1684 



g. Serve as the point of coordination within the Department and 

 between the Department and other organizations, governmental and 

 non-governmental, on matters concerned with science and technology, 

 including the non-military uses of atomic energy and outer space. 



h. Represent the Department on appropriate interdepartmental 

 committees.*** 



— EoUefson, who continued the work of his predecessors in 

 providing a bridge to the scientific community, was succeeded 

 for a brief period on an acting basis in 1964 by his deputy, Dr. 

 Edwin M. J. Kretzman, a career Foreign Service Officer who had 

 been a political science professor at Brown University. Kretzmaa 

 was credited with several innovations, including the introduction 

 of a science course at the Foreign Service Institute and the orga-^ 

 nization of a series of "science luncheons" of the Secretary of 

 State. 



— In December 1964 Kretzman retired and was replaced, again 

 on an acting basis, by another Foreign Service Officer, Herman 

 Pollack. For several years thereafter the search continued for an 

 "outstanding" scientist to take the post, but even though the 

 "Office" was made a "Bureau" in April 1965, and its Director 

 declared "equivalent" to an Assistant Secretary, there were no 

 takers. 



FUNCTIONS AND LIMITATIONS OF SCI 



Until Pollack, a nonscientist, took charge, the Office of Science 

 Adviser (under whatever name) had been only marginally effective. 

 In September 1966 Professor Eugene Skolnikoff of MIT assessed the 

 effectiveness of the office as one of "poor performance." The func- 

 tions of the office, he said, were at three levels: participation in 

 policymaking, handling operational responsibilities, and bridging 

 from State to the science community. The latter two were inescapable 

 and time-consuming but easy; the first was "broadest, hardest, and 

 most important": 



... It was the key job. It meant that the office should be not only on call but 

 prepared to take the initiative "when opportunities are seen for using science 

 and technology to advance political objectives." It should be highly selective in 

 the issues it studied. It could tap the reservoir of expertise in the "outside" 

 science community. The Science Officer needed the ranlc of Assistant Secretary, 

 more importantly such leadership qualities as "scientific stature," skill in tech- 

 nology forecasting relative to foreign policy, a competence for representing the 

 State Department's interest in domestic scientific and technological developments, 

 and "concern for the general ability of Foreign Service officers to deal with the 

 day-to-day interactions between science, technology, and foreign policy." ^8' 



Pollack proved an imaginative and flexible administrator who was 

 able to win the respect of the scientific community even while it was 

 deploring State's inability to recruit a bona fide scientist to the post. 

 Having served in an acting capacity for two and a half years, he was 

 confirmed in the position (by this time styled "Director of International 

 Scientific and Technological Affairs") in July 1967. He held it for 

 another 7 years until his retirement in August 1974. 



During these years the office expanded in personnel, increased in effectiveness 

 and impact, and somewhat bettered its acceptance by other elements of the 

 Department. However, while it undertook many experiments in bringing science 

 understanding into the Department there were few unqualified successes. It was 

 never adequately manned to perform both operational and staff policy functions. 



28« Ibid.., pp. 1352-1353. 

 28' Ibid., p. 1354. 



