X. Science and Technology in Future American Diplomacy 



Mobilization of U.S. political and executive resources is called for 

 not only to respond to the technological challenges of future di- 

 plomacy but to design initiatives to shape the future world toward 

 U.S. purposes and goals. Among the evident challenges facing this 

 Nation in the future are the growing interdependence among the 

 countries of the world for resources, energy, and technological skill; 

 the increasing interconnectedness of the major technological issues at 

 hand; the spread and linkages of worldwide economic institutions, 

 multilateral and nongovernmental — all in a world in which a bipolar 

 structure is increasingly modified by the emergence of a "Third 

 World" of less developed nations with shared aspirations for growth 

 and development. In all of these diplomatic problems and oppor- 

 tunities, the factors of technology and its scientific underpinning are 

 evident. 



The salient questions that grow out of this review of the diplomatic 

 scene in the years ahead appear to be : 



Where in the U.S. Government is there an institution charged with 

 responsibility for surveying on a continuing basis the totality of trends 

 and prospects of the consequences for U.S. diplomacy that grow out of 

 world technological change? Where are these findings translated into 

 requirements upon U.S. diplomacy? What kinds of expertise are 

 needed for such surveys and for the definition of the diplomatic re- 

 quirements? How complete is the set of U.S. institutions needed to 

 collect, assess, analyze, and structure the information to build into a 

 data base for surveying future technological trends and their con- 

 sequences for U.S. diplomacy? Where are innovative strategies to be 

 sought, conceived, and studied? How does the world system of basic 

 science communities relate to U.S. diplomacy? What major tech- 

 nological trends and needs of diplomatic consequence are already 

 evident and how are they interrelated? What congressional options 

 are available to strengthen the legislative role in this sphere? 



Major Challenges to Future U.S. Diplomacy 



The technological content is already clearly evident in may of the 

 foremost problems of U.S. foreign policy in 1975. While it has often 

 been observed that the Department of State as principal institution 

 for U.S. foreign policy has no supporting lobby, the domestic impact 

 of some international technological developments is large enough to 

 suggest the possibility that in time a domestic diplomatic constituency 

 may appear. 



Some examples of diplomatic problems and concerns expressed in 

 unpublished staff papers of the Department of State are excerpted in 

 the following paragraphs. As they do not necessarily reflect coordinated 

 and oflicial positions they are not documented but stand on their 

 own merits. The point is that at least some senior people in the De- 

 partment concerned h'old the views expressed. 



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