1280 



VII. Implications of Braix Drain for American Foreign 



Policy 



The brain drain issue has touched virtually every major institution 

 in both the public and private sector of American life. This chapter 

 does not describe the multidirectional character of this flow of pro- 

 fessional manpower and its vast institutional involvement. Rather it 

 attempts to point out some of the areas in which the brain drain 

 issue poses problems, contradictions, or dilemmas for American 

 diplomacy. 



Areas of l7istitufional Involvement 



Institutional involvement of the brain drain issue can be subdivided 

 into two major categories: first, the managers or controllers of the 

 inflow of human resources (those institutions and agencies which plan, 

 manage, and control the inflow of professional manpower) and second, 

 the category of those which use the manpower. 



congressional invol\'ement in the brain drain issue 



Congress is the principal instrumentality for managing the inflow 

 of manpower into the United States; it does this through its constitu- 

 tional powers to legislate immigration laws. Viewed within the time 

 frame of nearl}" a decade. Congressional interest in brain drain has 

 reflected wider international concern: it gathered momentum in the 

 mid-1960's, and crested witli hearings and studies undertaken by the 

 House Government Operations Committee and the Senate Judiciary 

 Committee. Since then, Congressional interest has progressively di- 

 minished to the point where today it is largely limited to isolated 

 concern for the internal aspects of the FMG inflow. 



Senate and House Action in the Mid-1960^s. — In October 1966, Sen- 

 ator Mondale, outspoken in his concern for the brain drain problem, 

 introduced bill S. 3905 called the "International Brain Drain Act." 

 This bill was designed to assist the LDCs and to "relieve the drain 

 from such countries of the professional and skilled manpower which 

 is indispensable to their progress toward stability and self-reli- 

 ance." '"^ The bill was referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Com- 

 mittee : apparently no further action was taken. 



At the same time. Senator Mondale introduced an amendment to 

 the International Education Act of 1966, authorizing the Secretary 

 of the Department of Healtli, Education, and Welfare to undertake 

 a study of the brain drain and to report to the President and Congress 

 his findings and conclusions together with recommendations for any 

 needed legislation to encourage the return of brain drainees. The 

 amendment authorized appropriation of $50,000 to carry out the 



'-•'• Sph. WaHer F. ^lonflnlp. "Procrram Df><i>rnprl to Assist Devolnpinp: CoiintriP'. Relntins: to 

 Profposionnl Pprsons and Skilled Specialists," Remarks In the Senate, Congressional Record, 

 Oct. 13, 1966, pp. E26196-E26499. 



