Science is back at the White House; now it must be integrated into American diplomacy
President Biden underscored the importance of science to his administration by promptly nominating a White House Science Advisor and elevating the role to Cabinet status. That was an excellent start to correcting the Trump administration's hostility to the role of science in policymaking, but Biden needs to ensure his new Secretaries at key Cabinet agencies are similarly moving to integrate science into their operations.
Nowhere is this perhaps more important than at the Department of State. Diplomacy and science may seem like strange bedfellows, but science-related issues have long been part of America's diplomatic agenda. Arms control and non-proliferation, for example, were part of America's 1960s Cold War foreign policy agenda, as were scientific exchanges with the Soviet bloc and non-aligned states. In 1974 Congress created State's Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES) in recognition of the diplomatic and economic importance of dealing globally with that set of science-related issues.
The Biden administration has identified a number of foreign policy priorities that are science related. For example, dealing with climate change, developing early warning systems for future pandemics, preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and WMD terrorism, and coming to grips with the security challenges of cyberspace - all will require persistent diplomacy that is informed by the best science the U.S. can produce.
Science is not just good for identifying problems, such as the deterioration of the earth's ozone layer, and then supporting the diplomacy to produce a solution; it can also build relationships and establish common ground for cooperation. Scientific exchanges with the Soviets during the Cold War helped prevent miscalculations by both sides. Similarly, decades of scientific exchanges with allies and developing countries helped build a network of personal and institutional relationships that strengthen America's global soft power.
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