1763 



has a similar role in the technology of food, wood, and natural fiber 

 production. The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare 

 has a broad charter for health-related research. The Department of 

 Commerce has a concern with ocean resources technology, while 

 NASA and the Department of Defense are concerned with such high 

 technology areas as aerospace, telecommunications, and computer 

 hardware. Apart from mission-oriented research, the National Science 

 Foundation has a general concern for the health and activity of basic 

 research and a limited amount of applied research. These are illustra- 

 tive of the specific areas of direct Federal intervention in the appli- 

 cation of science and technology for public purposes. From the 

 commercial point of view, apart from the special cases of agriculture 

 and energy, the role of the Federal Government is both more modest 

 and less contributor3^ Tax policies, environmental and other regu- 

 lations, uncertainties over antitrust enforcement, and various require- 

 ments for forms and documents are widely viewed by industry as 

 hobbles to progress. Yet it is from the private sector that come the 

 bulk of the innovations augmenting U.S. exports, as well as the 

 skills that support the technological aspects of U.S. foreign policy. 



TECHNOLOGY POLICY AND THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE 



What, then, is the role of the Department of State in ensuring 

 that both high and low technology are so managed as to support 

 U.S. diplomatic goals, and that a proper groundwork of research and 

 education is provided for their future support? High technology, 

 sponsored by the Federal Government, is a major ingredient in this 

 complex. The Department of State would seem a proper claimant for 

 some voice in its management for diplomatic purposes, and for the 

 coordination of aspects of agency missions affecting U.S. diplomacy. 

 But there could also be a useful role for the Department of State in 

 assessing ways in which the interests of the United States in low 

 technology fields could be better served. Thus, the Department is 

 already concerned (through U.S. AID) in the export to developing 

 countries of low technology. There is also evidence that lagging 

 technology in some U.S. industries might be benefited from the im- 

 port of more advanced technolog}" from abroad; the Department 

 might conceivably find institutional or procedural arrangements to 

 secure these benefits. In addition, the Department could perhaps 

 add its voice to others in this country to urge a stronger national 

 R. & D. effort to advance these lagging industries through domestic 

 programs. 



Clearly, the scope of this interest of the Department of State 

 encompasses determination of the influences of high and low tech- 

 nology on U.S. foreign policy aims and posture, the impacts of U.S. 

 technology abroad, the ways in which foreign technology aft'ects 

 or might affect U.S. industry, problems and opportunities in the uses 

 of technology to support U.S. foreign policy objectives, institutions 

 that service the transfer of U.S. technology abroad or that bring 

 foreign technology to the United States, and ways in which action 

 by the Federal Government could beneficially afiect all these proc- 

 esses and institutions. 



It is a reasonable hypothesis that the application of basic and applied 

 science to any technological area can enhance its effectiveness. It 



