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candidates. Another educational approach to prepare personnel for 

 policy planning assignments might be a program analogous to the 

 National War College programs in which the case study approach is 

 used. 



External technical contacts of the Department of State. — Contact 

 between the Department of State and the technological community 

 could be enlarged in numerous ways: by reviving the Science and 

 Technology Advisory Panel, the Secretary's science luncheons, and a 

 vigorous science and technology program in the Foreign Service 

 Institute. If revived, the Science and Technology Advisory Panel 

 might be assured an increase in contacts not only with policy personnel 

 of the Department but also with the "international" leadership ele- 

 ments of technological mission agencies; its effectiveness would be 

 enhanced by the support of a strong and creative secretariat. Recruit- 

 ment of more technologically trained specialists in the Foreign Service 

 and "generalizing" them, or vice versa, is a possibility. A sabbatical 

 program of advanced degrees in science policy for "Foreign Service 

 personnel could be considered. The oft-repeated suggestion by the 

 House Committee on Science and Technology that the National 

 Science Foundation be asked to set up a training program for Foreign 

 Service personnel merits further attention. Extensive use of technologi- 

 cal consultants to initiate as well as to review program options might 

 be desirable. The use of the National Academy of Sciences, National 

 Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research 

 Council is sanctioned by statute and precedent. Selection of some 

 Ambassadors with technological expertise, and more generally the 

 preliminary biiefing of Ambassadors on the technological aspects of 

 their function, seems to be essential if they are to make proper use of 

 the technical people on their staffs. The availability to State Depart- 

 ment personnel of extension courses and textbooks on science and 

 technology policy might serve a useful purpose, assuming a motiva- 

 tion comparable to that of Department of Defense personnel. Exchange 

 of personnel on detail with technological mission agencies on a more 

 extensive basis would be helpful. 



Limits and constraints on institutional reform. — All of these measures 

 are possible means of strengthening the capacity of personnel in 

 the Department to make use of technological expertise for diplomatic 

 purposes. But none of them is likely to have the desired effect sought 

 unless accompanied by an unequivocally strong commitment from 

 the top. From the Secretary on down, the message would have to 

 be clear that technology is a critical component oi diplomacy. The 

 Foreign Service never accepted the necessity to acquire language 

 skills until the word came down from the top that they were im- 

 portant. The same message could motivate the effort to bring tech- 

 nological expertise into the service of the U.S. diplomatic community. 



To provide an organizational center or focus for science and tech- 

 nology in the Department of State, the Murphy Commission proposed 

 combining "science" and "economics" in the office of a new "Under 

 Secretary for Economic and Scientific Affairs." He would have 

 jurisdiction over four Assistant Secretaries: (1) for International 

 Economic and Business Affairs; (2) for Energy, Transportation, and 

 Communication Affairs; (3) for Oceans, En\Tronmental, and Scientific 

 Affairs; and (4> for Food, Population, and Development Affairs. 



