Can Systems Analysis and Operations Research Help Congress?

Originally the keynote address at the joint TIMS/ORSA meeting in Houston, Texas, November 12, 1981, this article makes an eloquent plea for the understanding and help of professionals in systems analysis. Although government problems can be broken down and understood using operations research methods, the fragmented institutions that would implement the solutions are unable or unwilling to do so. Much optimism, time, and effort are needed to work under the messy and seemingly illogical constraints found in the bizarre world of public policy making.