1351 



Dr. Walter G. Whitman, who had chaired the department of chemical 

 engineering at MIT, and the Research and Development Board of 

 the Department of Defense. 



An assessment of the work of the office under Dr. Whitman con- 

 cluded that he had performed "brilliantly" in mending relations 

 between the Department and U.S. scientists over such issues as 

 participation in international organizations with some members not 

 recognized by the United States. (However, the assessment con- 

 tinued, "... There was much more to be done and the Science 

 Adviser's Office was not doing it-")*^ 



PRESSURE FOR EXPANDED SCIENCE FUNCTION 



Secretary Dulles had shown little interest in the diplomatic role of 

 science and technology, and during his tenure the Department's science 

 office had not flourished despite the man\' activities subsumed under 

 the IGY which were generating pressures for the revival of the 

 office. His successor, Christian Herter, told a Senate subcommittee 

 that "I think there will be a gradual development in this field." This 

 observation was in response to a question by Senator Henry M. Jack- 

 son, who had expressed the "feelmg that science and technology has 

 become a very important element in your work" and had asked the 

 Secretary's opinion as to the "need for raising the prestige and status 

 of the scientific advice within the Department of State." *^ 



An appeal for a strong science program in the Department of State 

 was expressed by James R. Killian, Jr., long a leading presidential 

 adviser on science. In a speech delivered in New York, December 13, 

 1960, and reproduced in Science January 6, 1961, he advanced an 

 11-point program for "enhancing the contributions of science and 

 engineering to the formulation of sound foreign policy and to Free 

 World Strength." His program — 



(1) Recognize and stress the contributions which science can make to peace and 

 encourage scientific activities abroad — as, for example, the betterment of health, 

 the improvement of agriculture, and basic research — which are manifestly peace- 

 ful and benign. 



(2) Encourage more the IGY type of programs which are managed by non- 

 political, private scientific organizations. 



(3) Encourage more international conferences such as the Conference on the 

 Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy. Specifically support the proposed U.N. con- 

 ferences on the peaceful uses of outer space and on technical aid. 



(4) Despite aggravations and diflBculties, continue to encourage exchange of 

 scientific personnel between East and West. Reduce petty restrictions on scientists 

 invited to the United States. 



(5) Undertake periodically a thorough review of our technical aid policies and 

 programs to insure that they are well adapted to the countries the}' are intended 

 to help. Seek the advice of knowledgeable scientists and engineers in conducting 

 these reviews and strive for programs which bring the benefits of science in all its 

 phases to less-favored countries. 



(6) Provide in Washington a mechanism for coordinating research programs 

 and other scientific activities which government agencies sponsor abroad and make 

 sure that our ambassadors have the opportunity, in each country where such 

 work is conducted, to coordinate it locally. 



(7) Widen the role of the science adviser to the Secretary of State and continue 

 to build strength in the corps of science attaches. Give this science adviser a 

 role to play in strengthening the competence of t^e State Department to deal 



«' Skolnikoff, op. cit., p. 259. 



« U.S. Congress, Senate, Committee on Government Operations, National Policy Machinery Subcom- 

 mittee, Organizing for National SemrUy, Vol. 1, Hearings, 87th Cong., 1961, p. 706. Statement of Hon. 

 Christian A. Herter, Secretary of State. 



