1410 



THE NEED FOR FURTHER RATIONALIZATION AND COORDINATION OF 



BILATERALS 



So numerous have these agreements become, and so diffused 

 the responsibilities for cooperative overseas programs of U.S. agencies, 

 that the time seems appropriate for a general review of the mechanism 

 of bilateral science and technology cooperation. Agreements are 

 easy to make, cost!}' and time-consuming to implement, difficult 

 to keep track of, duplicative in effects, and painful to terminate. 

 Federal agencies find themselves committed to programs abroad 

 for which no funds can be obtained for support. Expectations are 

 likely to run ahead of performance. In some cases, of course, there are 

 tangible economic benefits in terms of dollar saving from joint or 

 collaborative researches, valuable results, and shared facilities. But 

 only b}^ a vigorous and competent management, supplied on an 

 overall basis by the executive branch, can these agreements ulti- 

 mately be assured of yielding more good than harm. Only if programs 

 are carefully planned, on a joint basis, toward explicit and useful 

 tasks, with assured leadership, personnel, and funding, can the product 

 justify the effort. It is understood that a review of this general problem 

 was underway in the Executive Office of the President, under the 

 general supervision of the Under Secretaries Committee of the Na- 

 tional Security Council, early in 1975. It is possible that further 

 congressional attention to this matter might also be appropriate. 



