The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2007

A merica’s sinking global image threatens U.S. national securi- ty, according to a host of non- partisan reports. Yet, according to the Government Accountability Office, the State Department’s 887 public diplomacy officers — the very group of public servants most directly tasked with reversing this trend — are over- worked, overburdened with adminis- trative work, and too few in number. They also rotate frequently in many key countries, which inhibits their ability to build deeper and more extensive networks. The task of public diplomacy offi- cers — to promote both tactical and strategic public diplomacy interests of the United States — is both vital and enormous. It is also enormously hard. Meanwhile, America’s standing in the world continues to erode in the eyes of foreign publics. A February 2007 BBC World Service poll found that only 29 percent of citizens in 18 countries believe the United States plays a mainly positive role in the world, down from 36 percent last year. Public attitudes declined most sharply in countries previously posi- tive toward the United States. For instance, only 38 percent of Poles now view America’s role in the world as mainly positive, down from 62 percent a year ago. In India that percentage declined from 44 percent to 30 percent; and in Indonesia, from 40 percent to 21 percent. Given these challenges, the State Department’s hard-working public diplomacy offi- cers would undoubtedly welcome additional support. Fortunately, our diplomats have excellent but undertapped resources right in their own department. The State Department’s Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs works on issues that are tailor-made to engage foreign publics: health, water, pollution, con- servation and clean energy. OES also oversees 15 environment, science, technology and health hubs worldwide in countries including China, Chile, Ethiopia, Jordan, Mexico and Nepal. In addition, the State Depart- ment’s Office of the Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary works cooperatively with the global scientific community and engages sci- entists and engineers from Iraq to Brazil, and from India to Egypt. The power of science and technol- ogy to engage foreign publics was evi- dent at the U.S.-Islamic World Forum co-sponsored by The Brookings Institution and Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in February. Though the tone of many sessions was quite contentious, the session on S&T (which I co-convened) was not only positive but filled with representatives from the United States (including OES Deputy Assistant Secretary Reno Harnish) and the Islamic world who were eager to work together on tangible initiatives that will advance common interests. Leading with Our Strong Suit Of course, OES and STAS have more to offer than extra bodies to march into the war of ideas. They also have numerous strengths that may be less obvious to PD practitioners, who historically have focused their atten- tion on culture — not science — as a tool of public diplomacy. First, engaging with foreign soci- eties on issues of science and tech- nology is playing to our strength. Zogby International’s polls consis- tently indicate that science and tech- nology represent the most respected aspects of American society among citizens of Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates. Indeed, in the same surveys favorable views of S&T out- rank American freedom and democ- racy, people, movies and TV, prod- ucts, education and policies. Second, S&T cooperation is an area where foreign countries — including those with predominantly Muslim populations — eagerly wish to engage with the United States. American newspapers may not have mentioned the first S&T agreement between the United States and Algeria, but it was front-page news in Algiers. Third, S&T cooperation offers a 14 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U LY- A U G U S T 2 0 0 7 U.S. Public Diplomacy: Can Science Help? B Y K RISTIN M. L ORD S PEAKING O UT S&T cooperation allows the United States to engage in a public diplomacy of deeds, not words.