert pointed out that
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the nature of Chinese agriculture is such that it is hard for
The OTAers
were also told that we are constantly striving to improve our
own technology in this area, and that the Agency uses ERTS
data, too.
5. Cordero noted that the OTA Board, with Sen. Humphrey
in the chair, will hold two days of-hearings the week of
September 22 to gauge the progress that had been made since
1972 on improving US information on food production. Another
two day's worth of hearings will be held in October.
warned the OTAers that if they wanted the USDA witnesses to
dis . _any CIA technology and other sensitive sources being
used that an executive session woUl bu--rrec ar'y? Cordero
tFiought that that would be-a good idea, but that it could wait
until the October hearings.
6. The meeting went smoothly and?I did not detect any
rough patches.or potential problems for the Agency. STAT
I land one other member of staff, whose name STAT
escaped me, also sat in on the session.- ' '
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