ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

Acknowledgements
As a defence technologist, I have been very fortunate to get the
opportunity to create the office of ‘Adviser, Defence Technology’ at the
Embassy of India, Washington DC and serve there for six years during the
most challenging time for Indo-US technology cooperation. This gave me
first-hand experience on how technologists and diplomats can combine
strengths to serve the foreign policy objectives of the nation.
I was yet again fortunate to serve as a Member of the National Security
Advisory Board for three consecutive years immediately after my retirement,
and this gave me the opportunity to acquire a wider understanding of the
interplay between technology, foreign policy and national security. Then to
get an opportunity to use my experience and knowledge to write a book on
‘Technology and International Relations’ is like a dream come true for me.
For this, I am indebted to DG, IDSA for giving me this opportunity.
The topic for the book was actually suggested by Dr. Arvind Gupta, DG,
IDSA in 2012 and while conceptualising the book I have gained immensely
from discussions with several of my advisers and friends like Dr. Arvind Gupta,
Ambassador Arundhati Ghose, Dr. Ajey Lele, Mr. Kapil Patil and many others.
I owe them all very sincere thanks.
While researching for the book I took help from three promising research
assistants – Mr. Harshad Garje, MSc, Defence Studies, Pune University;
Ms. Meenu Raina MSc, Environmental Sciences, Pune University and
Ms. Sonal Jain, BSc (Hons), Political Science, Miranda House, Delhi. The
research support they provided was excellent and I want to thank them very
sincerely and wish them all the very best in their future professional careers.
I must thank the IDSA Library staff and administration for providing
ready support from time to time and a special thanks to Ms. Sumita Kumar
who provided the coordination support and very substantial editorial help.