&7 



And Haldore Hanson, then executive director of the Interdepartmental 

 Committee on Scientific and Cultural Cooperation, stated that Ameri- 

 can technicians did not always possess the technical skills needed to 

 implement a valuable technical assistance program: 



* * * The large proportion of underdeveloped countries are located in the 

 tropical or subtropical zones. American technicians who are experienced in tropi- 

 cal agriculture, tropical health, and tropical forestry, to name but three fields, 

 are far scarcer than the general supply of technicians in the United States. ** 



As enacted, the legislation had insufficient provisions for effective 

 staffing; it did not provide special training programs in language, 

 culture, and history- to help develop staff and considtant competence. 

 There was no plan for the creation of a cadre of technicians skilled 

 in the specialized technical and scientific needs of the tmderdeveloped 

 country — in tropical diseases and soil mechanics, in public adminis- 

 tration, research in the transfer of technology, in basic education, 

 community development and health services. 



One consequence of executive and legislative miscalculation is 

 that since their inception American technical assistance programs 

 have been plagued by a lack of skilled and motivated personnel willing 

 to devote some of their energies to serving abroad in a less developed 

 country. Among the many statements made about this problem *^ are 

 the conclusions of a survey of the American foreign aid program in 

 Chile, where it was observed that the United States does not possess a 

 cadre of skilled manpower appropriate to the needs of the developing 

 nations: 



The assumption is erroneous that the United States can provide suitable tech- 

 nical advisers as needed to help modernize archaic practices and build new insti- 

 tutional structures throughout the less developed world. This misconception leads 

 to dangerous overcalculation within AID, in Congress, among the American 

 people, and in host nations with respect to what the foreign aid program can 

 accomplish. 



And later — 



The United States must develop means for mobilizing specialized skills in a 

 timely manner for use in overseas technical assistance programs. 



A reservoir of suitable talent on the necessary scale does not at present exist. If it 

 is in the national interest to conduct technical assistance programs, then energetic 

 and systematic efforts must be made to develop and maintain the special compe- 

 tence required.*^ 



Agriculture 



One of the most important goals of the point IV program was to 

 provide for increases in food production to compensate for the rapid 

 rate of population growth in the less developed countries. It was 

 hoped that American technical know-ho\\' and skills in agriculture 

 would increase ^ield per acre in the developing areas. Unfortunately 

 little recognition was given to the unsuitability of American agricul- 

 tural know-how to effect this goal or to alternative ways of producing 

 more food. 



'' Haldore Hanson. Executive Dii-ector of the luteidepartmental Committee on Scientific and Cultural 

 Cooperation, Department of State. U.S. Organization for point 4. Annals (March 1950), op. cit., pp 43^4. 



*= See Organization and Administration of Technical Assistance Programs, op. cit., pp. 13-15, and study 

 No. 2. Personnel for the Mutual Security Proeram, by Louis J. Kroeger and Associates, February 1957. In 

 I'.S. Congress. Senate. Special Coimiiittee To Study the Foreign Aid Program. Foreign Aid Program, 

 Compilation of Studies and Sm^veys, prepared under the direction of * * * Pursuant to S. Res. 285. 84th 

 Cong., and S. Res. 25 and 141, 85th Cong. Presented by Mr. Green, July 1957. S. Doc. 52, 85th Cong., 1st sess. 

 (Washington. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1957), p. 85. 



^6 U.S. Foreign Aid in Action: A Case Study (1966), op. cit., pp. 77, 122. 



