are central in our government and who both outrank him: the Secretary of State and the United States Representative to the UN. If relations break down with either, the Assistant Secretary's usefulness is, of course, critically impaired. The protocol of the relationship places a handicap on the Assistant Secretary of State in carrying out his assigned duties. The United States Representative, particularly when he sits as a member of the President's Cabinet, obviously "outranks" the Assistant Secretary through whom he normally receives his instruction. The relationship between the Assistant Secretary and his principal, the Secretary of State, has in the past had its episodes of friction, of apparent lack of confidence, even of what can only be described as neglect. But in the main it has been harmonious. One consequence of the Secretary's confidence in the UN Assistant Secretary has been to contribute to the consistent and seemingly unavoidable preoccupation of the latter with the political, as opposed to the economic, social, trusteeship, technical, and other facets, of his responsibilities. The reasons for this preoccupation are several. The most obvious one is that great political crises have dominated the foreign policy scene over the last decade: Soviet relations in general, the Berlin Blockade, the Korean War, Indochina, Suez, and Hungary. All are life and death issues of survival or at any rate issues where the stakes were extraordinarily high. And all of them save Indochina became UN problems." Organization The Bureau of International Organization Affairs is divided into eleven unique offices. Joint Executive Office (shared with and located within the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs) Office of Economic and Development Affairs Office of Management Policy and Resources Office of International Conferences Office of Public Affairs, Planning, and Coordination Office of Peace Operations, Sanctions, and Counterterrorism Office of Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs Office of Specialized and Technical Agencies Office of UN Political Affairs Office of Regional Policy and Coordination Front Office Diplomatic missions The Bureau of International Organization Affairs maintains diplomatic missions in New York, Geneva, Vienna, Rome, Montreal, and Nairobi to actively promote U.S. interests, in part by advocating for more effective, transparent, accountable, and efficient international organizations. United States Mission to the United Nations- New York United States Mission to the United Nations- Geneva United States Mission to the United Nation- Vienna United States Mission to the United Nations- Rome United States Mission to the International Civil