PREFACE 



The finding of this study is that U.S. diplomacy is neglecting two 

 powerful instruments of policy formation and policy execution : tech- 

 nological expertise and management skill. Most of the countries of the 

 world look to the United States as the undoubted leader in both tech- 

 nological achievement and in the skills of organization and administra- 

 tion to apply technology effectively. But during the rise of the United 

 States to technological preeminence, the Department of State has given 

 slight attention to the implications of technology for foreign policy. 

 Only meager resources have been spared to search for ways to turn 

 technology to achievement of diplomatic goals. 



The emerging trend toward congressional participation in the diplo- 

 matic process plays a significant role in this context. The opportunity 

 is at hand for the Congress to examine the uses of technology made by 

 the executive branch toward the purposes of foreign policy. 



More than that, the study suggests that the necessary teamwork of 

 the legislative branch with the executive branch in the field of foreign 

 policy requires that the Congress equip itself with its own resources of 

 equal diplomatic expertise. The impressive array of technological 

 implications for U.S. diplomacy further requires that these congres- 

 sional resources of diplomatic expertise contain a strong technological 

 element for both current oversight and long-range planning of future 

 initiatives. 



Technology has made intolerable the consequences of failure to at- 

 tain the primary objectives of U.S. foreign policy. But technology 

 also offers many opportunities for the attainment of these objectives. 

 No element of national policy and no component of national program 

 warrants more respect in the short-range or the long-range future of 

 the United States. 



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