State department looks to technology to boost mission

Technology tools will play a critical role in allowing the State Department to carry out its diplomatic mission around the world, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday. Powell told an audience of U.S. diplomats and State Department officials at a conference that he was committed to upgrading the technology tools available to department staff. "I want everybody in the State Department to get used to using (technology)," said Powell. "I am determined as Secretary of State that I am going to get an Internet accessible computer ... with pipes to support to it, at the level we need it, at every desk in the State Department and in every embassy around the world. We cannot fight this battle of values in information with one hand tied behind our back." Powell said that Charlotte Beers, the undersecretary for public diplomacy, would lead the project to boost the department's Web presence. "We are selling product. The product we are selling is democracy," Powell said. "As you do your work, keep all the audiences in mind. Make sure we are talking not only to world leaders but to the average citizens." New technology tools also are helping the department meet its mission in such areas as human rights, the environment, and migration and refugee issues. "Technology and the Internet play key roles in each of these bureaus and offices, and in fact, are critical to our work," said Undersecretary for Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky. "For the first time the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor has made the complete country report on human rights practices for China available electronically in Chinese. I think the ramifications of this are quite important. Clearly ... citizens in that country can read and download the content of the report." The State Department will be playing a key role in international coordination efforts to protect critical infrastructure from cyber terrorism, according to Dobriansky. "We expect the White House, in fact, in the near future to issue an executive order to create a new policy body to coordinate, among others things international critical infrastructure protection issues," she said. "One of our goals is to fully include the departments' overseas missions in critical infrastructure protection policymaking."