The State Department at Home

Abstract

The Department of State is entering a critical period at home. The public is growing less convinced of the wisdom of current foreign policies. Young people especially are alienated. Doubt about international purpose is exacerbated by uncertainty over national priorities as between domestic and foreign affairs. Problems of instability, violence, and poverty, once myopically regarded as endemic to foreign societies, now are recognized as serious domestic problems. In this troubled setting, the Department of State must make critical decisions on new policies and priorities. These major decisions will affect the lives of all Americans; all Americans should feel that they are somehow involved in the deliberations leading to them. To impart this sense of involvement and at the same time assist the Department of State to chart the wisest future course, the private foreign affairs community should be engaged in the dual roles of interlocutor between the government and the general public and of adviser to the Department of State. For the foreign affairs community to play these roles effectively, it will have to be strengthened, and the Department will have to treat that community as its natural and amicable constituency.