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Science and Foreign Policy: The Role of the Department of State Report Prepared by the Department's Senior Task Force on Strengthening Science at State, March 28, 2000 Released May 15, 2000, U.S. Department of State

Science-based issues are increasingly prominent on the foreign affairs agenda, from nonproliferation and arms control to global environmental threats, such as ozone layer depletion and global climate change, to HIV/AIDS, to international science and technology (S&T)* cooperation agreements. The Department of State is responsible for assuring that science and technology considerations are taken into account and integrated into U.S. foreign policy, and that opportunities for fruitful international cooperation involving the U.S. science community are identified and exploited. Annex A, attached, contains a review of the history of how the Department has organized to carry out this responsibility.

The Department's and ACDA's (Arms Control and Disarmament Agency) mechanisms and procedures for building sound science into national security policies, such as arms control, export controls, and nonproliferation, have functioned well over the years. (ACDA was incorporated within the Department of State in 1999.) The Bureau of Economics and Business Affairs also has long-standing and well-functioning mechanisms for accessing needed S&T advice and input with respect to its areas of responsibility. (These mechanisms and procedures are described in Annex A.)

The Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES) has managed interagency processes and led international negotiations on issues from the building and operation of an international space station to controlling substances that deplete the stratospheric ozone layer and change global climate. OES has also taken the lead within the U.S. Government (USG) in developing accords and creating an extensive network of advisory and regulatory mechanisms to protect oceans and fisheries, and negotiating S&T umbrella agreements and coordinating their implementation.

A combination of reduced resources and the increasing number and significance of science-based issues in recent years has raised questions regarding the Department's readiness and capacity to deal with this increasingly important set of issues and regarding how the Department incorporates scientific and technical expertise into its policy making. For example, the Deputy Assistant Secretary (DAS) for Science position in OES was eliminated in 1997, along with the science and technology functional specialization, or "cone". Also, dwindling resources have forced the Department to downgrade or eliminate more than half of the overseas science counselor positions over the past decade.

The State Department recognizes the growing significance of science and technology based issues in foreign policy and is aware that this trend will continue and accelerate. The Department is determined to do what is necessary to respond to this challenge and to meet its responsibilities in this area, including seeking additional resources.

To assist in this effort, the Secretary asked the National Academy of Sciences and the National Research Council (NRC) to look at the contributions science, technology and health can make to foreign policy and how the Department of state might better carry out its responsibilities. The recommendations of the NRC report, The Pervasive Role of Science, Technology, and Health in Foreign Policy --- Imperatives for the Department of State, published in October 1999, are contained in the attached Annex B, along with the Department's responses to them.

This paper elaborates the steps the Department is taking and intends to take to strengthen its ability to carry out its leadership role on science-based issues in foreign policy. It reflects the Department's commitment to dealing effectively with those issues as we move forward into the 21st century. The approach outlined draws on the excellent analysis in the NRC report and is responsive to a number of its principal recommendations, as well as to suggestions from others in the science community.

Building Long-Term Leadership for Science and Technology-Based Issues

The key elements of the approach to strengthening the integration of science and technology issues into the work of the State Department are the following:

• A policy framework set forth by the Secretary of State that highlights the importance of science and technology-based issues in foreign policy, reaffirms State Department leadership within the USG in this area, and identifies the effective handling of such issues as a high Departmental priority;

• A leadership and management structure that will both foster high-level attention to science-based issues and opportunities and enhance the Department's capacity to integrate those considerations into foreign policy and to oversee and coordinate the international S&T activities of U.S. Government agencies. Developing better-equipped personnel to handle these issues will call for targeted recruitment, expanded training opportunities, and enhanced rewards for S&T work.

• Partnership with the science community in academia, the private sector, and other agencies dealing with science and technology issues within the U.S. Government, buttressed by the use of upgraded information technology (IT) to foster greater dialogue on policy issues and improve interconnectivity with the science community outside the Department.

An affirmation of leadership

The Secretary is issuing a policy statement concurrent with release of this report that will recognize the importance of science-based issues in foreign policy and reiterate the Department of State's leadership role in this area. This statement delineates the framework to ensure appropriate integration of scientific and technical knowledge and expertise into policy making. It makes clear that meeting its responsibilities in the area of science and technology is a high and permanent priority in the Department of State.

Structured for success

A leadership and management structure will be put in place that is designed to assure that science considerations, and access to the appropriate expertise, are properly integrated into our foreign policy. This structure will include the following: (1) establishment of a Science and Technology Adviser, reporting to the Under Secretary for Global Affairs and with direct access to the Secretary and other senior officials; (2) reestablishment of the Science Directorate in OES; and (3) designation within each State bureau of a DAS-level official who will serve as the bureau point person for S&T issues.

These organizational steps will complement each other in assuring that:

1. Science receives high-level attention throughout the Department;
2. Access to the expertise and resources of the science community is secured; and
3. State leadership is maintained in coordinating interagency processes and overseeing the USG's international science and technology activities.

Three science and technology based entities within OES -- Space and Advanced Technology (SAT), Science and Technology Cooperation (STC), and Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) -- will be organized as offices within the Science Directorate under the leadership of the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary (PDAS) in OES. This will give added weight and coherence to OES's science-based activities, which provide a key support function for the rest of the Department, as well as being central to State's interagency leadership role in assuring that science considerations are built into U.S. foreign policy.

The Science and Technology Adviser, an individual with strong credentials in the science community, will be located within the Under Secretariat for Global Affairs (G), and will have direct access to the Secretary and to other senior officials throughout the Department. The Science Adviser will establish strong ties to the science community both within and outside the U.S. Government, and foster collaboration between them and the Department of State.

An important role of the Science Adviser will be to elevate awareness of the significance of science and technology matters throughout the senior levels of the Department. The Science Adviser will, for example, maintain links with the network of DAS-level officials in the regional and policy bureaus who have been designated to serve as the bureau's policy-level point person on S&T issues.

The Science and Technology Adviser will participate and offer advice in the development and implementation of U.S. foreign policy on global science and technology-based issues that impact or will impact the international community and U.S. interests. As State's principal interlocutor with the national and international science community, he or she will seek assistance from and inform the community of science and technology based foreign policy initiatives supported by the Department of State.

The Adviser will maintain close working-relationships with the other USG agencies that deal with science and technology based issues, including, particularly, the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the National Science and Technology Council in the White House. He/she will generally speak for the Department in his/her dealings with those agencies.

The Science Adviser will work closely with existing advisers and advisory mechanisms on science matters within the Department. In particular, the Adviser will serve as liaison with the ACNAB (Arms Control and Nonproliferation Advisory Board). He or she will coordinate with the Office of the Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security in exploring the feasibility of broadening the scope of the science and technology issues addressed by that advisory committee.

A major responsibility of the Science Adviser will be to organize, in consultation with senior State Department officials and outside experts, several roundtables annually on science-based issues with high impact on the United States and its foreign policy priorities. Importantly, he or she will be responsible for assuring effective follow-up on the results of those roundtables. The Science Adviser will also explore other sources and mechanisms for obtaining external advice.

The Department is currently undertaking a survey of overseas posts regarding the adequacy of S&T staffing, particularly with respect to Science Counselor positions. The Science Adviser will assist in reviewing the current status of the Science Counselor program, taking into account the results of that survey. The Adviser will make recommendations regarding any changes in the program that he or she believes are called for. The purpose of the review is both to help determine the appropriate number and location of such positions and to assist the Department in assuring that persons appointed to those positions have the necessary credentials and qualifications. (A decision has already been taken to re-establish the Science Counselor position in New Delhi and to staff it with a scientist from a U.S. technical agency.)

Resources will be sought to provide staff support to the Science Adviser. He or she will receive policy support from the OES Science Directorate. Further, the Adviser will call on the G (Under Secretariat for Global Affairs) and T (Under Secretariat for Arms Control and International Security) bureaus for specific issue expertise and support.

The PDAS (Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary) in OES will head the re-established Science Directorate in that bureau, which will bring together staffs of three entities: Science and Technology Cooperation (STC), Space and Advanced Technology (SAT), and Emerging and Infectious Diseases (EID).

The PDAS will work closely with the Science Adviser, other State Bureaus, and U.S. scientific and technical agencies. He will coordinate with the Science Adviser on the development of policy and on maintaining links on science and technology-related matters to the private sector, Congress, other USG agencies, and international and non-governmental organizations. He will keep OES productively engaged with the other bureaus in the Department on S&T issues.

The PDAS will be a key policy point for the interagency science and technology community in their dealings with the Department. He, and the Science Directorate he heads, will, for example, play a central role in expediting requests for clearances from other agencies to enter into agency-to-agency agreements with other countries and to proceed with international S&T activities.

Building partnerships

The Department will build on its ties to the science community, both within the U.S. Government, as well as in academia and the private sector, and will create strong partnerships to advance U.S. interests in pursuing science-based issues in foreign policy. These partnerships are important both in keeping the Department aware of relevant developments in science and technology and in mobilizing the resources of the science community in addressing these issues. The Department will seek the advice and assistance of its partners, for example, in training and preparation of Department personnel to better understand and manage science-based issues in a foreign policy context, for example, and in helping to identify qualified candidates for S&T positions.

These partnerships will also provide valuable support for the Department's efforts to conduct a series of roundtables on S&T issues of concern to high-level Department officials. Building effective partnerships will be a top priority for the Department's new science structure under the leadership of the Science Adviser and the PDAS in OES.

Continued improvement of the Department's information technology will be an important element in achieving this goal, and State's five-year Information Technology (IT) plan will continue to be supported. Enhancing the Department's ability to use IT for communication and to access pertinent technical data will permit improved interconnectivity with the S&T community outside the Department and facilitate interagency coordination within the USG. A pilot project is being developed to explore how to improve data links between science centers of excellence, the Department, and Environment, Science and Technology (EST) officers in the field.

Increasing existing S&T expertise

Meeting this need requires steps in a number of areas, including:

• Increased use of training to achieve broadened science literacy within the Foreign Service;

• Improved career incentives for successful service in S&T positions;

• Enhanced efforts to recruit employees who are knowledgeable about S&T issues and who have academic credentials in S&T subjects;

• Expanded use of technically qualified personnel from other agencies, academia, and the private sector, and from the Department of State's Civil Service employees, in S&T positions both overseas and within the Department.

Training: The Foreign Service Institute (FSI), as noted in the NRC Report, provides high quality training for Foreign Service Officers with S&T responsibilities. In seeking to strengthen training on science and technology-based issues, representatives of the science community have suggested that our goal should be raising the level of understanding and sensitivity to science and technology issues across the wide range of Department officers -- both Foreign Service Officers and Civil Service personnel, and both officers who are specifically charged with S&T responsibilities as well as those who carry out other aspects of our foreign policy. This goal, strengthening "science savvy" at the Department, addresses the need to prepare officers to know when they need scientific advice; know how to get the advice; and know what to do with it once they get it.

The Department believes that actions have been and can be taken to pursue this goal through Department-sponsored training. For example, currently, the Foreign Service Institute offers six courses specifically targeted toward EST issues for Foreign and Civil Service officers. This includes one tradecraft course specifically for EST officers. In addition, in 1999, FSI began a training program for Foreign Service national employees (FSNs) with responsibilities for environment, science and technology issues at overseas posts. FSI is planning to hold another session for FSNs in September 2000. In addition to the courses specifically devoted to science-based issues, approximately 20 other courses contain EST modules. These include nearly every economics and commercial course, as well as many political and negotiation courses and a large proportion of the regional studies programs.

Other recent FSI initiatives include:

1. The National Research Council (NRC) report on Science at State has been shared with various tradecraft courses and with the Senior Seminar.
2. Course instructors have been encouraged to make greater use of the science expertise (AAAS Fellows, Foster Fellows, other scientists on assignment in T and G) within the Department in panels and presentations across the FSI curriculum.
3. The PDAS in OES recently served as a mentor to the FSO Junior Officer class, and we are identifying ways systematically to expose FSI students to key Department policymakers in the area of S&T and other global issues.
4. Another senior OES official, who is a current member of the Senior Seminar, is working with FSI division directors and faculty to identify additional ways in which S&T modules might be included in current courses or, or resources permitting, new "stand-alone" S&T courses be added to the current offerings.

The Department and FSI plan to undertake several new initiatives to further strengthen training in science and technology-based issues. These initiatives seek to weave science and science-based issues into our curriculum through speakers, development of course materials and the holding of targeted roundtable discussions. Thus, our ability to move forward most effectively will depend on our ability to obtain additional resources and to develop partnering arrangements with the scientific community to provide the needed expertise. Such partnerships will be critical to these initiatives -- as well as to our ability to undertake further initiatives in the future. Initiatives now under review include:

1. Senior-level roundtables with world-class scientists and science-policy thinkers designed to alert us to emerging and future issues that will affect international relationships and our foreign policy in the future.
2. A pilot one-day Forum on Global Health Issues, hosted in cooperation with the National Institutes of Health.
3. New case studies, role plays and other teaching tools on science and technology-based issues for use in FSI's courses. We hope to work with the science community to obtain the services of an expert in science and foreign policy (such as an AAAS fellow who has already worked in the Department for a regular tour) who may be able to work further with OES and other bureaus in the Department and FSI on training.

Career incentives -- The Department is actively exploring ways to develop and nurture experience in global fields essential to its mission, such as S&T work. For example, the promotion boards for the traditional Foreign Service personnel cones (Political, Economic, Administrative, and Consular) will be instructed to give weight to such credentials.

The G and T bureaus may nominate candidates for overseas positions designated of particular interest to the work of their bureaus. They will be responsible for consulting with the regional bureaus that fund those positions and seeking to reach a consensus on proposed assignments.

A pilot program will be established to designate a limited number of "linked" assignments that will provide for a two-year assignment to a domestic position in one of the G or T bureaus followed by a specified onward assignment overseas. The two assignments will be advertised as linked and made simultaneously.

Regional bureaus will consult with policy bureaus before abolishing or reprogramming any positions primarily focused on the functions of the concerned bureau.

Other initiatives designed to enhance career opportunities for officers working in S&T and other global functions include the following:

1. Guidelines will be developed to ensure that the description of work performed in the G and T bureaus underlines the skills, abilities, and experience that make candidates competitive for promotion;
2. Senior officers from G and T bureaus will be identified to serve on promotion panels;
3. G and T bureaus will be called upon to develop their intranet websites, providing information on bureau activities, position openings, and career opportunities for Foreign Service officers.

Recruitment -- The Department will seek to attract more candidates who are knowledgeable about science and technology issues and who have science credentials. More information on science-related issues in foreign policy will be included in recruitment materials, and increased recruiting effort will be targeted at science and technology departments in universities.

Non-career outreach -- The Department will pursue non-career appointments from other specialized agencies to address unmet needs for S&T qualified personnel. We will seek funding support from those agencies in order to increase the number of such assignments that can be put in place. Such assignments also open up opportunities for Department employees to gain relevant experience serving in specialized agencies, while, in the process, strengthening interagency ties.

The Department will also seek to identify individuals in academia and the private sector who could be brought in on a non-career basis to meet particular requirements for S&T qualified personnel. In that regard, for example, State will continue to fully support, and explore the possibility of expanding, its program for bringing AAAS Fellows into the Department.

The use of other-agency candidates, with funding support from their agency, might, for example, permit the Department to move more expeditiously in reestablishing additional Science Counselor positions -- and getting fully qualified incumbents in place promptly -- at posts where there is a demonstrated need. A case in point is the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, where the Science Counselor position will be re-established. The Department intends to seek a scientist from a USG technical agency to fill it.

The Resource Constraint

The steps that have been outlined call for some new positions and additional funding. Given current budget stringency, even a small increase will be difficult to achieve and will require tradeoffs with other priorities. Moreover, while it will position the Department to significantly upgrade its performance, the planned approach will not be fully successful over time without a significant commitment of resources.

OES, for example, suffered a significant reduction of science and technology-related positions beginning in 1995 -- an 18% cut in the number of Foreign Service Officers and just under a 10% cut in its Civil Service complement -- while the requirements it must meet are rapidly expanding. The FSI notes that its capacity to expand S&T training is limited by personnel and funding shortages. Because of budget pressures, the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) has had to reduce in recent years the resources it devotes to intelligence analysis in science and technology-related fields.

A crucial task of the Department's revitalized science leadership and management structure will be to identify clearly the need and establish the case for additional resources. Without adequate resources, the Department of State can not in the long run meet its responsibilities in this area.

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Footnote:
* The term S&T is being used in this paper to encompass those positions that deal with science, technology, health, and environment issues and that are variously described by the acronyms EST, ESTH, and STH.

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ANNEX A

Science at State
A Review of the Organizational History

Background

In the wake of World War II, the State Department, like the rest of the national security agencies, took a hard look at how they were organized to deal with developments in science and technology. To an extent not seen before, advances in science and technology, e.g., radar, nuclear fission and fusion, and jet and rocket propulsion, were becoming dominant factors affecting national security. Further, it was clear that the pace of development in science and technology was accelerating and that these developments would have an increasingly strong impact on international relations.

First steps

The first formal establishment of a science function within the State Department's structure occurred in 1950 with the establishment of the Office of Science Advisor and Special Assistant to the Secretary of State. This office did not thrive and was hit hard by the government-wide retrenchment of the early 1950s. It had been reduced to a staff of three by 1956. In 1957, however, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, and science and technology once again became a matter of immediate and intense national security concern.

As part of the response to Sputnik, additional resources and renewed prominence was given to the Science Advisor's office. Its new focus was on providing technical interpretations to policy-makers, securing access to scientific research and to scientists, and enhancing State's capacity to monitor scientific developments internationally, particularly those relating to strategic space and defense technologies.

In 1965, the Science Office was elevated to "bureau" status in recognition of the expanding role of science and technology in strategic areas of communications, space, defense, and computerization. The Science Advisor's office was enlarged to an Office of International Scientific and Technological Affairs, and its director was officially designated as "equivalent to an Assistant Secretary of State".

Creation of OES and affirmation of State leadership

In 1973, Congress acted on its perception of the increasing importance and complexity of international scientific, technological, environmental, and oceans issues. Legislation was passed calling for the establishment of the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES). OES was established in 1974.

In 1978, the Congress passed further legislation reaffirming that the State Department had responsibility for incorporating science into the conduct of foreign policy. It gave the Secretary of State "primary responsibility" for the coordination and oversight of all major agreements and activities in this area with any foreign government or international organization. OES has been the lead bureau in discharging this responsibility and has headed numerous international negotiations and managed the inter-agency processes supporting them.

The basic structure created during the 1970s remains substantially in place. However, the directorate for nuclear affairs was transferred from OES to PM (Bureau of Political and Military Affairs) in 1993. Also, in 1997 the position of Deputy Assistant Secretary for Science was eliminated, and the elements of the Science Directorate --- space and advanced technology, science and technology cooperation, emerging infectious diseases -- were redistributed within OES.

The T Bureaus (Arms Control; Nonproliferation; Political-Military Affairs; Verification and Compliance)

In 1961 Congress established the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA), staffed by a unique combination of professional scientists, foreign policy specialists, and professional diplomats. ACDA's charter was to integrate scientific and technical considerations into foreign policy in the fields of nonproliferation, arms control, treaty verification and compliance, as well as intelligence. For more than 35 years the ACDA model worked successfully.

None of the mechanisms used by ACDA was unique; what was innovative was the close working relationships among scientists and non-scientists. That cooperation resulted in the negotiation of highly technical arms control agreements such as the ABM Treaty which, for possibly the first time in history, introduced an equation of physics directly into a treaty; the verification protocols to the Threshold Test Ban Treaty (TTBT), which defined ways in which complex experiments might be carried out; and the Chemical Weapons Convention, which required the cooperation of scientists from DOD and from industry as well as ACDA's own professionals, all operating under the direction of professional negotiators and diplomats.

ACDA found that the ability to negotiate a treaty was not confined to professionals from either of the two cultures: Ambassador C. Paul Robinson who negotiated the TTBT protocol was a physicist, as was Ambassador Herbert F. York, who sought a comprehensive test ban treaty (CTBT) in the late 1970s, and their efforts were supported by teams composed of both diplomats and scientists. Conversely, the equally technical ABM, SALT, and START Treaties were negotiated by diplomats, supported by professional scientists.

In 1999, ACDA was integrated into the Department of State, forming the nuclei of the new Bureaus of Arms Control, Nonproliferation, and Verification and Compliance. Former ACDA staff also augment the capabilities of PM. The new "T Family" bureaus continue to integrate technical expertise into foreign policy by creative use of the Intergovernmental Personnel Act to bring outstanding scientists into the Department of State such as William C. Foster Fellows and to utilize staff members of the Department of Energy's National Laboratories for extended periods of time. Consultants with specific scientific expertise are routinely used to augment staff during, for example, the negotiation of the CTBT and the Biological Weapons Protocol. T-family staff serve on interagency working groups and senior-level committees such as the Committee for National Security and other subcommittees of the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC); a co-chair of the Nonproliferation and Arms Control Technical Working Group (NPAC-TWG), which coordinates government-wide priorities, is a member of the Verification and Compliance Bureau and also has responsibilities for critical infrastructure protection R&D; the AC Science Adviser represents State on several subcommittees of the NSTC.

What makes the T-Bureaus' fusion of science, policy, and negotiating expertise work is the simple fact that officers from every profession work together in teams. Scientists learn policy skills from policy professionals, and foreign service officers and civil service professionals learn the relevant science concepts working alongside scientists on the same issues and absorbing the essentials of the chemistry, physics or other disciplines involved.

E and the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs

The Bureau of Economics and Business Affairs (EB) was established in 1944 and was followed in 1946 by the creation of a position of the Under Secretary of State for Economics and Agricultural Affairs, later renamed the Under Secretary of State for Economics, Business and Agricultural Affairs. As the issues of economics, business, and agriculture coming before State have become more technical, the Bureau has responded by integrating technical and scientific specialists into its core of economic specialists. To further support its policy-making role in the increasingly technical environment, formal private sector advisory committees have been established.

Two separate Department advisory bodies: the United States International Telecommunication Advisory Committee (ITAC) and the Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information Policy (ACICIP), advise the Bureau's Office of Communications and Information Policy (CIP). These advisory committees consist of technical experts, members of scientific and industrial organizations, and senior-level officers from a broad range of companies and institutions. They are integral to the formulation of U.S. policy, particularly with regard to our efforts to extend the availability of new technologies to consumers and address specific technical issues in bilateral and multilateral fora.

Re-created in its current form from a past advisory committee with a similar mandate, the ACICIP was chartered in 1994. It serves to advise the Department on major economic, social, and legal issues and problems in international communications and information policy. Members of the committee provide policy advice, as well as carry out research on a range of issues including electronic commerce, interoperability, competition policy, export control, and the Internet.

ITAC, also chartered in its current form in 1994, covers substantive issues in three sector areas: telecommunications standardization, telecommunications development, and radiocommunications. The committee was established to aid in the preparation of U.S. positions for meetings of international treaty organizations and other regional policy fora, including the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the Organization of American States Inter-American Telecommunication Commission ("OAS/CITEL"), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ("OECD"), and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation ("APEC") forum. Close collaboration between private sector experts, representatives of public institutions, and government officials provides a level of technical and economic insight critical to foreign policy development and the protection of U.S. interests.

In addition, the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs maintains an Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy. This Committee serves the United States Government in a solely advisory capacity concerning major issues and problems in international economic policy. Membership is drawn from a broad cross-section of private sector, non-government organizations and academics with an interest in international economic policy.

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ANNEX B

The Pervasive Role of Science, Technology, and Health
in Foreign Policy Imperatives for the Department of State
A National Research Council Report
Presented to the Secretary of State, October 1999.

NRC Report Recommendations and Department of State Responses

(1) The Secretary should articulate and implement a policy that calls for greater attention to the science, technology and health (STH) dimensions of foreign policy throughout the Department and provides guidance as to sources of STH expertise available to Department officials both in Washington and abroad.

The Secretary of State has set forth, via a public address to the science community on February 21, 2000, and in a directive to the Department concurrent with this report, a policy framework that highlights the importance of science-based issues in foreign policy, and reaffirms State Department leadership in this area. This policy framework establishes as priorities the effective handling of such issues and the effective integration of S&T knowledge and expertise into the work of the State Department.

(2) The Secretary should provide continuing leadership that ensures consideration within the Department of the STH aspect of issues. To this end, the Secretary should delegate to an under secretary responsibility for ensuring consideration of STH factors in policy formulation, especially during meetings and consultations involving the Secretary and/or the Secretary's senior advisors and during day-to-day activities at all levels of the Department. The title of the selected under secretary should be amended to include the phrase "for Scientific Affairs," reflecting the new authority and responsibilities across a broad spectrum of STH aspects of foreign policy.

The Senior Adviser for Arms Control and International Security and the Under Secretary for Global Affairs already exercise significant oversight responsibility for development of science-related policy, although other under secretariats and bureaus also formulate policy with S&T content. The present structure will be reinforced by the appointment of a Science and Technology Adviser (see (3) below), who can advise these and other under secretaries and senior officials, foster Department-wide collaboration with the scientific community and help ensure that appropriate consideration is given to science, technology and health matters in the policy process.

While it is generally acknowledged that the Global Affairs Under Secretariat's science portfolio is significant, if not predominant in the Department, the recommendation to amend the G title was not accepted. The reasons are twofold: vesting responsibility for science-related policy in a single under secretary would impede rather than further the goal of raising STH capabilities and integrating them into the policy process across all bureaus over the long run. Also, while a title change might have a cosmetic appeal and some symbolic value, it would accomplish nothing by itself. Moreover, STH matters are truly global, but they share that distinction with other competing global concerns: human rights, international law enforcement, and population and migration flows. Elevating one above the other is neither necessary nor wise.

(3) The Secretary should select a highly qualified STH Senior Adviser to the Secretary and to the selected under secretary to provide expert advice, drawing on the resources of the American STH community as necessary, on current and emerging issues.

A Science and Technology Adviser for the Department of State position, with supporting staff, will be established. The search for a highly-qualified candidate to the fill the position has already begun. The Adviser will have Department-wide responsibilities and will work with all senior officials in the Department. He or she will report to the Under Secretary for Global Affairs and will have direct access to the Secretary. The Adviser will participate and offer advice, as appropriate, on science and technology-based issues in the formulation and implementation of foreign policy with respect to those issues.

The Science and Technology Adviser will be the principal State Department liaison with the science community. He or she will maintain close working relationships with the other USG agencies that deal with science and technology based issues, including the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the National Science and Technology Council in the White House. The Adviser will also promote collaboration throughout the Department on S&T issues as they affect the policy-making process.

(4) The Department should adopt the most appropriate organizational structure for the relevant bureaus and offices in order to meet its STH responsibilities. If legislation is necessary to accomplish this, the Department should seek Congressional authorization.

The Department intends to implement two measures in the coming weeks in order to help integrate science issues more fully into the policy process, and to strengthen the management of this process. As a first step, the Secretary will ask the Executive Secretary to direct all bureaus each to designate a Deputy Assistant Secretary or equivalent level person who will have the lead on S&T issues in his/her bureau. These senior officials, along with the Science and Technology Adviser, the Under Secretary for Global Affairs, the Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security, the Science Adviser to the Bureau of Arms Control, and the Arms Control and Nonproliferation Advisory Board, will constitute a standing science policy group. Secondly, the Department will establish a Science Directorate in the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES). The Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary (PDAS) in OES will head the reconstituted Science Directorate that will include three entities: Science and Technology Cooperation (SCT), Space and Advanced Technology (SAT), and Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID). The Department recognizes, however, that other structural changes may need to be made and expects the policy group, led by the Science and Technology Adviser, to engage in periodic assessments of the Department's organizational capacity to keep pace with S&T developments.

(5) The Department should establish an STH Advisory Committee to the Secretary and take other steps to further expand the roster of external experts actively engaged in advising the Department's leadership on emerging STH-related issues.

The Senior Task Force on Strengthening Science at the State Department carefully weighed the recommendation to establish an STH Advisory Committee. While this may be an option for the future, the Task Force consensus was to use other existing mechanisms to provide frequent, expert advice to the Department in a manner that was equally effective, more flexible, and less costly. Chief among these would be hosting of frequent roundtables on specific issues of current and emerging interest to policy-makers. This is already underway, with a Roundtable on Carbon Sequestration/Sinks that was held on March 28, and others on Invasive Species and Emerging Infectious Diseases being planned for later in the year. Also, the Science and Technology Adviser will work closely with the existing Arms Control and Nonproliferation Advisory Board (ACNAB) and with the other individuals and processes through which various entities within the Department obtain advice on scientific affairs. Further, he or she will explore the possibility of broadening the scope of scientific issues addressed by ACNAB and will work with the science community to expand the roster of external experts available to advise the Department.

(6) The Department should increase the resources available to meet the essential STH-related requirements that are recommended in the NRC report.

It will be possible -- but only though difficult trade-offs involving other priorities -- to take some initial steps towards upgrading the Department's capacity to deal with science-related issues within the Department's current constricted resource base. But we need more than a zero-sum game. A truly reinvigorated commitment to science and technology will require new resources.

The Department has begun by asking embassies to carefully assess STH-related needs and to factor them into Mission Program Plans, beginning in March 2000, for Fiscal Year 2002. The Department will use this input, together with its July 1999 survey and the Washington-level Bureau Program Plans review this year, to explore longer-term staffing and resource needs and prospects for: (1) increases in its operating budget; (2) funding from the Foreign Operations appropriation; and (3) partnerships with the science community, including USG technical agencies, to develop additional resources. It will be a priority task of the new Science and Technology Adviser, the Under Secretary for Global Affairs, the Senior Adviser for Arms Control and International Security, and the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs to help identify the needs and join in making the case for the necessary additional resources.

(7) The Department's leadership should expect all FSOs and other officials of the Department to achieve a minimum level of STH literacy and awareness relevant to foreign policy while stimulating attention to STH throughout the Department by establishing promotion and career incentives for successful service in STH-related positions.

While no one definition satisfies everyone, many in the Department would agree that, at a minimum, "scientific literacy" for its officers would include: (a) working knowledge of the parameters of science-based issues with which the Department is involved, including familiarity with the broad outlines of the science involved as well as with the positions of the various stakeholders in the issue; (b) knowledge of the basic elements of the American system of science and the infrastructure of the science community and; (c) a grasp of the science information resources that would point to the proper source of more detailed scientific advice. The Department agrees that more needs to be done to raise the profile and level of understanding of science-based issues of all its officers, whether in the Foreign Service, Civil Service or third-country nationals (FSNs) in overseas missions. It has already taken some steps towards this goal. For example, environment, science and technology (EST) modules are now in virtually every economics and commercial course provided by the FSI, as well as in many political and negotiations courses. Courses have also been offered to FSNs both overseas and in Washington. Such modules are also included in the Senior Seminar and in many area studies courses. Importantly, EST and health issues are dealt with in many of the gaming and roundtable events run by Special Programs for the benefit of State and other agency officials with operational responsibilities. The use in FSI programs of well-designed case studies on science-based issues has increased dramatically in recent years. The Department will also work with the science community on training, for example, on the development of a multi-year program that would involve designing and implementing a comprehensive S&T curriculum for the Foreign Service Institute.

The Department is encouraging the Global Affairs (G) and Arms Control and International Security (T) bureaus to have their senior officials brief at the junior officers' A-100 course, and their Under Secretaries to address the Deputy Chief of Mission and Ambassadorial courses. The PDAS in OES served as the mentor to a recent junior officers' course.

Distance learning programs and strategic partnerships with area universities to advance S&T training are under consideration, subject to identifying the resources to support them.

The Department is actively exploring ways to develop and nurture experience in global fields essential to its mission, such as S&T work. PER is also directing promotion boards for the traditional Foreign Service personnel cones (Political, Economic, Administrative, and Consular) to give weight to S&T credentials and service. The Department's Director General of Personnel has directed that the G and T bureaus may put forward candidates for overseas positions designated of particular interest to the work of the bureaus (e.g., science counselors and officers). A pilot program will be established to designate a limited number of "linked" assignments that will provide for a two-year assignment to a domestic position in one of the G or T bureaus followed by a specified onward assignment overseas.

The bureaus in the G and T areas will also be called upon to develop their intranet websites, providing information on bureau activities, position openings, and career opportunities for FSO and Civil Service officers.

(8) The Secretary, the Administration, and Congress should ensure that the Department's five-year information technology modernization plan stays on course and is fully funded for its successful implementation and also for necessary ongoing maintenance and upgrades.

The Department recognizes that it must embrace the best available technical means to improve and promote communication and information accessibility among State and the technical agencies. In that regard, the Department will work to keep its five-year Information Technology (IT) program on track, expand availability of unclassified workstations with internet access, and establish easy E-mail connectivity for its officers.

The Department is developing a pilot program to improve data links to between its domestic and overseas personnel, and science centers of excellence, and to facilitate interagency communication, coordination, and sharing of expertise. This could lead to a broader approach that would include the science community outside the government.

(9) The Department should assign at least 25 carefully selected Science Counselors to embassies in countries where STH-related activities are of major interest to the U.S. Government.

The Department of State has begun a review, which will be completed with participation of the Science and Technology Adviser, to determine how many Science Counselor positions are required and how they might be funded. This will be done in partnership with the regional bureaus in State, our missions overseas, and the technical agencies, in consultation with the science community. A survey of overseas posts is being conducted to solicit input into this process. A decision has already been made to re-establish the Science Counselor position in New Delhi, as a first outcome of this process, and to staff the slot with a scientist from a USG technical agency.

(10) The Department, in consultation with other departments and agencies, should transfer responsibilities for STH activities to other appropriate and willing departments and agencies whenever there is not a compelling reason for retaining responsibilities within the Department.

The Department of State cannot transfer its statutorily mandated responsibilities to develop and implement foreign policy. Likewise, it cannot relinquish its core role to coordinate and oversee the international S&T activities of the U.S. Government to ensure that they are consistent with overall U.S. foreign policy objectives. It can and must, however, carry out that responsibility efficiently and facilitate the international activities of technical agencies. The Department considers that the best way to do this is through a concerted effort, with the help of affected departments and agencies, to secure the needed resources to do the best possible job, rather than to transfer responsibilities to other parties. The Department invites and welcomes input and assistance from other agencies in this regard. It is long-standing practice by the Department that U.S. delegations to international, regional and bilateral meetings include representatives from relevant technical agencies to participate fully in negotiations. At the same time, however, the Department acknowledges that some sharing of administrative duties with concerned agencies may be feasible, and is prepared to investigate further what may be possible from a legal standpoint.

(11) The Department, in consultation with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and other departments and agencies, should streamline the Circular 175 process, which calls for interagency reviews of proposed international agreements and bilateral memoranda of understanding.

Where applicable, the Department has adopted the "short form" C-175 process, which does not require a legal memorandum, and is now using it for 90% of international S&T agreements initiated by U.S. technical agencies. Nevertheless, we acknowledge that the process can be improved. The Department will work more aggressively to have U.S. technical agencies involved as partners to keep required clearances to a minimum, obtain them in a timely manner, and help us continue to streamline the process. This is a prime example of an area where shared administrative responsibility may be feasible.

(12) Increased use of specialists from other Departments and agencies as rotating employees assigned to positions in Washington and abroad, as participants in international negotiations, and as advisers on topics in their areas of expertise.

The Department is currently using the skills of specialists in a variety of scientific disciplines in short-term assignments in Washington and abroad, and normally invites representatives from USG technical agencies, occasionally along with non-USG representatives, to participate in overseas negotiations. The Department recognizes the value of increased use of such specialists, however, and is open to greater involvement of outside specialists in these areas. The Department will seek non-career assignments from other agencies to address unmet needs for S&T qualified personnel. Selected Science Counselor and EST (environment, science, and technology) positions will be opened up to interagency science community experts with international experience to compete for a Limited Foreign Service Appointment (overseas) or a Limited Non-Career Appointment (domestic). The Department will also seek to expand rotational assignments for Foreign Service and Civil Service employees in State to technical agencies within the USG.

Subject to a review of requirements and consultation with the concerned ambassadors, the Department anticipates that it will be seeking to establish additional Science Counselor positions at selected embassies. The Department will explore opportunities to fill such positions with candidates from technical agencies who have appropriate backgrounds, experience and training. At least initially, with respect to newly established positions, the technical agency may have to provide funding to cover the costs of its candidate's assignment due to the State Department's resource constraints. The Department has already decided to re-establish the Science Counselor position in New Delhi and will be considering qualified candidates from other agencies.

The Department will continue its long-standing practice of drawing heavily on specialists from other departments and agencies to be participants in international negotiations and advisers on topics in their areas of expertise.

Beyond the interagency community, if suitable arrangements can be made to cover the costs, the Department would like to increase the AAAS Fellowship Program in order to allow for the assignment of Fellows to bureaus other than OES and the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. The Department would be open to considering fellowship programs sponsored by other scientific organizations.

[end of document]

Also see:
-- Secretary Albright's memorandum to Department employees (May 12, 2000)
-- Secretary Albright's policy statement on "Science and Diplomacy: Strengthening State for the 21st Century" (May 12, 2000)

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