1460 



However, a necessary first step was the formulation of national science 

 policy. 



Another speaker, James E. Webb, formerly Administrator of NASA, 

 calJed attention to the fact that "others are at work in these fields." 

 He cited the initial report of the present series, Toward a New Diplo- 

 macy in a Scientific Age, quoted its thesis,^^^ and observed: 



Now, Mr. Moderator, I refer to this report by this sister committee as only one 

 indication, which I am sure is welcome to the chairman of this committee, that 

 just as this committee is reaching out for a better understanding of the interna- 

 tional opportunities inherent in science, so is the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

 reaching out to better understand the implications of science for diplomacy. 



Now, perhaps the identification of international science policy and practical 

 ways to make it effective might be pursued further and then maybe some form of 

 joint effort of these two committees might be worth consideration. In any event, 

 this action by the Foreign Affairs Committee shows the growing recognition in 

 Congress, and elsewhere, that no area of international concern can be oblivious 

 to the need for a further strengthening of the scientific underpinning on which so 

 much of modern life rests; and it seems to me that one essential ingredient of an 

 international science policy is how we can learn from our experience to enable 

 leaders of many nations to work within their own nations to improve their own 

 scientific competence and relate it to engineering development that follows it, 

 relate it to public policy, project approval, allocation of resources.*" 



The most recent development in the sequence followed by what is 

 now the Science and Technology Committee ^^^ was a series of hearings 

 in 1973 and 1974 on Federal Pohcy, Plans, and Organization for Sci- 

 ence and Technology, leading to introduction of a national science 

 policy bill ^^® March 6, 1975. In the hearings, a number of witnesses 

 took positions on the need for an international science and technology 

 policy. For example, Elmer Staats, Comptroller General of the 

 United States, saw a large component of "international relations" in 

 science policy at the Presidential level of decisionmaking. He said, in 

 his prepared statement : 



There seems to be little doubt that the all pervasive impact of science and 

 technology on national security, quality of hfe, the economy, and international 

 relations is. so important that Presidential decisions regarding national policy, 

 strategy, and tactics must have the benefit of the best advice available. The 

 National Academy Committee base their recommendations on this fact. In mat- 

 ters such as arms control and international safeguards; national security and 

 defense posture; foreign relations and sharing of technological resources with 

 other nations; potential critical shortages of energy, materials, and food; environ- 

 mental protection, the economy, objective, thoughtful and imaginative advice 

 from the science community is absolutely vital.^'^ 



Dr. Patrick E. Haggerty, chairman of the board of Texas Instru- 

 ments, Inc., proposed as one element of a "national development act 

 of 1976" the statement of an explicit objective: "To seek improvement 

 in the standard of living (with full implications of quality of life) of 

 the world's peoples by joining in cooperative agreement and efforts 



»" Ibid., pp. 179-180. The quotation was: 



Science and technology have effected changes in the substantive tasks of foreign policy, in the 

 methodology of diplomacy, in the management of information on which diplomacy is based, in the 

 intellectual training of diplomats, in the range of present options of negotiations, and In the pros- 

 pects of future evolution of diplomacy, foreign policy objectives, and the internatiooal political 

 system. 



2'< Ibid., p. 180. 



2" The name of the Committee was changed from Science and Astronautics effective with the beginning 

 of the 94th Congress. 



2i« H.R. 4461, "National Science Policy and Organization Act of 1975," introduced by Chairman Olin E. 

 Teague, of the Committee, and co-sponsored by Charles A. Mosher, Banking Minority Member. 



»" U.S. Congress, House, Committee on Science and Astronautics, Federal Policy, Plans, and Organization 

 Jor Science and Technology, Part II. Hearings, 93d Cong., 2d sess., June 20, 2^27; July 9-11 16, 18, 1974, 

 pp. 140-141. 



