It would be a great step forward to recognize that the generalists that State so prizes can be trained in disciplines other than political science. Further, the entrance exam for FSO positions could have 10 to 15 percent of the questions on STH issues. Steps such as these, coupled with strengthening courses in science and science policy at the Foreign Service Institute, would spread a level of competence in STH broadly across the department, augmenting the deep competence that State already possesses in a few areas and can develop in others. There should be a lot of people in State who regularly read Science , or Tuesday's science section of the New York Times , or the New Scientist , or Scientific American , just as I suspect many now read the Economist , Business Week , Forbes , Fortune , and the Wall Street Journal . To be savvy means to have shrewd understanding and common sense.
State has the talent to develop such savvy.
It needs a culture that promotes it. Roland W. Schmitt is president emeritus of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a former senior vice president of General Electric.