25 



The Federal Government has thus come to look upon the scientific and tech- 

 nical effort as a valuable instrument for achieving its political aims and it has 

 been led to assume primary responsibility for the development and success of 

 this undertaking. 8 " 



With respect to the organization of policy institutions within the 

 Federal Government to effect this general aspiration, the OECD 

 report noted that there was a "plurality of institutions" without an 

 overall plan. It said : 



The Executive and the Legislature have each laboured in their own field to 

 develop the scientific enterprise. They have done so in the light of their own 

 concrete problems, of defense or national security, of the country's prestige or 

 its internal affairs. Their concerns have not always been identical, and the priori- 

 ties adopted by the one have not always commended themselves to the other. 

 These different wills, though very often complementary, partly explain the 

 institutional diversity of the Federal science policy mechanism. 



This Federal mechanism thus embodies two sets of bodies. The first forms part 

 of the inner workings of the Presidency, and especially of the Executive Office, 

 which takes a direct part in preparing the decisions of the President. The second 

 originates in the structure of Congress itself, which has equipped itself with 

 specialised bodies to carry out its mission of keeping a watch on the Administra- 

 tion and enforcing its own priorities. The two groups are engaged in a continuous 

 dialogue on the methods, means, and aims of the scientific enterprise. 33 



Although national science policy is a diffused responsibility, the 

 policy regarding technology is much more so. The exploitation of 

 technology is the business of most private companies, and is involved 

 in the programs of nearly every agency of Government. Accordingly, 

 almost every committee of Congress encounters technological issues 

 at some time. Technology is the physical means to many national 

 ends. Political leaders in the Congress and in the executive branch tend 

 to look to the. capabilities of technology — with its support in the more 

 basic sciences — to wipe out disease, achieve military security, extend 

 man's life, control the numbers of his progeny, eliminate the hazards 

 of accident and environmental degradation, insure economic growth 

 and stability, erase pockets of poverty, expand the utility of leisure 

 time, explore and utilize the oceans and outer space, and perpetuate 

 the resource base needed to feed, clothe, house, and equip man for 

 safety, comfort, and happiness. 



5. Scientific and Technological Elements in International Relations 



Science and technology are both a part of the substance of inter- 

 national relations and an influence on the processes of international 

 relations; they create objectives, influence the environment surround- 

 ing and conditioning issues, and open up future prospects for signifi- 

 cant further change that the process and conditions of diplomacy 

 must accommodate. 



Substantively, science and technology create opportunities and 

 problems in the achievement of diplomatic goals, and sometimes 

 both together. In the exploitation of the seabed, for example, science 

 and technology provide stimulus for global research and cooperative 

 developmental ventures in a traditionally international environment, 

 and problems concerning soverign jurisdiction of new "territory." The 

 global spread of such polluting materials as DDT, radioactive wastes, 

 and the lead additive in hydrocarbon fuels, result from expanded 



32 Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development. "Reviews of National 

 Science Policy: United States." (Paris, OECD Publications, March 1968), pp. 23, 25. 



33 Ibid., p. 62. 



