Keynote speaker HenryKissinger, left, and OUPresident David Boren

welcome the distinguishedparticipants and guests at

the International ProgramsCenter's Foreign Policy

Conference .

4 SOONER MAGAZINE

Foreign Policyfor the

21st CenturyP1110 11 KuRAPwIY IIV itt rttF,tt`C TAYl oR

QU r•. ,1;1'ro :\' :Why did this stellar group ofexperts come to Norman,Oklahoma, to discuss U .S .

foreign policy?

Where else could they breakfastwith Sam Nunn, lunch with,7eane Kirkpatrick and dine

with Henry Kissinger?

Jn U .S . foreign policy dis-cussions this fall, all roadsled to the campus of theUniversity of Oklahoma .

"Preparing America's ForeignPolicy for the 21" Century" show-cased OU's new International Pro-grams Center. For the event, OUPresident David Boren and thecenter's director, former U .S . Am-bassador to the United Nations Ed-ward J . Perkins, assembled theyear's most impressive array of dip-lomats : intelligence and nationalsecurity experts ; economic, busi-ness and legal analysts ; scholars ; and journalists .

The three days of major addresses, roundtables andpanel discussions-September 12, 15 and IA-attractedapproximately 6,000 individuals to 12 separate publicevents . In less structured environments, such as a reception,a private dinner, incidental encounters and late-night re-caps, the participants interacted with faculty, students .University guests-and each other .

The celebrity of the principal speakers guaranteed ven-ues filled to overflowing-former Secretary of State HenryA. Kissinger . former U .N . Ambassador Jeane J . Kirkpatrick,former U .S. Senator Sam Nunn, economist Richard L . Sandor,,journalist and former presidential adviser David R . Gergen,Chinese Ambassador to the United States Li Dayou, best-selling author and scholar Colleen McCullough . But theexpertise at the roundtables provided some of the moststimulating give-and-take, both among the panelists them-selves and with their audiences .

In a laudatory post-conference Washington Post article,Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Jim Hoagland found theknowledgeable and insightful questions from students,faculty, community leaders and others to be the most in-triguing part ofthe sessions-includingt.heone in which heparticipated . "The State of the World as We Enter the 2lCentury" was moderated by Yale University's Larned Pro-fessorofHistoryGaddisSmith . Hoagland shared the panelwith former U.S. ambassadors Perkins, James R . Jones andJack F . Matlock Jr., and Peter Rodman . director of NationalSecurity Programs for the Nixon Center for Peace andFreedom, Middle East . Discussants were former ambas-sadors George C . McGhee and Edwin G . Corr. associate

Members of the International Programs Center Board of Visitors, on campus for theforeign policy conference, gathered for the advisory group's first official meeting in thecenter's Whitehand Hall conference room .

director of't.he International Programs Center at OU .An invaluable preamble to the address of the second day's

luncheon speaker, the ambassador to the United Statesfrom the People's Republic of China, Li Daoyu, was the paneldiscussion, "The U . S. and Asia ." The panelists included twowell-known authorities on China Jan C . Berris, vice presi-dent of the National Committee on U .S.-China Relations .and Professor Michel Oksenberg, senior fellow at StanfordUniversity's Asia/Pacific Research Center-and U .S.-Chinarelations specialist . Professor Dunren Zhou, of the Centerfor American Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai,China. Offering the perspective on Japan was AmbassadorFrancis lMcNeil, senior advisor to the Pacific "Task Force ofthe Chief of Naval Operations Executive Panel . Discus-sants were OU professors Mikael S . Adolphson, history, andMarl an Downey, J . Denny Bartell Professor of Geology andGeophysics .

Experts in international trade, business and financetook center stage at the roundtable, "Trade Policy andPreparing America's Economy for the 21"' Century," whichbuilt on the preceding two days of speakers and discussions .Ambassador Clayton K. Yeutter, former U.S. trade repre-sentative, chief U .S . trade negotiator and former secretaryof agriculture, dealt with U.S. trade policy. John S . Wolf.U .S . ambassador to the Asia-Pacific Economic CooperationForum, addressed trade organizations, while Wall Streetfinancier Michael F. Price's topic was the strengthening ofthe U.S. economy for international competition . Kerr-McGee chairman, CEO and president Luke R . Corbettdiscussed the pluses and minuses of trade sanctions . Dis-cussants were prominent Washington, D.C ., attorneys W .

National security expert Peter Rodman, from the NixonCenter for Peace and Freedom, joined five formerambassadors, a history professor and a journalist todiscuss the state of the world at the dawn of a new century .

Ounren Zhou, a specialist on U.S.-China relations at FudanUniversity in Shanghai, offered his perspective to the paneldiscussion . "The U.S. and Asia," which also featured MichelOksenberg, left, from the Asia ./Pacific Research Center at Stanford .

6 SOONER MAGAZINE

Foreign l)oli

A panel of diplomats and foreign policy experts discussed "The State of theWorld as We Enter the 21" Century," one of several roundtables that werepart of the OU International Programs Center conference in September .

George C . McGhee, right, former assistant secretary ofstate and U .S. ambassador to Turkey and West Germany,was one of the roundtable discussants at the OU ForeignPolicy Conference .

for the 21St Century

OU Business Dean Richard Cosier, left, moderated the roundtableaddressing the issue of trade policy, with expert opinions comingfrom participants such as Ambassador Clayton K . Yeutter, right,former U .S . trade representative and chief trade negotiator andformer secretary of agriculture .

Jan C . Berris, right, original staffer to the historic "pinggong" diplomacy in U.S--Chinese relations, was part ofthe Foreign Policy panel discussing "The U .S. and Asia ."At left is the director of OU's International ProgramsCenter, Ambassador Edward Perkins .

Below, OU President David Boren, left, opens a Foreign PolicyConference panel discussion featuring authorities on UnitedStates relations with Asia, in particular China and Japan .

Wall Street fund manager Michael F . Price, an OU alumnus .raised the issue of "Strengthening the U .S. Economy forInternational Competition" during a Foreign Policy Conferenceroundtable . At left is John S. Wolf, U .S . ambassador to theAsia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum .

1997 FALL

7

A reception in the Great Reading Room of BizzellMemorial Library gave conference attendees, whichincluded many students, the opportunity to meetparticipants, such as Henry Kissinger, left, and OUPresident David Boren .

DeVier Pierson and Max N . Berry .Indicative of the unique nature and scope of

this conference was the participation of thecurrent CIA director and four former directors .True to the spirit of academic freedom-and tono one's surprise or consternation-a smallgroup of demonstrators was on hand with theirplacards quietly protesting CIA activities andrepresentation at the conference .

"With 21,000 students, you would almostworry if there were not a few people who ex-pressed diversity," Boren commented .

Former CIA Director William Webster agreed, recallingsimilar incidents on other campuses . "They just wanted tomake a point . Orderly expressions are healthy and neverbothered me ."

Carol ,I. Burr

The Conference Keynoter

Kissinger, That single name, like that of others famousand infamous, conjures up notjust the physical image oftheperson who answers to it but also a host of more abstractassociations . In the case of super diplomat and interna-tional scholar Henry Kissinger, those associations includeeverything from his trademark speech pattern-heavilyaccented and quite deliberately paced-to his extensiveknowledge about all things related to foreign policy .

As the keynoter delivering a pre-banquet speech at theUniversity of Oklahoma's International Foreign PolicyConference, Kissinger captivated an overflow room of hun-gry people for almost an hour,- In his prepared text titled"The Architecture of an American Foreign Policy for the21st Century" and his answers to questions from studentsand guests, Kissinger shone in the beautifully redecoratedOklahoma Memorial Union Ballroom, sit.e of this and sev-eral other conference events .

Using his dry wit and complete grasp of complex foreignpolicy issues in all regions of the world, Kissinger en-thralled an audience that included such dignitaries asformer presidential adviser and current "Lehrer NewsHour" commentator David Gergen, former CIA DirectorRichard Helms and author and historian ColleenMcCollough, also conference participants .

OLJ President David Boren delivered a powerful intro-duction of Kissinger-whose resume includes the 1973Nobel Peace Prize, the 1977 Presidential Medal of Freedomand the 1986 Medal of Liberty . as well as an impressive listof publications, most recently 1994's Diplomacy . Borennoted Kissinger's years of service as the 56th secretary ofstate from 1973 to 1977 and as assistant to the president fornational security affairs from 1969 to 19 75, ending with theimpact Kissinger has had on international relations .

8 SOONER MAGAZINE

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger shared his vision ofU .S . foreign policy for the next century with an overflowaudience in the Oklahoma Memorial Union Ballroom .

Expressing his profound admiration and respect forKissinger, Boren said, "The keynote speaker is a man whoinrnany ways dominated intellectual leadership in the fieldof foreign affairs and led the intellectual dialog about ourrelations with other nations for approximately three dec-ades ."

Beginning with an anecdote made all the more humor-ous by its deadpan delivery . Kissinger thanked Boren for aglowing introduction and commented that such pre-speechpraise was both satisfying and anxiety-causing."Such an introduction puts me in the same position Ifound myself in at a reception," he said, "when a lady cameup to me and said `I understand you are a fascinat.i rig man."'Kissinger paused foreffect before deliveringthe punch line ."'Fascinate me,'she said ." He paused again for the swell of

laughter to recede. "This turned into one of the leastsuccessful social confrontations I've had ."

On a roll and clearly enjoying the response to his joke,Kissinger lobbed another crowd pleaser .

"David forgot to mention that att one time I served asnational security adviser and secretary of state simulta-neously." he said . He paused again for two beats . "Imention this only because never before and never sincehave relations between the White House and the StateDepartment been as harmonious ."

As the laughter subsided . Kissinger launched into aserious speech focusing on the United States' relationshipwith China and the importance of the upcoming visit of itspresident, Jiang Zemin-a visit that took place in lateOctoberlearly November amid much media discussion ofthe very issues Kissinger addressed in his speech .Kissinger's primary point was one simple to summarize butdifficult for many to accept: While the United States is theprimary international power today, it cannot use its lead-ership role to impose its values and ideals on all othernations . The area of dispute is, of course, human rights inChina, from the treatment of dissidents before, during andafter Tiananmen Square to the Asian nation's continuedcontrol of Tibet .

"Some of you may know that the current administrationwas my second choice in the last election," he said . "Never-theless, I strongly support the initiative they have takenconcerning China. The Chinese historic experience is quitedifferent from ours . They have 5,000 years of recordedhistory . They believe they have gotten through 4,800 yearsof this history without significantt advice on their domesticstructure from the United States . So it is not taken forgranted that we are necessarily competent to teach them .

"Certainly, they have a different historical perspective .When 1 ask one of you when something happened in Ameri-

The audience for Henry Kissinger's foreign policy speech wasliberally dotted with students eager to have the eminent campusvisitor autograph their conference programs .

can history, you give me a year . If I ask the ambassador (thefollowing day's conference speaker, Li Daoyu, ambassadorof the People's Republic of China to the United States)when something happened in China's history, he'll give mea dynasty. There have been 14 dynasties, 10 of'which havehad a longer history than that of the United States . Sowhen my friend the ambassador tells me when somethinghappened, with luck, I'm within about 200 years of what Iwant to know ."

This different historical view cannot be dismissed,Kissinger said. While human rights violations should neverbe accepted, the United States must strive to accommodatethe points of cultural conflictt between itself and China .

"In the communist states, the definition of human rightsis quite different from our definition, but I don't think Chinais a communist state of the sortt we have known in the SovietUnion or Eastern Europe," he said . "It seems to me that asChina becomes a modern state, a certain degree of constitu-tionalism will develop because you need that in a complexsociety. My views are not based on approval of everythingthat takes place in China . They're based on the importanceof China and the U .S . cooperating to promote stability inAsia and Europe .

"Whatever one can say about China, the quality of life ofits population has greatly improved . Without any doubt,without any question, there are differences in perceptionbetween China and the U .S. The question is whether themost populous country in the world and the most techno-logically advanced have a basis for cooperation ."

Kissinger's answer to his own question is a resoundingyes. He said that the United States should not make Chinaan enemy but should, instead, determine what is in its ownbest national interest and pursue the course that decisiondictates .

Kissinger also addressed issues of foreign policy in LatinAmerica, the Middle East and Bosnia in response to ques-tions from the audience . Noting the changes in the UnitedStates' position in the world in the last 50 years, Kissingersaid that the United States no longer can solve worldproblems by overwhelming them with its vast resources .Instead, those in power mustt deal with the problems bystrategic design .

"Today we live in a more complex world," he said . "Wedon't have a clear-cut enemy . We don't confront a militarychallenge. We don't confront an overwhelming ideologicalchallenge. So the question we have to ask is "What are wetrying to do and why?' You must perceive of your goal as aseries of steps . You cannot reach it in one jump. s o everystep is imperfect ."

With a series of strategically planned steps based on anunderstanding of the "limitations of our reach," Kissingersaid, the United States can, indeed, meet the challenge ofbeing the economic and moral leader among the nations ofthe world .

- Kathryn Jenson Whitr,

Former U .S . Senator Sam Ntinn shared his expertise in nationalsecurity affairs with a breakfast audience at the OU ForeignPolicy Conference .

A National Security Wake-Up CallThe first breakfast speaker, former U .S . Senator Sam

Nunn, attracted an early-morning audience dotted with hiscelebrated conference colleagues to hear "Protecting andDefining Our National Security in a Changed World ." Whilecontending that the opportunity for a peaceful and prosper-ous world is the greatest in history, he admitted that the endof the Cold War had changed the equation .

"We had along, long period of very high risk," Nunn said ."but stability was also very high because the risk watt sohigh . . . .(Today) we have much lower risks, but we also havemuch lower stability because we no longer have two super-powers with proxies around the world that we control . . .There is no Soviet Union to restrain some of their clients ."

In the breakdown of the Soviet Union, leaving an enor-mous arsenal of nuclear, chemical and biological weap-ons-and the scientific personnel and means to deliverthem-Nunn sees the primary threat to national security .

The former senator agreed with several other conferencespeakers that North Korea is the area in which Americanground troops are most likely to he engaged . He recounteda recent private trip to the North Korean capital ofPyongyang, where he saw nothing for sale, a people neitherbuying anything nor eating anything and clearly withoutenergy. This is a nation, he warned, putting all its moneyinto the military, a nation ready for war .

Nunn lakes comfort in the fantastic U .S . capability iniiiloi'mation warfhr£ but admits that "we are iiiuch hetterat

10 SOON E N MAGAZINE

offense than we are at defense . . . . The same things that aremaking us more efficient are making us more vulnerable,"he said in discussing the increasing dependence on com-puter technology and networking in the economic sector's oftelecommunications, energy . transportation, pipelines, fi-nance . water supply and emergency human services .

"A 23-year-old with a personal computer ." he concluded,"can do as much harm from his own living room today ashundreds of saboteurs and spies planted carefully in placesaround the country ."

-Crrrol ]. Burr

On Rethinking International AffairsAddressingconference attendees at lunch on day two was

Ambassador .Jeane Kirkpatrick, the woman oft-mentionedwhen talk turns to viable women candidates for America'shighest political offices . A third-generation native Oklaho-man, Kirkpatrick served more than four years as the U. S .ambassador to the United Nations and as the first womanpresidential cabinet member .

The Foreign Policy Conference offered opportunities for one-to-one exchanges between the students, faculty . staff and guestsattending the sessions and the speakers, such as AmbassadorJeane Kirkpatrick . shown here following her luncheon address .

Kirkpatrick was introduced by Am-bassador Edward J. Perkins, one of hersuccessors at the U.N. post . "She madesuch a difference at the U.N.," he said ."She talked tough when it was necessaryto talk tough. She made America's pointin many different ways ."

Kirkpatrick preceded her address withpraise for OU President David Boren andPerkins, who had assembled a confer-ence that "any university in the world would he proud to host .The International Programs Center can be nott only a centerof education but also a catalyst for the preparation ofOklahoma ns for full participation in this world that is evermore international . . . . Almost everything today is interna-tional and multinational, and Oklahoma must participate .. . .The international Programs Center will help ."

Currently on leave from her positions as Leavey Professor

Native Oklahoman Jeane Kirkpatrick, former ambassador to theUnited Nations, emphasizes a point during her talk, "UnitedStates Relationships with Nations Emerging as World Leaders ."

a The Universityoi»~

2 Universlah(

l'he Univ()1

TelIT,

10

The Cold Warwas never thewhole focus ofour foreign

policy, but it wasthe focus of avery large

portion of it .

of Government at Georgetown Universityand senior fellow at the American Enter-prise institute, the ambassador's re-marks, "United States Relationshipswith Nations Emerging as World Lead-ers," outlined changes in the world andAmerica's foreign pol icy brought about bythe end of the ('old War,

"The Cold War was never the wholefocus of our foreign policy, but it was the

focus of a very large portion of it," she said . "We must rethinkmuch of whatt we had thought about international affairs .

"The most important single process about that post-ColdWar world was the challenge, hope, prospect of transforma-tion and democratization in what we were still calling theSoviet Union. in Russia. That democratic revolution is sovolatile ." Kirkpatrick said . "We need, I think, to give ademocratic Russia a very special status as the emerginggovernment in the world that matters most to peace inEurope and the United States." She admitted that this notionis not in keeping with the traditional conceptt of emergingnations, those usually of middle class, size and influence .

Worthy of remembering, she stressed, is Richard Nixon'scaution to Americans following his last visit to Moscow .Despite the demise of the Cold War . Russia remains themost important country in the world for America, iffir noother reason than it alone holds the capacity "to destroy theUnited States in a matter of half an hour or so .

"Russia has on hand and essentially readily on target,"the ambassador noted dramatically. `enough very power-ful, very accurate, intercontinental ballistic missiles thatwe have a very special interest in the democratic revolutionof Russia ."

The worldwide spread of'democracy is all-important, shesaid-in central and eastern Europe, the former WarsawPact states, those formerly part of'the Soviet, Union, Latinand Central America, in Asia and Africa and even whatKirkpatrick termed "inroads toward democracy and consti-tutional government" in the Middle East .

"Democracies such as ours can be ferocious in defense,but. they do not. invade and commit aggression against theirneighbors." Thus democracies make good neighbors, goodtrading partners and good citizens of a peaceful world, shesaid, ample incentive for supporting the reinforcement andstrengthening of democratic governments .

`Nothing is more important to the United States . . .,"Kirkpatrick said to the capacity crowd in the Union Ballroom,"than the established consolidation of those democratic gov-ernments in those diverse and far-flung areas of the world ."

Shrinking the world somewhat by the reorganizationand unification of Europe was another important processunder way at the Cold War's end, she said . A unitedEurope, inclusive rather than exclusive, open rather thanprotectionist, would constitute an ideal partner in buildinga peaceful world .

However, the ambassador emphasized, the United

1997 FALL 1 1

States has little input in the process she foresees willcontinue but "probably not quite in the form that hasbeen anticipated . We must face the fact that. other peoplemay not call on us-as supremely qualified as we thinkwe are-to help them resolve their problems ."

Kirkpatrick then turned her attention to the prolifera-tion of weapons of mass destruction, which, she noted,ironically was aided by the "breakdowns, reorientationsand reconfigurations of the end of the Cold War ." Theparallel threat of Islamic extremism was probably the"least understood problem ."

The internationalization of the Islamic extremist move-ment was a concern expressed regularly by her colleaguesat the United Nations . Unfortunately, she said, "they havenot, as T understand it_, become less concerned since thetime 1 left the UN ."

Finally, the ambassador discussed the importance ofthe economic and military growth and development inAsia and China . The changes brought about in that, partof the world by expanding democratic capitalism breedthe development of democracy . Likewise, the opennessnecessary for investment and good export is encouragedby capitalism, which in turn fosters individualism andfreedom .

"The countries that will advance most quickly, the trueemerging nations. will be countries that have developedsome of these qualities . . . that we associate . . . withdemocratic capitalism. I think that's the trend, and . . . Ithink China is an emerging modern country ."

The status of the world today provides "a better opportu-nity to see emerge in the next year a world which moreclosely resembles our hope for the world . The world isn'twholly safe, and we're not wholly safe," she said .

Kirkpatrick fielded audience questions and addressedother worries, including the Korean peninsula, which har-bors the "greatest potential" for war; and Libya, Syria,Iran and Iraq and all the places thatt make "ourgovernment's list of so-called terrorist states . But Ibelieve we have arrived att thatt point where our statedepartment can make its transition from focus above all onserious political problems to more focus on economic prob-lems, and our government can make a transition frommore focus on military problems to more Focus on tradeand travel .

"I think the American economyis wonderfully well suitedfor the world in which we live, and T think Americans arewonderfully well suited for our time . We are clearly theworld's only superpower . We're the strongest, richest coun-try in the world .

"I believe that our future is going to be even morebrilliantt than our past, but I think that's going to bewidely shared in the new world . The first decade of'thenext century ought to be fantastic ."

Margaret I'rrnch

12 SOONER MAGAZINE

The CIA: Past, Presentand Future

"It's almost asifthe world's geologic plates have shifted ."George .J . Tenet, current director of the Central Intelli-

gence Agency, gave a lunch-time OU audience food forthought in assessing the dramatically changed world facingU .S . foreign-policy planners in the years and decades ahead .

Tenet was one of five prominent Americans with accessto some of the darkest secrets of the world's past who cameto OU in September to help shed light on the nation'sprospects in the world of the future .

At the OU International Programs Center conference,"Preparing America's Foreign Policy for the 2Ist Century,"Tenet was joined by former CIA directors Robert M . Gates,Richard M. Helms, William H . Webster and R . .JamesWool sey . In two separate sessions, the five addressed thehopes, challenges and dangers facing U .S. Foreign policy inthe post-Cold War era .

Three former CIA directors-from left, Richard Helms, JamesWoolsey and William Webster-joined OU President OavidBoren for a roundtable discussion telecast on C-Span .

Two men privy to a wealth of international secrets-former CIADirector Robert Gates, left, and the current director . GeorgeTenet-exchange words before their presentations to theopening session of the Foreign Policy Conference .

Ir-

. y

k.

During a lively question-and-answer period, former CIA Director Richard Helms, at right withDavid Boren, reiterates his concern that the United States at the end of the Cold War "seemsto be withdrawing into itself more than ever ."

Since the fall of the Soviet

Union, the world is different,

but it is not safe.

Tenet and Gates both spoke at a luncheon held in theUnion Ballroom on the opening day of the conference . Tenetset the tone for the discussions that would dominate theremainder of the three-day conference .

Looking back . Tenet, paid tribute to the 70 CIA agentswho were killed in the line of duty during the agency's 50years of existence . He recalled the "consuming passion"with which U.S_ intelligence professionals assisted in re-sisting communistt expansion abroad .

But since the fall of the Soviet Union, he warned, "theworld is different, but it is not safe ."

Tenet noted that "more wars are being fought withinstates than between them," and that greater world eco-nomic interdependence and political openness have had a

price . "We confront lethalweapons, illicit drug-, anddirty money flowing more eas-ily across porous borders ."Steadily rising world popula-tion and energy use alsothreatens potential instabil-ity, he warned .

In the face of these pos-sible dangers, Tenet vowedthat the CLA would "embracethe challenges and opportu-nities of the era ahead" andwould "continue to help ourleaders shape this new worldand make it less threaten-ing ."

Former CIA Director Gatesled the audience through thehistory of the CIA's efforts toprovide American policy-makers with reliable infor-mation during the Cold War,noting the agency's successesand failures-moral as wellas material-during five dec-ades of service .

"From the Berlin tunnel ofthe early 1950s to the veryend of the Cold War," Gatessaid, "the CIA developed as-tonishingly imaginative andadvanced techniques, devices

and technical schemes that yielded much information on theSoviet military and its operations ."

Although battling communist forces in the Third Worldsometimes meant developing alliances with "unsavory"figures, and some projections of future Soviet strength wereerrant, "for a quarter of a century American presidentsnegotiated and made strategic decisions with confidence inour knowledge of the adversary's actual military strength ."U.S. intelligence information made arms control agree-

ments possible and "helped keep the Cold War'cold, - Gatessaid .

A gatheringof former CIA directors Helms, Webster andWoolsey look place on the second day of the conference, inwhich they and President Boren amplified on the themesdiscussed at the luncheon . The session was telecast on C-Span and moderated by the Close Up Foundation's JohnMilewski .

Boren, former chair of the Senate Intelligence Commit-tee, joined his one-time colleagues in a plea for the Ameri-can public to pay closer attention to world issues and forcontinued support of the U .S. intelligence community .

Helms, in particular, recalled that immediately follow-ing the end of the Cold War, he had hoped that "the UnitedStates would get really interested in the world out there andpay attention to other cultures . languages, religions and soforth ." However, he said, "To my horror, the United Statesseems to be withdrawing into itself more than ever."

Woolsey agreed, adding, "During the good and easytimes, whether it's the 'Roaring'20s,' or, you might say, the'Roaring '90s,' this country tends to pull back into itself,tends to get relaxed, I and] tends to think it's made the worldsafe for its own way of life ."

Boren commented on the popular misconception that theCIA and the "intelligence community" are synonymous,noting that the Department of Defense spends "consider-ably more" on intelligence than the CIA itself does . He saidthat, while the future might require eliminating duplica-tion among different U .S. intelligence agencies in the armedforces and the executive branch, America inhabits "a worldin which we still need intelligence desperately."

The conferees cited new challenges to American policy-makers in the years ahead, coming from developments suchas the continued influence of Islamic fundamentalism inthe Middle East and a rise in nationalistic fervor in China .

In lightt of the "very changed world' that America nowfaces, Webster said, a major priority for intelligence-gath-ering in the years ahead could be summed up in "one simpleword-relevancy ."

An intelligence apparatus geared toward Cold War needsmust be retooled, Webster added, not only to deal withdifferent challenges to world stability, but also in recogni-tion of new means of subversion, such as misuse of theInternet to disrupt the work of businesses and govern-ments.

Woolsey said that technological advances in our time

14 SOONER MAGAZINE

Former CIA directors William Webster, left, and James Woolseywere members of the panel discussing the role and organizationof U.S . intelligence in the coming century .

called for a more "interdisciplinary" approach in intelli-gence work . He said he foresaw a future in which "imageryengineers" and other technical experts who work with spysatellites and other high-tech forms of data gatheringwould be better trained in human espionage-while "caseofficers and managers"would be better trained to "under-stand something about how satellites work ."

In addition, Webster emphasized thatt future intelli-gence gathered for policymakers be "absolutely objective[and] absolutely divorced from political agenda ."

Perhaps . in the end, it was Helms who provided the mostsuccinct definition of the intelligence community's missionin service to Americans .

"The mission," he explained, "is to save all your skins ."Michael Waters

Financial Marketsand the Environment

The power of economic speculation may someday solvethe world's environmental problems . Financial marketsalready are cooperating with governments to make thathappen, pioneering economist Richard San dor said in anaddress at the OU foreign policy conference .

Formerly an economics professor at the University ofCalifornia, Berkeley, and Stanford University and chiefeconomist on the Chicago Board of Trade, Sandor origi-nated the first spot and futures markets in environmen-tal contracts .

Trading in futures contracts, Sandor said, once re-stricted to agricultural commodities and metals, grewmore sophisticated in the 1970s when the governmentbegan regulating them . It was during l .he '70s thattrading began in currencies and financial futures .

Sandor was at the forefront of developing futures andoptions contracts on Treasury bond and Treasury noteinterest rates . Today he concentrates on applying mar-ket-based solutions to social problems, such as protectingthe environment .

Credit cards, pharmacy prescriptions and even cableTV networks are being stimulated by the sale of junkbonds traded in the futures markets . Sandor said . "Re-cently, the United States Auto Association issued a bondindexed to hurricanes . We're at the dawn of an era whenthe most important commodities will he standardized-

Economist Richard Sandor, a pioneer in developing futures and options contractson Treasury bond and Treasury note interest rates, addressed his current activity,the application of market-based solutions to social problems, such asenvironmental protection .

the air we breathe and the water we drink ."Acid rain, a phenomenon that kills plant life when

precipitation combines with pollutants in the air, waseliminated in the Northeast when the problem created acommodity to be traded, he said .

Sandor helped establish futures contracts based ontradable sulfur dioxide emission allowances establishedby the 1990 Clean Air Act . The act required industrialplants to cut by 50 percent the emissions responsible foracid rain . Plants that did a better .job at cleaning up theirsmokestacks were allowed to transfer or sell their emis-

sions allowances to other plants that were not as efficient .A commodity was formed .

"The Clean Air Act said that, as a method of compli-ance, you could deliver somebody else's promise to cleanup the environment . Plants getting below the targetcould sell the credit for it, to some other plant ."

Sander said investments pegged to the value of emis-sions allowances were responsible for dramatic reduc-tions in the cost of cleaning up the sulfur dioxide prob-lem . "In the '70s, the bestt private sector estimates toclean up sulfur dioxide was $1,500 per ton . The EPA

said it could cost $600 a ton, or $5 bil-lion a year .

"Today, futures contracts for sulfurdioxide credits are trading at $90 a ton .It's now a $1 billion problem ." Last yearthe reduced sulfur dioxide levels savedabout $13 billion in medical benefitsalone .

Sandor said government mandates forlow sulfur coal and deregulation of thepower industry deserve some of the creditfor reducing acid rain, but most of theimprovement came from futures trading ."People sharpen their pencils when theirmoney is involved ."

-Ranrlall Turk

The Isolationism of Politiciansand the Press

Politicians and the reporters who coverthem are increasingly turning their backson international news, a noted editor tolda breakfast audience at OU's foreign policyconference . "In politics and in the press,we are turning inward," said David Gergen,editor at large for U.S. News and WorldReport .

Gergen's speech, "The Media and Inter-national Relations and Foreign Policy,"preceded a panel response by David Dary,

director of the 0U School of Journalism and Mass Com-munication ; Lee CullumC columnist for the Dallas Morn-ing News ; and Lois Romano. regional correspondent forThe Washington Post .

Gergen, a Yale classmate of OU President David Boren .said 200 members of the German government visited theUnited States last year but no member of the U .S .Congress traveled to Bonn . The leadership of Congresshas a global view, but many of the younger members haveless interest in international affairs, he said .

"There has been a precipitous decline in travel over-

1997 FALL 15

seas by new members of Congress," hesaid. "They represent the future lead-ers, and they are not very international ."

Gergen suggested regional newspa-pers have ignored international cover-age, which is expensive and often dan-gerous to gather. The Internet is help-ful but does not fill the information gapthat occurs when the press becomesdisengaged .

The casualties include a decline in the qualitydiplomatic corps, less of a sustained presence overseasand a growing chasm between the elite and the rest of thecountry .

"We have an increasing gap between those who areinformation rich and those who are information poor,"Gergen said. "Those who are information poor see theworld as a threat ."

An adviser to four presidents, Gergen said the isola-tionist trend in the midst of the growth of democraciesworldwide makes a paradox of modern society . "We havebecome the home of the revolutions that are changing the

At right, columnist Lee Cullum, serving as a discussant on"The Media and International Relations and Foreign Policy,"insisted that her newspaper, the Dallas Morning News, stillstresses international coverage.

Below, former presidential adviser David Gergen, now editorat large for U.S . News and World Report, refers to the OUstudent newspaper, The Oklahoma Daily, in his openingremarks at the Foreign Policy Conference .

laho

TheOkl~", ~1 ~1

Tof(itse~C l

16 SOONER MAGAZINE

China is adeveloping country.

It will remain adeveloping countryfor a long time-atleast the first 50years in the next

century . . .

of our

world . We are deeply imbedded as aleader of the world ."

Gergen cited telecommunicatioft,culture, computer software and biotech-nology as examples of American prod-ucts that now have transcended theglobe . Nearly a third of the U.S .economy is tied to international trade .

Like business, universities such asOU are becoming more international

in their approach, Gergen said . "There is a high degree ofsynergy in international training of our young people ."

While Cullum and Romano insisted that both theirnewspapers stress international coverage, Dary, a formerCBS White House correspondent, concurred with Gergen'sassessment of the press corps and the politicians theycover. He said fewer dollars for news coverage forcesproducers to opt for soft and easy issues often staged byWashington politicians .

Dary also blamed educators for failing to stress civics ."Too many students are not challenged by the educa-tional system ."

- Andy Rieger

The U.S. and China:Differences and Common InterestsWhile acknowledging the adversarial nature of the past

relationship between the United States and the People'sRepublic of China, Ambassador Li Daoyu insisted to hisforeign policy conference audience that the two nations nowshare the responsibility for maintaining peace and stabilityand promoting global economic prosperity .

"Though China and the United States have differencesin social systems, culture and other aspects," he said . "ourcommon interests far outweigh our differences ."

Born and educated in Shanghai, Li Daoyu played a wide-ranging leadership role in his country's internal affairsbefore heingnamed ambassador to the United Nations andin 1993, ambassador to the United States . He views thecurrent opportunity for bilateral cooperation as a "uniquemoment" in history. when international organizations canfunction as they never could during the Cold War .

The ambassador sees commonality in the desire of bothChina and the United States "to maintain global andregional peace and stability and to continue strengtheningthe forces working for peace in the prevention of new wars ."This mutual interest is most important on the Koreanpeninsula, where the need for peace, stability and creationof a nuclear weapon-free zone is paramount .

"North Korea used to be our closest ally in the KoreanWar," he admitted . "but we share nothing about nuclearwith them. No nuclear material, no nuclear reactor. nonuclear technology and no nuclear experts . And how theygot that? Russia . Not w5 ."

Li Daoyyu then listed as areas of shared objectives generaldisarmament to achieve non-proliferation of nuclear andother weapons of mass destruction ; promotion of AsianPacific stability and economic prosperity ; environmentalprotection ; and cooperative efforts to combat internationalterrorism, drug trafficking and illegal immigration . Themost important common interest, he insisted, lies in eco-nomic and trade ties, with the United States as China'ssecond largest trading partner and China the fourth rankingtrading partner for the United States .

The ambassador refuted predictions that the UnitedStates and China are destined for confrontation and con-flict . He contends that China has no tradition of expansion,has never occupied a single inch of foreign soil nor stationeda single soldier abroad and has no intention of doing so .

"China is a developing country," he said . "It will remaina developing country for a long, time-at least the first 50years in the next century . . . . The Chinese leadership hastheir hands full . . . and desires most a peaceful interna-tional environment so that it can focus on that giganticlong-term economic development ."

He characterized Japan, "a highly developed industrial-ized economy superpower," not China, "a developi ng co untrywith a weak industrial base," as the United States' strong

trade competitor. Claiming an overstatement of China'strade surplus, Li Daoyu said that more than 46 percent ofChina's exports is manufactured by foreign-funded enter-prises or joint ventures, a large part of which is American .He described most of China's exports as "low valued labor-ing kinds of good that the U.S. stopped producing 1.0 or 20years ago ."

In discussing the contentious area of human rights, theChinese ambassador fell back on arguments of differencesin cultural, social, historical and economic values . Heinsisted, however, that human rights progress is being madein China .

Li Daoyu views the future of Taiwan as potentially thegreatest obstacle to growth of good relations between Chinaand the United States . "Taiwan is the question of ournational dignity, national sovereignty," he said, "Taiwan ispartt of China,"

In an obvious parallel . the ambassador alluded to therecent return of Hong Kong to the People's Republic ofChina . "Hong Kong was taken by Britain . This is ahumiliation of the Chinese people. For 150 years . But Chinawants no retaliation . We want a peaceful turnover, so thepeaceful turnover happened . . . . We took back Hong Kongin dignity . It's a win -win situation ."

A Historical Perspective

Many in the SRO audience undoubtedly came to see theauthor of the modern classic love story, The Thorn Birds,while others came to hear the author of the historical series,The Masters of Rome . What the participants encounteredatt this closing session of the Foreign policy conference was ascholarly lecture that cut through preoccupation with thefuture with a disquieting lesson from the past .

Australian Colleen McCullough speaks with authorityon ancient Rome . However, inaddressing her topic-"TheLessons of the Roman Experi-ence fir the United States ofAmerica as a Superpower inthe 21'' Century"-she told thestory and left to her audience tofind the parallels .

McCullough traced the de-velopment of Rome from itsroots as a tiny city-state on thesouth bank of the Tiber River',to a thriving, highly organizedand complex republic and fi-nally to the mighty Ronian Em-pire, its people's democracy sac-rificed to its superpower sta-tus .

"For the central thousandyears of its (2,000-year) exist-ence, it stood as a superpower,first in contention with anothersuperpower, Carthage, then asthe sole superpower in the ba-sin of the Mediterranean Sea,"McCullough said . "All trulyWestern nations are to someextent what Rome made them,for Rome left heirs to Romanthought and systems in com-merce, politics and govern-ment, law and justice, andmuch more."

McCullough led her listen-ers through the Romans' concept of equality, both of oppor-tunity and of social eminence and discussed the rise and fallof their republican form of government. Throughout herlecture, she alluded to the shifts in Roman foreign policyfrom its origins in non-expansionist exclusivity to conquestand world domination .

"The senate did have a foreign policy," she said of Repub-lican Rome . "Namely that what was Rome's must remainRome's . . . War was a last resort . Part of senatorialreluctance to make war arose out ofthe senate's shrewdnessin realizing that while victorious war might be profitable in

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Best-selling Australian author Colleen McCulloughcharmed a standing-room-only audience at the closingsession of the Foreign Policy Conference before gettingserious about lessons to be learned and parallels to bedrawn from the rise and fall of Rome .

the short term, in the long term it was an expensive hobby['or the state to indulge in . . . . The senate always preferreda treaty to a war ."

But Rome with its "overwhelming, military mighthacked bygTreat resources" began to absorb its neighbors, McCulloughrelated. Convinced that "Roman ways were better," the con-querors tidied up their provinces with the gift of Romanrepublican government as well as freedom from thei cold rulers .

Often, McCullough said, "the experiment didn't . work .. Not all peoples want to enjoy even limited democratic

government; sonic are just tooused to autocracy ."

The republic disappeared asthe empire gained world domi-nance under,) ul i us Caesar andAugustus, McCullough said,but already the seeds were sownfor a Rome in which "the armywas the true ruler of the em-pire." Financing the massivemilitary machine required theimposition of unacceptable lev-els of taxation on all classes ofcitizens. The importance of thecity of Rome as the place thatbred the ruling class lessened ;the empire became increasinglyless Roman .

McCullough ended her storywith the beginning of the end,explaining. "In its decline, I seeless relevance for America'ssituation going into the 21"century than I see in Rome'srise and zenith . . . . What les-sons then should the Romanexperience teach the UnitedStates_? Whereabouts on theimperial evolutionary scaledoes America stand at thismoment, in time?

"The greatest lesson of all iscertainly that the systems . in-stitutions, ethics and ideals of

democracy must be preserved at any cost, even if that meansthey cannot always be propagated outside of America . . . .

"When a superpower loses its innate conceptt of itself, itmust decline, andthat decline will be more devastating thanif it suddenly loses all its material wealth," she concluded ."Let the United States of America remain true to theintentions and aims ofits founding fathers . who were steepedin the classics and borrowed heavily from the legacy ofRepublican Rome. Let America continue to survive as abeacon for the world until time immemorial ."

-Crrrrrl .J. Burr