1491 



It is a further particularity of the Department that its business is 

 the peaceful relations of the United States with other countries. This 

 business is both of literally vital importance and vast intellectual 

 complexity. It involves both the strongest normative values and the 

 deepest scholarly challenges. Few areas of concern approach it in the 

 volume of literature generated to advocate policies or criticize 

 performance. 



Into this complex structure it is necessary to inject a second great 

 range of concerns: the policy, conduct, and consequences of science 

 and technologA^. The scholarly challenges of science and technologv 

 easily match in scope if not in complexity those of foreign relations. 

 And the interactions of the consequences of technology with political 

 and social values add to the complexity" of framing rational courses of 

 diplomacy for a pluralistic society. 



A persuasive case could be made that the American diplomatic 

 style has tended to be reactive rather than initiatory. Tliis hypothesis 

 finds support in the fact that the ultimate decisions proposed are 

 those of the President; the departmental role has tended to be to 

 staff initiatives rather than to propose them, and to anah'ze the 

 actions and initiatives of other nations to chart the options for U.S. 

 responses. 



The thesis of this study is that the world en^^ronment of diplomacy 

 has changed in ways that make necessary a deeper involvement of the 

 Department of State in science and technology, a more perspicacious 

 outlook toward technical trends for the future, and a more positive 

 approach to the generation of innovative technical pohcy. 



Two changes of greatest import have been (a) the conversion of 

 "total" armed conflict among "superpowers" from a test of relative 

 national strengths to mutual national suicide; and (b) the progress 

 of the nations of the world toward a single global system of tech- 

 nology, economics, information resources, and en\^ronmental quality — 

 which are all part of the idea of global interdependence among 

 nations. Both of these two great changes were wi'ought by technology; 

 undeniably, further great changes are in store. The abilit}'' of the 

 United States to survive, to thrive and prosper, to live in peace and 

 amity, and to contribute constructively toward a better future world 

 for all people, in the face of these great present and future changes, is 

 the task that U.S. diplomacy is called upon to undertake. The in- 

 stitution that manages that diplomacy is the Department of State. 

 The question remaining to be discussed is whether and how the 

 Department can be strengthened to manage better the technologically 

 oriented diplomacy of the future. 



Staffing the State Department for Technological Diplomacy 



It would be premature to infer what actions the new Assistant 

 Secretary of the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental 

 and Scientific Affairs will take to consolidate and strengthen her or- 

 ganization for its expanded future role. Accordingly, this section of 

 the study is limited to an identification of some possible directions 

 that might be taken to strengthen the Department to meet the needs 

 of present and future diplomacy in a scientific age. One thing seems 

 clear: that technical literacy must be recognized as necessary' in all 

 policymaking elements of the Department. How might this require- 

 ment be met? 



