1012 



several major obstacles remain to more fruitful exchange. These in- 

 clude the needs for : more joint cooperative research,*^^ closer continuing 

 relationships between American and Soviet scientists, continued nego- 

 tiations to provide subjects and conditions for exchange which are 

 conducive to participation by American scientific and technical per- 

 sonnel, and increased competence by American scientists and techni- 

 cians in Russian and Eastern European languages.*^^ 



Some Concluding Observations on Scientific Exchanges With Communist 

 Countries 

 The Office of the Foreign Secretary, National Academy of Sciences- 

 National Research Council, administers the program of nongovern- 

 mental scientific exchanges with the Soviet Union and the countries of 

 Eastern Europe. These activities are formalized in a series of bilateral 

 agreements for scientific and technical exchange provided for under 

 biennially renewed cultural relations agreements with the Soviet Union 

 and the countries of Eastern Europe. This program, different from 

 other NSF-funded and administered bilateral agreements, which sup- 

 plement on-going exchanges, is the only mechanism which has per- 

 mitted continuous exchanges of nongovernmental scientific personnel 

 between two political adversaries. 



The factual, financial, and administrative history of the slow growth 

 in exchanges between these countries illustrates several issues of the 

 interaction between science and diplomacy in exchange programs with 

 political adversaries: 



The constraints imposed by conflicting political objectives and 

 the resulting need for continuous negotiation between quasi- 

 governmental and prestigious scientists (the Academy staff) to 

 supplement and assist diplomats to insure smooth program 

 operations and expansion; *^^ 



The relationship between both by international political events 

 and U.S. and Soviet domestic and foreign policies on receptivity 

 to continued and expanded exchange; 



Utilization of exchange agreements in forging cultural and func- 

 tional scientific links between ideologically disparate states ; 



The political and diplomatic barriers to expanding program 

 operations with respect to: subject content, especially the social 

 sciences; to removing defense-related geographic limitations on 

 the conduct of research in the host country; and the need to 

 further implement bilateral provisions for joint cooperative 

 research and lecturing; 



*" The last several agreements have provided for terms of joint cooperative research to be worked out. 

 Diflaculties in ironing out details persist. See: Annual Report of the Foreign Secretary to the NAS, April 28, 

 1970, op. cit., p. 6. 



<«2 On this point Dr. Handler reported to the Congress: "I cannot help but digress to note that there 

 is a simple but serious deterrent to . . . amicable progress— the general ignorance of the Russian language 

 among the American scientific and technical community. In the last two decades we have, perhaps ar- 

 rogantly, come to assume that English is the current lingua franca of educated individuals and that our 

 tongues will suffice in international discourse. The expanded relationships with the Soviet Union envisioned 

 in the Moscow agreements cannot reasonably be effected on that basis alone and it will become imperative 

 that some fraction of our young scientists acquire some reasonable degree of fluency in Russian." ( U.S.- 

 U.S.S.R. Cooperative Agreements, Hearings, op. cit., p. 80.) 



<K Commenting on giving responsibility to governmental units for administration of the new scientific 

 accords, Dr. Handler reports; "Patently some such formality is all that could pos.sibly be provided .... 

 But I hope that this doTS not mean that the potential harshness of such negotiations was avoided in the 

 Kremlin [and in Washington] by transfer to the commission room. Further, I hope that, for our part, this will 

 not have generated a pattern in which only government directed and initiated research programs will find 

 support. ... It is hoped that there will be room- within the arrangements . . . for . . . the judgments of 

 the scientific, industrial, and academic commxmities and that these programs wiU ... be responsive to 

 the individual genius of our scientific communities." (Handler, NAS-NRC News Report, op. cit., p. 8.) 



