1384 



been dispatched to the embassy with virtually no instructions but to make them- 

 selves useful to the diplomatic mission and to report back to Washington whenever 

 they come across something they consider worth reporting. 



The results, said Greenberg, were "incredibly uneven." (He had 

 visited attaches in Rome, Bonn, Stockholm, Paris, and London.) He 

 cited one case of a man who did not know what he was supposed to 

 do or whether he was giving satisfaction — a man who had previously 

 taken no interest in politics or international affairs. At the other 

 extreme, Edgar L. Piret, previously professor of chemical engineering 

 at the University of Minnesota, had established close and useful 

 relationship ^dth Ambassador (formerly General) James M. Gavin 

 in Paris. ("Within the State Department," said Greenberg, "Piret's 

 reports on French science developments and their relation to American 

 foreign policy are considered models of the peculiar art of scientific- 

 diplomatic reporting.") ^ 



QuaUfications of Scientists as Diplomats 



It would appear that in addition to the requirements for scientific 

 preeminence and language proficiency the scientific attache needed 

 the personality to establish good working relations with senior peoj^le 

 at the embass}^ where he served, an appreciation of what information 

 would be useful to the Department, the ability to express himself 

 effectively in his reports, and — perhaps most important of all— an 

 encyclopedic knowledge of political and international developments 

 relating to science and technolog}^ and vice versa. The difficulty in 

 meeting all these requu-ements for short-term representatives abroad is 

 evident. 



Nevertheless, the program continued to grow. By June 1963 the 

 Department was able to report: 



Five attaches — two physicists, a chemist, a biochemist, and a physiologist — 

 were appointed in 1962. Two of them became our first scientific attaches at 

 Karachi and Tel Aviv. In all, 15 scientific attaches are today serving at 12 U.S. 

 missions overseas. By the summer of 1963, the State Department will have on 

 assignment 22 attaches serving in 16 missions overseas. It is hoped that in 1964 

 an additional attache will be added in Warsaw.*" 



Two years later, in 1965, there were 23 scientific attaches serving in 

 17 embassies and an additional number of Foreign Service officers 

 "especially designated" to tend to scientific problems. ^^ In 1969 

 these "especially designated" Foreign Service officers numbered 99, 

 and supplemented the 17 scientific attaches. In 1972, there were 24 

 scientific attaches in 18 embassies plus one each at the OECD mission 

 in Paris and the U.S. mission to UNESCO. In 1974 the number went 

 to 25. However, it is understood that by 1975 the "especially desig- 

 nated" Foreign Service science officer plan had been largely abandoned. 



•• Daiiiel S. Greenberg. ' ' Science and Foreign Affairs: New Effort Under Way to Enlarge Role of Scientists 

 In Policy Planning," Science, October 12, 1962, p. 1-23. Dr. Piret was elevated to the rank of "Counselor of 

 Embassy for Scienti.'ic Affairs" November 8, 1967. 



" U.S. Department of State, International Scientific Affairs. Department and Foreign Service Series, 

 no. 117, Publication no. 7550, June 1963. (Reprint from 152 page report Department of State I9GS.) 



By contrast, the overseas staff of the Foreign Agricultural Service (which had been returned from State 

 to the Department of Agricultuie in 1954) numbered in 1962 80-85 officers, 30-40 locally recruited staff, and 

 a total of 270 clerical and professional people abroad. "All told, the Service employed 693 Americans at 

 home and abroad in June 1962. and 137 foreign nationals at overseas posts." Source: Robert E. Elder, Over- 

 seas Rl presentation and Services for Federal Domestic Aqencies, Foreign Affairs Persoimel Study no. 2 (New 

 York: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1965), p. 14. 



<« Wi.:i;:m H. Taft III, "The United States Scientific Attach^ Program," Department of State Bulletin, 

 January 25, 1965, p. 113. & . j- / 



