CRS-9 (p. 11.) Similarly, there was a detailed discussion of agenda and objectives for the science and technology discussion of the ministerial meeting of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, (p. 13) and of the objectives of the U.N. Economic Commission for Europe, (p. 14). The report There were gave a candid view of obstacles to negotiations for space station cooperation, including the statement that "national pride, large investments and each partner's desire to ensure that its interests will be protected make cooperative arrangements extraordinarily complicated," (p. 45). details about the political and technical aspects of problems between the United States and Canada relating to air pollution and acid rain, (p.71-73). Chapter 9 on health activities set forth a well-defined and expressed set of technical and political objectives. The bulk of the chapter, especially the sections on bilateral science and technology agreements, contained considerable details about the political and technical aspects of cooperative programs. Chapter 11 on telecommunications also enunciated a clearly defined set of policy goals for international telecommunications policy, (p. 135), as did chapter 12 on transportation. Chapter 15 on basic science and engineering, which addressed the National Science Foundation programs, contained some useful policy-relevant information. The sections on bilateral science and technology activities in chapter 4 appear lean and lacking in useful detail when compared with the bilateral activities discussed in the specialized subject chapters. This poses a dilemma since undue duplication of activity descriptions is unwarranted. Nevertheless, the question can be raised about the unevenness of the level of detail in the report and about whether some cross-referencing within the chapters might be useful. CRS-10 There are also several other kinds of shortcomings, which are described next. It might be useful in the next report, when dealing with bilateral S&T activities, to convey the same level and amount of historical detail as appears in the bilateral cooperation section in chapter 7 on energy cooperation, beginning at p. 57. This chapter on energy contains comprehensive information about the foreign policy and science and technology aspects of bilateral cooperation. This level of detail and historical overview seems to represent a good standard for discussion of bilateral science and technology activities. In chapter 4, dealing with bilateral activities, the discussion on p. 24 regarding U.S.-Soviet scientific and technological cooperation, reported that "there was a surge of activity in FY 1986 under U.S.-USSR bilaterals S&T agreements." This statement conveyed a policy direction which contrasts sharply from the past and from information in previous Title V reports which described cutbacks in U.S.-Soviet cooperative S&T activities because of political events. No explanation was given in chapter 4 about why activity levels surged. Was it due to a political realignment or changes in U.S. foreign policy posture toward the Soviet Union? There was some reference on p. 110, in the chapter on health, to a National Security Council directive which authorized the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to resume highlevel contacts with the Soviets and to reinvigorate cooperative activities. This directive probably was applicable to the overall S and T relationship with the Soviet Union. However, the policy change was not discussed in this report. It seems that several other controversial policy issues were not discussed or were deliberately avoided. For instance, extensive attention was given in the 1986 report to the creation and plans of the International Committee of the Federal Coordinating Council for Science, Engineering, and Technology (CISET) CRS-11 and its four subgroups created within the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the White House. However, practically no reference was made to CISET and its functions in this report. Other information indicates that the Committee's work had important ramifications for many of the foreign science and technology activities conducted during 1986. It seems appropriate that the 1987 report should have discussed the outcome of major activities which were initiated in prior years, but which were continued in the succeeding year. As another example, no clear cut attention was given to the constraints on the U.S.-Brazilian relationship in computer sciences because of Brazil's restrictions on the import of U.S. computer technology. There are examples of discussions which presented insufficient details about activities discussed or policy issues raised, leaving the reader with unanswered questions. For instance, reference was made many times to several Presidentially initiated bilateral agreements. There was no indication about why these agreements required presidential initiatives, what a presidential initiative is, how the agreements are the same or differ from regular agreements, and so forth. This occurred, for instance, in the executive summary discussion regarding chapter 4, specifically about the Brazilian and Indian agreements. The discussion about population control programs essentially told what the program excluded, but not what its programmatic components included. For instance: U.S. policy emphasizes continued strong support for voluntary CRS-12 The reader sometimes was left dangling. For instance, on p. 9, it was noted that: The outstanding reporting by part-time officers at our Embassy in Oftentimes statements seemed misleading or only half correct. For instance, it was noted in the executive summary section regarding Japan that the United States and Japan ". . . began steps to refocus future cooperative activities to better reflect the two countries' current priorities and capacities." This statement does not disclose the intense scrutiny that was given by the White House to the U.S.-Japanese agreement, the discord which appears to have marked recent attempts to convene meetings, and the feeling among some policymakers that the S&T exchange with Japan has been unreciprocal, with the result that U.S. technology and trade have suffered. No reference to such policy discord was noted in Chapter 4 in material regarding the bilateral agreement with Japan. F. CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS The The eighth Title V report, like its most recent predecessors, is informative and will, undoubtedly, serve as a useful reference document even though it does not contain all of the statutorily required information. It is extremely useful to have the rich detail that was given in most sections. better developed sections gave the reader an historical overview and a description covering the origins of an agreement, major notable scientific and technological activities, and foreign policy activities and implications. Every attempt should be made in the future to give the reader as much detail as possible to permit comprehensive understanding of an activity, rather than merely a technical or quantitative description of activities. INDEX Countries Abu Dhabi Antigua Argentina Australia Austria Bahamas Bangladesh Barbados Belgium Bolivia Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria 96 35, 39 155 32, 42, 64, 94, 97, 115 48, 83, 93, 97, 105, 114, 120, 121, 126, 127, 94, 97 142, 154 66, 96, 142, 154, 173, 180 42, 63, 65, 119, 189, 194 94, 187 2, 33, 44, 63, 76, 92, 94, 96, 97, 115, 39, 197 2, 17, 26, 27, 35, 39, 40, 44, 48, 52, 60, 63, , 64, 66, 76,78, 88, 92, 93, 94, 97, 98, 100, 101, 33, 94, 119, 154, 168 42, 66, 92, 93, 96, 119, 152, 155, 180, 191 42, 48, 62, 118, 190, 194 56, 97, 115, 181, 182, 191 17, 30, 36, 42, 43, 56, 63, 86, 97, 106, 142, 152 98 19, 63, 190, 194 17, 19, 20, 39, 42, 44, 47, 48, 52, 61, 63, 93 118, 197 9, 18, 19, 40, 42, 48, 62-65, 79, 93 120, 121, 128, 131, 132, 137, 138, 147, 56, 63 56, 185 142 66, 152, 168 24, 39, 96, 197, 198 |