The US State Department office that negotiates science and technology agreements could be upended under an agency reorganisation, raising concerns among analysts that such a move could weaken US science diplomacy and international research collaboration.
“Yesterday, I learned that my office at the US Department of State – the Office of Science and Technology Cooperation – will be eliminated as part of the Department’s reorganisation, effective July 1st,” Elmer Zapata-Mercado, a foreign affairs officer, posted last week.
“As a result, I and my exceptional colleagues will be separated from the Department,” he added, suggesting he was job hunting.
Zapata-Mercado did not respond to a request for comment. A State Department spokesperson declined to say whether the office would be eliminated.
The STC office advises the administration on national and economic security safeguards in science and technology cooperation while keeping the two-way flow on basic research open. Eliminating it could further undercut already tense US-China relations as well as between the US and other countries.
