1393 



from the home office to shoulder part of the load in short-term 

 emergencies : 



I would hope that the staff of the S. and T. office in State could include some 

 people who could be assigned on a temporary basis to a particular science attache 

 when there was an unusual work load. For example, Jack Tech, our science attach^ 

 in Moscow was ridiculoush^ overloaded during the early days of the US-USSR 

 scientific exchanges. There should have been a way of providing him with extra 

 help. There ought to be a way special situations like that could be handled without 

 a permanent staff build-up in the Embassy."" 



Present Status and Emphasis on Science in U.S. Embassies 



It would seem desirable to maintain field staff competence in some 

 proportion .to the diplomatic importance of the expertise. In the 128 

 countries where the United States maintains diplomatic relations it is 

 not, of course, to be expected that special expertise would be uni- 

 versalh^ required in science and technology. On the other hand, it 

 Vv^ould seem desirable as a matter of principle to maintain a continuity 

 of expertise in ever}^ countr}' where substantial scientific levels of 

 achievement exist (e.g. the United Kingdom, Fr^mce, German}' , Italy, 

 Canada, Switzerland^ Sweden, U.S.S.R., etc.). It would also be rea- 

 sonable to expect that scientific representation would be useful in the 

 major and most populous nations if only to formulate policy as these 

 nations advance (e.g., India, Brazil, Indonesia, Nigeria, etc.). In still 

 other countries the availabihty of a U.S. scientific attache might be 

 considered a diplomatic way of "showdng the flag," or of coordinating 

 technical assistance, U.S. training programs, and personnel exchanges. 

 Science and technology have been de-cribed by three successive 

 Secretaries of State as preeminent elements of dip^omac3^ The inter- 

 action of science and technology with political affairs has undeniable 

 force in the modern world. The predictive power of technological 

 analysis would seem to be comparable to that of economics. The social 

 impact of technology is approaching that of military potency, under 

 the "nuclear umbrella." Then, how does the manpower allocation to 

 political, economic, and military aspects of diplomacy in U.S. Embas- 

 sies compare with the allocation to science and technologj-? "SYhat 

 proportion of professional-level personnel is allocated overseas to this 

 important field? 



An examination of the Foreign Service List (Revised Nov. 30, 1974) 

 of the U.S. Embassy personnel in major countries (including all those 

 to which a U.S. science officer is sent) reveals that in these embassies 

 about one-third of professional personnel are political officers, one-third 

 are economic and commercial officers, and a little less than 30% are 

 militar}^ officers; scientific and technological officers are about 4%. If 

 all professional personnel in all embassies are considered, the science 

 contingent would be less than 1 percent. (In the analysis, the execu- 

 tive staff, administrative staff, consulate offices, and agricultural, AID 

 and USIA contingents were omitted.) (See Table 1.) (A roster of 

 Science and Technology Counselors and Attaches, and Fisheries 

 Attaches assigned to U.S. Missions abroad is also provided as Table 2.) 



"7 Brooks to Huddle, February 10, 1975. 



