A White House official who asked not to be identified cast the issue as one of timing: Mr. Trump, the official said, is still reviewing candidates to be his chief science adviser, considers the science<br />and technology office important and will soon have a new staff for it.<br />is the conduit for scientific perspective and scrutiny to the president<br />and is a priority in White House decision making,” said Danny Weitzner, a former deputy chief technology officer in the Obama administration and now the director of internet policy research at M. I.T.<br />Mr. Trump has not yet named his top advisers on technology or science,<br />and so far, has made just one hire: Michael Kratsios, the former chief of staff for Peter Thiel, the Silicon Valley investor and one of the president’s wealthiest supporters, as the deputy chief technology officer.<br />Under Mr. Obama, the science and technology office included 19 policy advisers in the environment<br />and energy division, 14 in the national security and international affairs division, nine in the science division and 20 in the technology and innovation division.<br />Scores of departures by scientists and Silicon Valley technology experts who advised President Trump’s predecessor have all<br />but wiped out the larger White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
