10 



that "* * * scientific and technological developments during and 

 since World War II have altered former relationships among 

 nations, overturned traditional measures of power and influence, and 

 made the future a hostage to the scientific discoveries that are un- 

 certain in form but sure to come.'" * 



Elsewhere, Skolnikoff observes that the relevance today of the 

 "facts or expectations of science and technology to many foreign 

 policy issues is not entirely without precedent." 



Quite a few foreign policy concerns in the past were heavily conditioned by 

 technical considerations : fishery matters, treaties on the use of common water 

 resources, international agreements on weights and measures, and others. 



However [he continues], gradually since 1900, and explosively since World 

 War II, there has been a change in degree of dependence that is tantamount to 

 a change in kind. Now, not only are many of the central issues of foreign policy — 

 those that affect the fundamental international position and security of the 

 Nation — intimately tied to scientific and technological variables, but whole new 

 areas of policy concern based on science and technology have arisen that demand 

 the time and attention of senior policy officials. 5 



Apart from the obvious instances of defense and space technology, 

 he calls attention to the "* * * need to estimate the future, to examine 

 the ways in which international relations and perhaps the interna- 

 tional political system will be altered as science and technology con- 

 tinue their explosive advance * * *." 6 



4. Growing Recognition, of the Importance of Science and Technology 

 for American Diplomacy 

 A quarter of a century ago, when the great expansion in scientific 

 and technological effort in the United States was just getting under- 

 way, Lloyd Berkner as consultant to the Secretary of State presented 

 a report on "Science and Foreign Relations" in which he addressed 

 the dichotomy of science-in-policy and policy-in-science in the inter- 

 national sphere : 



First, how can the potentialities of scientific progress be integrated into the 

 formulation of foreign policy, and the administration of foreign relations, so that 

 the maximum advantage of scientific progress and development can be acquired 

 by all the peoples? Second, how can foreign relations be conducted in such a 

 manner as to create the atmosphere that is essential to effective progress of 

 science and technology? 7 



A little more than a decade after the Berkner report had urged a 

 strengthening of diplomatic resources of scientific and technological 

 expertise, a similar recommendation was made to the Federal Council 

 for Science and Technology by its International Committee, chaired by 

 Walter G. Whitman: 



Science and its applications in technology are exerting a revolutionary influ- 

 ence on the destinies of nations and mankind. Our domestic and foreign policies 

 must lie attuned to this revolution and to its implications of change in the pattern 

 of world relationships. 



4 Eugene I?. Skolnikoff. Science, Technology, and American Foreign Polio/. (Cambridge, 

 Ma8BaChU8ett8, The M.I.T. Press. 1907), p. .'t. 



"Ibid., p. :'.s. r ,. Sec also: Eugene B. Skolnikoff. "Scientific Advice In the State Depart 



Dient." In William K. Nelson, <•<!. The Politics of Science: Headings in Science. Technology, 

 and Gorernment. (New York, Oxford inlversity Press, 1968), pp. 884 396. 



8 Skolnikoff. Science, Technology, and American Foreign Policy, op. cit., p. •'!!•-. 



7 Lloyd viel Berkner, "Science and Foreign Relations : International Plow of Scientific 

 and Technological Information." (Washington, International Science Policy Survey 

 Group, U.S. Department of state. I960), p. 2. (Department of state Publication 8860, 

 General Foreign Policy Series, No. 30.) 



