The author provides details of the AIC's origins and some of its history, and it reviews two recent reports that have criticized the AIC's work, the Coad Report (February 1994) and the Tanzer Report (May 1994). It also considers the relationship between the AIC and the media and suggests what its future might be. One of the lessons drawn from this analysis of the history of the AIC is that an agency located in a vulnerable position within the government (one not sufficiently protected by statute and earmarked funding) is likely sooner or later to be criticized unless it is responsive to the government's needs for information and for support that can be converted into political benefits. If the AIC is to have a reputation as a substantial intellectual enterprise it must retain a capacity to undertake research on topics that professionals in its field or its own staff believe are important. 4 notes and 34 references