ABSTRACT
During the Second World War scientists served as government advisers and scientific diplomats. In 1940 a National Defense Research Committee was created in the United States. Science attachés have to be in close contact with all institutions in their host countries which are engaged in these fields, in government as well as in parliament (Congress), in scientific institutions, academies, societies as well as in private industry. Given the complexity of many problems on the agenda of today's international negotiations, a considerable number of preparatory meetings of scientific experts is often required before clear-cut alternative options can be presented to the political decision-makers or their representatives, to be tested at the negotiation table. In the scientific-technological world at the end of the 20th century, scientific and technological advice has become indispensable to successful politicians in the same way as rulers of earlier centuries recognized military, legal, and economic advice as useful, and often indispensable.
