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THE REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVE
144
irrespective
Intercepted Letter
of the validity of the
operations behind
the
statistics. I
can see
the need for technical experts
on a
country-
adequate supply. But I can see neither the need for nor an adequate supply of diplomatic technocrats ", except on a regional basis, for some
by-country basis and
an
"
THE REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVE Dear JOHN, Now that you
a resident technical adviser I can animadvert freely upon particular country, the subject of resident advisers. Resident advisers are a post-world-war-n breed of internationalists or, perhaps it is truer to say, would-be internationalists. Certainly not all were,or are, professionals at the job. Resident advisers are an outcome of the movement from colonialism to political independence, when much skilled expatriate technical manpower was lost to those countries-resources that they could ill afford to lose. The replacement of key colonial expatriates by the foreign " advisers " was not always to the advantage of the newly independent country. The psychological advantages were often outweighed by the professional inexperience, albeit unrecognised and unare no
longer
to any
acknowledged. The word adviser in itself ushered in a train of misunderstandings-by both donor and recipient organisations. The word also more often than not was a misnomer, for what was needed and wanted was both advice and
implementation. The hapless individual adviser, moreover, found himself with little or no precise mandate or guidelines. The donor and recipient organisations rarely saw eye to eye except in striving towards the same broad goal of advancing levels of human living. The adviser got caught in the middle, and only the outstanding few managed to remain in good technical standing and popularity with both bosses ". To this might be added the further concentration of the individuals on objectives-namely, to become an " expert ", to publish many papers, and often to acquire a PH.D. These public revelations arising out of the assignment were not always welcomed by the recipient country, which looked on this as an impropriety. Most advisers were and are technically competent in their subject matter, but a lesser number were experienced "
in the social and cultural differences between their own sophisticated society and the unsophisticated society of the disadvantaged and under-privileged. To this inexperience could be added non-recognition (by adviser and parent organisation) of the national sensitivities and complexes of their national counterparts (or, to put it more clearly, the substantive professionals to whom they, the advisers, were counterparts). An immediate feeling of inferiority is engendered merely by having to admit the need for a foreign adviser. Salt is added to the wound when the adviser is of a much younger age: and when the adviser was accepted merely to attract programme funds. Some modicum of arrogance appears to be a necessary ingredient for success, but arrogance must be entirely concealed by individuals in diplomatic roles. Political diplomats have learned this by centuries of experiencelet us hope the new breed of diplomatic technocrats will learn it faster. What is more unforgivable is the arrogance of the donor organisation that seeks to impose its will and its views on the recipient country by virtue of its purse-strings. We should also be careful to distinguish our diplomatic technocrat from the technical expert. The latter is required for his technical competence only, whereas the former has a consultant role and status and must be wise beyond merely technical knowledge. Yet today wisdom is at a discount-everything must be statistically validated
" considerable time to come. In any event the term resident " a much more would be psychologically colleague I am term. and glad that acceptable descriptively apt " you are now a regional representative ": the qualifying adverb to the geographic noun is in itself a more honest, descriptive title, and will stop you interfering with the daily activities of any single country while making you available as a resource person for advice, consultation, and guidance-but not in decision-making.
Yours, REX.
Round the World United States WARNING TO THE A.M.A.
The American Medical Association has been meeting in New York City, and has been given a warning by no less a federal official than the assistant secretary for health of H.E.W., Dr C. C. Edwards-a warning not wholly palatable to the Association. Moreover it was surprising in that two other senior federal health officials have resigned their posts on the grounds that the Administration’s policies are negating their work and nullifying their
proposals. What in effect Dr Edwards said was " take it or leave it "-either cooperate fully with the Government in solving the health problems we face, or oppose and be ignored. He said that in essence the problem is to make sure that no-one is priced out of the health market, or provided with substandard medical care, or denied it because of where he lives. If this was not to be the goal of the officials of the medical profession in this country, it was going to be that of the federal Government, and the profession had better cooperate or else. The new president of the A.M.A. said that organised medicine was trying to cooperate with the federal Government, but that a vocal minority were still sticking to the old stand-fast opposition of the days of yore. INDIVIDUAL PRIVACY
The issue of individual
privacy
is
as
topical here
as
elsewhere, and the menace posed by the long-term memory of the computer has in certain States been intensified by
newly enacted legislation to curb drug abuse. The country has been shaken by recent incidents where federal narcotics agents have raided houses, terrorised or even killed innocent occupants, and eventually found that the wrong house had been raided. In New York State more severe penalties have been enacted for drug pushers, court procedures have been speeded up, and provision made for over 100 new
judges-though curiously enough no appreciable number of chemists to identify the drugs seem to have been enlisted, or the necessary analytic equipment provided. The medical profession is being mobilised to fight the new triplicate prescription forms legislatively mandated for certain drugs. The list includes a wide range of sedatives, narcotics, and pep pills, and it is expected that the barbiwill also be included. The law demands that these drugs have to see their physicians for renewals every month, and that the third copy of the prescription is returned to the State health department turates
patients receiving
irrespective
Intercepted Letter
of the validity of the
operations behind
the
statistics. I
can see
the need for technical experts
on a
country-
adequate supply. But I can see neither the need for nor an adequate supply of diplomatic technocrats ", except on a regional basis, for some
by-country basis and
an
"
THE REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVE Dear JOHN, Now that you
a resident technical adviser I can animadvert freely upon particular country, the subject of resident advisers. Resident advisers are a post-world-war-n breed of internationalists or, perhaps it is truer to say, would-be internationalists. Certainly not all were,or are, professionals at the job. Resident advisers are an outcome of the movement from colonialism to political independence, when much skilled expatriate technical manpower was lost to those countries-resources that they could ill afford to lose. The replacement of key colonial expatriates by the foreign " advisers " was not always to the advantage of the newly independent country. The psychological advantages were often outweighed by the professional inexperience, albeit unrecognised and unare no
longer
to any
acknowledged. The word adviser in itself ushered in a train of misunderstandings-by both donor and recipient organisations. The word also more often than not was a misnomer, for what was needed and wanted was both advice and
implementation. The hapless individual adviser, moreover, found himself with little or no precise mandate or guidelines. The donor and recipient organisations rarely saw eye to eye except in striving towards the same broad goal of advancing levels of human living. The adviser got caught in the middle, and only the outstanding few managed to remain in good technical standing and popularity with both bosses ". To this might be added the further concentration of the individuals on objectives-namely, to become an " expert ", to publish many papers, and often to acquire a PH.D. These public revelations arising out of the assignment were not always welcomed by the recipient country, which looked on this as an impropriety. Most advisers were and are technically competent in their subject matter, but a lesser number were experienced "
in the social and cultural differences between their own sophisticated society and the unsophisticated society of the disadvantaged and under-privileged. To this inexperience could be added non-recognition (by adviser and parent organisation) of the national sensitivities and complexes of their national counterparts (or, to put it more clearly, the substantive professionals to whom they, the advisers, were counterparts). An immediate feeling of inferiority is engendered merely by having to admit the need for a foreign adviser. Salt is added to the wound when the adviser is of a much younger age: and when the adviser was accepted merely to attract programme funds. Some modicum of arrogance appears to be a necessary ingredient for success, but arrogance must be entirely concealed by individuals in diplomatic roles. Political diplomats have learned this by centuries of experiencelet us hope the new breed of diplomatic technocrats will learn it faster. What is more unforgivable is the arrogance of the donor organisation that seeks to impose its will and its views on the recipient country by virtue of its purse-strings. We should also be careful to distinguish our diplomatic technocrat from the technical expert. The latter is required for his technical competence only, whereas the former has a consultant role and status and must be wise beyond merely technical knowledge. Yet today wisdom is at a discount-everything must be statistically validated
" considerable time to come. In any event the term resident " a much more would be psychologically colleague I am term. and glad that acceptable descriptively apt " you are now a regional representative ": the qualifying adverb to the geographic noun is in itself a more honest, descriptive title, and will stop you interfering with the daily activities of any single country while making you available as a resource person for advice, consultation, and guidance-but not in decision-making.
Yours, REX.
Round the World United States WARNING TO THE A.M.A.
The American Medical Association has been meeting in New York City, and has been given a warning by no less a federal official than the assistant secretary for health of H.E.W., Dr C. C. Edwards-a warning not wholly palatable to the Association. Moreover it was surprising in that two other senior federal health officials have resigned their posts on the grounds that the Administration’s policies are negating their work and nullifying their
proposals. What in effect Dr Edwards said was " take it or leave it "-either cooperate fully with the Government in solving the health problems we face, or oppose and be ignored. He said that in essence the problem is to make sure that no-one is priced out of the health market, or provided with substandard medical care, or denied it because of where he lives. If this was not to be the goal of the officials of the medical profession in this country, it was going to be that of the federal Government, and the profession had better cooperate or else. The new president of the A.M.A. said that organised medicine was trying to cooperate with the federal Government, but that a vocal minority were still sticking to the old stand-fast opposition of the days of yore. INDIVIDUAL PRIVACY
The issue of individual
privacy
is
as
topical here
as
elsewhere, and the menace posed by the long-term memory of the computer has in certain States been intensified by
newly enacted legislation to curb drug abuse. The country has been shaken by recent incidents where federal narcotics agents have raided houses, terrorised or even killed innocent occupants, and eventually found that the wrong house had been raided. In New York State more severe penalties have been enacted for drug pushers, court procedures have been speeded up, and provision made for over 100 new
judges-though curiously enough no appreciable number of chemists to identify the drugs seem to have been enlisted, or the necessary analytic equipment provided. The medical profession is being mobilised to fight the new triplicate prescription forms legislatively mandated for certain drugs. The list includes a wide range of sedatives, narcotics, and pep pills, and it is expected that the barbiwill also be included. The law demands that these drugs have to see their physicians for renewals every month, and that the third copy of the prescription is returned to the State health department turates
patients receiving