*EPF504 09/07/01
Grossman Says Technology Is Changing How Diplomacy Is Conducted
(Says successful diplomacy requires management and mastery of IT) (640)
By Phillip Kurata
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Marc Grossman said the revolution in information technology [IT] "is absolutely, utterly and profoundly changing" the way diplomats do business.

In a keynote address September 5 to a three-day "NetDiplomacy" conference in the State Department in Washington, Grossman said that during the Cold War the job of most of the people at the department was to write the talking points for the secretaries of state for their dealings with the foreign ministers of the former Soviet Union.

In today's State Department, Grossman said, employees have to deal with a much broader range of issues, including crime fighting, stopping trafficking in women and children, dealing with drugs, promoting sustainable development and democracy and stopping proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

"These are jobs that we don't write talking points for other people to do. These are jobs that the president and the secretary of state give us to do," Grossman said. "Without the capacity to manage and master IT, we will not succeed."

The conference drew together U.S. public affairs officers posted in Washington and around the world to discuss how to better capture the power of the Internet to further U.S. diplomatic goals.

Grossman praised Secretary of State Colin Powell for pressing Congress for funds to put the Internet at the fingertips of every State Department employee.

"We know we have to do a better job of getting the power of the information revolution to every desk at the State Department and every single State Department employee around the world so we can start linking all this together and increase the leverage and the power of the United States of America," Grossman quoted Powell as saying while Powell testified to Congress earlier this year.

Grossman said diplomats in the 21st century will have to have more skills than their predecessors:

-- They must be proficient not only in languages but also in intercultural communication.

-- They must be good managers, knowing how to get the most from their people but also be able to develop them to their fullest potential.

-- They must understand global issues.

-- They must understand the role that public diplomacy will play in our dealings with both the established and emerging democracies around the world.

-- They have to have negotiating skills and they also have to be able to deal effectively with NGO's, the media and private sector organizations.

-- They must understand the principles of preventive diplomacy and international peace operations.

-- They must be comfortable with the latest technologies that will change in ways that can not be imagined now.

Grossman cited a number of recent instances in which IT played a key role in U.S. diplomacy. Among them was the State Department's use of the Internet during the diplomatic standoff with China over a U.S. reconnaissance plane that was forced to make an emergency landing in southern China earlier this year.

Grossman said the State Department's Office of International Information Programs carried every text and transcript of remarks by administration officials and prominent members of Congress on all electronic platforms. "The Chinese language site during the two-week period had over 135,000 hits," Grossman said.

The under secretary said the United States has supported Yugoslavia's democratic effort by helping the government in Belgrade rewrite telecommunications laws from the Milosevic regime.

"We sought to find a legal foundation for the free exchange of ideas in the media, and I think that our efforts have contributed substantially to the growth of democracy there in Yugoslavia," Grossman said.

The information revolution has started to provide the State Department with new tools and the object now is for the department's employees to develop the capacity to exploit them, Grossman said in closing.

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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