1877 



Conduct of Foreign Policy (the "Murpliy Commission," named after 

 its chairman, Robert D. Murphy). An eight-page statement^" 

 describes the function and suggests what the planning product and 

 organizational structure for foreign policy planning should be. 

 The context was briefly covered : 



In a rapidly changing, interdependent world, foreign policy to be effective must 

 achieve coherence over time. Shaping an international order or managing inter- 

 dependence will be possible only by actions which reinforce each other over an 

 extended period. While it remains adaptable to changing conditions, policy must 

 therefore serve consciously developed long-term goals and priorities. 



Although the conduct of foreign policy ought to be long range, 

 said the report, diplomatic officials tended to neglect long-term 

 consequences "under the press of the demands of the moment." 

 Greater attention needed to be given to planning as a "separate 

 function." Diplomacy should consist of: (1) the identification of 

 future trends offering problems and opportunities, (2) a definition 

 of long-term goals and priorities, (3) the relating of day-to-day 

 decisions to longer-term priorities, and (4) the modification of strate- 

 gies and courses to meet new conditions or to correct missteps. Four 

 planning functions were required (summarized) : 



1. Coherent definitions of long-term purposes and priorities [and assumptions?! 

 developed from a broad perspective of national interest and called "strategic 

 concepts." What was needed was a periodic "State of the World Report." 



2. Achievement of coherence and compatibility of day-to-day actions with 

 long-range strategy. Reconciling present diplomatic relationships with long-range 

 courses is difficult but necessary. Also, "the President and the Secretary of State, 

 if they are to affect the future, need planners, not encumbered with existing 

 arrangements, to look at the future impact of current decisions, constantly to 

 search for new directions and to suggest initiatives." 



3. To counteract the tendencies of operational officials to become advocates 

 of their ongoing policies, the planners "must take an adversary role, testing the 

 the rationale of decisions, questioning assumptions, checking data, asking whether 

 full account has been taken of longer-term objectives." 



4. Since policies may fail, correctives will be necessary; planners must "observe 

 the actual effects of policy, and reevaluate assumptions accordingly." 



The report called attention to two considerations in planning: one 

 was the necessity for close relationship with the intelligence function, 

 especially in estimating "probable effects of alternative courses of 

 action"; and the other was the dilemma of the relationship of plan- 

 ning to operations. This dilemma was not resolved in the report."* 



SUGGESTED PLANNING PRODUCTS 



The products of planning, the Commission noted, take many 

 forms: oral assessments of alternative analyses and courses, memo- 

 randa, participation in interagency exercises, advocacy and forecast- 

 ing studies, and proposals for initiatives. The two formal products 



»'* Repwrt of the Corninission on the Organization of the Government for the Conduct of Foreign PoHcy 

 (Murphy Commission), Washington, U.S. Govt. Print. Off., June 1975: Chapter 10, "Planning for Foreign 

 Policy," pp. 143-150. For a brief note on the Commission see Huddle, Science and Technology in the Depart- 

 ment of State, vol. II, P- 1464. 



5" Thus, on p. 143 the report notes that those associated with current operations tend to resist the need for 

 adaptation to long-range policy. But on p. 145, it asserts that to be "influential," planners need to be "close 

 to operations, at some cost to the quality and independence of their planning" because full insulation from 

 current business means that the planners have "little impact." It concludes that "A blend is needed." 

 However, as a practical matter, the demands of current operations will always take precedence over long- 

 range planning whenever the two are merged in a single staff unit. 



