265 



DISCUSSION 



Mr. FuQUA. Thank you, Mr. Horner. 



Does the State Department have any scientific panels and so 

 forth that they call upon to advise them of scientific objectives and 

 goals, or do you rely on the agencies to provide that information? 



Mr. Horner. Well, we do rely primarily upon the agencies, but 

 we do have in the Department of State an Advisory Committee on 

 Oceans and International Environment and Scientific Affairs, 

 which consists of distinguished citizens from various realms. Their 

 immediate responsibility, I suppose, is to advise the Bureau on its 

 operations. But from time to time, it is very helpful to gain their 

 perspective about the general sense of priorities in the internation- 

 al area. 



Mr. FuQUA. Does the Department provide any funding for scien- 

 tific work other than maybe travel funds or maybe assist in ar- 

 ranging meetings and so forth? 



Mr. Horner. Well, if one looks at the amount of money that is 

 actually spent on international scientific activity, and then one 

 looks at how much money of that is represented in the State De- 

 partment budget, the percentage is in fact minuscule. 



There are two programs with other countries which are financed 

 out of funds appropriated to State Department, those being Poland 

 and Yugoslavia. In addition, there is — though not technically a 

 State Department item — the funds for financing our participation 

 in our program with Spain, also are listed independently. But in 

 general, programs by country do not have a separate budgetary 

 status. 



Mr. FuQUA. What is the Department doing to strengthen the sci- 

 ence part of it, particularly within the Department, as well as the 

 Foreign Service? I know you have science advisers or science coun- 

 selors at many of the diplomatic posts abroad, and I might say that 

 I have found them to be most cooperative and very knowledgeable 

 in my experience with them. But are you doing anything else to 

 strengthen science as part of a foreign policy tool? 



Mr. Horner. Over the years, it has become apparent that the ad- 

 vance of science will create new and novel international diplomatic 

 and political problems and issues, and many things have been cre- 

 ated to deal with that over time, especially in the last 40 years. 



Now, it was a little more than 10 years ago when a separate 

 Bureau for Oceans, Environment and Science was established in 

 the Department of State by statute. This was a formal recognition 

 by the Congress of the importance that these things had acquired 

 in the conduct of foreign relations overall. 



As time has gone on, there have been additions made to that, as, 

 for example, when we recognized the importance of telecommunica- 

 tions, a new mechanism was established for dealing with that. 



Recently, Secretary Shultz has taken a strong personal interest 

 in what we might call consciousness raising, in the first instance, 

 which is to remind the entire diplomatic establishment of the im- 

 portance that science and technology now play in the conduct of 

 international relations. 



He has dealt with this directly in communication with missions 

 overseas and has also been a strong supporter of what has become 



