International education in the United States is at a significant crossroads. The magnanimity of the 102nd Congress has raised the possibility of federal financial support of international studies to a new level. The newly established governing board of the National Security Education Act can provide unprecedented coordination of federally supported international education programs. If federal financial support can be maintained and coordination achieved, the objectives of the IEA of 1966 can be realized in the 1990s. The academic community and public policy makers need to be made aware of the opportunities at hand in order for this to be possible. U.S. education generally and higher education specifically have a responsibility to improve our international capabilities in order to meet the post-Cold War challenges of a complex world.

THEODORE M. VESTAL is Professor of Political Science at Oklahoma State University. Professor Vestal went to Ethiopia as a Peace Corps executive in 1964 and has maintained a scholarly interest in the country ever since. Following the fall of the Derg in 1991, he returned to Ethiopia as a consultant to the Council of Representatives of the Transitional Government of Ethiopia and as an international election observer. He is an editorial advisor to the Ethiopian Register.