1364 



tional responsibilities, transferred the jurisdiction over the Inter- 

 national Committee from FCST to the Department of State.^^ 



The FCST committee had been involving itself in a wide scope of 

 interests but rarely in great depth. Perhaps its principal function — 

 like that of most FCST committees — was that of an interagency in- 

 formation exchange. This function, sometimes referred to facetiously 

 as "the chowder and marching society," has a practical value when a 

 number of agencies are engaging in related or parallel functions. On 

 the other hand, it is difficult for essentially voluntary interagency 

 coordinating committees to undertake large studies or surveys, par- 

 ticularly on a sustained basis, unless the White House is closely related 

 to the enterprise. With the termination of PSAC and its International 

 Panel, and with the transfer of the International Committee of FCST 

 to SCI, the committee became in effect the residual claimant to both 

 planning and operational coordinating functions but without inter- 

 agency and Executive Office support. This, at least, was the status of 

 the Interagency Committee on International Science and Technology 

 at the point when SCI turned into the "Bureau of Oceans and Inter- 

 national Environmental and Scientific Affairs." 



SCI Efforts To Bridge State With the Science Community 



Among the initiatives undertaken by SCI to bring a fuller apprecia- 

 tion of science and technology into the Department of State were — 

 — Science luncheons at which leading scientists lectured to 

 senior officers of the Department ;^^ 



— Science lectures to broader audiences;^* 

 — Annual briefing sessions of science attaches to review new 

 trends in U.S. science and technology; 



— A "Scholar/Diplomats Seminar," that exposed eight younger 

 professors to problems of diplomacy ;^^ and 



— A seminar course on science and technology at the Foreign 

 Service Institute.^" 

 A related activity w^as the organization of a nongovernmental 

 "Department of State Advisory Committee on Science and Foreign 

 Affairs." This committee, announced by Secretarv Rogers Febru- 

 ary 23, 1972, held its first meeting July 13-14, 1973^ held its latest of 

 four meetings, July 13-14, 1974; and expired in early 1975. The con- 

 cept of such an advisory committee to tap a wider range of opinion 

 and thoaight in the scientific and technological community had long 

 been advocated. It was to have four objectives: (1) to advise on tech- 

 nically related problems of foreign policy, (2) to advise on long-term 



6' However, the responsibility for "international scientific and technical activities performed by OST' 

 was transferred by Dr. Stever, June 30, 1973, to the Director of NSF— and by him to the Assistant Director 

 for National and International Programs. These activities included: 



— Serving as a focal point for selecting cooperative programs with the international science community 



and participating in international programs in which civilian science and technology are vital elements. 



— Facilitating the flow of people and exchanging of ideas to aid in achieving the foreign affairs and 



trade objectives of the United States. 



" These had been initiated by Kretzman and were continued by Pollack with the support of Secretary 



Rusk. 



" The first of these wore presided over by the Secretary and heard a presentation by Dr. Rene Jules Dubos 

 on "The Human Landscape," December 9, 1969. 



^3 This item and the one preceding were reported in U.S. Department of State, International Science 

 Notes, no. 3n (June 1973) , pp. 13-15. item 8. The item expressed regret that the meetings with science attaches 

 were attended from the Department by only staff members of SCI. 



'" Two experimental four-week seminar courses were held in 19C.5, with support of the Ford Foundation, 

 and sul^sequently training programs were continued at FSI on a semiannual basis. However, the course in 

 the latter part of 1974, by tlien reduced to one week, was cancelled for want of students. See U.S. Depart- 

 ment of State, Inteniatiaial Science Notes, no. 12 (January 1966), p. 5, item 5. 



