Blue Ribbon Commission Research Articles

Department of Defense Procurement Policy Reform: An Evolutionary Perspective

Abstract : The Office of Secretary of Defense (OSD) was established in 1947 and evolved into the Department of Defense (DOD) in 1949. At least part of the reason for forming DOD was to coordinate, rationalize, and increase the efficiency of the defense sector's procurement process. Since its inception, DOD's procurement policies have been studied extensively, a multitude of reforms have been recommended, and many reforms have been implemented. However, after almost 40 years, analysts are still recommending reforms to improve coordination and rationality, and to increase the efficiency of DOD's procurement policies. This paper will trace the evolution of DOD's procurement policies over the last forty years. It will concentrate on five major reform efforts: the McNamara era; the Packard initiatives; OMB Circular A-109; the Acquisition Improvement Program (Carlucci); and the President's Blue Ribbon Commission on Defense Management (Packard Commission). Procurement policy, DoD procurement policy reform.

Blue-ribbon commissions and political ethics in the Federal Republic of Germany.

The paper presents an overview of political and professional committees in the Federal Republic of Germany dealing with issues of biomedical ethics. The prevailing tendencies of paternalistic attitudes, the worst-case-scenario argumentation method, and the unfortunate practice of applying general principles rather than mid-level principles in the assessment of concrete challenges in treatment and regulation are analyzed.

Commissions and bioethics.

This issue of the Journal of Medicine and Philosophy is devoted to the topic of the nature and work of temporary and permanent bioethics commissions and other commission-like bodies in seven advanced industrialized countries. Walters traces the evolution of the modern commission and defines its major roles and functions. He then introduces the seven essays that comprise this issue: Baruch Brody's "The President's Commission: the need to be more philosophical," Alastair Campbell's "Committees and commissions in the United Kingdom," Pascal Kasimba and Peter Singer's "Australian commissions and committees on issues in bioethics," John Williams' "Commissions and biomedical ethics: the Canadian experience," François-André Isambert's "Ethics committees in France," Rihito Kimura's "Ethics committees for 'high tech' innovations in Japan," and Hans-Martin Sass's "Blue-ribbon commissions and political ethics in the Federal Republic of Germany."

Relegitimating Meritocracy: Educational Policy as Technocratic Strategy

Abstract The educational crisis is front-page news. Daily newspaper articles, television specials, and political campaign coverage regularly carry stories of blue-ribbon commission reports on the sad condition of American schools. During the 1980s, at least two dozen major reports have appeared. Each claims that the crisis of education is at the root of the troublesome 15 year decline in national industrial productivity and thus central to the country's sliding competitive edge — particularly when compared with Japan and West Germany. The failure of the schools is even said to be reflected in the character of the population and the ingenuity of the American work force.

Why the schools can’t improve: The upper limit hypothesis

The first purpose of this paper is to question whether there is a significant discrepancy between the current levels of productivity and quality of American schools and the levels required to serve the society well. The second purpose questions whether the current approach, or the approaches of blue ribbon commissions are likely to produce significant improvements. A third purpose sets forth the hypothesis that the current school operations model cannot be improved by the recommendations offered by the National Commission. The fourth purpose is to suggest that some form of technological intervention must be made before

Blue ribbon commissions on campus

ASHE-ERIC Higher Education ReportVolume 15, Issue 2 p. 55-63 Article Blue ribbon commissions on campus First published: February 1986 https://doi.org/10.1002/aehe.3640150207AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume15, Issue2February 1986Pages 55-63 RelatedInformation

Using blue ribbon commissions effectively

Using blue ribbon commissions effectively

Incidence of Premature Sexual Development in Puerto Rico

y G r RECENT Congressional report accuses the Food and Drug Administration of inadequately monitoring the use of toxic drugs and nutrition supplements in raising livestock (i). The issues raised in the report echo some of the themes that have resounded in public health and L t government circles in Puerto Rico in recent years. On the island the debate has centered on whether the high incidence of premature sexual development among Puerto Rican children is linked to animal drugs or food supplements given to beef and poultry. The issue became public in I982, when a Puerto Rican pediatrician reported a rising incidence of premature sexual development among her patients. Signs of this condition included enlarged breasts among boys and girls under eight years of age, ovarian cysts, premature menstruation, and the early onset of other secondary sexual characteristics such as pubic and axillary hair. Suspecting that diet might be the culprit, the physician sent 6o samples of chicken to an endocrinologist at the University of Pennsylvania for testing. The tests revealed abnormal levels of estrogen among some of the samples, thereby lending credence to the initial hypothesis linking the manifest conditions to diet (2). The story received wide coverage in the media, and quickly became a political issue. Responding to public pressures, the Secretary of Health of Puerto Rico requested that the U. S. Centers for Disease Control carry out an investigation of a sample of meat, poultry, and eggs consumed on the island. The C.D.C. found estrogen in two samples of chicken, and the Health Department widened its investigation by naming a blueribbon commission to study the problem. The mandate of the commission was to carry out an epidemiologic study of the incidence of prema-

The Blue-Ribbon Commission Approach to Higher Education Planning

The Blue-Ribbon Commission Approach to Higher Education Planning

Legal and Financial Encumbrances to Clinical Research

LEGAL AND FINANCIAL ENCUMBRANCES TO CLINICAL RESEARCH MICHAEL R. SONNENREICH* Whenever I approach a subject such as clinical research, I am critically aware of the conceptual chasm which exists when the medical and the legal professions address an overlapping area of mutual concern. In the last 10-15 years, it has become increasingly apparent that there exists a collision of views, principally due to both professions defining the same issues differently and seeking different goals. The problems that arise from this language confusion and misunderstanding of goals are primarily manifested outside both professions, and this has resulted in public disenchantment and governmental regulation. It is no longer the case that questions involving research are worked out corporately among the individuals directly involved in the process, as it was in the past. The primary outside influence, government regulation, has changed the scenario and, due to its far-reaching and often unanticipated impact, altered dramatically the ability of persons involved in research to control , regulate, or perform their own activities and destinies. Within the last several years the legal profession, both in legal and ethical terms, has taken a more activist and dominant role with regard to medically related matters and especially clinical research. This awakening of legal interest in research issues, beyond the conventional issues of medical malpractice, has resulted in the courts and the regulatory agencies more closely monitoring the medical profession and in many instances substituting theirjudgment, under the rubric ofuniversality of application and paternalism, for that of medical professionals and researchers who traditionally dealt with these matters through peer review and scientific consensus. There appear to be two basic positions with regard to the input of law into the process and relationship surrounding clinical research. These positions are not always consistent, although they can be, and often tend to polarize opinion with regard to research. First, there is legal review of research activity to insure that it conforms to the broad confines of ?Chayet and Sonnenreich, P.C., Suite 720, 600 New Hampshire Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20037.© 1980 by The University of Chicago. 0031-5982/80/2322-0161$01.00 Sl 20 I Michael R. Sonnenreich ¦ Legal and Financial Encumbrances appropriate medical activity as defined by the medical community. Second , there is active review in which the legal system substitutes legal judgments on research activities to assure conformity with wider legal norms. There is an ever so delicate balance which must be maintained between these two basic roles of the legal system if excesses are to be avoided. Certainly, there are circumstances in which the medical profession has erred and the courts and regulators must play an active role in guiding the profession into a realignment of its position. However, such interventions must be very sparingly applied so that legitimate research processes and inquiries are not impaired. I believe that in clinical research this balance has not been maintained. Thejudiciary, the regulators, and even the legislators have been substituting theirjudgment increasingly in disregard of prevailing professional standards and mechanisms. Further, this process has assumed a self-perpetuating, somewhat evangelical character and will require a great deal of careful, persistent effort to halt its snowballing effect. Given the general governmental theorem that a regulation in effect tends to stay in effect and grow, clinical researchers will have to make an overpowering case against centralized government control over clinical research before regulatory growth can be arrested and restricted. Before detailing some of the primary areas in which the clinical investigator has lost control over the design and implementation of future research and in which the courts, regulators, and legislatures have substituted theirjudgments for that of the medical profession, I would like to summarize these issues. I will cover the following points in this paper. Informed consent üsues.—My thesis is that malpractice law, federal regulation , consumerist groups, and blue ribbon commissions have taken the lead (and, to a certain extent, co-opted the field) with regard to informed consent issues. Mechanisms of control established consequent to the reports of the National Commission on the Protection of Human Subjects place the hand of the federal government in almost every research protocol. Financial requirements for insurance and compensation of...

Graduate Departments and Community College English Teachers

WHEN I FIRST HEARD Bette Midler sing, the most prestigious place she had ever appeared was the Continental Baths on W. 74th Street. Friends only barely tolerated my rave reviews and insistent suggestions that she would become a major star. So when, during the same week last December, the Divine Miss M appeared both in sold-out performances at the Palace and on the cover of Newsweek, I merely smiled. Those community college leaders who for many years have crusaded for reform in graduate education based on the realities of life in two-year colleges must feel a similar sense of satisfaction when they read the recently published report of the Panel on Alternate Approaches to Graduate Education, Scholarship for Society.' Although the criticisms of graduate education have often been uneven, oversimplified, perhaps more hostile than constructive, teachers in community colleges have had opportunity to know sooner than most the inadequacies of their graduate training and can argue from an indisputable position of authority-their collective personal experience. It must be gratifying now to hear their arguments echoed in the words of a major document written by a blue-ribbon commission of scholars, graduate deans, and other university administrators under the auspices of the Council of Graduate Schools and the Graduate Record Examinations Board.2