1328 



Secretaries of State may occupy a commanding position in the formula- 

 tion of diplomatic policy, while sparing less attention for the mundane 

 administrative chores of running a department; either way, the 

 interest of a strong diplomatic leader in science and technology as 

 ingredients of diplomacy may or may not be strong. 



Institutional Effects of Technological Change 



World leadership of the United States, political and technological, 

 during and after World War II, brought with it a vast increase in 

 international involvement of many Federal departments and agencies. 

 During the 19th century, the brunt of foreign contacts was borne 

 by the Department of State, and the burden was not onerous. How- 

 ever, today most major Federal departments and agencies have an 

 "international" division, bureau, or office. Most of the attention of 

 these units is addressed to matters of international science or tech- 

 nolog\. 



In view of the fact that technology brought about most of these 

 institutional changes, it is not surprising that the bulk of the foreign 

 contacts of U.S. agencies have a technological content. In its role as 

 coordinator of these foreign contacts, the Department of State is 

 mainly concerned with their political consequences. Yet political and 

 technical causes and consequences tend to be intertwined, and there 

 is inescapably a technical element in the political and diplomatic 

 coordination of foreign technical contacts. 



Changed Role of the Department of State 



At the same time, technology has brought about a marked altera- 

 tion in the structure and mission of the Department of State. Tradi- 

 tional isolationism in the 19th century left the Department with 

 little to do: negotiating commercial treaties, facilitating foreign 

 travel of U.S. nationals, and resolving a few maritime disputes. 

 "... A Chief Clerk with seven subordinates served John Quincy 

 Adams; and the staff of the Department of State numbered less than 

 a hundred as late as the turn of the century." 



[Continues this author] There was a true continuity in the Department of 

 State's business. For the most part, it handled a steady flow of two-way com- 

 munications concerning the commercial and other private problems in which 

 American citizens traveling or conducting business abroad became involved; 

 and it noted and filed the endless flow of dispatches forwarded by those on foreign 

 service, describing the state of things in the parts of the world to which they were 

 assigned. 



Down to the First World War [and even to 1939], the great acts of foreign 

 policy — the issues which get into the books on diplomatic history — were so few 

 and ifar between that they were handled personally by the Secretary of State, 

 usually in intimate consultation with the President; or they were directly handled 

 by the President himself.* 



Even in its traditional roles, the Department of State has enor- 

 mously increased the volume of its business. As new nations emerge, 

 there is the requirement that American interests be represented there 

 by a formal mission and frequently by consular offices as well. The 

 flood of incoming correspondence from these offices needs to be proc- 

 essed by geographic and functional bureaus in Washington. The pro- 

 liferating agencies of the United Nations require both representation 

 and attention. A long list of new contacts abroad, many of them 



* W. W. Rostow, The United Stales in the World Arena: An Essay in Recent Historv (New York: Harper & 

 Row, I960), pp. 20-30. 



