Office of the Science & Technology Adviser

Dr. George H. Atkinson was named as the Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary of State (STAS) on September 23, 2003, to lead a Department-wide initiative, Science and Diplomacy: Strengthening State for the 21st Century.

The Adviser's mission derives from the widely recognized fact that science and technology are ubiquitous to the functioning of the modern world and the framing and execution of domestic policies and international relations. Science and technology -- the engines of modern industrial economies -- are seminal to international cooperation and are the "bricks and mortar" of the three pillars of national security -- intelligence, diplomacy and military readiness.

The Science and Diplomacy Initiative was the product of a Senior State Department Task Force  and based substantially upon a 1999 National Research Council report, The Pervasive Role of Science, Technology, and Health in Foreign Policy -- Imperatives for the Department of State.  This report concluded that 13 of the 16 goals of U.S. foreign policy encompass science, technology and health considerations, which (for the purposes of the State Department) underlie five of the seven National Interests of the International Affairs Strategic Plan -- National Security; Economic Prosperity; Law Enforcement; Humanitarian Response; and Global Issues.