1448 



supervisors in the foreign Service, in the Department of State, and in related 

 foreign affairs agencies are conscious of their responsibilities for personnel de- 

 velopment can short- or long-term training succeed. Programs with a formal 

 training content can only act as catalytic agents to assist officers who are moti- 

 vated to improve their skills and understanding of the complex tasks of a modern 

 foreign policy establishment. The developmental job is up to the people who are 

 doing the work and to those who supervise their activities and careers. '^^ 



One thing seems evident. Unless Foreign Service officers clearly 

 identify "technical expertise" as an essential item in the diplomatic 

 tool kit, and a faculty associated with promotion to senior policy- 

 making status, this quality is unlikely to be vigorously sought. Only 

 when language facility became a defined requirement for advancement 

 in the Foreign Service was it a major element of in-house training. 



One interesting suggestion was advanced by Under Secretary 

 Nicholas deB. Katzenbach, in 1967. To meet the need for FSOs "not 

 just versed in foreign affairs but versed as well in the intricacies of 

 American government and political life," he proposed that FS per- 

 sonnel be afforded an opportunity "to work in and with other govern- 

 mental and private agencies concerned with the foreign and domestic 

 problems of the United States." Examples were: a congressional com- 

 mittee staff, another executive agency, in journalism, with a founda- 

 tion, school, or private business, but returning thereafter to the 

 Department of State. Such an arrangement, he said, would — 



. . . Provide a cross-fertilization of views and ideas. It would introduce into the 

 Service a greater variety of specialized professional skills and talents. And it 

 would increase the independence of Foreign Service oflBcers. With a widened 

 professional experience, they would be able to move out of or stay in the service 

 as they see fit."^ 



Another possibility is the use of postdoctoral interns from the 

 university community to serve in OES, and in the functional and 

 regional bureaus. Such interns could perhaps retain their academic 

 affiliations during such service. In the Department they could provide 

 a source of technical expertise, and upon their return to academic 

 careers they could increase the awareness there of the diplomatic 

 aspects of technical matters. Construction of "bridges" between the 

 diplomatic and technical academic community is desirable, as well as 

 the enhancement of technical expertise in the diplomatic community. 



Some Possible Purposes of Expanded Departmental Attention to Science 

 and Technology 



The essence of the foregoing chapter of this study is not that the 

 Department of State has failed to recognize its responsibilities for 

 relating science and technology to diplomacy. The attempt was made, 

 but circumstances and competing demands on departmental resources 

 stood in the way. Some specific projects and programs did peter out, 

 others never got off the ground. Thus the need for a scientific and 

 technological competence, spread throughout the Department of 

 State, is great and increasing; what appears to be required is not some 

 vast shake-up but a carefully managed, gradual, but steady growth 

 in technical sophistication, a heightened visibility of technological 



i8« James N. Cortada and A. Guy Hope, " The Foreign Service Institute: Patterns of Professional Develop- 

 ment," Department of State Bulletin, February 6, 1967, p. 223. 



19' Nicholas deB. Katzenbach, "Administration of Foreign Policy," Department of State News Letter, 

 No. 79 (November 1%7), p. 5. 



