A TIRELESS “AFSA-CATE” I HONORING JOHN PATON DAVIES I PRAGUE, 1968

AFSA AWARD WINNERS INSIDE!

$3.50 / JULY-AUGUST 2008 OREIGN ERVICE FJ O U R N A L S THE MAGAZINE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS

OPERATION AFGHANISTAN The Other War Wears On

OREIGN ERVICE FJ O U R N A L S CONTENTS July-August 2008 Volume 85, No. 7-8

P ROFILE

A TIRELESS ADVOCATE FOR THE FOREIGN SERVICE: THOMAS D. BOYATT / 13 Last month AFSA recognized the retired ambassador’s many contributions to American diplomacy and his lifetime of public service. By Steven Alan Honley

F OCUS ON Afghanistan

SALVAGING THE AFGHANISTAN VENTURE / 23 To recover its investment in stabilizing Afghanistan, Washington must focus on fostering effective governance. Cover and inside illustration by By Edmund McWilliams Nenad Jakesevic PRTSINAFGHANISTAN: A REPORT FROM THE INSIDE / 31 The challenges for American policy in Afghanistan, where the Provincial Reconstruction Team concept was born, PRESIDENT’S VIEWS / 5 remain formidable. Work Requirements By Bruce Rogers, Jim Hope and Robert Kemp By John K. Naland NATO AND AFGHANISTAN: MADE FOR EACH OTHER? / 36 The Afghanistan theater of operations is proving REFLECTIONS / 92 to be a critical test of NATO’s capacities. On a Hilltop in Venezuela By William Maley By Amanda Eckerson THE PAKISTAN PIECE OF THE PUZZLE / 41 Afghanistan’s contentious relationship with its next-door neighbor is a critical element in its continuing troubles. LETTERS / 6 By Frederic Grare CYBERNOTES / 10 FS HERITAGE MARKETPLACE / 11 “GRACE UNDER PRESSURE:” JOHN PATON DAVIES / 46 BOOKS / 75 Two threats a decade apart — one physical, the other political — IN MEMORY / 78 severely tested China hand John Davies. By Bob Rackmales INDEX TO ADVERTISERS / 90 F EATURE

SPRING IN PRAGUE — 40 YEARS AGO / 53 An eyewitness to the short-lived Czechoslovak reform movement’s tragic denouement in August 1968 assesses its legacy. By Kenneth N. Skoug

JULY-AUGUST 2008/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 3

OREIGN ERVICE CONTENTS FJ O U R N A L S

EWS Editor AFSA N STEVEN ALAN HONLEY Senior Editor SUSAN B. MAITRA DISSENTERS HONORED WITH AFSA AWARDS / 59 Associate Editor SHAWN DORMAN DISSENT AWARDS TURN 40: TELLING TRUTH TO POWER / 59 Ad & Cirulation Manager ED MILTENBERGER BRIEFS: AGGELER’S LIFE IN THE FOREIGN SERVICE / 60 Business Manager VP STATE: OPEN SEASON FOR CHEAP SHOTS / 61 ALICIA J. CAMPI Art Director HERTER AWARD: AMBASSADOR JEFFREY FELTMAN / 63 CARYN SUKO SMITH Editorial Intern RIVKIN AWARD: RACHEL SCHNELLER / 64 ARIANA AUSTIN HARRIMAN AWARD: LUKE ZAHNER / 65 Advertising Intern JOSEPH F. M ALEFATTO POST REP OF THE YEAR: JULIE EADEH / 66 EDITORIAL BOARD GUESS AWARD: CRAIG GERARD / 66 TED WILKINSON DELAVAN AWARD: VIRGINIA GREGORY / 67 Chairman BOHLEN AWARD: VICTOR WILLIAMS / 67 JOSEPH BRUNS STEPHEN W. BUCK AFSA 2008 MERIT SCHOLARS / 68 JULIE GIANELLONI CONNOR JIM DEHART WINNING MERIT SCHOLARSHIP ESSAY / 70 JEFF GIAUQUE AFSA ISSUE BRIEF: FS RESOURCE NEEDS / 71 GEORGE JONES LAURIE KASSMAN CLASSIFIEDS / 72 YVETTE N. MALCIOLN DAVID MCFARLAND AL PESSIN

THE MAGAZINE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS Foreign Service Journal (ISSN 0146-3543), 2101 E Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20037-2990 is published monthly with a combined July-August issue by the American Foreign Service Associa- tion (AFSA), a private, nonprofit organization. Material appearing herein represents the opin- ions of the writers and does not necessarily rep- resent the views of the Journal, the Editorial Board or AFSA. Writer queries and submissions are invited, preferably by e-mail. Journal sub- scription: AFSA members – $13 included in annual dues; others – $40. For foreign surface mail, add $18 per year; foreign airmail, $36 per year. Periodical postage paid at Washington, D.C., and at additional mailing offices. Indexed by Public Affairs Information Services (PAIS). The Journal is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts, photos or illustrations. Advertising inquiries are invited. The appearance of adver- tisements herein does not imply the endorse- ment of the services or goods offered. TELEPHONE: (202) 338-4045 FAX: (202) 338-8244 or (202) 338-6820 E-MAIL: [email protected] WEB: www.afsa.org; www.fsjournal.org © American Foreign Service Association, 2008. Printed in the U.S.A. Send address changes to: AFSA Attn: Address Change 2101 E Street N.W. Washington DC 20037-2990

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PRESIDENT’S VIEWS Work Requirements BY JOHN K. NALAND

The Secretary of State is the development assistance are dedicated inadequate time and energy president’s principal foreign poli- conducted? to preserving and strengthening it. cy adviser and is responsible for Of course, it is only fair to History will inevitably judge the cur- the formulation and execution of note that every secretary must rent and future holders of that position foreign policy. But does the delegate many management not only on their foreign policy accom- description of duties for the posi- tasks. It is also true that no sin- plishments, but also on their leadership tion also include a requirement gle individual has the ability to and management of the State Depart- to act as the leader and manager compel the White House and ment. Therefore, even if administration of the State Department? Congress to provide the resources to is not their favorite activity, Secretaries Two secretaries in recent decades meet the needs of diplomacy and devel- of State must make it a daily priority. definitely thought so. Among other opment assistance. Those who do not will be judged nega- achievements, George Shultz (1982- Nonetheless, the position of Secre- tively for that failure. 1989) invested much personal effort in tary of State is a uniquely powerful one In the past, such judgments have securing funding to build the Foreign from which to advocate for the depart- come, but only in whispered hallway Service Institute’s Arlington Hall cam- ment. When it comes to duties such as talk or in scholarly books published long pus and Colin Powell (2001-2005) lobbying for resources and other man- after the official left office. In the devoted considerable time and atten- agement needs, there are some meet- future, however, those assessments will tion to securing funding to increase ings, phone calls and letters that an come more quickly and be more widely Foreign Service staffing. agency head cannot delegate without disseminated. Journalists are growing In contrast, others have not been significantly weakening their impact. more savvy, paying attention not only to known for paying attention to manage- Thus, a deficit of top-level advocacy can international negotiations but also to ment issues. James Baker (1989-1992) damage the long-term prospects for underlying issues, such as budget and opened over a dozen new embassies in diplomatic engagement. staffing needs. Think-tanks and advoca- the former Soviet Union without seek- Diplomacy and development assis- cy groups are starting to issue more ing additional staffing from Congress. tance can suffer if staffing is too small to pointed analyses of the management of Warren Christopher (1993-1997) and accomplish the tasks demanded of it, if diplomacy and development assistance. Madeleine Albright (1997-2001) presid- embassies and consulates lack adequate And employees are speaking out more, ed over what is now universally seen as operating budgets, if Foreign Service as evidenced in AFSA’s continuing sur- an ill-advised downsizing of diplomatic members are unable to obtain needed veys of Foreign Service member views staffing that left a hollowed-out Foreign training, and if the uniformed military on key management issues. Service. ends up taking on civilian responsibilities So let the word go out that the work So the question remains: Is it possi- for which it is ill-suited. They can also requirements for the Secretary of State ble for a Secretary of State to be suffer if Foreign Service morale is erod- position have been updated. Just as uni- deemed successful if he or she focuses ed by growing financial disincentives and versity presidents are no longer just on policy issues while mostly ignoring worsening conditions of service. scholars, but are also expected to be the leadership and management of the Thus, the answer to our question is managers and fundraisers, Secretaries platform upon which diplomacy and clear: No Secretary of State can be of State can no longer just be foreign judged to have been successful if he or policy experts, but must also come pre- John K. Naland is the president of the she leaves behind a weakened diplo- pared to lead and manage. If they fail to American Foreign Service Association. matic infrastructure as a result of having do so, it will be noted. I

JULY-AUGUST 2008/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 5

LETTERS

Getting History Wrong ly come to our senses and amends are Smearing the China Hands I was astonished to read in the May sometimes made. AFSA did so in the Bob McMahan’s review of M. Journal that John Davies, John case of the China hands at a luncheon Stanton Evans’ latest book, Blacklisted Vincent and my father, John Service, at the State Department on Jan. 30, by History, employs smears worthy of were Soviet agents. That dubious 1973. My father was invited to speak Tail Gunner Joe himself. Yes, the assertion is contained in a review of M. on behalf of the honored FSOs. USSR had well-placed spies and the Stanton Evans’ book, Blacklisted by Historian Barbara Tuchman was the threat of Soviet expansionism was very History: The Untold Story of Sena- other speaker and titled her remarks real, but the defense of McCarthy, tor Joseph McCarthy and His Fight “Why Policymakers Do Not Listen.” who was censured by the U.S. Senate Against America’s Enemies. Evans is After noting the high caliber of 67 to 22, is unmerited. one of that very small group of die- Foreign Service personnel reporting McMahan writes: “The Truman hards who believe Chiang Kai-shek from China during the war (not limit- and Eisenhower administrations chose would have prevailed in China had it ed to the three named above), she to attack [McCarthy] … instead of re- not been for the reporting and views said: “The burden of their reports at moving communists from government of Foreign Service officers. However, the time, though not always explicit, positions.” For information on Tru- not even Evans goes so far as to was that Chiang Kai-shek was on the man’s efforts to confront global com- describe Davies, Vincent and Service way out and the Communists on the munism, McMahan should Google: as Soviet agents. way in and that American policy, Marshall Plan, Berlin Airlift, Truman The reviewer, Bob McMahan, rather than cling in paralyzed attach- Doctrine, containment, Korean War alludes to the “many closely held doc- ment to the former, might be well to and, notably, Executive Order 9835, uments” that have become available take this trend into account.” which ordered the FBI to investigate over the past half century, suggesting The Foreign Service officers who federal employees for subversion. by implication that we must now knew most about China at that time Was McCarthy “on the right track”? revise our views of both McCarthy and were not listened to. The brief war- In a speech to a Republican group, those who suffered under what came time effort to have contact with the McCarthy waved “a list of 205 … to be known as McCarthyism. Chinese Communists came to an end. members of the Communist Party … This is misleading. The so-called Our relations were almost nonexistent working and shaping policy in the Venona decryption files of Soviet for 25 years, which may well have con- State Department.” In a telegram to agents or sources, released in the tributed to our involvement in both Truman, he said there were 57 “mem- 1990s, do not include the names of the Korean and Vietnamese Wars. bers of the Communist Party and Davies, Vincent or Service. FBI files We are not immune to future bouts members of a spy ring” employed in (which include disinformation from of McCarthyism. In recounting the the State Department. The number Chiang’s secret police) were available past, we ought to be very careful not to shifted to 81 during a Senate speech. to the State Department and to Senate lose sight of the serious damage done In response, the Senate Foreign investigating panels in 1950-1951. to individuals and to our national inter- Relations Committee conducted an With respect to the FSOs victimized ests by earlier outbreaks. The McMa- investigation as to whether the State by McCarthy, Evans is rehashing old han review and the Evans book are not Department had employed “disloyal” material. helpful in that regard, to say the least. persons. It determined that the indi- Witch-hunting has occurred all too Robert Service viduals on McCarthy’s list (the one frequently in our history, hurting a lot Ambassador, retired with 81 names) were neither commu- of innocent people. But we eventual- Washington, D.C. nist nor pro-communist, and that the

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department had an effective secur- of the U.S., but believed that U.S. for- closely with our European partners, ity program. It labeled McCarthy’s eign policy had gone wrong. Re- especially the United Kingdom and charges a “hoax and fraud.” sponding to those people in kind France, as well as the European McCarthy charged President Tru- would have cut off any deeper com- Union, to provide coordinated eco- man and the Democrats with “20 munication. Some of them were open nomic, political and security support years of treason.” He accused Secre- to a genuine dialogue but never had to the African Union and regional eco- tary of State George Marshall of join- one with us, because the embassy con- nomic communities (ECOWAS, ing “a conspiracy so immense and an sidered them enemies. SADC, etc.). We are long past the infamy so black as to dwarf any previ- Of course, unjustified attacks are time of Franco-American or British- ous venture in the history of man.” He infuriating and often must be ans- American rivalry in Africa, so U.S. called Secretary Dean Acheson “the wered quickly and forcefully. But we programs such as ACRI, ACOTA and Red Dean.” And those were powerful have to leave it to the people on the AFRICOM need to be closely inte- men. Thousands of reputations and scene to make the call on whether to grated with parallel European efforts the financial security of many less pro- respond, and in what manner. I tried, if they are to be useful. The absorp- minent families were ruined by the not always successfully, to correct tive capacity of African continental unsubstantiated charges, bullying and, factual errors immediately and en- and regional organizations, and yes, blacklisting employed by Mc- gage the critic in a deeper dialogue, African states, is severely strained by Carthy and his acolytes. Yet McMa- through personal contact and USIS our insistence that they deal bilateral- han downplays these as merely “dis- programs. But some critics are be- ly with separate U.S. programs and agreeable tactics.” yond the pale — real American-haters initiatives. Truman rightly referred to Mc- — and in those cases we have to con- Second, a main goal of the African Carthy as “the best asset the Kremlin test the message and ignore the mes- Union and African political and mili- has.” The McCarthyites blackened our senger. tary leaders is the establishment of an name around the globe, giving aid and Bill Lenderking African Standby Force by 2010. This comfort to the enemy — while finding FSO, retired may take somewhat longer, but plan- precious few real internal enemies. Washington, D.C. ning is well advanced. Dana Deree The ASF will consist of five region- FSO Cooperation for Africa al brigades under the overall com- Consulate General Tijuana Congratulations on your May sur- mand of the African Union, and will vey of the U.S. role in Africa over the be expected to deploy, perhaps in Editor’s Note: For more on the China past 50 years, especially the important coordination with U.N. peacekeeping hands and Joe McCarthy, see this articles by Hank Cohen and Bob forces, to restore order and end the month’s FS Heritage column, “‘Grace Gribbin surveying the goals of U.S. violence in the event of a regional or Under Pressure’: John Paton Davies” policy during and after the Cold War internal conflict. (p. 46). and describing the envisaged role of AFRICOM should be structured to AFRICOM. support this African-led effort, not Defending Us Overall, the United States has only to deal bilaterally with favored Richard Hoover’s letter in the May indeed sought to help African post- countries. Such support would help FSJ, “Defending the U.S.,” asserts that colonial economic development, en- greatly to reduce the suspicion and “no U.S. diplomat worth his salt would courage democratic change and re- reservations prevalent today on the permit an insult to his country to go spond to humanitarian catastrophes. continent about our objectives. unanswered.” Who could disagree But Cohen’s acknowledgment of our Most importantly, it would con- with that? failure to prevent genocide in Rwanda tribute substantially to our stated goal Well, in my last overseas assign- and inability to do more to prevent of giving African political and military ment, Pakistan, and many other posts, genocide in Darfur, in part because of leaders the capacity to manage and if I had spent every waking hour of U.S. engagement in Iraq and Afghani- resolve their conflicts more effectively every day answering outrageous stan, is an important reminder that than has been the case to date. insults and uninformed diatribes, I Africa still remains a low priority. John L. Hirsch would never have done anything else. I want to highlight two points not Ambassador, retired Further, some of our severest crit- discussed sufficiently in these articles. International Peace Institute ics were those who were also admirers First is the importance of working New York, N.Y.

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Forgetting History case they were kidnapped by terrorists and his domestic servants. Anyway, it The April Cybernotes item, “Koso- or criminals. was all academic, because the 1961 vo: A Risky Gambit,” correctly cites I cannot understand why otherwise convention clarified the reciprocal the potential negative consequences intelligent people would be against rights that the Foreign Service lives of our support for Kosovo’s indepen- this idea. After all, enshrined in the under today. dence. In addition to helping create Second Amendment is the “right of American FS personnel represent- those risks, U.S. policy failed to recog- the people to keep and bear arms.” ing their government in other coun- nize that the history of Serbian- When I joined the State Depart- tries are doing many of the same Albanian relations there did not begin ment, I understood there would be things they always did. Much of it is with Milosevic’s repression of the some restriction on my rights. De- mundane and of no interest to our fans Albanian population in 1989. spite the First Amendment, I cannot back home. Who is interested in post- The Albanization of Kosovo goes publicly disagree with administration al rates, shipping, etc.? FS employees back to the “greater Albania” policy policy, but the department cannot today are not servants, but they are pursued by the Nazis during World totally prohibit me from expressing doing jobs authorized and funded by War II, which led to significant move- my opinions. the U.S. Congress. ment of Albanians into Kosovo and Before the regional security officer This is why the notion of AFSA- forced emigration of Serbs. can search my sleeping quarters for recognized dissent draws outside criti- From 1945 to 1980, Tito conducted illegal guns, he’ll need a warrant. Or cism, as does outright vociferous a general anti-Serb policy that includ- am I deprived of my Fourth Amend- refusal to accept a transfer to a dan- ed turning the Kosovo/Metohiya auto- ment rights, as well, when overseas? gerous post. I think much of the nomous area over to the local Albanian In some places, like Jamaica for blame for the current problem lies in communists, who continued to encour- example, certain personnel can keep a the whining, defensive attitude that age, less brutally than the Nazis to be firearm in their sleeping quarters. some Foreign Service members have sure, the departure of the Serbs. This Why isn’t the same true for those serv- exhibited about these issues. explains why the Serbian population in ing in active war zones? Recent well-written articles in the Kosovo fell to less than 10 percent. Before diplomats deploy to places Journal have covered a wide range of By ignoring that history, we fell into like Iraq and Afghanistan, they get problems. But despite this, there still the error of believing that Serbia, firearms training along with combat seems to be a lack of awareness about because of Milosevic’s crimes, had lifesaver and Humvee rollover train- the day-to-day mission of the Foreign essentially no rights in Kosovo. Ser- ing. They should be allowed to keep Service. bia’s rejection of anything approaching and bear arms if they so choose; oth- To rectify this, I would like to pro- the independence of Kosovo was total- erwise, the firearms training is worth- pose the development of an AFSA ly predictable, as was Russia’s readi- less. Working Charter to refocus staff ness to veto any U.N. Security Council John Higi efforts and impress the U.S. Congress, resolution to that effect. FSO the most important of all FS clientele. Thomas Niles Embassy Kuwait A charter could offer goals, reinforce FSO, retired good personnel policies and practices, Scarsdale, N.Y. The Ambassador and and offer expert staffing advice to pol- His Servants icy formulators. It could also help to Bearing Arms My first post was Lagos in 1965. At define an ideal embassy for every situ- AFSA has repeatedly made refer- that time, the Nigerian government ation. ences to unarmed diplomats being was taking a hard look at embassy per- Above all, a charter could outline sent to war zones, presumably a bad sonnel’s duty-free imports. The prob- the collective will of the membership thing. Because the State Department lem was quickly and amicably solved, of the Foreign Service. is going to continue sending diplomats but in the process I consulted the 1961 Of course, such a document would into harm’s way, AFSA should call for Vienna Convention on Diplomatic not have legal or administrative status letting them be voluntarily armed. Relations, and then the 1815 Vienna but would simply reflect the goals of While controversial (to utopians who Conventions, where reference was AFSA. do not believe in the right to self- made to the ambassador “and his ser- John Wellington Macdonald defense), it would at least give our col- vants.” USAID FSO, retired leagues overseas a fighting chance in This seemed to refer to his retinue Austin, Texas

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A New State? tain countries to administer donor- build up in-country capacity, or recipi- In his March article titled “After funded programs. Countries typically ent countries need to find other the Surge,” Keith Mines reviewed the cited with management deficits sources of funding to bring in outside four alternatives for dealing with the include such post-conflict entities program managers until they have the future of Iraq. But he overlooked such as Afghanistan, Cambodia, Iraq capacity to manage the programs what is probably the easiest and, in- and West Bank/Gaza. themselves. deed, most productive one: making These doubts puzzle me, because Barney P. Popkin Iraq the 51st state. any country may retain private-sector Environmental Protection This would certainly be the solu- specialists to meet these deficiencies. Specialist, USAID tion to our oil problems, providing us Contractors already administer such Washington, D.C. I with a permanent base in the Middle programs throughout the world, for East, pleasing the neocons and giving example, in Dubai, Mexico, Singapore both the Shiites and the Sunnis our and South Africa. The key to success- CORRECTION “freedom of religion” umbrella. fully administering programs is to In the June issue, Belgrade Max Fallek apply leadership and political will should not have been listed in the Minneapolis, Minn. along with the funds. box titled “Unaccompanied Posts as When qualified personnel are not of March 2008” on p. 32. In addi- Donor-Funded Programs available locally, bringing in outside Recently there have been several program managers is a reasonable, tion, it is the capital of Serbia, not statements in the Journal and other proven solution where resources exist. Yugoslavia as indicated there. media questioning the ability of cer- Otherwise, either donors need to

JULY-AUGUST 2008/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 9

CYBERNOTES

National Security outdated, an “inadequate basis for pro- restructure the national security appa- Infrastructure: tecting the nation from 21st-century ratus of the government for the long Due for an Update? security challenges.” They cite the term.” On April 18 the Congressional failures of coordination and imple- Think-tanks that have joined this Research Service released its latest mentation in Operation Iraqi Free- effort include the Project on National report on national security, “Organiz- dom, Operation Enduring Freedom Security Reform (www.pnsr.org) and ing the U.S. Government for National and the response to Hurricane Ka- the Center for a New American Security: Overview of the Interagency trina. These shortcomings have had a Security (www.cnas.org). Both rep- Reform Debates” (www.fas.org/sgp/ serious effect on the results of those resent nonpartisan interest groups crs/natsec/RL34455.pdf). Senior missions and on the reputation of the devoted to an overhaul of the current officials in the executive branch, vari- United States. national security system. ous think-tanks and members of Con- Both Secretary of Defense Robert The founder of PNSR, James gress are among those calling for a sig- Gates and Secretary of State Condo- Locher III, directed the development nificant restructuring of the American leezza Rice have called for reforms. At of the Goldwater-Nichols legislation in security model. an April 15 House Armed Services the 1980s. His organization’s goal is to This group argues that today’s 20th- Committee hearing, Gates challenged once more craft new legislation, this century bureaucratic superstructure is the members to “think about how to time in the form of a new National Security Act. Meanwhile, on June 2, CNAS held Site of the Month: www.docuticker.com a conference, “Pivot Point: New As a librarian and the director of Online Information Resources at Ask.com, Directions for American Security,” Gary Price has spent his career seeking out Internet resources for people, sort- which focused on ways to address these ing through the overwhelming amount of information available online and nar- challenges. An event transcript is avail- rowing it down to the best research sources around. This master of library and able at www.cnas.org/june2008/. information science founded Docuticker as an independent venture in 2004. The Senate Foreign Relations Docuticker describes itself as offering “a hand-picked selection of resources, Committee and the House Armed reports and publications from government agencies, NGOs, think-tanks and Services Committee are also part of other public interest organizations.” Recent reports have included an FBI this effort. The HASC has held a report on immigration applications and petitions, a New America Foundation series of hearings on the issue, and, report on employer health costs in a global economy, and a RAND corporation according to the CRS report, SFRC study on the persistent Taliban threat in Pakistan. Chairman Joseph Biden “explicitly Users can either subscribe to the free, weekly newsletter (sent straight to stated an interest in coming up with a their e-mail inbox) or visit the site and use the simple search function in the ‘2009 National Security Act.’” upper right-hand corner. By specifying date or subject, users can browse for the This would replace the National most relevant reports and documents released in any given month over the last Security Act of 1947, designed to meet four years. Alternatively, users can simply type one word or phrase, such as the specific needs of a post-World War “human rights,” “globalization” or “national security,” and see all relevant docu- II, the last major organizational reform ments. Each post features an abstract taken directly from the source and a link in this realm. to the free, full-text document. Besides inadequate interagency Updated on a daily basis, Docuticker is a quality resource for both periodic coordination, criticisms of the current Web browsing and more substantial research. structure center on the imbalance Ariana Austin, Editorial Intern between the Department of Defense and the State Department and other

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think that a big problem the State Department has had both with respect Ito training and to planning is that the [Foreign] Service is too small to have a sizable enough float of people ... We have thousands of people involved in planning in DOD. And tens of thousands of people in training at any given time, in advanced training, not just basic training. — Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, addressing the American Academy of Diplomacy, May 14, www.defenselink.mil/ transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=4230.

foreign affairs agencies. The CRS “Almost entirely missing from the report cites the claim of many that debates, to this point, are counter- DOD is doing too much while State is arguments about the strengths of the doing too little, noting that often the status quo.” latter has the authority while the for- — Ariana Austin, Editorial Intern mer has the resources. The process by which executive Terrorism in Decline, branch agencies and presidential Says New Study advisers present and prioritize issues A report issued in May challenges for presidential decision has also come the expert consensus that the threat under criticism. of global terrorism is increasing. The Proposed reforms include creation Human Security Brief 2007, pro- of a body specifically devoted to inter- duced by a research team at Simon agency coordination of national securi- Fraser University’s School for Inter- ty operations, one that includes a new national Studies in Vancouver, docu- position of “presidential adviser;” cre- ments a sharp net decline in the inci- ation of a national security budget; dence of terrorist violence around the reorganization of congressional over- world (www.humansecuritybrief. sight; and strengthening of the guid- info/). ance of national security. One recom- According to the report, fatalities mendation calls for the White House from terrorism have declined by 40 to coordinate missions, instructing the percent, while the loose-knit terror appropriate agencies with clear direc- network associated with Osama bin tion on roles, resources and responsi- Laden’s al-Qaida has suffered a dra- bilities. matic collapse in popular support in There seems little question that a the Muslim world. change is in store, whether significant Further, there has been a positive, or slight. For as the CRS report notes, but largely unnoticed, change in sub-

50 Years Ago... here never seems to be much trouble about getting Tappropriations for our military forces ... [Yet] when it comes to getting money to promote peace … there is always a tough argument. — U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Henry Cabot Lodge, quoted in the July 1958 FSJ.

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Saharan Africa, where the number of Director Michel Camdessus, musician Significantly, private American phil- conflicts being waged fell by more and Live Aid founder Bob Geldof, for- anthropy to poor countries, including than half between 1999 and 2006 and mer Education Minister of Mozam- remittances, dwarfs U.S. government the combat toll dropped by 98 percent bique Graça Machel, former Nigerian foreign aid by more than four to one. over the same period. President Olusegun Obasanjo, Nobel Another report, this one from the The study is the product of the Prize winner and Grameen Bank Conference Board (www.confer Human Security Report Project, founder Muhammad Yunus, among ence-board.org), argues for the new which in 2005 produced the respected others. trend from the corporate perspective. Human Security Report (www.hum — Susan Brady Maitra, “Corporate Responses to Humanitar- ansecurityreport.info/). The HSRP’s Senior Editor ian Disasters: The Mutual Benefits of research is supported by the govern- Private-Humanitarian Cooperation” is ments of Canada, Norway, Sweden, Private Giving Rivals available online at www.conference Switzerland and the U.K. Official Aid board.ca/documents.asp?rnext= — Susan Brady Maitra, The “big story” of the recent tragic 2554. Senior Editor events in Myanmar and China is not While the latest Index of Global limited to governmental response, Philanthropy lists traditional philan- Africa Progress Panel according to Dr. Carol C. Adelman, thropic organizations such as the Kel- Tracks Promises director of the Center for Global logg and the Aga Khan Foundations, The world food crisis “threatens to Prosperity at the Hudson Institute many “new and unexpected players” destroy years, if not decades, of eco- (www.hudson.org). Rather it is are becoming significant — such as nomic progress” in Africa, and the about “how private citizens, compa- Inter Milan, the Italian soccer team, Group of Eight’s commitment to dou- nies, charities and religious organiza- which has helped more than 12,000 ble aid to the continent by 2010 is seri- tions have emerged as a front-line children in 17 countries gain access to ously off-track. Those were among the force” (http://gpr.hudson.org/proj soccer training, education and health main points of the Africa Progress ects/articles/IHTop_ed6408Carol care. Panel’s 2008 report, “Africa’s Develop- %20Adelman.pdf). Meanwhile, Internet giving or “e- ment: Promises and Prospects,” re- American corporations donated philanthropy” has increased the ease leased by panel chairman Kofi Annan in $90 million in aid to China (compared and speed of donating. The I Do mid-June (www.africaprogresspanel. to $3.1 million by the U.S. govern- Foundation (www.idofoundation. org/pdf/2008%20Report.pdf). ment); in Myanmar, Americans org) encourages couples to link their Despite progress on debt relief and donated $30.1 million (U.S. govern- wedding registries with their choice of significant increases in assistance by ment aid totaled $24 million). charity. Kiva (www.kiva.org/), an individual countries, the panel warns, In fact, today, private financial online microfinance site, allows users the G-8 commitment is $40 billion flows from all donor nations — to browse profiles of entrepreneurs in short of its target. In the report assess- including philanthropy, investments the developing world, lend them ing the state of the continent in 2008, and remittances — account for over money and then track their progress. six policy areas are surveyed: the food 75 percent of the industrialized The index also documents the esti- crisis, aid levels and aid quality, trade, world’s economic dealings with poor mated $8.8 billion in international aid climate change, infrastructure and countries. generated by American religious con- good governance. In June, the Center for Global Pro- gregations, ranging from small church The Africa Progress Panel was sperity released its second (and now groups to larger organizations, such as launched in April 2007 as a mecha- annual) Index of Global Philanthropy the National Christian Foundation. nism to hold world leaders to their 2008 documenting this new philan- Indeed, the reports provide inspir- commitments to Africa (www.africa thropic landscape (http://gpr.hud ing glimpses into the world of private progresspanel.org/english/index.p son.org/). “The traditional ‘donor-to- giving and compelling arguments for hp). It is an independent and author- recipient’ model of foreign aid has its benefits. But they also seem to beg itative body whose members comprise been supplemented, if not supplanted, the question: why does government a unique repository of expertise on by public-private partnerships,” says aid pale in comparison? And what are Africa and development. In addition Adelman. The new models are the implications of this for ongoing to Kofi Annan, the panel currently referred to as “social entrepreneur- efforts to reorganize government assis- includes former British Prime Minis- ship,” “venture philanthropy,” or “cre- tance? I ter Tony Blair, former IMF Managing ative capitalism.” — Ariana Austin, Editorial Intern

12 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JULY-AUGUST 2008

A TIRELESS ADVOCATE FOR THE FOREIGN SERVICE: THOMAS D. BOYATT

LAST MONTH AFSA RECOGNIZED THE RETIRED AMBASSADOR’S MANY CONTRIBUTIONS TO AMERICAN DIPLOMACY AND HIS LIFETIME OF PUBLIC SERVICE.

BY STEVEN ALAN HONLEY

n June 19, Ambassador Thomas David (now Burkina Faso) from 1978 to 1980, and was ambassador Boyatt received the American Foreign to Colombia from 1980 to 1983. Service Association’s Award for Life- Amb. Boyatt was promoted to the personal rank of career time Contributions to American Diplo- minister before retiring from the Foreign Service in 1985. macy, in recognition of a distinguished He was vice president of Sears World Trade, a partner in the 26-year Foreign Service career and a IRC Group, and became president of U.S. Defense Systems lifetime of public service. Past recipients of the award in 1990. Oinclude U. Alexis Johnson, Frank Carlucci, George H.W. The State Department conferred a Meritorious Honor Bush, Lawrence Eagleburger, Cyrus Vance, David New- Award on Amb. Boyatt in 1969 for his heroism during the som, Lee Hamilton, Thomas Pickering, George Shultz, hijacking of a TWA plane on which he was a passenger. The Richard Parker, Richard Lugar, Morton Abramowitz and following year, he received AFSA’s William R. Rivkin Award Joan Clark. “for intellectual courage, creativity, disciplined dissent, and Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on March 4, 1933, Thomas taking bureaucratic and physical risks for peace on Cyprus,” Boyatt received his B.A. from Princeton University in 1955, and would also earn AFSA’s Christian A. Herter Award for and an M.A. from the Fletcher School of Law and Constructive Dissent in 1975. In 1999 he was awarded the Diplomacy at Tufts University the following year. He then Foreign Service Cup for post-retirement contributions to served in the U.S. Air Force from 1956 to 1959 before enter- the Service, and he received a lifetime achievement award ing the Foreign Service. from the American Foreign Service Association in 2001. Mr. Boyatt was posted first as vice consul in Antofagasta, Several foreign governments have also decorated him. Chile (1960-1962), then as assistant to the under secretary of A former trustee of Princeton University, Amb. Boyatt the Treasury (1962-1964), economic officer in Luxem- has been a member of the advisory boards of the Woodrow bourg (1964-1966) and political counselor in Nicosia (1967- Wilson School at Princeton and the Patterson School at the 1970). In 1970 he returned to Washington to be special University of Kentucky. In addition to serving as a director assistant to the assistant secretary of State for the Near East. of the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown From 1971 to 1974, he was director of the Office of University, he has taught for many years at the Foreign Cyprus Affairs. (During that period he also completed the Service Institute. State Department’s 1972-1973 Senior Seminar in Foreign Amb. Boyatt is the president and founder of the Foreign Policy.) In 1975 Mr. Boyatt became minister-counselor in Affairs Council, an umbrella group composed of AFSA and Santiago, his second assignment to Chile, spending three 10 other organizations that support the Foreign Service. He years there. He then served as ambassador to Upper Volta is also active in the American Academy of Diplomacy, the

JULY-AUGUST 2008/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 13

Association for Diplomatic Studies you.” And in the Foreign Service, in and Training, and other organizations. our governmental system, there is a A past president and treasurer of “We ‘Young Turks’ certain way that you deal with AFSA, he currently serves as treasur- Congress. There’s nothing illegal or er of its political action committee, decided to convert fattening about it: it’s just the way it is. AFSA-PAC. He has also participated And we have as much right to petition in numerous corporate and nonprofit AFSA into the vehicle the Congress as anyone else. We boards, including the State Depart- need to do it in the way Capitol Hill ment’s Leadership and Management for self-defense.” understands, which is to be part of the Advisory Council. solution, not part of the problem. He is married to Maxine Shear- — Amb. Thomas Boyatt wood and they have five children. FSJ: Have you been satisfied with Foreign Service Journal Editor the amount of influence AFSA has Steve Honley interviewed Amb. gained with key players on the Hill Boyatt on April 21. Since it was clear that we could not on both sides of the aisle thus far? depend on our political masters to TDB: There’s still much to do, of FSJ: Congratulations on your defend the Foreign Service when the course, but we’ve made a lot of award for lifetime contributions to going got tough, we “Young Turks” progress in just a few years. Before American diplomacy. What would decided to convert AFSA into the we set up the political action commit- you say have been your main vehicle for self-defense. We created tee, AFSA dealt almost exclusively strengths as a diplomat? an entire parallel universe in which with legislative staffers. There were a TDB: I would say that the thing we were still Foreign Service people few exceptions, such as Sen. that distinguished my career was that but were not under the thumb of the Claiborne Pell and a few other long- I was not like most diplomats. I spoke State Department hierarchy. Because time friends of the Foreign Service. in the active voice, using short sen- we were elected by our own people But on a regular daily basis, we didn’t tences to get to the point and take a and made our own decisions, we have access to key members. Now, stand. One of my Princeton friends would use AFSA to fight our own the president of AFSA routinely sees called me the most undiplomatic per- fights. committee chairmen. The fact that son he had ever known. In a very real sense, my entire AFSA-PAC’s bylaws stipulate that career has been devoted to defending contributions must go equally to key FSJ: Maybe that’s a good lead-in that universe. When we say “Never members from both parties has to a discussion of your role in making again” to those who would destroy the helped a lot in giving us credibility. AFSA what it is today: an organiza- Foreign Service, we can make it stick. tion that defends the importance of But it takes political strength, finan- FSJ: What would you say to any diplomacy and takes stands on behalf cial strength and institutional strength AFSA members reading this inter- of its members. When did you first to do that. It’s taken 50 years, but view who have been reluctant to realize that there was a need for an AFSA now has all three elements. make a contribution to the PAC advocate like AFSA to ensure that because they don’t think it would diplomacy functions effectively? FSJ: Let’s take each of those in make a difference, or because they TDB: Very good question. You turn. You were the driving force believe it makes us look like money- have to go back to what the world was behind the establishment of AFSA’s grubbers who are only interested in like when my generation came into political action committee, AFSA- overseas comparability pay? the Foreign Service in the 1950s. We PAC, six years ago. I know you en- TDB: I would respectfully ask had observed that the China hands countered a lot of resistance to that them to help us help the Foreign were decimated in the late 1940s dur- initiative; why did you feel so strongly Service by contributing. If they have ing the administration of an arguably it was the right thing to do? concerns about their funds being great president and a very decent TDB: Because it makes eminent spent well, let me assure them that we man, Harry Truman. And then Eisen- sense. My father taught me to play comply with all the rules and regula- hower came in — another arguably poker so long ago that I don’t remem- tions of the Federal Election Com- great president and a decent man — ber exactly when I learned. One of mission, just like any other political and the Foreign Service was decimat- the things he taught me was: “Son, action committee. ed all over again by McCarthyism. you’ve got to play the hand they deal As for effectiveness, in just six

14 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JULY-AUGUST 2008

for the State Department. And union 35 years ago, our audit fit on a we’ve played a very big part in single page. Our staff was one officer the fight for overseas compara- and two others, and most of the work bility pay, a battle we’re still was done by volunteers. Obviously, fighting. we’ve grown in every sense. We now Two other points: AFSA- have a large staff and a $3.5 million PAC’s impact is cumulative over operation. But all of these changes time. You have to be patient happened more quickly than AFSA and keep working at it. We have developed the ability to cope with a good case to make to Congress, them in a professional way. both on resources and on over- After I retired from the Foreign seas comparability pay, and I am Service in 1985, I spent several years confident that sooner or later, in the private sector. When Tex Har- we’re going to get over the hur- ris asked me to become treasurer in dles. 1995, I saw an opportunity to put into practice the financial lessons I had Ambassador Thomas Boyatt. FSJ: You also cited financial learned. strength. As a past AFSA presi- At the time, AFSA had less than $2 years AFSA-PAC has made a real, dent and treasurer, and a current million in the scholarship fund, no tangible difference in our ability to pro- member of the Finances and Audit reserve fund, and neither organiza- mote our legislative agenda. We play- Committee, talk a bit about the orga- tion nor discipline in its financial man- ed a role in winning support for nization’s progress since it became a agement. Today we have over $6 mil- the Diplomatic Readiness Initiative, union in 1973. lion in the scholarship fund, $2 mil- which substantially increased resources TDB: When AFSA became a lion in the reserve fund, an annual

JULY-AUGUST 2008/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 15

budget of $3.5 million, and a profes- into the Civil Service. There was a big sional budget process. fight over what the structure of that AFSA is now the equivalent of a “Forming a union was would be, which we won. Then we mid-size company. And that requires got a showing of interest and we per- us to be serious about managing our the only way to gain suaded the Foreign Service itself that finances so that we don’t do silly we had to unionize — even though things with our members’ dues and some degree of control that was a dirty word for a lot of peo- contributions. Our Finances and ple. But we made the argument that Audit Committee has a mix of mem- over our destiny and forming a union was the only way to bers with private sector and NGO gain some degree of control over our experience who know what they’re bring equity and destiny, and bring equity and trans- talking about. The committee is parency to the whole process. independent, making decisions about transparency to the We won the internal struggle for investments and expenditures on the soul of the Service, and then beat their merits, without being influ- whole process.” the American Federation of Govern- enced by the fads of the moment or ment Employees in elections to the enthusiasms of AFSA officers. As become the exclusive employee rep- a result, our financial portfolio has resentative for the people of the taken off and we’re in good shape. of the assistant secretaries and so on Foreign Service in 1973 — not just at — were also officers in AFSA. That State but at USAID and all the other FSJ: The third element you identi- struck many of us as a huge conflict of foreign affairs agencies. And we fied as key to success is institutional interest, when what we needed was developed huge momentum that is strength. What do you mean by that? an independent voice. still growing. TDB: The first element of institu- Each of the Young Turks had tional strength is unity. AFSA and 10 something they wanted: Tex Harris FSJ: Let’s talk about your Foreign other organizations are all together in wanted a grievance system; Charlie Service career now. You entered the the Foreign Affairs Council. Second is Bray wanted a linkage of resources to Service in 1959, right after three years money: You can’t do anything without policy; and I wanted co-determination in the Air Force. What drew you to money and committed people, and we of personnel policies and procedures. pursue a diplomatic career? have both. And third, which has been We had these very discrete elements TDB: I had an epiphany during very important, of course, was AFSA’s of change, but when you put them all my studies at the Woodrow Wilson becoming the legally recognized together, they added up to more than School at Princeton. In that program, exclusive employee representative for the sum of the parts. And so the ques- you participate in a policy conference Foreign Service personnel. That was tion was, how do you get that? You every semester. In the spring policy the basis for everything. have to have a base, and the only base conference of my junior year, in 1953, we saw was AFSA. the subject was Puerto Rico and the FSJ: That’s a good segue for us to When the time came to elect the focus was economic development. talk a bit more about the “Young new AFSA Governing Board, we real- For the first time in its history, Turks” movement you helped lead. ized that there are more mid-level Princeton kicked in airline tickets for Our June 2003 issue celebrating the and junior officers than seniors, so we the conference participants to travel 30th anniversary of AFSA’s becoming could win an election. We put up a there and see for themselves how a union, to which you contributed an slate and we won (with some support economic development was being article, gives a lot of the historical from senior officers, I should add). achieved on that small island. My fel- details. But to set the stage, would it That gave us an organizational base of low travelers to Puerto Rico included be fair to say that AFSA was more a people paying dues, and a magazine Ralph Nader, by the way. social club than an advocacy group at with which you’re familiar that Inspired by the brio of all that, I that time? allowed us to do outreach — a propa- decided then and there that I wanted TDB: Yes, but the real problem ganda arm, if you will. to be in the Foreign Service, and I was that the same people who had the That happened in the late 1960s. switched from the domestic to the senior positions in the State Depart- Then, very early in the 1970s, international side of the Wilson ment — the under secretary for polit- President Nixon signed the executive School. I went on to the internation- ical affairs, the director general, many order bringing white-collar unions al affairs graduate school at Fletcher,

16 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JULY-AUGUST 2008

then took the Foreign Service exam was a small consulate? know the next three presidents of and passed it. In fact, I did that be- TDB: Yes, I was the number-two Chile. First Frei, a Christian Demo- fore I joined the Air Force in 1956. guy in a two-man post. The consul crat, who served as president from went away and never came back, so I 1964 to 1970. Then came Allende, a FSJ: Was that a difficult transition wound up being the principal U.S. Socialist, followed by Pinochet. I in any way? diplomatic officer in the northern third knew them all personally. Allende was TDB: No, I really enjoyed my time of Chile — three huge provinces — a notorious boozer and skirt-chaser with the military. In those days, of my consular district. Because I was and, accordingly, was very good com- course, everyone served, one way or the senior American, I got invited to pany. He was a bon vivant, while Frei another, so I knew what I was going to everything, all the receptions, and met was very stern, proper and Swiss, and be when I grew up. I learned that all the local VIPs, including Senators Pinochet was very quiet, almost timid. military power is obviously relevant to Salvador Allende and Eduardo Frei. diplomacy, and the military was a Then a new lieutenant colonel FSJ: You returned to Chile in the bureaucracy just like ours. So it was came to town to command the mid-1970s to serve as deputy chief of good preparation for the Foreign “Septimo de la Linia” (Seventh of the mission, not long after Pinochet came Service. I’d estimate that 95 percent Line): the infantry regiment that basi- to power. What were your impres- of the guys in my A-100 class — and cally conquered Bolivia and Peru in sions of the changes in Chilean soci- they were all guys, except for one lady the 1879 War of the Pacific. The ety over that period? who subsequently resigned — came Chilean Army always sent a real up- TDB: Pinochet remembered our in out of the military. and-comer to serve as commander of times in Antofagasta and I received that regiment, and this time was no special attention. That was some- FSJ: Your first posting was as a exception: His name was Augusto times awkward but always useful. vice consul in Antofagasta, Chile, Pinochet. Throughout my three years in from 1959 to 1962. I assume that So as a 20-something JO, I got to Santiago, I kept trying to persuade

JULY-AUGUST 2008/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 17

Pinochet to form a political party and stand for election as president. And to this day, I still think he would have won, because his economic reforms were so powerful and so successful. After all, when he did finally allow a plebiscite in 1988, after 15 years of dictatorship, he got 44 percent of the vote. Furthermore, the economic re- forms he instituted have never been challenged, either by the Christian Democrats or the Socialists, to this day. And Chile is by far the most ad- vanced country in Latin America. Amb. Boyatt, center in coat and tie, with members of Embassy FSJ: Cyprus has also figured Ouagadougou’s softball team, “Sahel’s Angels.” prominently in your Foreign Service career. From 1967 to 1970 you served FSJ: You received AFSA’s Christ- if such a coup went forward, the Turks as political counselor in Nicosia, and ian A. Herter Award for constructive would seize that pretext to invade. you were director of Cypriot affairs dissent by a mid-level FSO in 1975. The Greeks would not be able to stop from 1971 to 1974. Was this a case of That was about U.S. policy toward them and the two forces would divide a country you were already fascinated Cyprus, correct? the island, leaving a bone in our with, or did you come to feel that way TDB: Yes, it came out of recom- throat for as far ahead as one could once you served there? mendations I made in 1974, when I see. Therefore, we had to use our TDB: I volunteered for hard-lan- was head of the Cyprus office. I influence to stop the Greeks. guage training in the mid-1960s, and believed the evidence indicated that Unfortunately, Kissinger didn’t see took Greek. After that, I knew I was the Greek junta was backing a coup it that way. The U.S. government did either going to Cyprus or Greece, so I by the Cypriots favoring a union with not do what was necessary to stop the read a lot about both. And what’s not Greece against President Makarios, junta. If we had prevented the coup, to love about Cyprus? Beautiful place, with the intention of annexing the we wouldn’t have had the refugees, great people, wonderful food and island to Greece. I warned my supe- the rapes, the torture, the killing, the drink, Cypriot dancing, and a compli- riors — eventually including Secre- disaster that flowed after the Turks cated and challenging problem. tary of State Henry Kissinger — that did invade. And our ambassador in Nicosia, Roger Davies, probably would have died a natural death instead of being assassinated.

FSJ: You were also one of the first recipients of AFSA’s William R. Rivkin Award “for intellectual cour- age, creativity, disciplined dissent and taking bureaucratic and physical risks for peace,” receiving it in 1970. What was the basis for that award? TDB: It was mainly in recognition of my role in dealing with the 1969 hijacking of a TWA 707 on which I was a passenger. We had taken off from Dulles, bound for Tel Aviv. Somewhere between Rome and Amb. Boyatt with Secretary of State George Shultz, back left, accompanying Athens, a group of Palestinian terror- President Ronald Reagan in Bogota. ists seized the plane. After several

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hours, we made a forced landing in crew had collected all our shoes as have blown up any moment. We were Damascus, where the hijackers said part of the emergency procedure. (If very lucky. Just as the five of us they would blow up the aircraft 60 you leave your shoes on, as soon as regained the trench where the rest of seconds after landing. you hit the ground they go shooting the group was huddled, the front half There were some 175 passengers forward at the speed of the plane, of the plane exploded. on board, about half of whom were along with pencils and everything Americans, I would guess. But the else, becoming projectiles.) FSJ: So you saved a lot of lives even bigger concern was that many of When the back door of the plane that day. them were Jewish, something I didn’t opened, it turned out we were in the TDB: No question about it. We really concentrate on until right middle of a prickly-pear field! People could either have been blown to before our forced landing. Remem- were falling down and screaming pieces or incinerated in the fireball. It ber, this was just two years after the while frantically moving away from was a close-run thing. Six Days War, and Syria and Israel the plane, so it was a real mess. When But there was still a big problem. were still at war; there was only an most passengers were safely across An American aircraft with many armistice. And we had no diplomatic the field, I noticed three passengers Jewish passengers had landed in relations with Syria, no embassy on still under the port wing. One woman Damascus. To protect the innocent, I the ground. was in really bad shape, with com- needed to establish some authority As we approached the ground, I pound fractures to her left leg. and then play for time. So I walked stationed myself at the rear door to There was an American G.I. among up to the fellow who seemed to be in help get people off the plane. Though the passengers and the two of us charge, identified myself and showed it was not exactly a crash, the pilot had crossed the field together to carry the him my U.S. diplomatic passport. I never seen the airport before so it was wounded to safety. It was very fright- informed him that everyone on that a pretty rough landing. We were all in ening, as the clock was ticking — well plane was under the protection of the our stocking feet because the cabin past the 60 seconds. The plane could United States because the hijacked

JULY-AUGUST 2008/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 19

aircraft was an American flag carrier. exclaimed, “Sir, I’m not going to lose Then I noted that I was an you!” And he meant it. American diplomatic official and “Being an activist declared that the passengers could FSJ: Fortunately, he lived up to not be interrogated without my per- and a believer in his word! mission. He said, “Oui, Monsieur TDB: Yes, he did. I felt sorry for Secretaire,” and rushed off to tele- ambassadorial authority, him because he’d had a really trau- phone his superiors. I took that as a matic career, but he was a really good good sign and, sure enough, after I duly asserted my guy. some more phone calls and a day and a half of confusion, everyone got out authority over FSJ: As a former ambassador to in one piece. Bogota, what do you think about the the mission.” current difficulties of winning con- FSJ: Your first ambassadorship gressional approval for the U.S.- was to Upper Volta, now Burkina Colombia Free Trade Agreement? Faso (1978-1980), followed by Co- TDB: It’s very sad. First of all, lombia (1980-1983). What were TDB: The drug problem was the President Alvaro Uribe is doing a some of the challenges you faced as main challenge there, of course. In great job for his country, both in chief of mission in each country, and fact, we were one of the first terms of reducing crime and helping how did you handle them? embassies to have a huge influx of the economy, for which he’s enor- TDB: The main reason we had an FBI and DEA agents, who were mak- mously popular, with something like a embassy in Ouagadougou was eco- ing cases in Colombia to try to head 75-percent approval rating among nomic development. At that time, 30 off drug trafficking at the source. I Colombians. Second, if anything, the years ago now, the Sahara Desert was didn’t just coordinate all these agen- agreement is more in our interest moving south, so USAID had an $18 cies, either — I tried to direct them. than theirs from a commercial point million development program in this As you know, when you’re ambas- of view. Colombia already has duty- tiny country to help the government sador, you represent the president, free entry to the U.S. for its goods, so cope. We must have had 15 USAID not just the State Department. what this would do is give our busi- officers there. Being an activist and a And, of course, just surviving the nesses access to its market. believer in ambassadorial authority, I multiple death threats was a challenge. It’s just crazy what we’re doing — duly asserted my authority over the Bogota was a very violent place at that it’s all about trade-union symbolism, mission. There was a certain amount time, so I had my own little army of not economic factors or sensible of friction at first, mainly because bodyguards on top of embassy securi- diplomatic reasons. Colombia has they’d never had an ambassador who ty. My car was armored, and I always done everything right, on the human took that view, but we got that worked traveled with an armored lead car and rights front, the economic front and out. And I learned a lot about eco- follow-on vehicle. I had an armed the political front, so we should be nomic development in the process. guard with me at all times, and I was encouraging them, not punishing Keeping morale high was another armed. The last line of defense was them. priority, of course. We had a theater me! So I practiced with a .38, an Uzi group, the “Way Off Broadway Play- and a 12-gauge shotgun. FSJ: In 1983 you were promoted ers,” and a softball team called “Sahel’s Keep in mind that my predecessor, to the personal rank of career minister Angels,” among other things. Every Diego Ascencio, had been at an before retiring from the Service. Tell weekend we could, the team would go embassy reception when the M-19 us about the transition to post- play our counterparts in Niamey or took it over. So he, in effect, had Foreign Service life. Bamako or Dakar, which was great for been taken hostage. My security offi- TDB: I think the most important us because it was R&R. We’d play cer had been the security officer thing for retiring Foreign Service per- two games on Saturday and two on when that happened, and before that sonnel to realize is that entering the Sunday, with parties Friday night and was in Kabul when Adolph “Spike” business world is like being assigned Saturday night. It was just fun. Dubbs was assassinated while serving to a new foreign country. The busi- as U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan in ness world has its own way of looking FSJ: Bogota was a much more 1979. So when he was introduced to at things, its own objectives, language, demanding posting, I imagine. me, he grabbed me by the lapels and traditions and so forth. If you keep

20 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JULY-AUGUST 2008

that in mind, it makes the transition a lar Officers, Retired. And I was a be a formidable force multiplier for lot easier. member of most of the rest, such as the State Department, interacting Of course, the basis is totally dif- the American Academy of Diplomacy. with the political system at the very ferent. The private sector is very One day a light went on and I highest levels. objective: You either make a profit or thought: All of these organizations you don’t. The way of keeping score address the process of diplomacy and FSJ: What would you say have is not an efficiency report but the bot- are concerned with the people who been the council’s chief successes? tom line. So people coming into that carry it out, the Foreign Service. TDB: We helped promote the world from the government have to What we really need to do is get our Diplomatic Readiness Initiative and adapt their skills and talents to fit forces all under one roof to make our other steps to address the Foreign those requirements, not the other way efforts more powerful and persuasive, Service’s resource problems. We also around. and make it that much easier for us to defended the Foreign Service against deal with the rest of the world. And critics like Newt Gingrich. When he FSJ: In 1995 you founded the because the groups don’t take posi- wrote an article for Foreign Policy Foreign Affairs Council, comprised of tions on foreign policy, there wouldn’t magazine denouncing the Service the CEOs of 11 foreign relations advo- be any divisions among us along those several years ago, we responded in cacy organizations, including AFSA. lines. those pages. When he gave an inter- How did that come about? And so we started doing that. We view to National Public Radio, we got TDB: It came about because I’d traded information among our 11 our views aired there. And when he already held senior positions in about organizations about what each group went to the Hill, we went to the Hill. half of those organizations: AFSA, of was doing and pursued serious coop- Beginning in 2001, as Colin Powell course; the Cox Foundation; the eration. And beginning with Colin took office, the Foreign Affairs Association of Diplomatic Studies and Powell, we’ve been making the case Council started issuing a biennial Training; and Diplomatic and Consu- that the Foreign Affairs Council could report card assessing each Secretary

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of State’s attention to management and management-challenged, to put it leadership issues. Our fourth report is mildly. now in the works, which will cover “Only three Secretaries And of course, it’s also important Condoleezza Rice’s final two years. for a Secretary of State to have expe- Before we started doing that, no one of State since World rience, flexibility, tolerance for diver- was drawing public attention to how sity, and intellectual acuity. the State Department was carrying out War II have had the its responsibility to manage its human FSJ: Which holders of that posi- and financial resources. But now peo- aptitude and an interest tion in recent years would you say ple are focusing on that and holding were most successful overall? State’s leadership accountable. in managing the TDB: In terms of caring for the troops, acquiring resources and gen- FSJ: You are currently chairman department.” eral management, George Marshall, of a project to develop a zero-based George Shultz and Colin Powell have budget for the 150 Account, which been the most successful. encompasses federal funding for State, the Foreign Service and for- Furthermore, we will argue that no FSJ: Are you optimistic about the eign assistance agencies. What was administration can have an effective future of the diplomatic profession? the genesis of that? foreign policy without the profession- TDB: Yes, thanks to the parallel TDB: The Diplomatic Readiness als in the field to carry it out. And universe I’ve alluded to: AFSA, the Initiative brought some 1,000 people we’ll also be on the Hill promoting the Foreign Affairs Council, etc. Again, into the ranks during President Bush’s concept. the key is that over the years, we’ve first term. But then the demands of built up our own leadership structure staffing Afghanistan and Iraq absorb- FSJ: That will be the Fiscal Year and public affairs capability. That lets ed these people. We’re back to the 2010 budget, right? us speak out independently to rein- major staffing shortfalls of the 1990s. TDB: Right, but we’re also work- force State’s formal advocacy efforts In one of our meetings about that ing on getting more resources into the for adequate resources. problem, a senior person on the Hill FY 2009 foreign affairs budget. made the point that the traditional Defense Secretary Robert Gates has FSJ: So do you recommend the incremental approach of adding a few been a big ally in this effort, making Foreign Service as a career to young bodies and dollars doesn’t work — the case that this isn’t just something a people? you have to build the structure few self-absorbed diplomats are con- TDB: Yes, all the time. For around the needs. cerned about. The consequences of instance, as a Woodrow Wilson That made sense, so we sought and weakening the Foreign Service Fellow, I teach at small liberal arts received from the Cox Foundation a through these systemic shortages colleges around the country twice a $500,000 grant to come up with a affect the whole national security year, and I also promote the Foreign comprehensive budget proposal that structure, including the military. So I Service. But I recommend it as a would do just that. The Stimson believe we’re gaining traction. career not because of bureaucratic Center is doing the research and success, but as a wonderful life. As I drafting under the leadership of an FSJ: What qualities do you think tell people: If you’re interested in for- advisory group and with the input of a are most important for a Secretary of eign countries, would welcome a Red Team, both of which are largely State to have? change of venue every three years, staffed by American Academy of TDB: A talent for management is and are interested in serving the Diplomacy members. crucial but all too rare; I’d say only nation and having wonderful col- We intend to have that proposal three secretaries since World War II leagues, it is the life for you. ready this fall and will launch a major have had the aptitude and an interest effort to persuade the new Secretary in managing the department. That FSJ: Any final thoughts? of State to adopt it early next year. may be because Secretaries of State TDB: I would like every FSO to We’ll make the argument that we have been lawyers or academicians, have a career as fun and rewarding as must roll back the increasing “milita- with the occasional senator thrown in. mine has been. rization” of diplomacy, particularly in All of these professions are filled with public diplomacy and development. sole practitioners, who tend to be FSJ: Thank you very much. I

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SALVAGING THE AFGHANISTAN VENTURE Nenad Jakesevic

TO RECOVER ITS INVESTMENT IN STABILIZING AFGHANISTAN, WASHINGTON MUST FOCUS ON FOSTERING EFFECTIVE GOVERNANCE.

BY EDMUND MCWILLIAMS

ne of the poorest countries in the world outside sub-Saharan Africa, Afghanistan is a fail- ing state, though not yet a failed one. Nearly seven years after the U.S. military intervention to topple the Taliban regime and eliminate the al-Qaida terrorist network for which it provided a safe haven, Afghanistan is still enmeshed in a night- mareO with no end in sight. The fragility of its political system and weakness of its economic structures render it espe- cially vulnerable to dire trends in the international market, such as the rising cost of food and fuel.

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In recent months, the growing The conception of a system U.S.-led effort to rescue Afghani- security threat in the country has stan has been vastly under- prompted alarm. During a visit of government for post- resourced, relegated to an after- this past spring, the chief of the thought by the enormous and International Committee of the Taliban Afghanistan that ever-expanding demands of the Red Cross expressed dismay at Bush administration’s Iraq cam- the resurgence of the Taliban, ignores the country’s history, paign. And the Afghan leaders declaring that the humanitarian themselves are far from blame- situation was worsening and the traditions and political less. But the international inter- conflict was expanding. While vention also contained fundamen- intelligence reports indicate that realities was flawed. tal design flaws in the conception al-Qaida is no longer based in the of a system of government for country, operating from across the post-Taliban Afghanistan that border in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province, only a ignores the country’s history, traditions and political real- costly, protracted U.S./NATO deployment in southern ities. and eastern Afghanistan prevents the group’s return to its Recognition of this misstep points to a possible path safe harbor. toward greater stability and an eventual rescue of the ven- Also this spring, Director of National Intelligence ture in Afghanistan. General Michael McConnell acknowledged that Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s administration only controls 30 A Range of Perspectives percent of the country. According to McConnell, the The apparent deadlock has prompted a range of pro- Taliban holds 10 percent, with the rest controlled by tribes posals and recommendations shaped in part by varying or local figures not subservient to Kabul. The number of assessments of progress to date in the areas of security, Taliban-initiated incidents in 2008 is likely to surpass even development and Afghan governance. Administration that of 2007, and advances in Logar and Wardak provinces assessments have generally been more positive in all three just to the south of Kabul raise the prospect of rising pres- areas than those of non-government analysts and those of sure on the capital itself. Afghans themselves. The resurgent Taliban is drawing on a seemingly inex- In the security area, administration analysis has tended haustible base of recruits in Pakistan and among discour- to portray rising Taliban assertiveness as evidence of des- aged and often impoverished Afghan youth. Unchecked peration, while private-sector analysts tend to regard the opium-trade profits provide funding for the growing rise of Taliban-initiated attacks, including suicide attacks, Taliban operations. The opium bazaar also provides vast as evidence of growing sophistication and capacity. funding for al-Qaida and allied anti-government leaders Economic development presents a patchwork of prob- such as Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Jallaluddin Haqqani. lems with poor security, limited government absorptive In addition to providing a principal funding source for capacity and international aid commitments that are Karzai’s adversaries, the massive, exploding opium produc- incompletely fulfilled or consumed by costly donor-coun- tion has critically hobbled the government itself, corrupt- try contractors seen generally as impeding progress. ing officials at the district, provincial and national levels. Afghan governance similarly gets mixed reviews. What accounts for this escalating failure? More impor- While the government remains reasonably stable and tant, how can it be turned around? It is no secret that the Afghans enjoy far broader freedoms than under Taliban rule, corruption, particularly related to opium production Edmund McWilliams is a retired FSO and periodic con- and trafficking, remains endemic. Critical government tributor to the Journal. He has served in Islamabad, where services, especially related to justice and the police, are he was special envoy for Afghanistan, and in Kabul. In widely seen as having failed. 1992, he opened the first U.S. embassies in Bishkek and Recommendations range from prescriptions for a Dushanbe, serving as chargé d’affaires in both. He retired modest course correction to calls for more urgent and in 2001 after a 26-year career. wide-ranging change. There is growing agreement

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between the administration and non-government analysts progress in development and, to a lesser extent, effective that reliance on Pakistani territory as a safe harbor and governance remains hostage to progress in improving the recruiting base constitutes a critical advantage for the security environment. Ironically, effective governance is Taliban and its allies, though divisions remain over how to perceived as a matter that falls more exclusively within the address this problem. Some call for a much stronger U.S. Afghan purview — despite the reality that the central gov- role, possibly to include assumption of command in south- ernment functions within a framework created by the ern Afghanistan, where the Taliban is strongest. There is international community at the 2001 Bonn conference. also sharp disagreement over how to address Taliban bas- ing and logistics operations in Pakistan. Proposals range Forgetting History from assertive U.S./NATO action that is less constrained While the international community and, in particular, by concerns of Pakistani sovereignty to a willingness to the U.S., are to be faulted for paying insufficient attention give Islamabad time to negotiate with local leaders in the over the long term to Afghanistan, the troubled nation’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Swat, a district in leaders also bear considerable responsibility for the fail- Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province. ures of recent years. Today, even where the central gov- There has been much less debate, however, on recom- ernment does exercise influence, too often Kabul-appoint- mendations related to the non-security aspects of policy ed officials are corrupt or incompetent or, in some places, — namely, development and governance. The attempt to operate at cross purposes with the government. The police centralize leadership of economic efforts under a develop- and judiciary are broadly ineffective and have caused great ment czar was generally supported in the international popular disaffection. There is no effective civil service community but resisted by some Afghans. In any event, throughout much of Afghanistan; both the Public Service

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Commission and the Judicial Reform Commission are despite international advice and support, is often per- highly politicized and ineffective; and education, a critical ceived as an endemic failure reflecting Afghans’ alleged need in a society that has seen two generations come of incapacity to sustain self-government. However, that age without schooling, is limited by Taliban targeting of perspective ignores the nation’s long history as a self-gov- governmental education efforts. erning entity that was, over much of the 20th century, Afghans tell pollsters that an absence of security is one of the Islamic world’s more progressive, successful their greatest concern, with endemic corruption another states. In particular, the reign of King Zahir Shah (1933- chronic and debilitating reality. They are keenly aware 1973) was a time of relative peace, economic growth and that no senior official has been prosecuted for corrup- limited democracy that included a significant place for tion. International funding for development is frequent- women to have professional roles in politics, education ly misdirected. The failure to establish justice not only and commerce. effectively confers impunity for past crimes; it also leaves This relatively successful and peaceful period was the population vulnerable to future abuses, often by the remarkable in several respects. For much of the post- same perpetrators. World War II period, U.S. and Soviet competition for The inability of Afghan officials to develop effective influence in Afghanistan was intense and could have governance structures at the national and local levels, been destabilizing. But rather than suffering the Cold

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War turbulence endured by Korea, Vietnam and the central government failed to respond in a timely and Nicaragua, Afghanistan deftly managed the competing effective manner. But generally the system worked well, superpower interests to its advantage. More remarkably, allowing cultural and social differences to manifest the Afghan government balanced competing ethnic and themselves without interference by the central govern- tribal rivalries, although some minorities, notably the ment. For most Afghans, the king was far away and the Hazara, suffered persistent neglect. This successful bal- village walls were high. ance entailed blunting the interference of neighboring The December 2001 Bonn process, which estab- powers who sought to manipulate clans and local lead- lished an internationally supported scheme for post- ers. It was based on appeals to nationhood and, crucial- Taliban governance in Afghanistan, was in many ways a ly, reliance on a traditional structure of governance that remarkable achievement. A broad international consen- corresponded with local political realities. sus that, crucially, included a U.S.-Iranian-Pakistani Decentralization was the key. While the central gov- understanding, it created the basis for compromise ernment addressed national issues related to defense, among fractious Afghans aligned largely on the basis of macrodevelopment, national commerce and provision of ethnicity, tribe and party identity. vital services, provincial and district governance was left But in hindsight, the Bonn plan had a key flaw. Rather to local leaders whose authority was based on their trib- than adopt the decentralized model for Afghan govern- al or ethnic-based political power. There was corruption ance that had worked well prior to the 1978 advent of the and in some instances, such as a disastrous drought and Communist Party’s centralized rule, the Bonn conference famine in the north in the later years of Zahir Shah’s rule, endorsed a highly centralized, powerful executive model

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of government — notwithstanding the The 2004 constitution need not be literate, and many are fragile alliance of multiple, competing not. This, along with the relative lack interests on which the new regime was further entrenched of a meaningful parliamentary role in to be based. a system heavily weighted toward the the centralized, executive, has limited the power and Centralization Backfires influence of the legislature, which in As per the Bonn process, the Karzai presidential system. any event has been highly fractious administration has pursued a central- and frequently undemocratic. ized economic policy, centrally control- But, rather than strengthening ling justice, health and educational services as well. The Karzai, the presidential system established under this 2004 constitution further entrenched this presidential new constitution has tended to make him a lightning rod system. Its framework was an outgrowth of a Decem- for the failures of both his regime and the international ber 2003 national meeting (loya jirga) that convened and community to fulfill their promises to the Afghan people. deliberated under international influence. Though he retains their sympathy — Afghans turned out That meeting was not, however, organized along tra- in large numbers in 2004 to elect him — Pres. Karzai is ditional lines. According to custom, the assembly should increasingly seen as well-meaning but feckless. have given voice to genuine tribal and other local leaders, intellectual and cultural leaders and religious personages. Looking Ahead Instead, its membership consisted largely of military and The fall 2009 presidential election, if not precluded by political figures who had been empowered by the anti- security problems, and the parliamentary election to fol- Soviet jihad. Many of these figures owed their promi- low in 2010 could provide opportunities for new leader- nence to foreign support, and more than a few were cor- ship under a new governance formula. rupt, brutal warlords whose power was based on their It is unlikely, however, that simply a new mandate for capacity to inspire fear rather than respect among Karzai or selection of a successor would significantly Afghans. change the structural problems that have hobbled The new governance system has also created an envi- Afghanistan over the past three years. Nor is it likely ronment of intensely personalized politics, generating a that the composition of the legislature would change court of supplicants that has enervated Karzai’s presiden- significantly, given the fact that members have for the cy and tarnished it with a reputation of corruption and most part used their tenure since 2005 to entrench incompetence. The appointment of officials (provincial themselves. governors and police officials, who are often warlords or Although time is short, consideration should be given militia commanders) is largely based on political patron- to convening a new loya jirga along traditional lines — age, leaving local communities hostage to political deal- namely, drawing in genuine leadership from tribal and making in Kabul. ethnic groups, intellectuals and religious leaders. The The national parliament is another matter. Its election aims of this gathering would be to reconsider the struc- in 2005 drew a low turnout, in part because of poor ture of government bequeathed to the Afghan nation by administration of the election. Voter and candidate the 2001 Bonn process and to renew popular hope by intimidation, a confusing system for casting ballots and a drawing on the lessons of successful and authentic field of candidates that included notorious warlords and Afghan experience. criminals also severely diminished voter interest. The There is reason to expect a new loya jirga could yield elections produced a mixed result. While women are better results than the 2001 process, which took place relatively well represented, the parliament also includes under exceedingly difficult circumstances. It was neces- many figures against whom there are credible allega- sary to find unity among Afghan participants who agreed tions of human rights abuses and other criminal activity. on little more than their common opposition to the These include major figures from the seven tanzims, the Taliban. Ethnic and tribal enmity, the tragic loss of key mujahedeen parties developed in the 1980s under the potential leaders and ideological differences presented aegis of Islamabad and Washington. Parliamentarians international mediators with great challenges. Compet-

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ing interests and longstanding hostilities among the inter- expect that rather than striking out for a bold program of national mediators themselves raised their own set of fundamental reforms, he will continue to opt for the for- problems. That agreement was reached is a tribute to the mulation of deals with jihad-era warlords, whose antipa- skillfulness of the mediators and to those Afghans who thy to reform in the areas of social development, educa- made key and often selfless compromises. tion, human rights protections and development of a A new loya jirga would meet under still-daunting chal- free media is all too clear. lenges, as set forth above. But its deliberations would be Yet Karzai’s skills as a politician and his standing as a informed by more than six years of experience and a pop- Pashtun leader are on the line. He seems trapped by a ular consensus that demands an end to corruption; a system that forces him to deal with local power holders working justice system that punishes war crimes and rather than the Afghan people. Moreover, his increas- malfeasance; and government at the local level that is ingly frequent overtures to the Taliban have raised con- responsive to local will, especially in the provision of cerns with both Afghans and the international commu- security and prerequisites for development. nity. He will be tested as he seeks to distinguish between Those who have accumulated power (and wealth) those within the Taliban who can be reconciled to under the current system can be expected to resist such democracy and those who cannot. a restructuring, as it could rewrite the political rules of A national conference organized along traditional the game in Afghanistan. But leadership by Pres. Karzai, lines could be expected to favor fundamental changes perhaps in the context of his expected campaign for re- toward re-creation of the system of governance that election in 2009, could create momentum for such an worked for Afghanistan throughout much of the 20th initiative. At this point, however, some close observers century. This would include a far more decentralized

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setup, relying on elected provincial and Pres. Karzai's skills as enabling it to exclude the clearly cor- local leaders and, at the national level, rupt and the worst abusers. To be a parliamentary system with a more a politician and his effective and credible, the commis- ceremonial president and a govern- sion would have to be composed of ment composed of competent tech- standing as a Pashtun outstanding individuals whose repu- nocrats reporting to a strong and popu- tation for integrity would imbue it lar prime minister. leader are on the line. with the requisite authority. Ade- quate international support for this An Optimistic Scenario body would be vital, but its character Empowering the national parliament would entail and composition would need to be indisputably Afghan. risks. It is likely that any legislature would reflect This election commission or a separate, similarly Afghanistan’s ethnic and tribal mosaic, though it is possi- empowered body could also set terms for political par- ble that ideology would manifest itself in the representa- ticipation in parliamentary and other elections by former tion of some urban populations, as was true of Afghan Taliban members. Such a commission would relieve parliaments prior to the communist coup of 1978. But a Pres. Karzai of this politically explosive burden. loya jirga could address this concern by authorizing a Ideally, the loya jirga that would constitute and com- new parliamentary election based, at least in part, on a pose this commission or commissions should itself party system. include tribal and ethnic leaders and other individuals Formed on the basis of elections far better organized who have standing with the Taliban. The concept would than in 2005, a parliamentary system would afford the be similar to an effort, proposed but never implement- prospect of political leadership more closely reflecting ed, to lure supporters of the Mohammad Najibullah the aspirations of the people and more accountable to regime in 1989 into a successor government by inviting them. Formation of political parties would also increase “good Muslims” from the former’s ranks. democratization of the parliament by reaching, over Realistically, convening an authentic loya jirga prior time, across ethnic and cultural lines that currently form to the 2010 parliamentary elections may not be feasible. the basis of power blocs. But it is essential that, at a minimum, the parliamentary A new loya jirga could help ensure a more represen- elections be properly prepared. Whether formed and tative body by establishing literacy requirements and, empowered by a loya jirga, a much more legitimate more crucially, by setting strict qualifications — for both basis, or by action of the Afghan government and inter- individuals and parties — for participation in a new par- national donors, an election commission with broad liamentary election. In the lead-up to the 2005 parlia- powers and a clear mandate to rule on prerequisites for mentary balloting, the Afghan Election Commission vet- candidacy are needed, to ensure that the parliament ted candidates to screen out those with criminal or vio- emerges as a credible institution capable of balancing lent backgrounds. After initially ruling that 208 of more the power of a very strong presidency. than 2,500 candidates should be disqualified, it ulti- In the final analysis, Afghanistan remains a victim of mately succumbed to pressure and barred only 11. Even international intervention that has empowered some of the 208 initially identified represented only a small frac- the worst elements of society and trapped its people in a tion of those whose candidacy should have been chal- foreign-made political system that ignores their history, lenged. Constitutional prohibitions barring those guilty tradition and political realities. While some of this inter- of certain human rights abuses were ineffective because vention has been well meaning, much of it has been self- the absence of a functioning justice system meant that serving, reflecting the national ambitions and interests of perpetrators had never been convicted. other countries. Inasmuch as there is still no real progress in the judi- Afghanistan was the first victim of Taliban misrule cial sector toward the identification, prosecution and and al-Qaida brutality. It deserves another chance in a conviction of those guilty of grave human rights abuses new political system mandated by a traditionally orga- and other crimes, it would be necessary to invest a new nized loya jirga that reflects the nation’s history and real- election commission with quasi-judicial powers, ity and is perceived by Afghans as legitimate. I

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PRTSINAFGHANISTAN: A REPORT FROM THE INSIDE

THE CHALLENGES FOR AMERICAN POLICY IN AFGHANISTAN, WHERE THE PROVINCIAL RECONSTRUCTION TEAM CONCEPT WAS BORN, REMAIN FORMIDABLE.

BY BRUCE ROGERS, JIM HOPE AND ROBERT KEMP

he United States is cur- nation that can serve as a force for regional stability, rently employing all elements of national power to help warfighting is still a major part of our activity. Afghanistan overcome the legacy of three decades of war Approximately 28,000 U.S. troops, split between Opera- and to Tkeep it from ever again serving as a launching pad tion Enduring Freedom and the International Security for terrorism. For those of us here, every day is a 9/11 and Assistance Force, and 28,000 NATO/ISAF troops anniversary. As a constant reminder of our task, two are deployed around the country to fight the insurgency small memorial stones in front of Embassy Kabul mark and provide the security necessary to ensure the fur- the resting place of rubble from the Twin Trade Towers. therance of governance and development. Our strategy is focused on three main efforts: improv- Combat power alone, however, will not lead us to our ing security, fostering economic development and desired end-state. Its role is to separate the population strengthening governance. from the insurgents, providing space for the extension of Our challenges are formidable. By comparison with good government, provision of essential services and Iraq, Afghanistan is larger and more populous, possesses stimulation of economic development — our most a forbidding topography and a monumental narcotics potent weapons. problem, and is profoundly poor. The effort is made even more difficult by the lack of infrastructure and by Our Asymmetric Advantage weakened and distorted societal institutions. Finally, we There has been much ink spilled over the last seven face a hodgepodge of insurgent groups, including the years about how the enemy wages “asymmetric warfare” Taliban, derivative Soviet-era resistance groups, cross- against us. In his book The Utility of Force: The Art of border tribes and al-Qaida. War in the Modern World (Vintage, 2008), British While our goal is to help build Afghanistan into a General Rupert Smith notes that asymmetry simply means that one side doesn’t play to the other side’s Bruce Rogers is director and Robert Kemp is deputy strengths. It is, moreover, a strategy that both sides can director of the Provincial Reconstruction and Local employ. For their part, the insurgents use terror to bring Governance Section in Embassy Kabul, while Jim Hope is about their dark vision of an order imposed by the gun director of the USAID PRT Section there. according to half-understood tenets of Islamic law. This

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order is a barrier to change, educa- The integration of These civil-military teams work tion, economic betterment and hu- with the Afghan government, civil man rights. We cannot defeat this civilians is one of the society, Afghan and coalition secu- tactic by combat power alone. rity forces, and the international Instead, we have capitalized on major differences between community. Because the country’s our asymmetric advantage, the provinces differ greatly in terms of ability to offer both a better today the American effort and ethnic and tribal mix, level of secu- and a better tomorrow. The rity and economic development, United States is the largest donor those of our allies. there can be no “cookie cutter” to Afghanistan, carrying out com- approach. That said, each PRT has prehensive sector programs in agri- a similar mandate: to extend the culture and alternative development, infrastructure reach of the Afghan government, carry out reconstruc- (roads and power), health, education, economic growth, tion projects and help build up local security forces. good governance and the rule of law. Ten of the 12 U.S. PRTs are located in Regional In 2001, fewer than one million boys and no girls Command East under the control of Combined Joint attended school in Afghanistan. Now, six million children Task Force 101. The 101st also commands U.S. and (40 percent of them girls) regularly go to school. Infant coalition combat forces within its area of responsibility. mortality has been slashed. Eighty percent of all Afghans Subordinate brigades coordinate the actions of both the now have access to medical care. Licit exports have PRTs and the combat units. It should be emphasized, increased nearly 600 percent. The extent of paved or however, that the PRTs are separate entities from the improved roads has been doubled to 40,000 kilometers. combat, or “maneuver” units. Each road brings development and stability: as the say- The PRTs have national identities, as well. Eleven of ing goes, “Where the roads end, the Taliban begins.” the 12 U.S. PRTs are military-led and have a handful of While worthwhile, it is a tremendous effort that often civilian officers — one each from State, USAID and seems to proceed at a glacial pace. USDA. The civilians are equal members of the PRT’s We are not alone in this fight. In addition to NATO/ integrated command team. The military commander has ISAF, the U.N., the Red Cross and a slew of nongovern- final authority on all security matters, but the civilians mental organizations are on the ground. Unfortunately, take the lead on governance and development. By con- however, many of these entities approach the complex trast, some non-U.S. PRTs are led by senior civilians with Afghan environment the same way they have a dozen a sizable non-military staff, or by the military with civilian other conflict zones, regardless of whether their methods development advisers from the host country. are appropriate or effective under the circumstances. There are also philosophical differences. U.S. PRTs Seeing this, the United States decided that a new are integrated civil-military counterinsurgency units. approach was needed, and thus the Provincial Other nations view PRTs either as development agencies Reconstruction Team concept was born. with a military component for security, or as agencies that only provide security training. We believe that the U.S. A Unique Institution model is the most effective, and some of our allies seem Since their inception, PRTs have proven effective in to be coming around to this view. There is a growing supporting the spread of governance and development in recognition by our British and Canadian colleagues Afghanistan. The first PRT was stood up in Paktia (among others) that “the Americans seem to have caught province in a traditional mud compound in 2002. Since on to something.” then, 25 additional teams (11 U.S.-led and 14 non-U.S.) The integration of non-military personnel is one of the have been deployed throughout the country, mostly on major differences between the American effort and those small Forward Operating Bases located in provincial cap- of our allies. While other nations also assign civilians to itals. The U.S.-led teams combine civilian and military their PRTs, the two sides often operate in virtual isolation personnel who focus on governance, development and from each other. In some non-U.S. PRTs, the relation- security. ship between them borders on hostility. In contrast, vis-

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itors to both our PRTs and our brigades are struck by the the military and other donors, while reflecting the prior- strong and positive working relationships that exist ities of the Afghan government. As the lead for develop- among the Americans, regardless of agency. U.S. civil- ment, the USAID officer works closely with military and ians who are assigned to non-U.S. PRTs work hard, with civilian counterparts to shape PRT efforts based on varying degrees of success, to replicate such relationships proven best practices. with their lead-nation hosts. The fluid situation on the ground, however, makes it hard for civilian PRT officers to know with any certainty The Civilian Component how their day will unfold. Positive things, such as inau- Civilian personnel are assigned to PRTs to provide gurations of development projects or meetings with trib- crucial skill sets that the military lacks. These include al leaders, are somewhat predictable. Negative occur- political reporting, cultural awareness, an understanding rences are the wild cards: tribes may clash over land, of civilian governmental structures and a background in insurgents may set off a bomb, the governor may clash development. State Department personnel can be with his provincial council chief, or rains may trigger broadly defined as political officers, although on any flooding. given day they may be involved in public diplomacy or in One thing is certain, however: most of our officers get economic, political-military or consular issues; or they outside of their Forward Operating Bases on a daily basis. may be engaged in work that falls outside of any defined They interact with the governor (who is appointed by category. USAID and USDA personnel serve as catalysts President Hamid Karzai), the popularly elected for development activities, ensuring that programs are Provincial Council, tribal elders, religious leaders and integrated and coordinated with reconstruction efforts of others. They also interact with communities to identify

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development and governance priorities, and monitor the through changes in focus, planning and training. An many U.S.-sponsored development activities in their important step occurred earlier this year when the province. embassy’s State PRT office was given the interagency Our officers are uniquely effective. Unlike in Iraq — lead for local governance, a key element in our effort to where the PRTs have large civilian contingents, including connect the Afghan people to their government. This contractors as well as civilians from other agencies — in transformed the office from an operational shop into a Afghanistan personnel from the Foreign and Civil Service policy section. The embassy’s hard-working political sec- are the only nonmilitary representatives at their PRTs. As tion is primarily focused on issues of national governance. such, they wield great responsibility, often at reasonably The PRT section, which directly controls the officers junior ranks. Among the few civilians assigned to remote deployed to the provinces, is able to reach much deeper Forward Operating Bases, each provides a value far in into the local level, developing an expertise that is diffi- excess of what could be expected from one person. In one cult for a Kabul-based officer to master. case we received information that a particular terrorist Innovative work is also taking place in terms of our group was so concerned over the impact that one officer counterinsurgency effort in Afghanistan. USAID staff was having that they issued orders to kill the individual (in working with U.S. forces are successfully integrating response, we took appropriate steps). development interventions into combat planning and Our opponents are right to be afraid. By openly and operations, which is helping achieve greater success for persuasively engaging tribal leaders, we are able to con- the “clear, hold, build” counterinsurgency strategy in vince them that sending their daughters to school is a remote and insecure areas. This has had great success in good thing and that it is better that their young men build mitigating negative reactions following combat opera- roads rather than behead road builders. By their efforts, tions. Civilian advisers follow the forces, assisting to our people are at once helping Afghanistan and counter- repair damage and implementing quick-impact projects ing the insurgency. that make an immediate and measurable difference in While military personnel do engage in these tasks, the lives of local residents. Examples include “micro- they recognize the expertise that civilians bring — and hydro” projects, small hydroelectric facilities that can want more. Last fall, we began examining how to bolster bring power to a village for the first time in its history. the civilian presence at our PRTs. Some argued for a Such seemingly small steps can make the difference in replication of the model that has proven successful in determining whether a village supports the insurgents or Iraq, where the PRTs have a robust civilian presence. turns toward the government. This approach was rejected, however, primarily because We are also making strides in preparing our people for PRT bases in Afghanistan are small, so adding extra civil- working closely with the military in a foreign environ- ians would not only increase the logistical burden but ment. State’s Office of the Coordinator for Stabilization transform a compact, well-running institution into a larg- and Reconstruction and USAID’s Office of Military er, less nimble bureaucracy. Additionally, very few of the Affairs have broken new ground as they work to refine Afghanistan PRTs are based at or near major military the three-week training course for incoming civilian PRT facilities. In any case, there simply aren’t the spare bod- staff. The course, conducted at Ft. Bragg, brings togeth- ies to go around. er the military and civilian elements of each team. Additionally, we have focused on promoting continu- “PRT Plus” ity, to ensure that we do not repeat the Vietnam-era syn- Instead, it was decided that the same effect could be drome of fighting a series of “one-year wars.” The first achieved by adding State and USAID personnel to the step was taken when the State PRT offices became inter- embassy and to the brigades that oversee the PRTs. agency lead for local governance. Our next effort After some interagency polishing locally, Embassy involved the dispatch of S/CRS teams to each of the U.S.- Kabul’s “PRT Plus” concept was approved by Washing- led PRTs. These teams drew on proven private-sector ton and will be funded through a supplemental to be strategic planning instruments, already used extensively implemented as soon as funding is available. by the military services and intelligence community, to In addition to quantity, we also focused on quality design, test and validate an integrated planning process.

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The effort led to better civil-military integration, as well competition with Iraq for qualified applicants. as a long-term planning document that provides guid- On a practical basis, our greatest challenge is obtain- ance and continuity for new teams. ing funding for our officers. While State personnel bring Finally, while the military and civilians train together, a wealth of knowledge and experience to the table, they they do deploy on slightly different cycles. When a new bring little or no money. While our public diplomacy col- team arrives, it overlaps with the existing PRT, whose mil- leagues have worked long and hard to direct grant money itary elements depart after several weeks, leaving the to our PRTs, the lack of quick-impact funds has had a sig- civilians in place for up to three months. The resulting nificant negative effect on the teams’ ability to do their overlap promotes continuity and flattens the learning jobs. We continue to examine new and innovative ways curve as new teams come into the country. to support our PRT staff. In the six years since the first PRT was stood up, the Key Challenges Remain teams have evolved from an interesting experiment into Despite our overall success, several key challenges a key component of our effort to transform Afghanistan. remain. First and foremost is staffing. Given our goal of While we have implemented a number of changes over sending all of our officers to 44 weeks of either Pashto- or the last year, we do not intend to rest on our laurels and Dari-language training, and the fact that PRTs are one- say “good enough.” Working together at the embassy, year assignments, recruiting is a year-round job. Addi- with the military and with the international community, tionally, the rigors of PRT life are such that we must be we will continue our efforts to keep our PRTs at the fore- highly selective during the hiring process. Finally, we front of civil-military cooperation in a counterinsurgency face the reality that as “the other war,” we are in constant environment. I

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NATO AND AFGHANISTAN: MADE FOR EACH OTHER?

THE AFGHANISTAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS IS PROVING TO BE A CRITICAL TEST OF NATO’S CAPACITIES.

BY WILLIAM MALEY

t first glance, NATO cally acceptable in the context of a “Global War on and Afghanistan might seem made for each other. Terror” that means different things to American and Faced with ongoing problems of insurgency despite the European observers and publics. overthrowA of the Taliban regime in November 2001, The government of President Hamid Karzai is con- Afghanistan continues to require outside assistance to fronting the need to balance the use of kinetic force bring a modicum of security to the lives of ordinary peo- against the threat of a revived nationalism that could turn ple. NATO, for its part, faces the challenge of proving the Afghan people against the U.S. and allied militaries meaningful in a post-Cold War world where its role can that were warmly welcomed when they arrived in 2001. no longer be to keep America in, Russia out and More broadly, Kabul is seeking an international ap- Germany down. So the advent of new threats was, at proach that goes beyond Afghanistan itself to recognize least in one sense, remarkably fortuitous. the impact of regional threats, especially from the east. Yet in significant respects, the Afghanistan experience The West’s failure to bite this particular bullet has left has proved a testing one for both. The need to engage Kabul deeply frustrated, although political change in in serious combat operations — mercifully avoided dur- Pakistan may be opening new opportunities for positive ing the period of the Cold War — has proved a notable action. practical challenge for NATO, exposing problems of As a result of all these factors, the Afghanistan the- political will and operational coordination. Afghanistan ater of operations is proving to be a critical test of has also brought into sharp focus the question of what NATO’s capacities in the post–Cold War world. If it is kind of leadership from the United States will be politi- ultimately seen to have failed, its future may come under increasing scrutiny. There is obviously no short- William Maley is a professor and director of the Asia- term threat to the Atlantic alliance, broadly speaking. Pacific College of Diplomacy at The Australian National But it is perhaps worth recalling that two military University in Canberra. He is the author of The alliances that were set up a generation ago as parallels Afghanistan Wars (Palgrave Macmillan, 2002) and to NATO — CENTO and SEATO — have both disap- Rescuing Afghanistan (UNSW Press, 2006). peared into the mists of time.

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Into the Breach? The Afghanistan theater tions that had earlier arisen as new NATO’s involvement in Afghan- states were inducted to lead the mis- istan was not something explicitly of operations is proving sion for six-month periods.) By then, mandated by the Bonn Agreement however, critical time had been lost. of December 2001 that sketched a to be a critical test of The need to find an on-the- pathway for Afghanistan’s “post-con- ground substitute for an expanded flict” transition. But it was naturally NATO’s capacities in ISAF was a key factor contributing assumed that the organization would to the development of the Provincial be involved, not least because of the the post–Cold War Reconstruction Team model, which solidarity with the United States that also drew on some of the experi- NATO and its members had voiced world. ences of the U.S. military in South after the 9/11 attacks. Vietnam — the Civil Operations and In Annex I to the Bonn Agree- Revolutionary Development Sup- ment, the participants sought the “assistance of the inter- port program, in particular. national community in helping the new Afghan author- The model envisaged cooperative endeavors by mili- ities in the establishment and training of new Afghan tary and civilian affairs personnel in support of the recon- security and armed forces.” They further requested the struction and peacebuilding activities of local Afghan United Nations Security Council “to consider authorizing authorities. These would run alongside the operations the early deployment to Afghanistan of a United directed at eliminating al-Qaida operatives and armed Nations–mandated force” to “assist in the maintenance of insurgents, following the “inkspot” theory of social order security for Kabul and its surrounding area.” Such a underpinning the PRT model. This implied that the ben- force “could, as appropriate, be progressively expanded efits of such activities would spread like ink on blotting to other urban centers and other areas.” The Security paper, demonstrating to wavering communities the ben- Council proceeded, through Resolution 1386 adopted on efits of throwing their support behind the new Afghan Dec. 20, 2001, to authorize the establishment of an state and its international backers. International Security Assistance Force, with a “Chapter VII” enforcement mandate to take action “to maintain or Challenges On the Ground restore international peace and security.” By early 2008, no fewer than 26 PRTs were operating Ideally, this force should have been deployed through- in different parts of Afghanistan, some under U.S. com- out the country as rapidly as possible, to consolidate the mand and others part of NATO’s deployments. On the momentum that the overthrow of the Taliban regime had ground, the teams’ operations have been shaped by both created. But this was not to be. Differences emerged the local circumstances they confront and their own between the NATO allies over the burdens to be carried. countries’ military-organizational cultures and senses of And the Bush administration — perhaps with an eye to what a mission in Afghanistan should properly involve. future operations in Iraq — was reluctant to commit the In some parts of Afghanistan — such as the relatively airlift capability required to sustain an expanded ISAF. stable Bamiyan, where New Zealand personnel comprise This came to a head in a very public way, through the the core of the local PRT — the model has worked well. publication in the Washington Post on March 20, 2002, of In other areas, however, the picture has been much more an article headlined “Peacekeepers Won’t Go Beyond blurred. In Kandahar, for example, Canadian forces have Kabul, Cheney Says.” suffered significant casualties at the hands of a neo- This effectively killed off the idea of ISAF expansion Taliban insurgency, well beyond the casualty levels that in the short run, although alarmed observers continued the Canadian public had been led to expect. This and the to press for it to happen. Not until Oct. 13, 2003, with similar experiences of the British in Helmand have raised Security Council Resolution 1510, did the ISAF receive doubts about the viability of pursuing reconstruction in a wider mandate — two months after NATO had formal- an environment in which ambient security is absent. And ly assumed authority for the ISAF mission. (The shift to in an organizational sense, problems have arisen around NATO leadership was designed to overcome the disloca- such mundane matters as personnel rotation and loss of

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institutional memory, as well as the The ongoing Through Afghans’ Eyes question of how well “quick-impact NATO’s involvement is controver- projects” fit into the framework of the insurgency in sial not only in Europe, but in Afghan National Development Strat- Afghanistan as well. Civilian casual- egy of 2006 and the broader Millen- southern Afghanistan ties are one key problem. The arrival nium Developments Goals. of international forces was celebrated The ongoing insurgency in south- has taxed the will in Afghanistan, where the Taliban ern Afghanistan has taxed the will of a remain deeply unloved. But any for- number of NATO members. This is of a number of eign force can outstay its welcome if it especially the case in parliamentary loses sight of the local population and systems where force deployments NATO members. its needs. Here, the problem of “col- may enjoy the support of, at best, a lateral damage” is extremely serious. fickle and fragile majority. Some of Every civilian casualty has the poten- this opposition amounts to no more than knee-jerk anti- tial to create new enemies, and great care needs to be Americanism, but in other cases it reflects a genuine con- taken to avoid them if at all possible. viction that military force cannot resolve the problems of Another weighty problem relates to the cultivation of Afghanistan. Others believe that the war is unwinnable opium poppies, an industry in which over two million because Afghan nationalism will always lead to successful Afghans are now entangled, many as poor wage-labor- popular mobilization against foreign forces. These con- ers. For the wider world, the temptation to deal with victions may be ill-grounded, but they are nonetheless this problem through simple eradication may be consid- part of the political environment with which the U.S. and erable. But fear that this will happen is becoming a its NATO allies must deal. major recruiting tool for the Taliban, probably of The conflict in Iraq has complicated this problem. greater significance to their insurgency than the cash Deeply unpopular with European publics, it has the that they may be able to derive from the drug trade. potential to drain support from the Afghan theater of The issue of eradication has also become a point of operations, as well. In July 2007, White House Homeland friction between various NATO members and the gov- Security Adviser Frances F. Townsend described the ernment of Afghanistan. To some, the opium poppy is struggles in Iraq and Afghanistan as “clearly a single con- a curse which helps fund Taliban operations and should flict by a single determined enemy who is looking for safe be eliminated with maximum expedition. To the Kabul haven.” To European publics this is not a claim calculat- government, this is profoundly naïve, given the number ed to boost support for operations in Afghanistan; the of poor Afghans who are dependent on some income most recent Transatlantic Trends survey, conducted by from opium in order to eke out a meager living, and for the German Marshall Fund of the United States in 2007, whom “alternative livelihoods policies” remain a remote found that only 30 percent of European respondents sup- chimera. What has been largely lost in the dust sur- ported combat operations against the Taliban in rounding this dispute is the complexity of the narcotics Afghanistan. A delinking of the two situations would help problem in Afghanistan, which is underpinned by to make the case for sustaining the commitment more diverse incentive structures, has multiple local variants, marketable. and is also significantly transnational in character. In a Feb. 8 interview, Secretary of Defense Robert Dwarfing these issues, however, is the threat posed Gates offered a nuanced defence of involvement in Af- by the Taliban’s external sanctuaries. As a threat to ghanistan, noting that lingering anger in Europe over the Afghanistan’s stability, this is vastly more serious than U.S. invasion of Iraq explained why some allies were reluc- the occasional cache of arms of Iranian origin. In tant to heed U.S. calls for more combat troops in Afghani- August 2007, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf stan. It remains, however, to be seen how much the allies made a very candid statement about this problem while will deliver in response to the call for greater assistance to addressing a so-called “Peace Jirga” in Kabul: “There is Afghanistan that was contained in the declaration of no doubt Afghan militants are supported from Pakistani NATO members at the April 2008 Bucharest Summit. soil. The problem that you have in your region is

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because support is provided from our Here, the problem of Mosque” crisis in Islamabad in July side.” 2007 demonstrated that the Pakistan Much speculation has surrounded “collateral damage” military can effectively concentrate the question of whether Pakistan’s its fire on such targets if it chooses to Inter Services Intelligence direc- is extremely serious. do so. torate has directly orchestrated or As long as NATO states seem passively tolerated such militant activ- unwilling to take a strong stand in the ity. But in a real sense this misses the point. As a sover- light of Pres. Musharraf’s admission, a shadow will hover eign state Pakistan has rights, but it also has responsibil- over the seriousness of their commitment to Afghani- ities, and one of these duties is to prevent its territory stan. from being used in this way. Closing the border with Afghanistan is not an effective means to this end, but The Reality Test moving vigorously against key Afghan Taliban cells NATO’s battle in Afghanistan is not just a struggle inside Pakistan would be. against gangs of Taliban fighters. It is a battle for the Few observers with any knowledge of Pakistan doubt confidence of the Afghan people. And the blunt reality Islamabad’s ability to deal with this problem — if pre- is that Afghans’ experience of the wider world in recent sented in a serious and sustained fashion with the right decades has not been encouraging. incentives to do so. The key sanctuaries for the Afghan After the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan Taliban leaders are in the city of Quetta rather than the in February 1989 interest in the Afghans and their prob- remote and inaccessible tribal areas; and the “Red lems dwindled substantially in the West, facilitating the

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rise of the Taliban. This has been bril- The issue of poppy Here, they are following a funda- liantly documented by two Pulitzer mental lesson set out more than 20 Prize–winning writers: New Ameri- eradication has also years ago in a very different context by ca Foundation president and New a great American. In 1986, the Nobel Yorker staff writer Steve Coll and become a point of Prize-winning physicist Richard P. McClatchy newspapers’ foreign edi- Feynmann was appointed to the com- tor Roy Gutman, among others. friction between various mission that investigated the Jan. 28, It is thus quite rational for Afghans 1986, loss of the Challenger space to be skeptical about the depth of NATO members and the shuttle. His minority report made Western commitment to their con- powerful reading when it was pub- cerns — as opposed to Western inter- government of lished, and its conclusion speaks to est in dealing with the threat from al- issues well beyond the realms of Qaida. And as long as they remain Afghanistan. physics and engineering. “For a suc- doubtful, they will not throw their cessful technology,” he wrote, “reality support fully behind Afghanistan’s must take precedence over public transformation. It is therefore very important that NATO relations, for nature cannot be fooled.” members signal, by both word and deed, that there will be The Afghans cannot be fooled, either. NATO’s abili- no going back to the past. While NATO’s April 3, 2008, ty to match their needs with realistic responses will be an Bucharest Summit Declaration used the right words, accurate measure of that institution’s value in the Afghans will judge NATO mainly by its deeds. post–Cold War world. I

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THE PAKISTAN PIECE OF THE PUZZLE

AFGHANISTAN’S CONTENTIOUS RELATIONSHIP WITH ITS NEXT-DOOR NEIGHBOR IS A CRITICAL ELEMENT IN ITS CONTINUING TROUBLES.

BY FREDERIC GRARE

lmost seven years after 2004 presidential elections in the Afghan refugee camps, 9/11 and the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, the role of as well as the September 2005 parliamentary vote. Pakistan in the imbroglio remains murky. Relations Relations began deteriorating again in late 2005 with betweenA Afghanistan and Pakistan have been largely the resurgence of the Taliban in the Afghan provinces antagonistic since Pakistan gained independence in 1947 bordering Pakistan. In March 2006, the two countries’ — with the exception of the five years of Taliban rule presidents, Hamid Karzai and Pervez Musharraf, traded between 1996 and 2001. accusations of interference in each country’s affairs. The In 2001, the U.S. demanded that Pakistan renounce antagonism reached a new peak in May 2007, when the Taliban, whose rise to power was facilitated by Afghan demolition of a fence erected by Pakistan on the Islamabad, and refrain from installing Afghan leaders of border as a result of American pressure prompted a its own in Kabul. Convinced, however, that the American series of clashes in which more than 50 Afghan civilians presence in the region would not last, Pakistan embarked and officers were killed. During the past year, relations on a dual-track policy — providing sanctuary to the rem- have improved somewhat but remain tense. nants of the Taliban on one side of the border, while offi- Normalization of the Pakistan-Afghanistan relation- cially supporting the transitional Afghan government on ship is an essential element in bringing about a stable and the other. developing Afghanistan. To understand how that might Until 2005, Islamabad refrained from any serious be possible, it is necessary to look closely at Islamabad’s interference, helping in the organization of the October policy toward Afghanistan and what shapes it.

Frederic Grare is a visiting scholar at the Carnegie En- Threat Perceptions dowment for International Peace, where he leads a project The row over the countries’ border is a paradox: Kabul assessing U.S. and European policies toward Pakistan. A constantly accuses Islamabad of violating a border that leading expert and writer on South Asia, security issues, Kabul itself does not recognize. Indeed, this dispute is at Islamist movements and sectarian conflict in Pakistan and the core of the complex and unstable bilateral relation- Afghanistan, he edited the volume, India, China, Russia: ship. Imposed by British colonialists in 1893 after two Intricacies of an Asian Triangle (India Research Press, 2005). wars to conquer the Afghans produced a stalemate, the

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Durand Line broke the region’s dominant Pashtun ethnic Islamabad and New Delhi soon began trading accusa- group in two, creating a Pashtun-majority Afghanistan and tions of sabotage and terrorism. Pakistan, in particular, assigning a large portion of the Pashtun-populated areas accused India of fomenting trouble in Waziristan and to what was then British India. Baluchistan from its consulates placed along the border Kabul refuses to recognize such a border and maintains and of placing troops in Afghanistan. As late as July 2006, a longstanding claim to the Pashtun territories within fully five years after the formation of the International Pakistan (the North West Frontier Province, the Federally Security Assistance Force, the Pakistani press was still Administered Tribal Areas and parts of Baluchistan). speaking of “unconfirmed reports” that New Delhi was Islamabad, for its part, denounces Afghan claims as unac- ready to send troops to join the peacekeeping effort in ceptable: not only would they deprive Pakistan of part of its Afghanistan at the request of the U.S., NATO and the territory, but could also open a Pandora’s box of competing European Union. ethnic identities and nationalisms. If the rhetoric about the Indian consulates in This so-called “Pashtunistan issue” becomes even Afghanistan and their supposed role in covert destabiliza- more crucial for Islamabad when seen within the context tion operations in Pakistan has diminished, the mistrust of the larger South Asian security complex, in particular between the two countries persists. Given Islamabad’s Pakistan-India relations. Since partition of the subconti- continued refusal to grant India the transit rights that nent in 1947, the disputed Kashmir border has been the would allow Afghanistan to benefit from trade and assis- source of three wars and nearly uninterrupted tension tance from India, it is reasonable to assume that Pakistan between Pakistan and its larger neighbor. The perceived is not ready to accept an Indian presence on both its west- threat from India has been an important driver of ern and eastern borders. Pakistan’s policy toward Afghanistan. New Delhi enjoyed good relations with all Afghan gov- The U.S. Factor ernments, irrespective of their political affiliations, from Ironically, the continuation of a U.S. role and, more 1947 until the fall of the Burhanuddin Rabbani govern- generally, an international presence in Afghanistan is a ment in September 1996. In light of this, from 1947 to major Pakistani objective. And this helps explain Islama- 1979 Pakistan was essentially on the defensive, and rela- bad’s continued support of the Taliban. Because it was tions between Islamabad and Kabul experienced several never able to secure automatic American protection in severe crises. Diplomatic relations were even severed for case of a conflict with India and is, moreover, convinced a brief period, and were resumed only when the shah of that the U.S. will leave Afghanistan as soon as the situation Iran mediated a rapprochement. allows, Pakistan has to preserve its status as a front-line In 1979, however, the Soviet invasion provided state for as long as possible, while at the same time mini- Islamabad with an opportunity to reverse Afghan claims to mizing the risks inherent in such a situation. the Pashtun territories inside Pakistan and, with the sup- Perpetuation of a low-intensity conflict in Afghanistan, port of the international community, try to install a more coupled with maintenance of indigenous Pakistani terror- friendly government in Kabul. Thus, as part and parcel of ist organizations with an international reach, gives the jihad against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, Islamabad long-term bargaining power with the U.S. and began Islamabad’s use of the border region for asymmetric its allies. As long as American and NATO forces are pre- warfare, the preference given to the Pashtun resistance sent in Afghanistan, no regional power, in particular India, groups and later, in the vacuum left after the Soviets’ 1989 can develop a significant influence in the country. This is defeat, Pakistan’s support to the Taliban. not Pakistan’s sole motivation; nor does it make Islamabad In 1996, when the Taliban assumed power in Kabul, the only party responsible for the current impasse in and India declined to recognize the new government, Afghanistan. It is, nevertheless, an obvious consequence Delhi’s influence was marginalized. But after the Taliban’s of Pakistan’s involvement in Afghan affairs and part of overthrow in 2001 and India’s return to the Afghan scene, Islamabad’s strategic calculations in the region. Pakistan began to fear that New Delhi’s renewed pres- Washington’s attempts to promote confidence-building ence would reactivate the Afghan claim to “Greater measures between Pakistan and Afghanistan — in partic- Pashtunistan.” ular, the Tripartite Commission, composed of senior mili-

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tary and diplomatic representatives from Afghanistan, organization, it has regrouped existing local militant for- Pakistan and coalition forces in Afghanistan — have con- mations covering a vast geographic area, including all of tributed effectively to soothing the tensions. They do not, the FATA’s seven tribal agencies and a number of districts however, suppress the fundamental security dilemma in the settled areas of the NWFP. Today the TTP is said Pakistan faces in its relations with its weaker neighbor. to have some 5,000 combatants, although it remains diffi- At the same time, it would be a mistake to treat cult to assess its real strength. Local youth sometimes join Pakistan’s current support to the Taliban as a simple replay the militants as a way of earning a living or enhancing their of the 1990s. Although its objectives are evolving along social importance and power, according to reports by the with the Afghan situation itself, Islamabad is no longer try- International Crisis Group. ing to take control of its neighbor through its Afghan Current estimates of the insurgents’ strength are proxy. Rather, it is trying at once to pressure the current sharply higher than those of a year earlier. In December government in Kabul, ensure a robust American and 2006, the ICG estimated the total number of militants in international presence, and prepare for a post-U.S. the FATA at about 1,100: 100 hardened foreign fanatics Afghanistan. In such a context, the Taliban remains a use- and 1,000 local accomplices. There were 25 to 35 local ful instrument that Islamabad can manipulate at will and militant groups in North and South Waziristan. The phe- is unlikely to give up. nomenon clearly took a new turn in 2007, with the net- working of the many small militant groups operating in The Pakistani Taliban the FATA, who were, in turn, soon joined by many other A new phenomenon, the emergence of a Taliban extremist groups banned in Pakistan. movement in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Because the October 2005 Pakistan earthquake Pakistan, raises a series of new questions. It is not clear exposed their training camps, militants belonging to orga- whether the movement is sui generis or the result of nizations of national importance such as the Jaish-e- Pakistan’s own involvement in Afghan affairs. Many Mohammad or the Lashkar-e-Toiba, heavily trained in observers describe the Pakistani movement as a simple guerilla operations by the Pakistani military for operations extension of its Afghan counterpart and see its emergence in Kashmir, also found their way to the FATA. Displaced in Pakistan as evidence of a fundamentalist push in the by the ISI and relocated to the FATA and NWFP, where region that threatens an already fragile Pakistani polity they were supposed to be less visible, they escaped the and, with it, the stability of the entire region. control of their sponsors and soon found themselves fight- The Pakistani Taliban arose in a gradual process made ing the Pakistani military. possible by the oscillation between military operations and “peace agreements” in the area from 2004 to 2006. One Taliban, or Two? The former provided the Taliban and their al-Qaida allies The TTP’s link with the organization of Taliban with local support that would have been more difficult to Supreme Leader Mullah Omar in Afghanistan is unclear. mobilize otherwise; the latter gave them the opportunity The decrease in the number of attacks against NATO to reorganize and extend their networks. forces in Afghanistan since 2007 is sometimes attributed One group, the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, deserves to the TTP engagement in Pakistan, as if the guerrillas on particular attention, not merely because it was held the two sides of the border were one movement. But this responsible by the Pakistani government for the Decem- does not constitute evidence of any unity of command. ber 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir The organizations that comprise the TTP certainly Bhutto (although its leader, Baitullah Mehsud, denied any support and are inspired by the Afghan Taliban. Former responsibility). More importantly, this organization now commanders such as the late Nek Mohammad and seems to control the entire Taliban movement in Pakistan. Abdullah Mehsud participated in the jihad against the The TTP’s main objectives are to enforce Sharia (Islamic Soviets, and later resisted the Northern Alliance. Yet law), unite against NATO forces in Afghanistan and per- organizational links were always thin and remain limited form defensive jihad against the Pakistan army. today. This is not to dispute the claim, articulated by Although its name was not new, the group surfaced in Harvard’s Hassan Abbas in the January CTC Sentinel, the its present form last December. Essentially an umbrella online monthly of West Point’s Combating Terrorism

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Center, that the TTP is bound to refocus on Afghanistan They will, however, be constrained on two sides. Peace “if and when its position strengthens in the FATA and the has been understood by the electorate as a rejection of NWFP.” Musharraf and his allies’ strategies. But the U.S. is unlike- The real question is whether the ongoing insurgency in ly to accept any deals like those made by the Pakistani Pakistan will convince its military and intelligence author- president between 2004 and 2006, which led to the con- ities to renounce their support for the Taliban in solidation and strengthening of the Taliban in the FATA. Afghanistan. The militants have now clearly turned to Eliminating al-Qaida and its allies remains an American attacks against domestic military organizations. As Abbas priority, so the new Pakistani government risks facing con- notes, “of the 56 suicide bombings in Pakistan in 2007, 36 siderable pressure from Washington if its policies fail to were against military related targets, including two against deliver on this front. the ISI; two against the army headquarters in Rawalpindi; The second difficulty will be related to the evolution of one aimed at the air force in Sargodha; and one directed civil-military relations in Pakistan itself. Although the pre- at the facility of the Special Service Group in Tarbela.” Yet sent chief of army staff, General Pervez Kiyani, observed Pakistan seems to be still supporting the Quetta Shura — a surprising neutrality in the February elections — indi- the Afghan Taliban’s most important leadership council, cating an interest in restoring the military’s public image headed by Mullah Omar — as well as its traditional pro- and professionalism — it remains unclear whether he is tégés such as the Haqqani family (Jallaluddin and his son ready to accept a more decisive role in the definition of Sirajuddin) and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Pakistan’s national interest and the formulation of its secu- Mullah Omar himself has highlighted divergences rity policies. More specifically, though he seems willing to between the two movements, saying that the struggle was combat terrorism on Pakistan’s soil, it remains unclear in Afghanistan, not in Pakistan. Though partially overlap- whether he will also be willing to stop Islamabad’s support ping, the two insurgencies are clearly going in different for the Taliban in Afghanistan, which he previously orches- directions: one is targeting Pakistan or, more precisely, trated as director general of the ISI. army units suspected to have been involved in the July In short, there is a total asymmetry of priorities among 2007 assault against the militants who had found refuge in the three main actors on the Pakistani side of the equation. the Red Mosque in Islamabad; the other is targeting The political parties want a normalization of relations with Afghanistan. There is every reason to believe that if elim- Afghanistan, are willing to bring peace to the area and, inating the former has at last become a priority for the reflecting the views of the electorate, do not necessarily Pakistani military, the latter is still considered legitimate see the fight against al-Qaida as a priority. For the U.S., by and worth supporting. contrast, eliminating that group prevails over every other consideration. Despite official rhetoric, even stability in Potential Impact of the Pakistani Elections Afghanistan is secondary to this primary focus; or, more In this context, the results of the March Pakistani elec- precisely, stability in Afghanistan is important only to the tions could have a significant impact. They brought to extent that it is a precondition to preclude its becoming power the Pakistan People’s Party in Islamabad and the again a sanctuary for al-Qaida. Finally, the Pakistan Army Awami National Party in the NWFP, a Pashtun-majority wants a degree of normalization with Afghanistan, but is province bordering Afghanistan. Both organizations were not necessarily ready to renounce the means of pressure cooperating even before the elections to bring about a pos- on the Afghan government that the Taliban constitutes. It itive change in relations between the two countries. The also sees the fight against al-Qaida essentially as a means late former Pakistan prime minister and PPP chief to buy Western good will. Benazir Bhutto had met Pres. Karzai only a few hours The outcome will depend on the compromises reached before she was murdered; and ANP leader Afsandyar Wali among these three actors. The various statements by the Khan maintains excellent relationships with the Af- new Pakistani government announcing that the border ghan leadership. Most mainstream political parties, fight against the Taliban will continue certainly reflect a including the PPP and the ANP, focused their electoral realization that there is no going back as far as the Pakistani campaign on the maintenance of peace and gained a clear Taliban is concerned. But that is not an indication that popular mandate on that basis. Pakistan will change its strategy in Afghanistan itself.

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F OCUS

Heading toward Normalization? stani Pashtun minority against Islamabad. Normalization A complete normalization of relations between of relations with Afghanistan will therefore be a bilateral Afghanistan and Pakistan will necessarily require a com- process, but one that is highly dependent on a complete plex set of compromises as well as deeper structural normalization of Islamabad’s relations with India. changes. The first priority is obviously to lessen tensions The U.S. should expect to play no more than a facili- between the two countries. Relations have im- tating role, helping to diminish Pakistani anxieties by proved since 2007, but are still far from healthy. using its influence with both Afghanistan and India. The Mutual recognition of the current border between the Bush administration’s controversial 2005 decision to help two countries, requested by Islamabad but refused by Pakistan modernize its army, expressed in U.S. willingness Kabul, is probably impossible in the short term because it to sell F-16 fighter planes to Islamabad, could also be used is unacceptable to the Afghan Pashtun population. to induce it to adopt a more conciliatory attitude toward However, should the Afghan government be politically Afghanistan. strengthened, it could then explore the feasibility of a “soft Such assistance, however, must be conditional. Before border” between the two countries, where people on both the sale of F-16s, Pakistan must clearly renounce all ties to sides could move freely as they have done historically. the Taliban and their allies, and hand over the leadership Ultimately, Pakistan will have to be given the security of the Taliban and al-Qaida in order to prove its good faith. guarantees that it has been seeking since its independence The modernization of its army could be the reward, but it in 1947; in particular, the assurance that Afghani- cannot be a prerequisite. stan will never enter an alliance with India directed Throughout this process, the sequencing will be as against Pakistan, nor try to mobilize the substantial Paki- important as the content of any potential agreement. I

JULY-AUGUST 2008/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 45

FS HERITAGE “GRACE UNDER PRESSURE:” JOHN PATON DAVIES

TWO THREATS A DECADE APART — ONE PHYSICAL, THE OTHER POLITICAL — SEVERELY TESTED CHINA HAND JOHN DAVIES.

BY BOB RACKMALES

n Sept. 7, 1948, Secretary of State ty of an agent from the Office of Strategic Services (precur- George C. Marshall awarded the sor to the CIA) to complete the jump without breaking the Medal of Freedom to John Paton bottle of gin he was carrying. Davies Jr., a 40-year-old Foreign Fortunately for historians, Sevareid’s autobiography, Not Service officer who had joined his So Wild a Dream (Knopf, 1946), contains an entire 50-page friend George Kennan on State’s Policy chapter about the events that occurred between Aug. 2, Planning Staff one year earlier. The 1943, the day of the crash, and Aug. 23, when the survivors medal’s citation noted that it was being awarded for “excep- stumbled into the Indian border town of Mokokchung. His Otional and meritorious service in China and India from account of the dangers the group faced and Davies’ key role March 1942 until December 1944.” in helping them survive is valuable evidence of the extreme One episode from August 1943 was singled out for special risks of service in Asia during World War II. More impor- mention: “The passengers on the plane in which he was fly- tantly, this episode would make Sevareid a compelling wit- ing en route from India to China were forced to bail out in ness for the defense in the 1950s, when politically inspired territory inhabited only by savages. Mr. Davies’ resourceful- accusations against Davies’ loyalty shifted to attacks on his ness and leadership were in large measure responsible for character and suitability as a Foreign Service officer. the eventual rescue of the party. His conduct during this period was in the highest traditions of the Service.” Davies and Stilwell In his autobiography, Dragon by the Tail (Norton, 1972), Born in China in 1908 to missionary parents, John Davies Davies devotes only a brief paragraph to the three-week (he rarely used his middle name and was called Jack by his ordeal that he endured, along with 18 others, including CBS friends) entered the Foreign Service via examination in 1931. correspondent Eric Sevareid, following the crash of their Following two brief consular assignments in Windsor, C-46 aircraft in a remote area on the India-Burma border. Ontario, and Kunming, China (which, coincidentally, would Written with his characteristic nonchalance about physical be the destination of his ill-fated flight a decade later), Davies danger, Davies mainly expresses his admiration for the abili- arrived in Peking (now Beijing) in September 1933 to begin two years of Chinese-language training. Near the end of his Bob Rackmales’ 32-year Foreign Service career (1963-1995) stay there, he met the new military attaché, “a skinny little included assignments in Lagos, Zagreb, Mogadishu, Trieste, colonel” named Joseph Stilwell, whose knowledge of China Rome, Kaduna, Belgrade and Washington, D.C. A member (he had served there in the 1920s under George C. Marshall) of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations and “cheerfully sardonic attitude” impressed the similarly and the Board of Directors of the Camden Conference on inclined Davies. Foreign Relations, he teaches courses on U.S. diplomatic his- Between the fall of 1935 and May 1938, Davies served as tory at Belfast (Maine) Senior College. vice consul in Mukden (now Shenyang), Manchuria, an

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assignment he had requested despite its being “a wretched Fortuitously, three weeks later he had dinner with Stilwell, place, with the Chinese cowering under Japanese occupation now a major general, who had been selected to command the and the Japanese corrupted by conquest.” His next post, invasion of North Africa. Eager to be as close to the action Hankow (now Wuhan), was at that time the temporary loca- as possible, and to work for someone whom he respected, tion of the U.S. embassy in China. Davies suggested the possibility of joining Stilwell as an There, Stilwell and several other military officers were fre- adviser. The idea was clearly to the general’s liking, even quent dinner guests at Davies’ spacious apartment. more so when his assignment was suddenly shifted, to his However, the largest contingent at his regret, to the command of a new China- gatherings were journalists, a group to Burma-India theater. With Davies, which Davies, who had initially aspired General Joseph Stilwell’s Stilwell acquired the services not only of to be a reporter, felt particularly drawn. a friend, but of an officer whose on-the- When the embassy moved on to the new knowledge of China and ground experience on both sides of the Chinese capital at Chungking (now war in China exceeded that of anyone in Chongqing) a few months later, Davies “cheerfully sardonic U.S. government service. stayed behind, under conditions of con- siderable danger, to protect U.S. inter- attitude” impressed the Dropping in on the Nagas ests under the new Japanese occupation. As Stilwell’s political adviser, Davies After nearly a decade in the Foreign similarly inclined Davies. divided his time between two headquar- Service, Davies began his first assign- ters: New Delhi, where the China- ment in Washington on the China desk Burma-India theater command was in October 1940. It quickly struck him that working in the located, and the Chinese capital at Chungking, where State Department at that time had decided drawbacks. First, Stilwell served as chief of staff to Chiang Kai-shek. While Davies’ supervisors did not inspire respect (one “possessed Chungking was subject to Japanese air raids and health con- the virtues of a model head clerk,” the other was “not much ditions were extremely poor, by far the most dangerous part more than a vigorous pedant”). Second, he was put off by the of the job was the airborne commute over the Himalayas via parochialism he encountered in the department. Arabists the “Hump.” With the Japanese having cut the Burma Road looked down on Asian specialists, while European specialists in March 1942, this was the only option to get supplies, and looked down on everybody else; within the Far Eastern often passengers, to allied forces in China. Division, Japan hands and China hands viewed each other Tellingly, the Air Force deemed the route “the most dan- with mutual suspicion. Third, and most importantly, the gerous ever assigned to air transport.” During the second White House’s lack of regard for the department had made it half of 1943 alone there were 155 crashes, a rate of nearly one a backwater, to the point where Davies found working there a day. The risks came less from enemy air action than from “stupefying.” a combination of rugged terrain, extreme altitude, unpre- A fourth drawback, of which Davies was unaware at the dictable weather and severe shortages of spare parts and time, was the risk of inadvertent exposure to Soviet agents. experienced, properly trained crews. Passengers were under One of his colleagues in the Far Eastern Division was a no illusions regarding their safety. In his autobiography, “tweedy young man” named Alger Hiss, who, perhaps fortu- Sevareid recalls thinking to himself shortly before boarding: nately for Davies, “did not invite familiarity.” His job also “If I had any real moral courage, I would refuse to get involved contacts with Lauchlin Currie, a White House spe- aboard.” cial assistant whom Roosevelt had put in charge of Lend At about 8 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 2, 1943, the C-46 (a DC- Lease for China. Currie was first accused of Soviet ties in 3 in civilian life) carrying 14 U.S. military personnel, two 1945, and KGB records released in the 1990s confirmed that Chinese officers and four U.S. civilians, including Davies and he was indeed in close touch with Soviet agents, though Sevareid, took off from its base in Chabua, India. About one whether he himself became an agent is a matter of dispute. hour into the flight, while the plane was over the Patkai Finally, in a bizarre coincidence, Duncan Lee, executive Mountains, a young corporal (“grinning broadly”) informed assistant to OSS chief William Donovan and perhaps the Sevareid that the plane’s left engine had gone out. The pilots most highly placed Soviet agent ever in a U.S. intelligence turned back toward India, but issued no instructions to the agency, was the fellow passenger whose skill as a parachutist passengers. was noted by Davies in his autobiography. As the crew began throwing passenger bags overboard in The Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor crys- an attempt to gain altitude, Davies went to the cabin to try to tallized Davies’ dissatisfaction and intensified his desire to get information, only to return shaking his head and telling make a more direct contribution to the war effort. Sevareid, “No goddamn organization here.” As the cabin

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became increasingly chaotic, with greatly.” Summing up his view of crew members frantically donning Davies’ contribution throughout the parachutes, it was Davies who finally “If ever again I were in ordeal, Sevareid later wrote, “If ever broke “the impasse of general fear” by again I were in deep trouble, one man being the first to jump, followed deep trouble, one man I would want to be with would be this immediately by Duncan Lee and five particular man.” For Sevareid, Davies others. The disabled plane then bare- I would want to be with had defined grace under pressure. ly cleared the ridgeline constituting the Burma-India border, and the would be [Davies].” “A Vicious Line Squall” remaining passengers, including Dean Acheson used this phrase to Sevareid, jumped just in time to avoid — Eric Sevareid describe the impact of Patrick J. being trapped as it spun out of control Hurley, an Oklahoman who had (the co-pilot was the sole fatality). served as Secretary of War under The survivors now found them- Herbert Hoover. Sent by Pres. selves in one of the most remote and geon who, on learning there was an Roosevelt in August 1944 to try to dangerous regions in Asia. Only six injured member of the party, para- mediate the growing hostility between years had transpired since the first chuted in with two other volunteers. Gen. Stilwell and Chiang Kai-shek, he Western expedition had reached After seeing to the needs of the eventually sided with Chiang and was Pangsha, the Naga tribal village near injured survivors, Flickinger set up a named ambassador to China three which the survivors ultimately gath- clinic for the villagers, earning their months later, shortly after Washing- ered. (Ponyo, the village on the gratitude. He also asked Davies to ton’s decision to withdraw Stilwell. Burma side where Davies had landed, continue as the principal intermediary Acheson found it hard to conceal his had never been visited by Europeans.) with the villagers. As Sevareid later dislike of Hurley: “Trouble moved Christoph von Fuerer-Haimen- wrote, “He was the one we chose, for with him like a cloud of flies around a dorf, an Austrian anthropologist who common sense and discretion, to deal steer.” took part in that first expedition, with the touchy and dangerous Naga Although his tenure as ambassador explained the reasons why the area headhunters, our undecided hosts.” lasted only one year, Hurley managed was so little known. “The long seclu- In the absence of landing strips or to inflict enormous damage on China sion of the Naga Hills has been due to roads, walking out of the area was the policy, on the Truman administration, … the inhospitality of the country … only option, and that was especially on the Foreign Service and on the and the warlike character of the Naga hazardous in August. Speaking before careers and lives of Davies and the tribes. … Headhunting and frequent the Royal Geographical Society in other “China hands,” whose reporting wars made … traveling alone or even 1938, von Fuerer-Haimendorf noted and policy assessments provoked his in small groups … a venture little short that “Traveling in the Naga Hills dur- wrath. On Jan. 9, 1945, Hurley ac- of suicide.” Indeed, the purpose of ing the rains, which last from April to cused Davies to his face of being a the British expedition on which he had the end of September, is most communist and “roared at the top of been an observer had been punitive unpleasant and can become extremely his lungs that he was going to have him — Pangsha warriors had been among difficult when one leaves administered thrown out of the State Department” the most feared in the area (“thick territory.” Leaving Pangsha on Aug. — a bitter foretaste of the McCarthy bundles of human heads” were 18, escorted by a party of armed na- era to come. found), and the village was burned as tives led by the British deputy com- The long, sad, tangled story of the a warning. missioner of the Naga Hills, Philip inquisition Davies and the others As it turned out, during the two Adams, the survivors struggled endured over the next decade has weeks that the survivors remained in through a brutal six-day trek that taxed often been told. Readers are encour- Pangsha the villagers, despite their everyone to the limit. aged to visit the very helpful Web site reputation, were generally helpful, While Flickinger did yeoman ser- of the Association for Diplomatic even dutifully delivering the weapons vice on the medical front, Sevareid Studies and Training (www.usdiplo that were airdropped to the party as a credits Davies’ unflagging steadiness macy.org/history/service/chinahands. precaution. One factor that helped and humor with keeping up morale. php) for an excellent summary with cement relations was the arrival on the “On the toughest parts of hills … he links to other sources. The classic afternoon of the day of the crash of Lt. will do loud, very funny variations on book by New Yorker writer E.J. Kahn, Col. Donald Flickinger, a flight sur- natives’ chants, which amuses them The China Hands: America’s Foreign

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Service Officers and What Befell Them, provides a gripping account. Despite its title, James Lilley’s more With the exception of recent China Hands: Nine Decades of Adventure, Espionage, and Diplo- George Kennan and a macy in Asia ignores the Foreign Service China hands. few others, his Foreign Kahn is one of a long series of jour- nalists who have found Davies a com- Service colleagues pelling subject. He returned the favor, admitting that “on the whole, I mostly preserved an found newsmen more engaging and stimulating than most of my col- embarrassed silence. leagues.” The list of distinguished journalists who were his friends includes at least three Pulitzer Prize winners: Tuchman and other historians have Theodore H. White. Best re- made). An extended character sketch membered today for his Making of the in Chapter 18 is perhaps the most President series, White was a noted rounded portrait we have of Davies, war correspondent for Time magazine pending publication of a long-overdue in China, and became one of Davies’ full-scale biography. closest friends. His experience as a witness on Davies’ behalf before a The Response to Davies’ State Department Security Hearing Dismissal Board in 1954 was so traumatic for It took nearly a decade for him that he abandoned foreign report- Hurley’s bellowed threat to be real- ing entirely — a decision he later con- ized, but not for lack of trying: Eight fessed made him “ashamed.” separate panels would investigate and Barbara Wertheim. Better clear Davies of disloyalty. But on known under her married name, Nov. 4, 1954, Secretary of State John Barbara Tuchman, she got to know Foster Dulles announced Davies’ dis- Davies and Stilwell as a 23-year-old missal because of an alleged “lack of correspondent in China. She won judgment, discretion and reliability.” Pulitzer Prizes in history for both Four days later, an outraged Eric Stilwell and the American Experience Sevareid used his nationally syndicat- in China 1911-1945 (for which Davies ed broadcast to issue a pungent was a key source) and The Guns of rejoinder: August. She was the featured speaker “I have known a great number of at the AFSA luncheon in January men around the world, under all 1973, when the Foreign Service final- manner of circumstances. I have ly honored the China hands, “a group known none who seemed more the of Foreign Service officers … whom whole man … all that a man should history has recognized as having been be — in modesty and thoughtfulness, right.” (See sidebar, p. 50.) in resourcefulness and steady David Halberstam. In The Best strength of character. The name of and the Brightest, the late journalist this man is John Paton Davies. He is calls Davies “the best of a generation the man Secretary of State Dulles … of Asian experts” and sees the loss of has just broken on the wheel of offi- the insights he and his colleagues cial disgrace … dismissed, three could have provided as contributing to years short of retirement and pen- the U.S. failure in Vietnam (a point sion, after giving 23 years of his life

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Why Policymakers Do Not Listen By Barbara Tuchman

Editor’s Note: On Jan. 30, 1973, historian Barbara Tuchman was the keynote speaker at an AFSA luncheon honoring Jack Service and the other China hands, including John Paton Davies. Excerpts from her remarks follow; for the full text, see the March 1973 Foreign Service Journal.

hat I want to get at is a problem make policy less to fit the facts than to fit that he lived in a fantasy. perhaps more abiding, and that the notions and intentions formed out of [FSOs’] reports must also pass through Wis, why these men were not lis- the mental baggage that has accumulated a screen of psychological factors at the tened to even before they were persecuted. in their minds since childhood. When receiving end: temperament, or private The burden of their reports taken as a President McKinley had to decide whether ambitions, or the fear of not appearing whole was that Chiang Kai-shek was on the to annex the Philippines in 1898, he went masterful, or a ruler’s inner sense that his way out and the communists on the way in, down on his knees at midnight, according manhood is at stake. (This is a male prob- and that American policy, rather than cling to his own account, and “prayed to lem that, fortunately, does not trouble in paralyzed attachment to the former, Almighty God for light and guidance.” He women — which might be one advantage might be well advised to take this trend into was accordingly guided to conclude that of having a woman in high office. What- account. This was implicit in reports from “there was nothing left for us to do but to ever inner inadequacy may gnaw at a officers who had no contact with the com- take them all, and to educate the Filipinos, women’s vitals, it does not compel her to munists but were united in describing the and uplift and civilize and Christian- compensate by showing how tough she is. deterioration of the Kuomintang. It was ize them, and by God’s grace to do the very You might cite Golda Meir in objection, but made explicit by those who saw the com- best we could by them, as our fellow men one gets the impression that her tough- munists at first hand, like Service in his for whom Christ died.” ness is natural rather than neurotic, remarkable reports from Yunan, and Actually the main impulse at work was besides required by the circumstances.) Ludden, who journeyed into the interior to the pressure of the “manifest destiny” Proving his manhood was, I imagine, a observe the functioning of communist rule, school for a stepping stone across the factor pushing President Nasser of Egypt and Davies, whose ear was everywhere. Pacific, but the mental baggage of a presi- into provoking war with Israel in 1967 so They were unequivocal in judging the com- dent in the 1890s required him to act in that he could not be accused of weakness munists to be the dynamic party in the terms of Almighty God and the White or appear less militant than the Syrians. country; in Davies’ words in 1944, “China’s Man’s Burden, just as the mental fix of his One senses it as a factor in the personali- destiny was not Chiang’s but theirs.” This successors in our time has required them ties of Johnson and Nixon in regard to was not subversion as our Red-hunters to react in terms of anticommunism. withdrawing from Vietnam; there was that were to claim, but merely observation. Closer observers than Almighty God could horrid doubt: “Shall I look soft?” It was Any government that does not want to have informed McKinley that the Filipinos clearly present in Kennedy, too; on the walk open-eyed into a quagmire, leading its had no strong desire to be Christianized or other hand, it does not seem to have both- country with it, would presumably re-exam- civilized or exchange Spanish rule for ered Eisenhower, Truman or FDR. ine its choices at such a point. That, after American, but rather to gain their indepen- A classic case of man’s temperament all, is what we employ Foreign Service offi- dence. This being overlooked, we soon obscuring the evidence is brought out by cers for: to advise policymakers of actual found ourselves engaged not in civilizing John Davies in his recent book, Dragon by conditions on which to base a realistic pro- but in a cruel and bloody war of repression, the Tail. Stalin’s greatest error, he points gram. The agonizing question is, why is much to our embarrassment. Failure to out, was to underestimate Chinese com- there a persistent gap between observers take into account the nature of the other munism. “He was deceived by his own in the field and policymakers in the capital? party often has an awkward result. … cynicism. He did not think Mao could While I cannot speak from experience, I This desire not to listen to unhappy make it because, astonishingly enough, of would like to try to offer some answers as truths — “Don’t confuse me with facts” — his own too little faith in the power of a an outside assessor. is only human and widely shared by chiefs people’s war.” … In the first place, policy is formed by of state. Was not the bearer of bad news National myths are another obstacle in preconceptions, by long-implanted biases. often killed by ancient kings? Chiang Kai- the way of realism. The American instinct When information is relayed to policymak- shek’s vindictive reaction to unpleasant of activism, the “can do” myth, has lately ers they respond in terms of what is news was such that his ministers gradual- led us into evil that was not necessary and already in their heads and consequently ly ceased to bring him any, with the result has blotted the American record beyond

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FSO who was in the best position to attest not only to Davies’ character, the power of time to whiten. Stewart Alsop Eight separate panels but to his loyalty and professional made the interesting point Sunday [Jan. integrity: George Kennan. 28, 1973] in the New York Times Book would investigate and Kennan and Davies had first met Review that American presidents since in the spring of 1937, when Davies Roosevelt have disliked the State Depart- clear Davies of visited the embassy in Moscow and ment and leaned heavily on the military was invited to lunch by Kennan and because the military tend to be brisk, can- disloyalty before State his wife Anneliese. Davies later said do problem-solvers while senior Foreign of the lunch, which took place as Service officers tend to be “skeptical exam- finally dismissed him on Stalin’s show trials were occurring, iners of the difficulties”; and worried, “This was the first lesson in Russian uncertain presidents will prefer positive to Nov. 4, 1954. psychology and communist politics negative advice. You will notice that this that I was to receive from an extraor- reliance on military advice coincides with dinarily gifted colleague, teacher and the era of air power and has much to do, I friend.” think, with the enormous attraction of the — and almost life itself — in the Kennan, for his part, admired easy solution — the idea that a horrid arduous service of his government. Davies’ “broad, sophisticated and problem can be solved from the air, with- Eight times he was investigated … skeptical political understanding, out contact, without getting mixed up in a One by one the politically inspired without an ounce of pro-communist long, dirty business on the ground. … charges of communism, disloyalty or sympathies.” He was delighted to The costliest myth of our time has been perjury were dropped; the ninth board have Davies join his staff in Moscow the myth of the communist monolith. We came up with something new, called in January 1945, where he became, in now discover happily, if belatedly, that the defects of character. Mr. Davies is not, Kennan’s words, “a rock of strength.” supposed Sino-Soviet unity is, in fact, a concluded the board and Mr. Dulles, He would also be the first person bitter antagonism of two rivals wrapped in of sufficient judgment, discretion and Kennan asked to join the new Policy hate, fear and mutual suspicion. Our orig- reliability. Sufficient, one may ask, Planning Office in Washington when inal judgment never had much to do with unto what? Their test can only have it was established with Kennan as facts, but was rather a reflection of fears been of supernatural design. I saw director on April 29, 1947. The two and prejudices. Knee-jerk reactions of this their victim measured against the men worked very closely together kind are not the best guide to a useful for- most severe tests that mortal man can until Kennan’s resignation as director eign policy, which I would define as the design. Those he passed. At the head on Dec. 31, 1949. In the view of conduct of relations and exercise of influ- of the class.” Wilson Miscamble, the leading histo- ence so as best to serve an enlightened Unlike the many journalists and rian of the Policy Planning Office self-interest. editorial writers who came to Davies’ staff, Davies was an “equal partner in The question remains, what can be defense, his Foreign Service col- helping frame Kennan’s policy advice done to narrow the gap between informa- leagues mostly preserved an embar- on China, Japan and Southeast Asia.” tion from the field and policymaking at rassed silence. The department’s legal In the chapter on McCarthyism in home. First, it is essential to maintain the adviser, who was assisting Davies and the second volume of his memoirs, integrity of Foreign Service reporting, not other China hands in preparing their Kennan relates six separate interven- only for the sake of what may get through, defense, commented in disgust that tions on Davies’ behalf that he under- but to provide the basis for a change of State was a “gutless place.” To rein- took, beginning in the summer of policy when the demand becomes impera- force this quiescence, Dulles appoint- 1951, when he paid his own way back tive. Second, some means must be found to require that preconceived notions and ed Loy Henderson, a man who had from Europe to testify for Davies at emotional fixations be periodically tested “impeccable credentials with the two separate hearings. Despite being against the evidence. Perhaps legislation McCarthyites,” as under secretary for discouraged by the department from could be enacted to enforce a regular administration, to exercise only nomi- making his views public, he subse- pause for rethinking, for questioning the nal supervision over Secur- quently wrote letters to Time maga- wisdom of an accepted course of action, ity Director Scott McLeod (whose zine and the New York Times, and motto was “an ounce of security is gave a widely reported speech on the for cutting one’s losses if necessary. I worth a pound of brains”). The strik- dangers of McCarthyism at Notre ing exception to this timidity was the Dame University. As a result of these

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efforts, Kennan himself was hauled before the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee, an experience he describes as “traumatic” and “Kaf- kaesque.” Kennan was among the first fig- ures to draw attention to the dangers of the McCarthyite onslaught — not just to the targeted individuals, or to civil liberties, but to the integrity of the Foreign Service itself. His July 1955 Foreign Affairs article, “The Future of Our Professional Diplo- macy,” states in stark terms his fears for the morale and effectiveness of the career Service under a security regime he suggested had been inspired by “the totalitarians.” When Averell Harriman described the Bureau of Far Eastern Affairs, which he took over in late 1961, as “a disas- ter area filled with human wreckage,” and when John F. Kennedy called the State Department a “bowl of jelly,” they were bluntly confirming the cogency of Kennan’s analysis. In one of the great ironies of Cold War history, it fell to the prosecutor of Alger Hiss and scourge of liberals, Richard M. Nixon, to pick up the pol- icy threads that the China hands had tried to weave and finally permit the lifting of the cloud of suspicion hang- ing over their heads. Davies probably flashed one of his sardonic smiles when he learned that one of the few prestigious journalists to win a covet- ed spot on the presidential plane car- rying Nixon to his historic meeting with Mao was his old friend and defender, Eric Sevareid. Since AFSA paid tribute to the China hands a third of a century ago, their reputation has been further enhanced and that of their detractors further diminished. In 1973, many bemoaned the consequences of their loss to American diplomacy. Surely it is time now to be more positive and emphasize their enduring importance as role models for a 21st-century Foreign Service. I

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SPRING IN PRAGUE — 40 YEARS AGO

A WITNESS TO THE SHORT-LIVED CZECHOSLOVAK REFORM MOVEMENT’S TRAGIC DENOUEMENT IN AUGUST 1968 ASSESSES ITS LEGACY.

BY KENNETH N. SKOUG

y dark of night on Aug. 20, 1968, armed intolerance with which Novotny had governed the country. forces of the Soviet Union and four of its Ironically, at the climax of the party struggle — the crit- allies entered and occupied Czechoslo- ical nature of which was known to few outsiders — Leonid vakia, putting an abrupt end to the seven- Brezhnev, secretary general of the Communist Party of the month era known as the “Prague Spring.” Soviet Union, came to Prague at Novotny’s invitation. The After months of tergiversation, the dreaded Czechoslovak security service and the military Kremlin decided that Alexander Dub- stood ready to rescue Novotny by force if he gave the sig- cek’s self-styled “socialism with a human face” posed an nal. But Novotny did not get the Soviet imprimatur he Bintolerable challenge to Moscow’s vital interests and had to needed. be terminated by military force. The action-forcing event Brezhnev could have decided to leave in place a tyrant was an extraordinary Communist Party congress scheduled who had long been a faithful Soviet lackey, but instead he to begin Sept. 9, 1968, in Prague, a session the Soviets right- heeded the bilingual Dubcek and another Czechoslovak ly feared would lead to an even more progressive leader who hoped to replace Novotny. He left the matter Czechoslovak leadership. to the Czech and Slovak comrades to decide. They prompt- Dubcek, a Slovak who had grown up in the Soviet Union ly ousted Novotny in favor of Dubcek. But in mid-August and received special training there, had been elected first 1968, Brezhnev and his colleagues in the Kremlin reached secretary of the central committee of the Czechoslovak a different conclusion. Communist Party on Jan. 5, 1968. An unlikely leader in a state long dominated by Czechs, he was a compromise can- An Explosion of Spontaneity didate to resolve an internal party crisis. Dubcek was select- The explosion of spontaneity that began on Jan. 5, 1968, ed to replace dictator Antonin Novotny, who had ruled the had little to do with anything Dubcek said or wrote. It was country for nearly 20 years and was on the verge of launch- touched off by the shock felt within senior Communist ing a new and predictably harsh purge to protect himself Party ranks at how close they had come to a new purge. from his critics. The latter included the country’s brilliant They vowed at once and publicly to strive for “democracy,” intellectuals, economic reformers, students and, especially, by which they meant greater openness in party ranks, but Slovaks angry about the extreme centralism and despotic which was understood in broader terms by the nation. The other primary source was the mass media that had been Kenneth N. Skoug, a retired FSO, was the economic/com- totally docile in 1967, but that now sensed the lid was off as mercial officer in Prague from 1967 to 1969. He is the far as what could be published. author of Czechoslovakia’s Lost Fight for Freedom: An By permitting and welcoming the unforeseen and Embassy Perspective (Greenwood, 1999). unprecedented expression of public opinion, Dubcek won,

JULY-AUGUST 2008/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 53

in turn, the enthusiastic applause of friendly neighborhood communist. an appreciative population. Most of That night he was summoned to his fellow citizens came quickly to The explosion of Moscow by Brezhnev, whose bushy hail him for his own qualities — par- eyebrows were furrowed with con- ticularly his tolerance of diversity — spontaneity that began cern. Within a week, Moscow con- not just as the successor to the hated vened a Warsaw Pact meeting — Novotny. When Josef Smrkovsky, a on Jan. 5, 1968, had little without Czechoslovakia. former radical communist who had A crisis lay ahead. As early as been humanized by prison, wrote an to do with anything January 1968, our embassy had article in a leading Czechoslovak warned Washington that democracy journal urging that the truth be told, Dubcek said or wrote. would eventually run into the “lead- whatever the consequences, the ing role” of the Communist Party, the nation took him at his word. A demo- heart and soul of dictatorship. As a cratic society was re-emerging from lifelong communist, Dubcek, of the ashes. course, knew well about the leading Now newspapers that could not lic, made a warning speech to factory role; but as a tolerant man whose have been given away in 1967 began workers timed with the commemora- socialist face was full of human emo- to publish enough interesting materi- tion of the February 1948 Prague tion, he chose to interpret it in a al to make their sale swift. Television Coup, when Brezhnev, East German didactic sense. The party should began to report without the “party dictator Walter Ulbricht and other teach, edify, illuminate, admonish if spirit” of agitation-propaganda that prominent foreign communists necessary, but not just command. had been a hallmark of the commu- would be present. Our embassy was That would strengthen, not weaken, nist system. It sampled public opin- told that if the “bad guys” came back, the party, he insisted. ion — and the public agreed to speak heads would roll. Novotny would not The Russians listened. They liked up — demonstrating thereby that the be the bad guy, however, for he was their “Sasha.” But they were not buy- citizens of a country dominated for 20 driven from office in March, partially ing his argument. Public dissent and years by dictatorship knew precisely by the startling defection to the publication of unpalatable opinions what democracy meant. United States of a sybaritic military were not acceptable in socialist soci- Sixteen thousand young Czechs officer with many inside stories to ety, in their view. listened while Smrkovsky and two relate. Late spring and early summer saw other reformers responded to their Dubcek and his colleagues re- military maneuvers, followed by an questions in a six-hour marathon. placed him with a retired general offi- ominous letter from a five-power Others, including non-communists, cer, Ludvik Svoboda (whose surname meeting in Warsaw where the five asked for the formation of a new polit- meant freedom in both Czech and warned that socialism was not some- ical party or at least a share in how Russian), who had the additional thing with which Czechoslovakia was they were to be governed. Those cachet of being a hero of the USSR. free to meddle. Meanwhile Czecho- jailed by Novotny organized to press They felt such insurance was need- slovak citizens, their patriotic impuls- for redress and rehabilitation. Thou- ed because the new Czechoslovak es spurred by the outside threat, sands marched to Lany to put flowers leadership had been subjected (on called on their leadership to stand on the graves of the Masaryks and to March 26) to heavy criticism by lead- firmly by the “post-January” course. ask questions about the supposed sui- ers of other Warsaw Pact countries in Having achieved even a limited taste cide of Czechoslovak Foreign a conference in Dresden. This was of freedom, they were not ready to Minister Jan Masaryk 20 years earlier. the first whiff of August. give in. The Czechoslovak leader- University students denounced the Although chastened, Czechslovak ship, which contained covert critics of central youth organization that had leaders continued on course. Their Dubcek, was caught between domes- been a mere transmission belt for the progress reached a climax on May tic public opinion and the menace dictatorship. They organized instead Day 1968 — a day traditionally dedi- from neighboring states. to represent their own interests. cated to ideologically correct demon- strations in the socialist camp — The Tanks of August Big Brother Reacts when a grinning, waving Dubcek was Counting correctly on some high- This was not music to all ears. hailed by hundreds of thousands of level support in the Czechoslo- Novotny, still president of the repub- marching Czechs and Slovaks as their vak leadership, the Politburo struck

54 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JULY-AUGUST 2008

Counting correctly on some high-level support in the Czechoslovak leadership, the Politburo struck late on Aug. 20, 1968.

late on Aug. 20, 1968. The military aspect went almost flawlessly. Dub- cek and other top Czechoslovak lead- ers were seized before daybreak and sent on one-way trips to Ukraine. The Russians also counted on a sub- missive population. But although there was shock aplenty, there was no awe when civilians, on their way to work on the morning of Aug. 21, found themselves in an occupied country. Whatever their expecta- tions, the Soviet armed forces who invaded a peaceful country were lib- erators only in their own eyes. Czechoslovak passive resistance, abetted by mobile radio transmitters, was total and made known to the world. The crucial party congress the Russians had come to forestall was held under their noses in a Prague factory by pre-selected dele- gates who dressed as workers or arrived in ambulances dressed as doctors or nurses. The delegates swiftly elected a new and more pro- gressive central committee. Every Czech and Slovak, it seemed, was demanding the return of their kid- napped leaders. Although the Soviet hero who was president of Czechoslovakia was obliged by the national resistance to reject the quisling government pre- sented to him, he chose on his own

JULY-AUGUST 2008/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 55

authority and against the advice of nificent passive resistance of the pop- almost all his colleagues to go to ulation. Moscow to negotiate with the Krem- The reaction of Our primary obligation was to lin. He was warmly welcomed by American citizens, of course. Those Brezhnev, who used Svoboda’s pres- individuals at the top few embassy wives still in Prague, ence to convince thousands of Rus- including mine, opened the embassy sians watching their caravan come up level of the U.S. commissary to feed hungry citizens Leninskiy Prospekt in Moscow that flocking there. Many were billeted by Soviet forces had rescued socialism government to the our Marines. On Aug. 22, the em- from its enemies. bassy organized a convoy to deliver Svoboda returned to Prague on August events was not American citizens to the West Ger- Aug. 27, bringing back the kidnapped man border. Hundreds remained, leaders but also a bilateral “agree- a shining moment of however, and the Foreign Ministry ment” that was immediately recog- was unwilling or unable to help. The nized by a shocked country as total American diplomacy. airport was closed, and the main rail- capitulation. Dubcek, having con- way station occupied by Soviet troops. vinced himself that he could help stave At the request of Amb. Beam, I off the worst, became a reluctant col- placed a direct phone call later that laborator in a process known as “nor- day to a vice minister of transport with malization.” Josef Smrkovsky, now its mission of building bridges to whom I was acquainted. By luck I got chairman of the Czechoslovak Parlia- Czechoslovakia was impeded by the him on the line and asked for a special ment, told the truth to the end, argu- regime’s need to find a foreign culprit train to take out Americans and other ing for Czechoslovak national unity — for its internal problems. Even in foreigners. I thought he would in- but the Soviets saw this as a code 1968 things were not much better, as quire if I knew there was a war on. name for resistance. They isolated the largely unreformed Czechoslovak Instead, he responded affirmatively and ultimately disposed of him. Foreign Ministry — which U.S. but said the train would have to depart It nevertheless required a provoca- Ambassador Jacob Beam rightly southward from an alternate station. tion adroitly organized by the Czech termed “mischief-making” — tried to Our stalwart consular section orga- Ministry of the Interior to force the pacify Moscow by accentuating differ- nized the evacuation of those wishing resignation of Dubcek as the last sym- ences with the United States. to travel, and the train rescued hun- bol of the Prague Spring. The Czech Czechoslovakia continued to be the dreds of trapped and worried citizens security forces, in conjunction with the number-three purveyor of military and foreigners alike. KGB, took advantage of a huge patri- assistance to North Vietnam and help- Our reward came in the wee hours otic demonstration in the heart of fully organized disruptive pro- of Aug. 26, 1968, when we learned Prague in late March 1969 to smash tests around the embassy. But that the attic of the chancery — where and destroy the Aeroflot and Intourist through quiet diplomacy, the em- most of us also resided — was on fire. offices in Prague, an act to which I was bassy had nevertheless been building The Prague fire department could not an eyewitness. Dubcek was replaced bridges to economic reformers, intel- help because of a Soviet curfew pro- in April, after 15 months as first secre- lectuals and other receptive progres- hibiting any movement by night. With tary of the party, by Gustav Husak, sives. The informed population re- the leadership of a single gallant another Slovak and a self-styled realist garded us as friends. seabee and a solitary fire hose, supple- who had played a “Slovak card” to The embassy covered the invasion mented by a bucket brigade up slip- undermine the last vestiges of the on the streets of Prague from the first pery, smoke-filled stairs, we battled for Prague Spring. report that Soviet aircraft (250 of three hours in the darkness to save the them, landing audibly one minute chancery from destruction while our The Embassy apart) were transporting troops and dependents waited outside, ready to During the Crisis armor to crush the Prague Spring. We evacuate the premises if necessary. Our small embassy (10 FSOs, two were on the street well before dawn military attachés, a small CIA station, on Aug. 21, and throughout the inva- Washington, Moscow secretaries, communicators and Mar- sion, to provide the department with and Prague ine guards) had been a main target in timely first-hand reporting on what The reaction of individuals at the the gloomy second half of 1967, when was transpiring, particularly the mag- top level of the U.S. government to

56 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JULY-AUGUST 2008

the events of August was not a shining tance Cain had given Abel. Even this moment in the annals of Ameri- mild sarcasm brought a pained lament can diplomacy. Well aware by the Dobrynin conveyed from Dobrynin to Rusk. summer of 1968 that the United What did the Prague Spring achi- States could not use military force to Kosygin’s invitation eve, aside from arousing false hopes in help Czechoslovakia, the Johnson a country doomed to 20 more years of administration was anxious to deflect to a happy LBJ while dictatorship? In November 1969, any charge that we were involved in Embassy Moscow reported that the developments there. Only with reluc- quaffing champagne USSR had achieved all of its objectives tance, and to be able to respond to in Czechoslovakia at an acceptably low Republican criticism, did Secretary of on the presidential cost. Most scholars thereafter agreed. State Dean Rusk summon Soviet But the Russians paid a price for Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin on a yacht Sequoia. their shock tactics. In China, especial- single occasion to say that public opin- ly after the battle on the Ussuri River ion in the United States was “begin- in the spring of 1969 and a Soviet hint ning” to view the situation with alarm. that Chinese nuclear facilities at Lop In reality, our use of force was pre- Nor might be surgically removed, the cluded. In addition, a compelling rea- Czechoslovak experience must have son for this exaggerated restraint was allegedly extraneous matter unless the contributed to Beijing’s growing the hope of Lyndon Johnson and Soviets did so first, in which case our awareness that the Soviet threat was Rusk to conclude an ill-starred admin- representatives were to keep their not merely theoretical. This facilitated istration with a trip to Leningrad, responses brief. Richard Nixon’s strategic break- where Johnson and Soviet Premier Speaking to Dobrynin, Rusk through to China. Kosygin would promote détente and referred to Czechoslovakia as a “dead Moreover, the memory of the arms control. This would have per- fish” with which we had been slapped spring was not lost to human rights mitted Johnson to leave office as a in the face. More than once, he in- watchers in Helsinki after the Soviets peacemaker. The Soviets milked this formed third-country officials that we achieved their wish for a conference desire with their customary craft. had raised the issue in the United on security and cooperation in On the night of Aug. 19, with the Nations only because a small country Europe. Although the Brezhnev invasion about to commence, Dobry- had been attacked. We had not en- Doctrine was alive and well, memories nin, Washington’s favorite Russian, joyed good relations, he was careful to of the Czechoslovak resistance made it conveyed Kosygin’s invitation to a point out. more difficult for Moscow to contem- happy LBJ while quaffing champagne While Rusk’s caution was perhaps plate the use of force against Poland. on the presidential yacht Sequoia. understandable, it was regrettable that (The same cast of characters in When Dobrynin called at the White he was unable to recognize that the Moscow should have remembered House the next evening to inform Prague Spring, now crushed by an that lesson in 1979 before plunging Johnson and Rusk that Soviet forces invader’s heels, had reflected the into Afghanistan, where resistance were entering Czechoslovakia, the ardent aspirations of an entire nation. would prove to be anything but pas- president thanked Dobrynin for his We had no way to help the Czechs, sive.) courtesy, promised to study the diplo- who had no useful friends and only Obviously, Moscow was still the matic note with great attention and to disaffected “brothers,” but we still decider in that part of Europe. Only be back in touch. After that there was should have sought a more appropri- when a new generation was in office good will and even some shared ate way to express our dissatisfaction. there, and when the Soviet Union was laughter. beset with other problems, could The first telegrams the department The Legacy there be a Velvet Revolution in sent warned our allies not to overreact. In New York, our representative in Czechoslovakia. Jack Matlock, U.S. Supposedly excitable West Germans the United Nations, George Ball, did ambassador to the Soviet Union, has were especially advised to keep away take note that the Soviet forces written that Gorbachev was hoping from the frontier. Our representatives seemed to have come to Czechoslo- the process would resemble the in international meetings, especially vakia searching for someone who had Prague Spring. If so, he was self- those concerning disarmament or invited them. He commented that deceived, but we are all better off for arms control, were not to raise this their brotherly help recalled the assis- the deception. I

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AFSAAmerican Foreign ServiceNEWS Association • July-August 2008

2008 DISSENT AND PERFORMANCE AWARD WINNERS Dissenters Honored with AFSA Awards

FSA is proud to honor the winners Johnson, Frank Carlucci, George H.W. Inside This Issue: of the 2008 Constructive Dissent and Bush, Lawrence Eagleburger, Cyrus Vance, BRIEFS: AGGELER’S LIFE IN THE AOutstanding Performance Awards. David Newsom, Lee Hamilton, Thomas FOREIGN SERVICE ...... 60 The awards were presented on Thursday, Pickering, George Shultz, Richard Parker, VP STATE: OPEN SEASON June 19 at a ceremony in the Benjamin Senator Richard Lugar, Morton Abramo- FOR CHEAP SHOTS...... 61 Franklin Diplomatic Reception Room at the witz and Joan Clark. HERTER AWARD: AMBASSADOR Department of State. During a distinguished 26-year Foreign JEFFREY FELTMAN...... 63 This ceremony marks the 40th anniver- Service career, Amb. Boyatt served as am- RIVKIN AWARD: RACHEL SCHNELLER...... 64 sary of AFSA’s dissent awards program, bassador to Cyprus and Colombia. He HARRIMAN AWARD: LUKE ZAHNER ...... 65 which began in 1968 with the William R. received a Meritorious Honor Award in POST REP OF THE YEAR: JULIE EADEH ....66 Rivkin Award for Constructive Dissent (see 1969 for heroism during the hijacking of GUESS AWARD: CRAIG GERARD...... 66 below). a TWA plane, and earned both the DELAVAN AWARD: VIRGINIA GREGORY ...67 Ambassador (Ret.) Thomas Boyatt William R. Rivkin and Christian A. Herter BOHLEN AWARD: VICTOR WILLIAMS ...... 67 was selected for the annual Award for Awards for constructive dissent. Amb. AFSA 2008 MERIT SCHOLARS ...... 68 Lifetime Contributions to American Boyatt served as president of AFSA, and WINNING SCHOLAR ESSAY ...... 70 Diplomacy, and the award was presented continues to devote countless hours to ISSUE BRIEF: FS RESOURCE NEEDS...... 71 by Ambassador (Ret.) Thomas Pickering. strengthening the Foreign Service in retire- CLASSIFIEDS ...... 72 Previous recipients include U. Alexis Continued on page 72

ON THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE WILLIAM R. RIVKIN AWARD Telling Truth to Power BY ROBERT AND CHARLES RIVKIN

ur father, William R. Rivkin, died Foreign Service officers to tell truth to suddenly in Dakar on March 19, power. O1967, while serving as ambassador Bill Rivkin, like President John F. to Senegal. Upon the news of his death, Kennedy who first appointed him ambas- dozens of friends, colleagues and admirers sador, relished open, respectful debate as spontaneously offered to donate in his name the best path to sound decisionmaking. A to the cause of our mother Enid’s choos- former national collegiate debating cham- Amb. and Mrs. William Rivkin with Pres. John ing. After attending to the difficult task of pion, Bill had no use for “yes men” — F. Kennedy. adjusting herself and four young children bureaucrats whose narrow conception of to a new life stateside, Enid began to focus duty and lack of courage incline them to chief of mission was mistaken. Bill was con- on how to best memorialize her husband. agree reflexively with any opinion expressed cerned, however, that unless the Foreign In conjunction with our uncle, Donald by their boss. He was delighted to find in Service as an institution encouraged these Rivkin, Enid decided that the most appro- the Foreign Service many fine profession- officers’ best instincts and let them know priate legacy would be to encourage als willing to speak up when they felt their Continued on page 62

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A F S A N AFSANEWSBRIEFS E W From the State Department Federal Credit Union BOOKFAIR Collections S “The State Department Federal Credit Union’s commitment to the Plan ahead! Save some time for the 48th Annual BOOKFAIR best interests of our member-owners includes keeping you promptly informed about any significant occurrences within your credit union. sponsored by the Associates of the American Foreign Service We regret to report that an internal investigation revealed one of our Worldwide, which will open Friday, Oct. 17, and continue employees misappropriated credit union funds. This discovery led through Sunday, Oct. 26. As usual, it will be held in the to the immediate dismissal of the employee and further investigation Diplomatic Exhibit Hall on the first floor of Main State. In addi- by law enforcement. The amount misappropriated was approxi- mately $100,000. As a result, the Alexandria Police Department tion to second-hand books from all over the world, BOOKFAIR filed charges against this former credit union employee in May. will feature the Art Corner, Collectors’ Corner and an assortment “In addition to the law enforcement steps taken, the SDFCU Board of stamps and coins. of Directors has arranged for an independent review of our credit union corporate financial policies and procedures. The independent auditor will reaffirm the adequacy of present procedures and recom- Life in the Foreign Service mend any changes that could strengthen and enhance financial I BY BRIAN AGGELER oversight and internal controls to minimize such risks in the future. Your board of directors will take any necessary action based on the independent auditor’s report. All financial losses will be fully recov- ered, and no member accounts were affected. With more than $975 million in assets, SDFCU has never been stronger and contin- ues to be your safest harbor in today’s troubled markets.” Foreign Service Women’s Forum www.afsa.org/secure/corridors/index.cfm The Foreign Service Women’s forum, hosted on the AFSA Web site, was created in late 2007 as a place for Foreign Service women to discuss the unique challenges and opportunities faced by female members of the FS. The forum is moderated by FSO Della Cavey and is open to all female generalists and specialists. AFSA members can log on with an ID (member number) and password (last name). If you’re already an AFSA member, but haven’t signed up for the AFSA Online Member Services yet, please contact the Member Services Department at [email protected].

AFSA HEADQUARTERS: Staff: Governing Board:

s: Executive Director John Mamone: [email protected] (202) 338-4045; Fax: (202) 338-6820 PRESIDENT: John Naland STATE DEPARTMENT AFSA OFFICE: Business Department Controller: Vacant STATE VP: Steve Kashkett (202) 647-8160; Fax: (202) 647-0265 Accounting Assistant Cory Nishi: [email protected] USAID VP: Francisco Zamora USAID AFSA OFFICE: Labor Management t U (202) 712-1941; Fax: (202) 216-3710 General Counsel Sharon Papp: [email protected] FAS VP: Vacant FCS AFSA OFFICE: Labor Management Attorney Zlatana Badrich: [email protected] FCS VP: Donald Businger Labor Management Specialist James Yorke: [email protected] (202) 482-9088; Fax: (202) 482-9087 RETIREE VP: Robert W. Farrand AFSA WEB SITE: www.afsa.org Grievance Attorneys Neera Parikh: [email protected] and Holly Rich: [email protected] FSJ: [email protected] Office Manager Christine Warren: [email protected] SECRETARY: F.A. “Tex” Harris USAID Senior Labor Management Adviser Douglas Broome: [email protected] PRESIDENT: [email protected] TREASURER: Andrew Winter

ontac USAID Office Manager Asgeir Sigfusson: [email protected] STATE VP: [email protected] Member Services STATE REPS: Anne Aguilera, Oscar DeSoto, RETIREE VP: [email protected] Member Services Director Janet Hedrick: [email protected] David Firestein, Sandy Robinson, USAID VP: [email protected] Member Services Representative Michael Laiacona: [email protected] FCS VP: [email protected] Web-site & Database Associate: vacant Shayna Steinger, Elaine Tiang-Chu, o C Administrative Assistant Ana Lopez: [email protected] Daphne Titus, Andrea Tomaszewicz, Outreach Programs AFSA News USAID REP: Michael Henning Editor Shawn Dorman: [email protected] Retiree Liaison Bonnie Brown: [email protected] Director of Communications Thomas Switzer: [email protected] FCS REP: Stephen Anderson

w t (202) 338-4045 x 503; Fax: (202) 338-8244 Congressional Affairs Director Ian Houston: [email protected] FAS REP: Vacant

o Executive Assistant to the President Austin Tracy: [email protected] On the Web: Scholarship Director Lori Dec: [email protected] IBB REP: Al Pessin www.afsa.org/fsj and Professional Issues Coordinator Barbara Berger: [email protected] RETIREE REPS: Janice Bay, Herman Cohen, H www.fsjournal.org Elderhostel Coordinator Janice Bay: [email protected] Harry Geisel, David Passage

60 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JULY-AUGUST 2008

A F V.P. VOICE: STATE I BY STEVE KASHKETT S A Open Season for Cheap Shots N E W ratuitous, unfounded attacks on the U.S. Foreign Service gerous positions. An estimated 300 S are once again in season. A certain segment of the media vacancies remain for 2009 — and Gwho have spent years gleefully and mindlessly bashing the someone needs to fill them. ‘Soldier up.’ State Department eagerly awaited the launch of the assignment Or hit the private sector.” cycle for summer 2009 positions in Iraq in order to do the same You might think that honorable, hatchet job on us that they did last fall. Their headlines and edi- conscientious editors would hesitate to torial comments were written long in advance, all taking up the write such deliberate falsehoods, espe- same tired theme: “State diplomats unwilling to serve in Iraq, cially when we — and State Department so Secretary Rice has to order them to go.” management — have pointed out repeatedly to them that more It therefore must have been terribly disappointing to the edi- than 2,500 Foreign Service members have volunteered for war- tors at Fox News, at the Washington Times, and at the Weekly zone postings in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2003, that we have Standard when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other filled every single State position at Embassy Baghdad and on the senior department officials, working closely with AFSA, kicked Iraq PRTs with willing bidders, and that not one single Foreign off the summer 2009 Iraq recruitment drive this past June (2008) Service member has needed to be ordered to serve in Iraq. without feeling any need whatsoev- You might think that reputable er to suggest that directed assignments journalists would care about the utter might be necessary. dishonesty of decrying that “an esti- Instead, Director General Harry K. You might think that conscientious mated 300 vacancies remain for Thomas and Sec. Rice, after praising editors would hesitate to write such 2009.” Those 300 positions represent the thousands of courageous, patriot- the entire 2009 Embassy Baghdad/PRT ic Foreign Service members who have falsehoods, especially when we have staffing pattern in Iraq, and we have chosen to take Iraq assignments since only just opened up these jobs for bid- pointed out repeatedly to them that 2003, simply put out a call for willing ding — more than a year in advance. volunteers for next year. The depart- more than 2,500 Foreign Service members By all accounts, the response so far has ment’s cable to all diplomatic and con- been enthusiastic, and the likelihood sular posts expressed full confidence have volunteered for war-zone postings is high that we will have another crop that it will be possible to staff every sin- in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2003. of talented, motivated volunteers yet gle position at Embassy Baghdad and again for next year. on the Provincial Reconstruction But this ideologically-driven seg- Teams with qualified volunteers — as ment of the media seems only inter- the Foreign Service has done for the past six years. ested in scapegoating U.S. diplomats for everything that goes wrong Sadly, these simple facts, which speak volumes about the high overseas. These editors do a profound disservice to the brave caliber and devotion to duty of our members, did nothing to deter men and women of our Foreign Service who today spend most our knee-jerk detractors from deliberately misreporting the story of their careers in hardship posts representing their country in with their predetermined anti-Foreign Service bias. conditions featuring daily terrorist threats, political instability and A Fox News “Special Report” immediately ran a piece on the violence, extreme poverty, harsh climates and unhealthy condi- call for volunteers, but focused almost exclusively on last fall’s in- tions. They insult the hundreds of U.S. diplomats separated from house Town Hall meeting, dredging out seven-month-old footage their families right now because they are posted in countries so of the one FS employee — out of 11,400 — who had expressed dangerous that spouses and children are not allowed. They dis- personal concerns about the risks of serving in a combat zone. respect the thousands of U.S. Foreign Service members who have I provided lengthy quotes to Fox News to try to set the record stepped up to the plate every single year to staff our largest diplo- straight; but, not surprisingly, those quotes were edited out. matic missions, those in the Iraq and Afghanistan combat zones. Then, within days of the opening call for volunteers, the We have grown accustomed to these cheap shots from jour- Washington Times published an editorial making the following nalists and editors who themselves would never be willing to live astonishingly groundless assertions: “The fact is, too few Foreign in the kinds of places where our diplomats spend nearly their entire Service officers have volunteered for these challenging and dan- professional careers. But it still rankles. It is disgraceful. J

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A F S AFSANEWSBRIEFS Events for FS Families Returning to the U.S. A Foreign Service High School Cross-Cultural Re-Entry Program. Saturday, Aug. 23. A half-day interactive course for FS high school students AFSA President Checks in with Retirees who have spent an extended period overseas. Professional trainers will AFSA President John Naland recently visited Foreign Service retiree guide students through the transition process and provide strategies for a N groups in Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, Los Angeles and San Francisco. successful re-entry into American life and American schools. A panel of E During the Los Angeles stop, he met with the editorial board of the Los students who have re-entered in the last year or two will share their experi- W Angeles Times to discuss the need for more resources for diplomacy and development assistance. Having visited with seven Foreign Service ences and answer questions. The cost is $10, with lunch provided. S retiree groups in five states across the nation, Naland applauds the role Sponsored by the Foreign Service Youth Foundation in partnership with the these groups play as an active extension of the Foreign Service as they Transition Center, Foreign Service Institute. For more information or to work in their local areas to explain the value of diplomacy and develop- register, e-mail [email protected] or visit www.fsyf.org and click on the high ment assistance to fellow citizens, the news media and members of school calendar of events. Congress. They also provide their members with marvelous opportuni- ties to keep in touch with others who learned first-hand the unique Annual FS Family Welcome Back Potluck Picnic, Sunday, Sept. 21, demands of a Foreign Service career. 4-6:30 p.m. at Nottoway Park, 9601 Courthouse Road, Vienna, Va. Retirees who do not participate in one of the 18 Foreign Service Sponsored by the Foreign Service Youth Foundation. retiree associations around the nation can find contact information on All Foreign Service families are invited. Norma McCaig, founder of the nearest group in AFSA’s 2008 Directory of Retired Members, or at Global Nomads International, will speak on “Resilience and the Foreign www.afsa.org/retiree/retassoc.cfm. Service Child” and what parents can expect in the re-entry process. A pro- For information on recent AFSA advocacy of issues of concern to gram for teens on adjustment/transition will be offered, as will activities for retired members, please see www.afsa.org/retiree/012608update.cfm the younger children. Please RSVP to [email protected]. Reservations are and www.afsa.org/retiree/040308update.cfm. requested by Sept. 19.

Rivkin • Continued from page 59 that independent judgment and the of those confused critics of the American Amb. William Rivkin.” courage to express it were the very essence Foreign Service who have reached the mis- Secretary of State Henry Kissinger pre- of what their country needed from them, taken conclusion that we seek the safe, the sented the Rivkin Award on Sept. 14, 1973. American diplomacy would suffer. cautious and the uncommitted.” Just before he took the stage, he asked our Only a few months after Bill’s death, at With such distinguished support, Enid mother about the award’s origins. In Enid’s urging, a group of his friends began had little trouble convincing AFSA that the response to her explanation, Kissinger raised working to create the William R. Rivkin award should be established. At first, the an eyebrow and exclaimed: “You mean I’m Award to stimulate young Foreign Service William R. Rivkin Award honored intel- presenting an award to someone who dis- officers to bring fresh and creative think- lectual courage and “creative dissent.” This agreed with me?!” ing to the practice of diplomacy. The orig- was later redefined as “constructive dissent” Bill Rivkin believed that loyal dissent inal committee included Vice President to better express its character and purpose. reflects true patriotism. Constructive dis- Hubert Humphrey, William McCormick The award is presented to a mid-level sent has played a vital role in our nation’s Blair, W. Michael Blumenthal, Angier Foreign Service officer who has demon- history, and over the past 40 years has been Biddle Duke, Otto Kerner, Irving Kupcinet, strated “extraordinary accomplishment institutionalized as a critical aspect of the Newt Minow, Adlai E. Stevenson III and involving initiative, integrity and intellec- American diplomatic process. In fact, as Jack Tuthill. Mike Blumenthal wrote to tual courage in the context of constructive Ambassador Edward Peck noted in a 2002 Enid that he “could not think of a more fit- dissent.” It includes a cash award of $2,500 FSJ article, more than 60 percent of the ting tribute to Bill’s spirit and devotion to and a framed certificate, and is funded by senior officers who won dissent awards later public service.” the Rivkin family. achieved the rank of ambassador. Joseph Bech, former prime minister of The first award ceremony on April 18, Enid presented the Rivkin Award each Luxembourg and one of the founding 1968, was attended by Vice President year until her death in 2002. It has hon- fathers of the European Union, was among Humphrey, Secretary of State Dean Rusk, ored many of the Foreign Service’s best — those who sent congratulations to the com- Under Secretary of State Nicholas people like Tom Boyatt, Anthony mittee for its work to institute an award Katzenbach, Eugene Rostow, Averell Quainton, Tex Harris, Ryan Crocker and worthy of the memory of such a “dynam- Harriman, Sol Linowitz and the entire lead- Joseph Wilson — on the key foreign pol- ic personality.” Jack Tuthill, then U.S. ership of the Department of State. icy issues of our time, including Vietnam, ambassador to Brazil, predicted that the Humphrey, who was godfather to Bill the Iranian hostage crisis, Lebanon, the annual award would be an enduring “sign Rivkin’s sons, presented the award and desaparecidos of Argentina, and Iraq. to the great young people in the Foreign observed: “I have known no one who has Our family is proud to have helped estab- Service that the road to success in any real been really and truly, more willing to serve. lish AFSA’s program, and we are honored meaning of the term requires courage, deci- If ever there was a volunteer, if ever there to support both the William R. Rivkin siveness and commitment.” Tuthill added was a patriot, if ever there was a man who Award and the United States Foreign that “the award may help to open the eyes wanted to give his life to his country, it was Service. J

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2008 AFSA CONSTRUCTIVE DISSENT AWARD WINNERS (Stories by Shawn Dorman) A F S A Christian A. Herter Award N FOR A SENIOR-LEVEL FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICER E W Jeffrey Feltman S

hile serving as U.S. ambassador to Lebanon, Jeffrey Amb. Feltman with clerics Feltman demonstrated exceptional intellectual courage, in a Druse religious shrine Wintegrity and leadership in challenging a decision by the outside the Lebanese Department of State’s Office of Buildings Operations to proceed Chouf mountain town of Baakline in August 2007, with the construction of a new embassy compound on a site in following the announce- Beirut that he recognized would put the lives of American and ment that the Ambassa- Lebanese employees at risk. For this, he has been selected as the dor’s Fund for Cultural winner of the 2008 Herter Award for a senior-level officer. Preservation would help Embassy Beirut’s tragic history includes more than 350 lives fund renovation of that lost through terrorism in the last 30 years. After the bombing of important religious, his- the original chancery in West Beirut by Hezbollah elements in toric and cultural site. 1983, the embassy was moved to a “temporary” building in a A series of emergency action committee meetings at the less hostile area in the eastern sector of the divided city that it embassy, during which the ambassador asked members to com- long since outgrew. Accordingly, plans for constructing a new ment on the pros and cons of the selected site, led to a unani- embassy became a priority in Washington and in Beirut. mous recommendation from the country team in Beirut that the In explaining why he took a stand against the new site, Amb. new embassy compound was not a secure site and construction Feltman says, “My concerns developed out of the devastating there should be put on hold. 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, and were exacerbated in January This recommendation, which Amb. Feltman sent to 2007, when Hezbollah completely took over all access roads to Washington in September 2006, did not go over well in the and from the proposed new embassy compound site. The Overseas Buildings Office, which wanted to see the NEC project Marines who helped protect us during the war said that, had we completed expeditiously. Amb. Feltman invited then-Under been at that new site during the war (with Hezbollah all around Secretary of State for Management Henrietta Fore to visit Beirut us), the U.S. military would have come in exactly once: to and hear the embassy’s concerns, which she did. Later, Amb. extract us.” Feltman appealed directly to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Amb. Feltman knew that the U.S. diplomatic presence was The final decision in Washington was to postpone until 2012 a key during that critical time, and the decision on whether or not to use the work they were doing out of the NEC site. This successful outcome embassy — including running an would not have been possible without evacuation of over 15,000 Americans, the persistent and courageous lobbying Secretary of State visits, delicate negoti- of Amb. Feltman. ations over a cessation of violence, Jeffrey Feltman joined the Foreign delivery of humanitarian supplies, out- Service in 1986. Prior to serving as reach to the media, etc. — would have ambassador to Lebanon, he headed the been impossible had they been in the Coalition Provisional Authority office new site. “But most of all,” says Amb. in the Irbil province of Iraq and simul- Feltman, “I was concerned about the taneously served as deputy regional security of our personnel: the war and On March 22, 2007, Amb. Feltman shows Lebanese Druse coordinator for the CPA’s northern subsequent developments made me see leader Walid Jumblatt the memorial at Embassy Beirut hon- area. He previously served in Jerusa- that we would have been in a part of oring all those Lebanese and American U.S. government lem, Tunisia, Tel Aviv, Budapest, Port- employees killed by terrorist acts in Lebanon. On that day, Beirut utterly at the mercy of au-Prince and Washington. Amb. Felt- Amb. Feltman planted an ancient olive tree from the Chouf Hezbollah.” When the site was select- mountains (homeland of the Druse) on the embassy com- man studied Arabic at the University of ed, the Syrians still controlled Lebanon pound. The tree was a gift from Jumblatt to the embassy to Jordan and also speaks French and and the security environment was far symbolize U.S.-Lebanese friendship and to thank the U.S. for Hungarian. He is married to FSO different. its support of Lebanon. Mary Draper.

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A 2008 AFSA CONSTRUCTIVE DISSENT AWARD WINNERS F S A N William R. Rivkin Award E FOR A MID-LEVEL FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICER W S Rachel Schneller

achel Schneller demonstrated courage and support group, the right integrity in speaking out publicly on the occur- to adequate home leave Rrence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder for those on long-term among Foreign Service employees returning from TDY status in Iraq and assignments to war zones. For taking on this access to information on extremely sensitive issue, working within the system treatment and payment to push the State Department to address the problem, options for PTSD. She Schneller was selected for the Rivkin Dissent Award. argued that seeking After returning to Washington from a tour in Iraq, treatment for PTSD fol- as a Provincial Action Officer in Basrah, Schneller lowing an assignment in began speaking out about the realities of PTSD in war a war zone should not zones, working through proper media and other adversely affect an offi- channels to heighten awareness of the problem in the cer’s medical clearance. Foreign Service community. She urged the depart- Rachel Schneller attending a Provincial Reconstruction and Schneller’s remarks Development meeting December 2005 in Maysan Province. ment to provide greater services and treatment for during a town hall meet- those suffering from symptoms of PTSD following ing with the director war zone assignments. general of the Foreign Service, her three media interviews (all Her willingness to bring this issue out into the open has given arranged and officially sanctioned by the Bureau of Public many other Iraq returnees the strength to seek help for their own Affairs) carried by CNN, USA Today and the New York Times, as post-deployment issues. Her advocacy efforts helped pave the well as her January 2008 article in the Foreign Service Journal, way for acknowledgment by senior management of the need to have given other returning Iraq vets the courage to seek help for invest greater personnel and budgetary resources to deal with their own post-deployment stress-related issues. this growing problem. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has The USA Today interview helped generate media and con- committed the State Department to doing more to assist those gressional interest that contributed to pressure on the depart- suffering from PTSD, and the Medical Bureau has been autho- ment to do more about PTSD. For example, at an Aug. 1, 2007, rized funding to dedicate additional employees to work on hearing, a senator cited the USA Today article in urging Human PTSD issues. Resources Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Heather Hodges Despite the widespread belief that talking candidly about (testifying for the administration) to do more to assist employees post-deployment stress issues can be detrimental to a Foreign with PTSD. Service member’s career, Schneller pressed openly for increased Many officers familiar with Schneller’s efforts are convinced services for returnees from war zones — such as the start of a that her public frankness about her own mental health, and her battle over her own home leave situation (all within proper channels) are largely responsible for these recent positive policy changes that benefit all employees. “There is no other award I would rather receive than the one for constructive dissent,” Schneller tells the Journal, “and I am honored to be among the women to receive it.” Rachel Schneller joined the Foreign Service in July 2001 and has served overseas in Skopje, Conakry and Basrah. Her domes- tic assignments have included the U.S. Mission to the United Schneller at a November 2005 Iftar dinner in Basrah with Locally Engaged Nations and the Economics Bureau Office of Multilateral Trade Staff: Dolfakar Al-Waheed (now resettled in San Francisco); Muntaha Ali Affairs. She received a master’s degree in economics and conflict (assassinated in Basrah in June 2006); Schneller; and Basil Jowdat management from Johns Hopkins University’s School of (now resettled in Nashville). Advanced International Studies in 2001.

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2008 AFSA CONSTRUCTIVE DISSENT AWARD WINNERS A F S A W. Averell Harriman Award N FOR AN ENTRY-LEVEL FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICER E W Luke V. Zahner S

s a first-tour political officer at Embassy Dhaka, Luke Zahner exhibited exemplary courage and integrity while Areporting on human rights issues and setbacks for democ- racy in Bangladesh. Working within the system under extremely difficult conditions, Zahner conducted research and gathered first-hand information documenting serious human rights abus- es by the military-backed Bangladeshi government. For his courageous efforts to provide Washington with an accurate account of the undemocratic activities within the country, Zahner was selected to receive the W. Averell Harriman Award.

Touring a dilapitated shelter in a Burmese Roingya refugee camp outside of Cox’s Bazaar, March 2008. post management. He persisted in convincing his superiors of the necessity and importance of reporting these abuses, and of supporting those defenders of democracy and human rights whose accusations were often questioned by the government authorities. The nomination also recognized Zahner’s work on the annu- al human rights report, noting that he knew how and when to judiciously challenge efforts to dilute the report. He successfully From left: Zahner, Political Assistant Ali Sarker and Ambassador Patricia A. brokered compromise language between Washington and the Butenis looking out on the Ganges River at the Bangladesh-India border in Rajshahi, Bangladesh, April 2007. mission that upheld the report’s high standards for credibility and worked hard to resolve differences of Zahner arrived in Bangladesh in the spring interpretation between Washington and the of 2006, during the run-up to parliamentary embassy. elections scheduled for early 2007. As a result Luke Zahner is from Rockville, Conn. He of the failure of the two main political parties was a Fulbright scholar at the University of to cooperate, the pre-election period turned Bonn, Germany, and graduated from Johns violent. In January 2007, a state of emergency Hopkins University’s School of Advanced was declared and the military supported the Left to right: Zahner, Amb. Butenis and International Studies. Before joining the appointment of a new caretaker government, Father Eugene Homrich at the Catholic Service, he worked for six years (1996-2002) ostensibly to level the playing field and prepare mission in Pirgachha, Bangladesh, in April in the Balkans for the Organization for for elections by the end of 2008. The state of 2007, hearing from a parish priest about Security and Cooperation in Europe, includ- the torture and killing of a local indige- emergency suspended many fundamental civil ing service as an elections and political advis- nous activist by Bangladesh soldiers a er, as well as OSCE spokesman in Bosnia and rights, and what followed was a spike in the month earlier. number of human rights violations, particular- Herzegovina. ly deaths and torture in custody over the course of 2007. He was a USAID public affairs officer from 2002 to 2004 Zahner was involved in investigating many of those cases. and a USAID democracy and governance advisor covering Iraq He undertook painstaking research, gathered first-hand infor- (2004-2005). He did a TDY to Iraq in 2004, where he helped mation, established contact with democracy and human rights with preparations for the first elections there, in January 2005. activists, and pressed government interlocutors. He courageous- Zahner joined the State Department Foreign Service in 2005, ly challenged conventional wisdom and defended his findings to and will head this summer to a consular tour in Jerusalem.

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A 2008 AFSA OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE AWARD WINNERS (Stories by Ariana Austin) F S A AFSA Post Rep of the Year M. Juanita Guess Award Julie Eadeh FOR A COMMUNITY LIAISON OFFICER N Embassy Baghdad Craig Douglas Gerard E raig Gerard’s accomplish- W he AFSA ments as the community S Governing Board Cliaison officer at Embassy Tunanimously Cairo have had a far-reaching approved the selection impact throughout one of the of Julie Eadeh, AFSA largest missions in the world. post representative for The Cairo CLO serves person- Embassy Baghdad, as nel from over 40 U.S. govern- the recipient of the ment agencies with diverse Craig Gerard on top of the Cairo 2008 AFSA Post Rep backgrounds, including over Tower. of the Year Award. 1,000 Americans and 1,400 This award, which is locally-engaged staff. For his imagination, energy, enthusiasm not given every year, is Julie Eadeh on a trip to Mosul. and superior organizational skills Craig Gerard has been selected intended to honor as the M. Juanita Guess Award winner for 2008. extraordinary commitment and activism on the part of an AFSA As CLO officer, Gerard administers the Volunteer Network, member overseas who has volunteered to serve as representative which organizes volunteers to visit orphanages, hospitals, special for the labor union and professional association at his/her post of needs facilities and animal shelters. Under his leadership the assignment. office collected over 450 bags of food during the Ramadan Food Eadeh was nominated by AFSA State Vice President Steve Drive, which were distributed to over 500 low-income families. Kashkett, who has worked closely with her over the past year and Through this effort he has nurtured not only internal embassy has received extensive positive feedback concerning her work relationships, but also relationships between Americans and from other AFSA members posted in Iraq. AFSA reps fulfill sev- Egyptians. eral important functions at overseas posts, including conveying In addition, Embassy Cairo the concerns of members at post back to the AFSA leadership, supports the families of unac- negotiating with post management on those concerns and other companied employees who are matters affecting the conditions of work for the Foreign Service serving in Iraq and Afghani- employees there, and serving as an information conduit on stan. Gerard created a support AFSA’s advocacy activities to members at post. VP Kashkett group known as “Who Moved affirms that “Julie performs all of the functions of an AFSA post My Spouse?” to address the rep superbly, and we recognize that those functions are absolute- Gerard and his wife Ronit in the needs and concerns of the ly vital in our largest and most dangerous diplomatic mission in White Desert, Bahariya Oasis. spouses of these employees. He the world.” has designed a number of pro- Julie Eadeh, an information officer at Embassy Baghdad, grams for these families and is coordinating the management of took up her AFSA rep duties there with determination and the entire embassy’s efforts to support them. One of his many enthusiasm, according to VP Kashkett, reporting to AFSA regu- critical contributions was the development of a comprehensive larly on concerns about security, housing and onward assign- list of services provided to unaccompanied families residing in ments among members both at Embassy Baghdad and on vari- Egypt, a list that ensures the needs of these families are account- ous Provincial Reconstruction teams around the country. Some ed for and met. Commenting on this work, Gerard says that of her other initiatives included meeting with the deputy chief of “their strength is inspiring and their difficulties drive me to mission on various issues, organizing a digital videoconference work harder. Being separated from your loved ones for a year is for AFSA leadership with more than two dozen members in hard enough, so it is my feeling that life at post should be as Baghdad, and getting signatures from more than 100 members comfortable and as worry-free as possible for these families.” in Iraq on a collective letter to Congress urging passage of an Gerard has inspired other mission members to implement income tax exemption for federal civilian employees assigned in their own international projects. An embassy teenager’s work combat zones. with Sudanese refugees earned her an award from the Foreign “Addressing the questions and challenges facing our mem- Service Youth Foundation and another mission member started, bers serving courageously in Iraq as forthrightly and promptly as a nonprofit foundation to support Iraqi refugees currently living possible occupies the highest priority for us in AFSA today,” says in Egypt. Gerard has been able to secure significant resources for VP Kashkett, “so we absolutely need an enthusiastic and consci- that group. entious post rep in Baghdad. Julie has proven to be as effective For his contribution to embassy morale, and the “quality, an AFSA rep as we have anywhere.” quantity, imagination, and relevance of his programs,” Gerard is Eadeh joined the State Department in 2002 as a Presidential an ideal recipient for the Guess Award. Management Fellow, and served in the Bureau of Democracy, Craig Gerard earned a degree in managerial economics in Human Rights and Labor. She joined the Foreign Service in 1999 from UC Davis. Cairo is his first overseas post, though he 2004 and has also served in Riyadh and Beirut. She speaks has traveled widely. He is married to Ronit Gerard, a USAID Arabic, French and Spanish. She is part of a tandem couple, program officer, and they have recently welcomed a newborn married to David Ng. They will head to Shanghai via Chinese- son. language training beginning this summer.

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A 2008 AFSA OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE AWARD WINNERS F Delavan Award Avis Bohlen Award S FOR A FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICE MANAGEMENT SPECIALIST FOR A FOREIGN SERVICE FAMILY MEMBER A Virginia M. Gregory Victor D. Williams N irginia M. Gregory has made it a top priority to boost ictor D. Williams has E embassy morale in one of the most dangerous posts in served as an inspiration W Vthe southern hemisphere, Caracas. She embraced the Vto those with whom he S challenges the city posed and found numerous opportunities has interacted during the past to improve the mission well three years in Pretoria. beyond her responsibilities as Through his extraordinary an office management special- volunteer activities he has ist. For her effort to educate made exceptional contribu- herself and those around her tions that will live on well about Venezuelan politics and beyond his tour in South culture, and her seemingly tire- Africa. Embassy Pretoria’s Williams at the celebration of the less ability to get embassy staff Deputy Chief of Mission donation of 150 pounds of books to involved in local life, Gregory Gregory with two capibara, Donald Teitelbaum said it the Berakah Educational Foundation. was selected as winner of the which are common in the south- best: “Simply put, Victor has 2008 Delavan Award. eastern parts of Venezuela. changed lives.” For his tireless commitment to the youth of For the Foreign Service com- South Africa and his contributions to the diplomatic community munity at Embassy Caracas in Pretoria, he was selected for the Avis Bohlen Award. crime is a daily reality, basic food items can be scarce and anti- Williams’s tenure in Pretoria has been dedicated to support- U.S. sentiment abounds. Gregory sought to ease those daily ing South African students, and he has enlisted foundations and challenges in both small and far-reaching ways. organizations in support of his educational efforts. He worked She founded the “Embassy Caracas Road Runners,” a group with the Arthur Robbins Foundation to enable 15 students from of over 40 members that included both American and local staff, disadvantaged backgrounds to attend a Global Youth Leadership which allowed members to interact and run safely though the Summit in San Diego, developing their leadership skills and streets of Caracas. enhancing bicultural under- She also served as the Federal Women’s Program standing. He identified commu- Coordinator, producing a monthly newsletter to share news, nity members with education events and success stories of women within the mission. Gregory and counseling backgrounds secured several interesting and useful feature stories including and convinced them to partici- interviews with the principal deputy assistant secretary for human pate in a successful one-day resources and the current U.S. ambassador to Zambia. workshop for 50 South African As testament to her zeal for understanding Venezuelan poli- students, which has resulted in a tics, Gregory volunteered as an election observer in December Williams at a Christmas party donat- permanent tutoring program. for the constitutional reform referendum, and was able to talk ing toys to South African kids. As his nominator notes, her way into several polling stations, thus enabling her to provide “Williams is a master at match- valuable information that contributed to embassy reporting on making the strengths of organizations and people.” the election. When she was assigned to administer the deputy Williams also founded Douglas Diplomatic Services.com, a chief of mission’s entry-level mentoring program, she was able to business that provides services to newly arrived diplomats, mili- suggest several prominent Venezuelan speakers, because of her tary personnel and expatriates. Designed to ease the transition to familiarity with the country’s political scene. a new life in a foreign country, the firm provides services and Gregory continually worked to perfect her Spanish language information ranging from obtaining a vehicle or cell phone to skills, organized socials, excursions and trips on a regular basis, securing a home or apartment. Douglas Diplomatic Services was recommended local restaurants and encouraged embassy mem- featured in the September 2007 issue of State magazine. bers to enjoy all Caracas has to offer. Williams’ business became so successful he was able to found The nomination from Embassy Caracus describes Gregory as a charitable organization, the Douglas Foundation, which focus- the “social dymano of the es on education and community development, and creating embassy” and the nominator educational opportunities for South African students. stated that in 28 years in the Williams’s enthusiasm and creativity in finding opportunities Foreign Service, he had never for the youth of South Africa and his efforts to build strong, last- encountered “a more dynam- ing relationships between the U.S. and the host country are clear. ic, positive and influential Indeed he has ensured that the programs he created will contin- OMS.” ue after his departure from post. Embassy Caracas Road Runners at Gregory joined the Foreign Born in Columbus, Ohio, Victor Williams attended the a 10K race. From left: Phil French Service in 2006 from Silverton, University of Cincinnati, and is the proud parent of a daughter, (DCM), Robin Holzhauer (Public Colo. She is preparing for her Victoria, and a son, Douglas. Williams arrived in Pretoria in Affairs), Col. E. Passmore, Gregory, next post, Bogotá, where she 2004, accompanying his wife, Marilyn T. Williams, the assistant Cristina Camacho (Consular), will no doubt demonstrate legal attaché at Embassy Pretoria. Previously the family served in Heather Rome (USAID), Mora Paiva the same enthusiasm and Bridgetown. (Foreign Agricultural Service). dedication.

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A F S A 2008 AFSA Merit Award Winners FSA is proud to announce the 26 Foreign Service high school seniors and essays. Brendan Ternus was selected as the Art Merit Award winner N who were selected as the 2008 AFSA Merit Award winners. AFSA for his short story and poem submission. Jason Curtis and Elizabeth E Acongratulates these students for their academic and artistic achieve- Hogeman were selected as the Art Merit Award honorable-mention win- ments. ners. Jason submitted a composition for piano and synthesized musical W These one-time-only awards, totaling $35,700, were bestowed on instrument, while Elizabeth entered photographs. S May 2 during Foreign Affairs Day. Winners received $1,800 and honor- AFSA has established eight academic merit named scholarships to date, able-mention winners received $800. The best-essay winner and the com- and these awards are bestowed on the highest-scoring students. The recip- munity-service winner each received $250 for those awards. Judges were ients of these scholarships were: Jason Curtis, for the Associates of the individuals from the Foreign Service community. American Foreign Service Worldwide Scholarship; Michael Haggblade, for This year, 54 students competed for the 15 Academic Merit Awards. the John and Priscilla Becker Family Scholarship; Hana Passen and Paul They were judged on their grade-point average, Scholastic Assessment Test VanKoughnett, for the Turner C. Cameron Memorial Scholarships; Shannon scores, essays, letters of recommendation, extracurricular activities and any Hicks, for the John C. Leary Memorial Scholarship; Christopher Huskey special circumstances. From the Academic Merit Award applicants, the and Brendan Ternus, for the Joanna and Robert Martin Scholarships; and committee selected a best-essay winner (Benjamin Winnick) and a com- Joan Cummins, for the Donald S. and Maria Giuseppa Spigler Scholarship. munity service winner (Margaret Soderholm). For more information on the AFSA Scholarship Program — merit Fifteen students submitted art merit applications under one of the fol- awards and financial aid awards — or how to establish a named scholar- lowing categories: visual arts, musical arts, drama or creative writing. ship, contact Lori Dec at (202) 944-5504, or [email protected], or visit our Web Applicants were judged on their submissions, letters of recommendation site at www.afsa.org/scholar/. Academic Merit Winners

Iain Addleton – son of Joan Cummins – daughter of Jason Curtis – son of Keith Melissa Gallant – daughter of Hannah Groch-Begley – Jonathan Addleton (USAID) Kathryn Hoffman (State) and Curtis (FCS) and Bert Schoen Rosemary Gallant (FCS) and daughter of John Groch (State) and Fiona Addleton; graduate Paul Cummins; graduate of Curtis (State); graduate of Jonathan Gallant; graduate of and Valerie Begley; graduate of of Mount de Sales Academy, Washington-Lee High School, Stockholm International School; the International School of Singapore American School; Macon, Ga.; attending David- Arlington, Va.; attending the attending the Frank W. Olin Brussels; attending Wellesley attending Vassar College, son College in N.C., majoring University of California at Los College of Engineering in Mass., College, majoring in Chinese majoring in history and drama. in political science or eco- Angeles, majoring in theater majoring in engineering; des- and developmental economics. nomics. and history; designated the ignated the AFSA/AAFSW Scho- AFSA/Donald S. Spigler Memor- lar and an AFSA Art Merit ial and Maria Giuseppa Spigler Award honorable-mention win- Scholar. ner.

Nathan Keesling – son of Kate Miller – daughter of Lloyd Hana Passen – daughter of E. Lowell Reade – son of Evan Brendan Ternus – son of Jonathan Keesling (State) and Miller (USAID) and Roberta Andrew Passen (State) and Reade (State) and Mary Rose Scott Ternus (State) and Mary Robyn Keesling; graduate of Miller; graduate of Cairo Ameri- Jeane Harris (State); graduate Reade; graduate of the Ternus (State); graduate of the Frankfurt International School; can College; attending Dart- of the American International American School in Tokyo; American School in London; attending Brigham Young Uni- mouth College. School of Lusaka; attending attending Harvey Mudd College attending Yale University, versity, majoring in computer Princeton University; designat- in California, majoring in engi- majoring in English or theater; science. ed the AFSA/Turner C. Camer- neering. designated the Joanna and on Memorial Scholar. Robert Martin Scholar and AFSA’s Art Merit Award Winner.

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A F PMA Funds S AFSA Scholarship Winner A mb. C. Edward N A Dillery, E AFSA Committee W on Education S chairman (left), accepts a $4,000 check for the Financial Aid AUSTIN TRACY Scholarship Fund Scholarship Winners Honored from Mr. Nick AFSA scholarship winners at the May 2 Foreign Affairs Day and Merit Frankhouer, schol-

Awards reception. Back row, from left: AFSA President John Naland, arship chairman of LORI DEC Timothy Wong, Amb. C. Edward Dillery, Michael Haggblade. Front the Public Members Association of the Foreign Service, during row, from left: Joan Cummins, Margaret Soderholm and Shannon their May 1 luncheon. Hicks.

Academic and Art Merit Honorable-Mention Winners

Sarah Barnhart – daughter of Fallon O’Dowd – daughter of Jim Barnhart (USAID) and Stephen O'Dowd (State) and Elizabeth Barnhart; graduate of Rhonda Brown (State); grad- the American International uate of Walworth Barbour School of Lusaka; attending American International School, Middlebury College. Jerusalem, Israel; attending Harvard University, majoring in Michael “Mickey” Haggblade Shannon Hicks – daughter of Christopher Huskey – son of Natalie Coley – daughter of government or international – son of Helen Gunther Gregory Hicks (State) and James Huskey (State) and Theodore Coley (State) and Lea relations. (USAID, ret.) and Steven Janne Hicks; graduate of Joanne Huskey; graduate of Coley (State); graduate of the Haggblade; graduate of James W. Robinson Jr. the Taipei American School; International School of Bang- Lauren Simpkins – daughter of Poolesville High School in Secondary School, Fairfax, Va.; attending Stanford University, kok; attending the University Diana Valderrama (State) and Maryland; attending Stanford attending the State University majoring in international rela- of Delaware, majoring in fash- Leroy Simpkins (State, ret.); University, majoring in engi- of New York at Stony Brook, tions, international business or ion merchandising. graduate of Oakton High neering; designated the majoring in astronomy and political science; designated the School, Vienna, Va.; attending AFSA/John and Priscilla Becker physics; designated the AFSA/Joanna and Robert Mar- Elisabeth Hogeman – daugh- the University of Virginia, Family Scholar. AFSA/John C. Leary Memorial tin Scholar. ter of George Hogeman (State) majoring in chemistry. Scholar. and Geralyn Hogeman; grad- uate of George C. Marshall High Margaret Soderholm – daugh- School, Falls Church, Va.; at- ter of Elizabeth Soderholm tending the University of Vir- (State) and Carlton Soderholm; ginia, majoring in English and graduate of Washington-Lee art; designated an AFSA Art High School, Arlington, Va.; Merit Award honorable-men- attending Carnegie Mellon tion winner. University, majoring in chem- ical engineering; designated the Theodore Koenig – son of John AFSA Academic Merit Com- Koenig (State) and Natalie munity Service Award Winner. Koenig; graduate of Berlin Brandenburg International Timothy Wong – son of School; attending the California Terrence Wong (State) and Paul VanKoughnett – son of Benjamin Winnick – son of Institute of Technology, major- Kristine Wong; graduate of Hale VanKoughnett (State) Seth Winnick (State) and ing in chemical engineering. James W. Robinson Jr. and Diane VanKoughnett, Cindy Winnick; graduate of Secondary School, Fairfax, Va.; graduate of the Seoul Foreign École Active Bilingue Jeannine attending Illinois Institute of School; attending Harvard Manuel, Paris; attending the Technology, majoring in archi- University, majoring in math- University of Pennsylvania, tecture. ematics; designated the majoring in classical civilization; AFSA/Turner C. Cameron designated the AFSA Academic Memorial Scholar. Merit Awards “Best Essay” win- ner .

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A F S 2008 AFSA MERIT AWARD “BEST ESSAY” A Waking Up in Vietnam N BY BENJAMIN WINNICK E y three years in Vietnam shaped people use the Saigon River as a toilet, drink that any injury, even a scratch or bug bite, W my perceptions more than any its water and bathe and wash their clothes would jeopardize their employment. S Mother experience in my life. I in it. I saw children working in fields and When one of our teachers donated a pair encountered prejudice and learned about begging on the streets. Although I wit- of shoes, a woman on duty took them for being a minority. I witnessed poverty and nessed these events daily, my most direct her own child. When someone is in pover- saw the developing world firsthand. And experiences of poverty and cultural dif- ty, short-term gain is a higher priority than I learned how culture shapes life, work and ferences came from volunteering at Bien moral correctness. Perhaps moral cor- behavior. Hoa Orphanage. rectness is a luxury reserved for those whose At the International School of Ho Chi The orphanage showed me the hard- immediate needs are satisfied. Minh City, Americans were a minority. ships orphans face. The air inside was filled The orphanage also taught me the chal- Most students were Vietnamese or Korean, with the stench of urine, feces, warm milk, lenges of working with people from a dif- with a total of over 20 nationalities. I mucus and sweat. There were rooms filled ferent culture. Culture is more than diet encountered prejudice against America for with dozens of tiny, mewling babies. When or apparel; it influences one’s way of life the first time, though not from Vietnamese we, a group of nine volunteers, held the and work. In America, people dispose of students. The prejudice mostly came from babies, we could feel their heavy, impaired things without hesitation, but the women Western students, driven by objections to breathing. Caring for so many tiny chil- at Bien Hoa were raised to conserve. America’s foreign policy but extending to dren was a Sisyphean task. Only two care- Whenever we tried to change a diaper that its culture, history and people. givers worked at a time, and they con- was not bursting, they would stop us. I was not just Ben; I was “the American.” centrated on mechanical tasks such as laun- Although we saw children suffering from I was torn between my own disagreement dry, cleaning, and bottle-feeding. They had diaper rash, defying the women would have with U.S. foreign policy, loyalty to my coun- little time to play with the children. We been terribly disrespectful. So, although try and its historic values, and my desire to alleviated some of the strain but even as we we changed diapers when we could, we be accepted by students and teachers. There held, rocked, fed and played, there were never openly disobeyed the women who were also tensions among other groups, par- unattended children screaming for atten- worked there. ticularly between Koreans and Europeans. tion. I would console one child, but as soon Thanks to Vietnam, I better understand After enduring these tensions for over a year, as I diverted my attention to another baby, the meaning of diversity. I recognize that I took action. During my sophomore year, the child I had just put down would resume culture shapes attitudes. I am able to func- I spearheaded the creation of the “Students howling. tion in foreign or new environments. I for Tolerance Committee” to raise aware- At Bien Hoa, I learned that when peo- have more insight into prejudice and the ness and reduce hostility at school. ple are concerned about survival, it is dif- way it excludes and divides people. I also My school experiences were comple- ficult to be altruistic. The women who recognize the serious need that exists in the mented by invaluable lessons about pover- worked at the orphanage seemed more world and our duty to do something about ty and its problems that I learned from liv- concerned with keeping their jobs than it. Although I still have a lot to learn about ing in a developing country. In Vietnam, with the children’s welfare. They rarely let the world, living in Vietnam has made me I saw families living in metal shacks. I saw the children go outside because they feared wiser and broader-minded. J

What started out with a note placed by Erickson in the Embassy AFSANEWSBRIEFS Bogota newsletter led to notes in other embassy newsletters and more than 300 Foreign Service families around the world now Math Enrichment for Your Kids (and You) subscribe to the free monthly math newsletters, including AFSA member Andrew Erickson writes from Bogota to recommend “Mathematical Puzzles without Words.” a math resource for high school students that Foreign Service families The institute is looking for feedback on what would be of most can enjoy through an online connection. He tells us that the St. help to Foreign Service families. Possible future plans include Mark’s Institute of Mathematics, founded by Dr. James Tanton and online Web lectures and lessons, Web-based enrichment materials supported by St. Mark’s School in Southborough, Mass., “is a non- and additional newsletters of different types. A brief online survey profit organization serving those interested in practicing and experi- to enter your ideas is at www.stmarksschool.org/math/survey. If encing the joy of true mathematical thinking as a creative and per- you have any questions about the institute or would like to receive sonally rich endeavor. Its outreach work is directed towards students, the newsletter (it’s all free!), please send an e-mail to mathinstitute teachers and parents, offering enrichment, assistance and fun.” @stmarksschool.org.

70 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JULY-AUGUST 2008

A F AFSA Issue Brief S A

Foreign Service Resource Needs: N E Talking Points W BY JOHN K. NALAND, AFSA PRESIDENT S

ince the 2003 invasion of Iraq, which is proceeding to expand the armed funding for diplomacy this year, it would staffing demands on the Foreign forces’ permanent rolls by 92,000 by 2011. be 2010 before the first additional Foreign SService have soared: 300 positions in The State Department’s deficits amount to Service new hires could finish their initial Iraq, 150 positions in Afghanistan, 40 posi- little more than a rounding error when training. Waiting two more years for diplo- tions in the State Department’s office to compared to the additional resources being matic reinforcements is too long in view coordinate reconstruction efforts, 100-plus dedicated to the Pentagon. of the challenges facing America overseas. training positions to increase the number A growing chorus of voices is urging Few people realize that two-thirds of the of Arabic speakers, and 280 new positions that the administration and Congress act Foreign Service is deployed overseas at all in areas of emerging importance such as to strengthen the diplomatic element of times and that 70 percent of them are at China and India. national power. For example, Secretary of hardship posts (meaning locations with dif- Despite those urgent staffing needs, Defense Robert Gates, in a Nov. 26, 2007, ficult living conditions due to terrorist Congress since 2003 has turned down all speech at Kansas State University, said: threats, violent crime, harsh climate, or State Department requests for addition- “The Department of Defense has taken on other factors). Over half of the Foreign al positions (totaling 709 positions), many … burdens that might have been Service has served at a hardship post with- except those earmarked for consular assumed by civilian agencies in the past … in the past five years. The number of posts affairs and diplomatic security. As a result, [The military has] done an admirable job that are too dangerous to permit employ- literally hundreds of Foreign Service slots … but it is no replacement for the real thing ees to bring their families has quadrupled are vacant. Some 12 percent of overseas — civilian involvement and expertise … since 2001 — to 905 such positions today. Foreign Service positions (excluding those Funding for non-military foreign-affairs Over 20 percent of Foreign Service mem- in Iraq and Afghanistan) are now vacant, programs … remains disproportionately bers have served in an unaccompanied as are 33 percent of domestic Foreign small relative to what we spend on the mil- position within the past five years. As of Service positions. Furthermore, 19 per- itary… There is a need for a dramatic this summer, 15 percent had served in war- cent of the filled slots are held by employ- increase in spending on the civilian instru- zone Iraq. ees “stretched” into a position designat- ments of national security — diplomacy, Yet incredibly, Foreign Service mem- ed for a more experienced person. To add strategic communications, foreign assis- bers suffer from an ever-growing financial insult to injury, the dollar’s sharp decline tance, civic action, and economic recon- disincentive to serve abroad. The pay dis- has left U.S. embassies and consulates struction and development… We must parity caused by the exclusion of overseas (whose expenses are in local currency) focus our energies beyond the guns and Foreign Service members from receiving limping along with insufficient operational steel of the military… Indeed, having the “locality pay” salary adjustment given funding. robust civilian capabilities available could to other federal employees now causes U.S. The State Department calculates that make it less likely that military force will diplomats to take a 20.89-percent cut in the Foreign Service is short a total of about have to be used in the first place, as local base pay when transferring abroad. In 2,100 positions — 1,015 positions for over- problems might be dealt with before they effect, Foreign Service members take a pay seas and domestic assignments and 1,079 become crises.” cut to serve at all 20-percent-and-below for training and temporary needs. Current Despite all of that, the president’s Fiscal hardship differential posts — 183 of 268 total staffing is just 11,500. These short- Year 2009 budget request to narrow the overseas posts. Losing the equivalent of one falls in staffing and operating expenses are staffing gaps appears to be going nowhere year’s salary for every five served abroad reducing the effectiveness of U.S. diplo- given the likelihood that Congress will defer has serious long-term financial conse- macy in building and sustaining a more budget decisions to the next administra- quences, especially for families already suf- democratic, secure and prosperous world tion. That is unfortunate. The next pres- fering the loss of income from a spouse for the benefit of the American people and ident will undoubtedly want a strong diplo- who cannot find employment overseas. It international community. The diplomatic matic corps to work hand-in-hand with also contributes to a growing feeling that staffing gaps stand in stark contrast to the our nation’s strong military. Yet if the Foreign Service has become less “fam- situation at the Department of Defense, Congress misses the opportunity to boost ily-friendly.” J

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A F S Awards • Continued from page 59 Harris, Harriman and Herter Dissent of recognition and $2,500. The 2008 win- A ment. (Look for the interview with Amb. Award winners. The Rivkin Award win- ners and runners-up are: Boyatt on p. 13 of this issue. Profiles of all ner was selected by the children of the late VICTOR WILLIAMS, Embassy Pretoria, other award winner begin on p. 63.) Ambassador William Rivkin: Julia Wheeler, winner of the Avis Bohlen Award, presented N AFSA gratefully appreciates the efforts Laura Ledford, Charles Rivkin and Robert to a Foreign Service family member whose E of all those who sent in nominations and Rivkin. This year’s winners are: relations with the American and foreign W hope that posts will also recognize their LUKE V. ZAHNER, U.S. Embassy Dhaka, communities at a Foreign Service post have S nominees’ outstanding accomplishments. winner of the W. Averell Harriman Award done the most to advance American in- AFSA also thanks all those who served on for an entry-level Foreign Service officer. terests. The runner-up is Ellen Brager- panels this year. RACHEL I. SCHNELLER, economic/com- Michiels, Embassy Santo Domingo. The association places great importance mercial officer in the Bureau of Economic, VIRGINIA GREGORY, Embassy Caracas, on these awards, which are unique in the Energy and Business Affairs, winner of the winner of the Delavan Award, which rec- U.S. government. AFSA would like to William R. Rivkin Award for a mid-level ognizes extraordinary contributions to acknowledge Director General Harry Foreign Service officer. effectiveness, professionalism and morale Thomas for co-sponsoring this year’s AMBASSADOR JEFFREY FELTMAN, for- by an Office Management Specialist. The awards ceremony. Congratulations to all mer U.S. ambassador to Lebanon and cur- runner-up is Tanya Bodde, Embassy winners and runners-up. rent principal deputy assistant secretary of Islamabad. State for Near Eastern Affairs, winner of the CRAIG GERARD, Embassy Cairo, winner Constructive Dissent Awards Christian A. Herter Award for a senior of the M. Juanita Guess Award for out- There are four AFSA awards for intel- Foreign Service officer. standing service as a community liaison offi- lectual courage, initiative and integrity in The Tex Harris Award for a Foreign cer. Runners-up were co-CLOs Lily the context of constructive dissent that are Service specialist was not awarded this year. Hightower and Lesya Cely of Embassy presented annually to Foreign Service Addis Ababa. employees who demonstrate the courage Outstanding Performance Awards JULIE A. EADEH, Embassy Baghdad, was to speak out and challenge the system. Each These awards recognize exemplary selected for a special award for AFSA Post winner receives a certificate of recognition performance and extraordinary contribu- Representative of the Year. This award and a monetary prize of $2,500. The AFSA tions to professionalism, morale and effec- comes with a framed certificate and a cash Awards and Plaques Committee selects the tiveness. Each winner receives a certificate award of $1,000. J CLASSIFIEDS

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74 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JULY-AUGUST 2008

BOOKS

Cultural Diplomacy’s and “information operations” came to Richmond’s account vie with civilian public diplomacy. Finest Hour affirms PD officers’ key Entry-level officers, in particular, should see his story as confirmation of Practicing Public Diplomacy: role in opening Iron the importance of the “basics”: learn- A Cold War Odyssey Curtain countries to ing languages (in his case, at least Yale Richmond, Berghahn Books, Western influence, a four), and developing regional and 2008, $29.95, hardback, 175 pages. vital step on the way to functional expertise. And for PD offi- cers, the book will affirm their profes- REVIEWED BY GERALD LOFTUS winning the Cold War. sion’s key role in opening Iron Curtain countries to Western influence, a vital Yale Richmond’s latest book, u step on the way to winning the Cold Practicing Public Diplomacy: A Cold War. War Odyssey — part of the ongoing Jew?” His answer shows the strength The chapter “Shafted by Shake- “Diplomats and Diplomacy” series of character and magnanimity toward speare” should be excerpted for AFSA’s jointly published by the Association his “hosts” that he displayed through- dissent collection. Richmond’s finest for Diplomatic Studies and Training out his seven years in Germany. hour, as a professional defending long- and Diplomatic and Consular Of- The heart of this memoir is the term American interests, was his run- ficers, Retired — is a lively and time Richmond spends in Warsaw, in with Nixon political appointee Frank important study in memoir form. Vienna and Moscow as a cultural and Shakespeare. The new head of the Richmond skillfully provides both press officer. (His “out-of-area” U.S. Information Agency visited Mos- the background and “flash forward” assignment in Laos provides a rare cow in 1969, bent on regime change. context to his career in Eastern look at Indochina between the After years of carefully implementing Europe during the decades following French and American wars there.) the bilateral cultural agreement, World War II. There he took part in Warsaw, the “best post of my career,” Richmond was floored when Shakes- early cultural exchange efforts with gives Richmond free rein to build cul- peare blurted out, to American staff in the Soviet bloc, which he updates tural programs, including the first a (presumably) bugged room, that throughout his lifelong study of the Polish-U.S. Fulbright academic ex- USIA’s mission was to overthrow the region. changes — precedent-setting given Soviet government. Readers will see parallels with Cold War tensions. Richmond’s response took some today’s transformational diplomacy in The author generously credits his boldness: “Mr. Shakespeare, that has Richmond’s years as a civilian success there to a colleague’s counsel: never been the policy of the State “Resident Officer” in American-occu- “If you can show officials that you Department ... our aim is to live with pied Germany, from which he segued really like Poland, you can do almost these people in peace.” Though into the Foreign Service. As ROs, everything you want here.” And so he Shakespeare subsequently blocked precursors to today’s Provincial Re- did for the next three years. Richmond’s promotion, the McCar- construction Teams, he and his mili- Serving diplomats might envy thy era was over. The Nixon adminis- tary colleagues administered, with Richmond’s freedom of action during tration’s embrace of détente vindicat- imagination and initiative, the post- the heyday of showcasing American ed Richmond, and he became a Nazi “Reorientation Program.” Rich- culture, before security and media respected Washington expert in the mond recalls asking himself, “How placement priorities trumped librar- burgeoning exchange program with would Germans react to me as a ies, and “strategic communication” the Soviet Union.

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B OOKS u

After leaving the Foreign Service, difficult task: exploring how Ameri- human rights has been “far from spot- Richmond’s skills continued to be in cans and Canadians differ on major less,” citing Ottawa’s policy of “con- demand in the waning years of the social and political issues. They structive engagement” with a range of Soviet Union. Richmond contributed briefly outline some major differences deeply repressive regimes such as to the Helsinki process and later between the two societies and how China, Sudan, Iran and Cuba, as if joined the National Endowment for they view each other: “life, liberty and talking to such regimes somehow Democracy. the pursuit of happiness” versus gives them the gold seal of approval. I I entered the Foreign Service as “peace, order and good government;” raise this point as one of a number of Yale Richmond was retiring, but while separation of powers in the U.S. vs. examples where the authors may be reading Practicing Public Diplomacy concentration of power in the hands more in agreement in their views than I felt I’d gotten to know him. His of the prime minister; and American Canadians and Americans are. straightforward writing makes his unilateralism vs. Canadian multilater- An excellent final chapter (“Where humanity, humility and sense of alism. As the authors put it: “Ameri- Are We Going?”) summing up com- humor almost tangible. If I ever write cans are proud of what they are — parisons between the two neighbors a memoir, I would like it to be as Americans; Canadians are proud of did leave me wishing the authors had instructive and enjoyable as Yale what they are not — Americans!” spent a bit more time on the complex Richmond’s. Decrying the sorry state of question of national unity, as well as Canada’s military, Kilgour makes an the environmental implications of Gerald Loftus, a retired FSO living in eloquent argument that it should at extracting oil fom tar sands. (Canada Brussels, analyzes diplomatic issues least develop the capability to support has been touting tar sands as having on his Web site, http://Avuncular peacekeeping and related multilateral the potential to increase oil produc- American.typepad.com/blog. operations. The authors rightly point tion to five million barrels a day.) out that in situations such as Chad or Throughout, the book would have Darfur, military capability is essential: benefited from a more robust Cana- Compare and “the key component is good weapons, dian perspective, particularly in sup- not good words.” Still, many around porting multilateralism and opposing Contrast the world would respond that after unilateralism. Indeed, some readers seven years of relentless wielding of may be put off by Jones’s many acer- Uneasy Neighbo(u)rs: Canada, the American big stick, speaking soft- bic pronouncements, his reveling in the USA and the Dynamics of ly — and listening — are in order. John Bolton’s criticism of the United State, Industry and Culture The authors acknowledge the diffi- Nations and dismissal of Canadian David T. Jones and David Kilgour, culty Ottawa has had dealing effec- criticism of the U.S. invasion of Iraq Wiley, 2007, $27.95, hardcover, tively with the Bush administration’s as indicative of anti-Americanism and 352 pages. “either you’re for us or against us” atti- fear of the American “Goliath.” tude. Yet they seem to prefer Still, there is a huge amount of REVIEWED BY STEPHEN W. B UCK Mexico’s relatively muted opposition thought-provoking material and much to the invasion of Iraq over Canada’s wisdom here — and not just for those Having preceded David Jones as “almost contemptuous commentary who deal with, or are being posted to, political minister-counselor in Ottawa … that suggested not only that the Canada. (Kilgour’s description of the and introduced him to his Canadian United States was wrong in its judg- relative insignificance of a back- co-author, David Kilgour, I volun- ments but that it had no right to take bencher is particularly poignant and teered with enthusiasm to review action without international sanction.” informative.) It is also highly useful Uneasy Neighbo(u)rs, whose title (At this point a review of how George for Americans seeking to understand aptly points to the often subtle simi- H.W. Bush built international consen- their own nation better, precisely larities and differences between sus in the run-up to the Persian Gulf because the contrast is between coun- Canada and the United States. War, as compared to his son’s tries whose make-up is so similar. I Jones and Kilgour, a longtime approach 12 years later, might have member of Parliament and deputy been useful.) Stephen Buck, a Foreign Service offi- speaker of the House of Commons, Somewhat surprisingly, Kilgour cer from 1963 to 2002, is a member of have undertaken an ambitious and writes that the Canadian role on the FSJ Editorial Board.

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IN MEMORY

Lucius Durham Battle, 89, a From 1962 to 1984, he served as Middle East Institute from 1986 to retired FSO, former ambassador and assistant secretary of State for educa- 1990, when he retired. assistant secretary of State and a for- tion and culture, coordinating cultural Amb. Battle was awarded the mer president of AFSA, died on May events in Washington and working Foreign Service Cup in 1984. He was 13 at his home in Washington, D.C. with Senator J. William Fulbright on a member of both Diplomats and Born and raised in Dawson, Ga., the Fulbright Scholars program. Consular Officers, Retired, and the and Bradenton, Fla., Mr. Battle re- President Lyndon B. Johnson American Foreign Service Associa- ceived his undergraduate and law de- appointed Mr. Battle as U.S. ambas- tion, serving as the president of the grees from the University of Florida sador to Egypt in 1964. In Cairo, he latter in 1963. in 1939 and 1946 respectively. He faced a number of challenges, includ- As president of the Bacon House served in the Navy in the Pacific the- ing an attack on the embassy library, Foundation, he facilitated its merger ater during World War II. which was burned to the ground by a with the DACOR Education and Mr. Battle joined the State Depart- group of African students protesting Welfare Foundation to create the ment in 1946, first serving on the American policies. He arranged the DACOR Bacon House Foundation in Canada desk. He helped manage the 1966 visit to the U.S. of Anwar Sadat, 1986. He served as vice president of Marshall Plan until 1949, when a then an aide to President Gamal DACOR and the Foundation, and chance encounter with Secretary of Abdel Nasser. He was effective and was an honorary governor and trustee State Dean Acheson led to his ap- well-regarded by his Egyptian coun- until his death. pointment as the Secretary’s special terparts, despite the growing tensions He also served on the boards of a assistant. Acheson called Battle his between the two countries. number of institutions, including as a “indispensable aide,” famously noting Amb. Battle was appointed assis- trustee of the John F. Kennedy Center that a successful diplomat needs “an tant secretary of State for the Near for the Performing Arts, the Washing- assistant with nerves of steel, a sense East and North Africa in March 1967, ton Gallery of Modern Art, the George of purpose, and a Southern accent.” weeks before the outbreak of the C. Marshall Foundation and the In 1953, Mr. Battle was posted to Arab-Israeli Six Day War. He re- American University in Cairo. He was Copenhagen. He then moved to signed from the Foreign Service in the first chairman of the Johns Hop- NATO headquarters in Paris for a 1968 to become vice president of Com- kins Foreign Policy Institute. year before returning to the U.S. in munications Satellite Corporation. Amb. Battle’s wife of 55 years, 1956 to work with the Rockefeller He later turned down two ambas- Betty Davis Battle, whom he married family as vice president of Colonial sadorial appointments, one to Viet- in 1949, died in 2004. Williamsburg. In 1961, he returned nam during the Johnson administra- He is survived by four children, to State as executive director and tion and one to Iran in 1977. Lynne Battle of Bethesda, Md., John executive assistant to Secretary of From 1973 to 1975, Amb. Battle Battle of Concord, Mass., Laura Bat- State Dean Rusk. Among many man- served as president of the Middle tle of Rhinebeck, N.Y., and Thomas agement reforms, he established the East Institute, returning to Comsat in Battle of Belmont, Mass.; and eight State Department Operations Center. 1980. He later was president of the grandchildren.

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Dallas Ford Brown, 75, a retired Brown of Universal City, Texas, Julie Flenners worked in the U.S. con- FSO with USAID, died on Jan. 6 in Woessner of Virginia Beach, Va., and sulate general for five years. In 1966, Richmond, Va. Kay Swenson of Midlothian, Va.; eight they returned to Washington, where Mr. Brown, known as “Ford,” was grandchildren; and a sister, Linda Mr. Flenner worked at the State born in Greens Fork, Ind. He gradu- Crabtree of Lafayette, Ind. Department until he retired in 1968. ated from Greens Fork High School Memorial contributions may be The Flenners moved to Castine, and earned a B.S. in business at Indi- made to the Cystic Fibrosis Founda- Maine, in 1968. There Mrs. Flenner ana University in 1954. Mr. Brown tion or the Indiana University Foun- assisted her husband in his new posi- served in the Air Force ROTC in col- dation Scholarship Fund. tion as head of administration at the lege, and afterward served in the U.S. Maine Maritime Academy. In 1990, Air Force, attaining the rank of cap- they both retired again and moved to tain. Following work as a certified u downtown San Antonio, where they public accountant in private industry, Sylvia Grill Walsh Flenner, 83, a lived just off the River Walk. he joined USAID in 1959. former Foreign Service staff officer Mrs. Flenner is survived by her Mr. Brown’s Foreign Service and wife of retired FSO Robert H. husband; a son, Robert Lawrence career took him and his family to Flenner, died on April 1, in San Flenner and his wife, Patricia; a step- Lebanon, Sri Lanka, Jordan, Camer- Antonio, Texas. son, John Wareham Flenner; a broth- oon and Morocco before he was Mrs. Flenner was born on July 20, er, Robert B. Grill and his wife, Laura; assigned as controller to Cairo in 1975 1924, in New York City, the daughter two nephews, Robert and John; and a — shortly after Egypt and the United of Esther Roepke and Saul Grill, who niece, Marisa. States resumed diplomatic relations met on a ship while returning to the and USAID launched one of its larg- U.S. from Europe after World War I. est programs ever. He later served in Losing her mother in infancy, she was u Washington in several positions, in- raised by her aunt/stepmother, Ellen Anne Jeanne Gurvin, 75, a cluding as the Africa Bureau’s con- Grill, and her grandmother Roepke. retired USIA Senior Foreign Service troller. He was the youngest con- She was educated in New York and officer, died on March 4 of complica- troller ever promoted into the Senior Washington, D.C., where she gradu- tions of breast cancer at Asbury Foreign Service. ated from St. Roses. Her first job was Methodist Village’s Wilson Health After retiring in 1983, he served as in the State Department code room, Care Center in Gaithersburg, Md. the chief financial management spe- from 1943 to 1946. Ms. Gurvin was born in Rochester, cialist for the Department of State Mrs. Flenner began working for Minn. She graduated from high Refugee Program for several years. the Foreign Service as a secretary at school at age 16 and obtained a B.S. He was also chief of party for a the London Conference of Foreign degree in English and American stud- USAID-financed financial manage- Ministers at the end of World War II. ies, with honors, from the University ment development program in the She was then transferred to the con- of Minnesota. She taught high school Sahelian countries, and did other sulate general in Munich, where she for two years in Minnesota before short-term work for the agency, usual- served for four years, and then to returning to the university to obtain ly in Africa. A stalwart friend and wise Berlin, for two years. Next, she was an M.S. in information science and mentor to many USAID employees, posted to Japan, where she served in Spanish literature. he was an expert bridge player, a con- the consulate in Yokohama for two In 1957, she accepted an assign- structor of wonderful birdhouses and years. ment as a regional library administra- a philatelist. In 1957, she was assigned to Costa tor with the U.S. Army Special Ser- When not posted overseas, the Rica, where she met Mr. Flenner, a vices in France. Based in Poitiers, she Browns resided in Washington, D.C., second secretary. The couple married also covered American libraries in from 1959 until 2006, when they in 1958, and moved to Washington, Tours, Nantes and Samur. During moved to Richmond, Va., to be near D.C., where Ms. Flenner worked in this period, she traveled throughout family. the Department of State’s passport Europe and the Middle East. She Mr. Brown is survived by his wife, and visa offices. Their son, Robert, enrolled in graduate courses at the Lou Ann Rutherford Brown of Rich- was born in 1960. A year later, the University of Paris (Sorbonne) and mond, Va.; three children, Thomas family moved to Luanda, where the then the University of Madrid, study-

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I N M EMORY u ing French and Spanish literature and Sector Committee on the Arts. sure during her lifetime. Her most philosophy. In 1962, she returned to She also had a Pearson assignment recent trips were to Vietnam, Laos the U.S. and worked as an academi- with the Council for International and Cambodia; she also attended a cian at the University of California, Urban Liaison and, at one point, her cooking school in Provence in 2006. Berkeley. skill at fundraising was put to use as a She is survived by three brothers In 1966, Ms. Gurvin was appoint- loaned executive to the Combined and two sisters-in-law: Peter Gurvin ed to the U.S. Information Agency. Federal Campaign. There she led and his wife, Jerusha, of Bethesda, Her first overseas posting was to more than 300 volunteers in raising Md.; George Gurvin of Arlington, Va.; Montevideo. After this four-year tour, $1.2 million for Washington charita- and John Gurvin and his wife, she took a leave of absence to attend ble organizations. Antoinette, of Burnsville, Minn. graduate school in Latin American In 1994, Ms. Gurvin was promoted studies at the University of Texas. to the Senior Foreign Service. That Thereafter, she had overseas assign- same year she was diagnosed with u ments in Buenos Aires, Stockholm, breast cancer. She left Lima to under- Arthur Moore Handly, 79, a The Hague and Lima. go surgery in the U.S. and continued retired FSO with USAID, died on Her 30-year career as a cultural to work at USIA’s Office of the Jan. 23 at Champlain Valley Physi- affairs officer featured a number of Counsel General while undergoing cians Hospital in Plattsburgh, N.Y. highlights, such as creating a consor- treatment. She was named a U.S. Mr. Handly was born in Malone, tium of Swedish publishers to bring national judge for the 1995 and 1996 N.Y., on March 6, 1928, the son of 20 major American authors to discuss Carnegie Foundation competitions Arthur W. and Ellen Handly. A 1946 their work with the public, the for “U.S. Professor of the Year,” and graduate of Franklin Academy, he Swedish Academy/Nobel Prize Com- was appointed to serve on several task served in the U.S. Army in Japan, mittee and the media. In both forces by the American Council on then attended Hamilton College and Sweden and the Netherlands, she Education. Her last position before transferred to Saint Lawrence Uni- served as treasurer of the binational retiring in 1996 was with the Foreign versity, graduating in 1950. He Fulbright boards. In The Hague, she Affairs Grievance Board. earned a master’s degree in public doubled the annual Fulbright budget In retirement, Ms. Gurvin contin- administration from Syracuse Univer- from Dutch and American private ued to created linkages among acade- sity, and pursued a career in state gov- and public funding sources, linked mic, arts, government and media ernment that took him to Wisconsin five Dutch universities with new institutions and leaders and to mentor and Oregon. American partners and created three others in their careers through her In 1962, Mr. Handly joined new prestigious Fulbright chairs. In own consultancy. She was a member USAID. He served in Turkey for five Lima, she served as the proactive of Diplomatic and Consular Officers, years and, after a second stint at coordinator of a $1 million program to Retired, and the Public Diplomacy Syracuse University, went on to serve stimulate sales of U.S. textbooks (in Alumni Association, among others. as mission director in Jordan, Spanish translation) to Peruvian uni- She became a tenacious fighter Pakistan, Tanzania and Egypt before versities. Shortly before her depar- against her own cancer and an advo- retiring in 1987. ture, she set up a new prize for an out- cate for breast cancer research and In retirement, Mr. Handly contin- standing Peruvian university profes- funding, contributing to several books ued his commitment to service. He sor, seeded with personal funds. on breast cancer therapy. Friends and was a 4th-degree Knight of Colum- During several tours at USIA colleagues remarked on her contin- bus, a hospice volunteer and a driver headquarters in Washington, Ms. ued zest and her positive, upbeat for the elderly. An active member of Gurvin served as chief of Binational worldview over 14 years, despite new the Plattsburgh Duplicate Bridge Cultural Centers Management and as and recurring cancers. Club, he was also an avid golfer and creative arts officer. In the latter Ms. Gurvin was an avid reader and loved to travel. capacity, she designed and directed enjoyed intellectual discussions with a He is survived by his wife of 56 grants programs worldwide that aim- diverse network of contacts and years, Anne Frenette Handly; four ed at stimulating institution-to-institu- friends. She also liked opera, the dra- sons: Kevin and his wife, Piney, of tion linkages She was appointed matic arts and travel, visiting more Boston, Mass., Marshall and his wife, USIA coordinator of the Private than 60 countries for work and plea- Carla, of Beverly, Mass., Brian and his

80 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JULY-AUGUST 2008 I N M EMORY u wife, Ginger, of Walnut Creek, Calif., seas, the family lived in Bethesda, nursery school and presented a grad- Paul and his wife, Jackie, of Falls Md. uate seminar in contemporary Ameri- Church, Va.; and nine grandchildren. Her many interests ranged from can literature at the state university. being a docent for the National Zoo In Kiev, she assisted in establishing and the National History Museum to the first U.S. consular presence in u volunteering for Maryland Fair Hous- Ukraine. After her last overseas post- Cynthia Eagles Hodgson, a for- ing and Headstart D.C. and serving as ing, she worked as the education offi- mer FS spouse and education officer an administrator at different times for cer for the State Department’s Family in the Family Liaison Office, died on the American League of Anglers, the Liaison Office, all the while raising May 6 in Cornwall, Vt. American University Psychology De- her four children. Born in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., partment, the Clean Water Fund, the In 1988, she married Richard she attended Master’s School in Association for the Care of Children’s Hodgson. The couple moved to Cape Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. After graduating Health and the Cardinal Spellman Cod and enjoyed operating a bed and from Centenary College, she worked Philatelic Museum. breakfast for 15 years. After serving as as a model at Saks Fifth Avenue. Mrs. Hodgson taught at the Hai- an educator for the Massachusetts With her first husband, FSO tian-American Institute, tutored blind Society for the Prevention of Cruelty Robin Porter, Mrs. Hodgson served at Filipino high school students and con- to Animals, she developed her own diplomatic posts in Manila, Port-au- ducted a series of English as a Second animal and environmental study pro- Prince, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Mos- Language classes on educational TV gram for elementary schools. She also cow and Kiev. Between stints over- in Manila. In Moscow, she taught opened a retail store, Creature

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Comforts, that specialized in animal- Springhouse Assisted Living in Beth- the way to Arlington Cemetery from related products. In 2005, the esda, Md., where she had resided for her home. She volunteered at Arena Hodgsons moved to Cornwall, Vt., several months. Stage and at the Washington Home, where she pursued her interest in Born and raised in New Bedford, where she visited many patients and music and indulged her love of Mass., Ms. Johnson later attended friends. nature, history and genealogy. Dillard University in New Orleans Although she did not own an ani- Friends remember Mrs. Hodgson and Columbia University in New York mal at the time of her death, she as fun-loving, endlessly curious, gutsy City. She worked for Con Edison in adored her friends’ dogs, horses, cats and beautiful. Her final resting place New York City from 1955 to 1963. and exotic birds, spoiled them with will be at the Hodgson family plot in In 1963, Ms. Johnson joined the treats, and never hesitated to pet-sit Dover, Mass. Her family would like Foreign Service. Her first overseas whenever asked. to acknowledge the care and dedica- posting was to Bangkok. Subsequent Throughout her travels Ms. John- tion of Hospice and the Wellspring assignments took her to Brussels, son made many friends of all national- Singers. Copenhagen, Saigon, Port of Spain, ities. She had godchildren in Africa, Mrs. Hodgson’s earlier marriage to Kinshasa, Fort-de-France, Lima, Denmark and the United States. FS Robin Porter of Wickford, R.I., ended Freetown, Dar es Salaam, Hamilton colleagues recall Ms. Johnson as very in divorce. and Accra. She returned to Washing- efficient and competent, but also as a She was predeceased by her par- ton, D.C., to retire in 1996. compassionate consular officer who ents, Reginald and Edna Eagles, and Ms. Johnson’s love of travel did not mentored many young Foreign her beloved brother, Harrison. She is wane after retirement, and she con- Service officers. survived by her husband of 20 years, tinued to accept short, challenging Although she leaves no immediate Richard Hodgson; her four children: When Actually Employed consular survivors, Ms. Johnson is remem- Carl Porter of Longmont, Colo., assignments from 1997 to 2002 in bered by the many friends whom she Christopher Porter of New York, Accra, Jeddah, Bahrain, Sanaa, Am- touched in very special ways. N.Y., Sarah Bell of Peace Dale, R.I., man, Sofia, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh and William Porter of Shoreham, Vt.; City. and four grandchildren, Lily and Rosy The tales from her many assign- u Bell, Christopher Porter and Beatrice ments could fill a book. Friends recall Wallace Edward Keiderling, 77, Porter. She is also survived by two one memorable story from her time in a retired FSO with USIA, died of stepdaughters, Jenni Brady of Med- Bukavu, a remote consulate in Zaire. complications from a stroke and arte- field, Mass., and Heather DePaola of She was called upon to courier mail riosclerosis on April 9 in Cocha- Dover, Mass.; two stepgrandchilden, on long and arduous trips over rough bamba, Bolivia. Zack Brady and Mckinlee DePaola; terrain from one African country to Born in Westfield, N.J., Mr. Keider- her brother, Sandy Eagles of LaVerne, another. Longing for fresh fruit and ling served in the U.S. Army from Calif.; her sister, Joan Webb of Cor- vegetables, she would pay as much as 1948 to 1949. He graduated from tez, Fla.; and many nieces and neph- $10 for a single apple when she could Oklahoma State University in 1954 ews. find one. She often spoke of the nat- and received a master’s degree from Gifts in her memory can be sent to ural beauty of Africa, a sad downside the University of Florida in 1962. Hospice Volunteer Services of Addi- to which was the sight of beautiful ele- Mr. Keiderling was sent as a son County, P.O. Box 772, Middle- phants killed by poachers for their trainee to the Binational Center in bury VT 05753, the San Francisco ivory. Cochabamba in 1962 and became its Society for the Prevention of Cruelty Ms. Johnson had maintained a res- director two years later. There he met to Animals, or the National Wildlife idence in Washington, D.C., since the his wife, the former María del Rosario Federation. 1970s, where she enjoyed getting “Charo” Soruco, whom he courted together with friends and trying new with rides on his bicycle. Colleagues or exotic cuisines. She also enjoyed recall his carting Lake Titicaca reed u playing golf and attending the sym- boats over the mountains to Cocha- Barbara M. Johnson, 76, a re- phony at the Kennedy Center. An bamba and playing “wallyball” and tired Foreign Service consular officer, avid walker, she explored many differ- basketball with Mr. Keiderling during died from ovarian cancer on Feb. 2 at ent areas of the city, often hiking all those years.

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From 1966 to 1969, he was BNC Keiderling covered every inch of the served, and was determined to visit director in Santo Domingo, where country in his Volkswagen camper. the regions of the world he’d not yet he is remembered for creating youth Playing the balalaika, a stringed seen. He visited southern Africa, softball leagues and opening exhibit instrument of Russian folk origin, he Central Asia, Cuba, New Zealand and space for struggling Dominican art- made himself beloved of artists and Australia, where he became the old- ists. From there Mr. Keiderling was musicians throughout the country. est registered backpacker at the age posted to Asuncion as BNC director He was then assigned to Lisbon as of 75. from 1969 to 1972. There he orga- CAO from 1980 to 1985, and to Rio He is survived by his wife, Charo, nized a “musical train,” which took de Janeiro as branch public affairs of Cochabamba, Bolivia, and his Paraguayan musicians into the iso- officer from 1985 to 1989. There he three children: Kelly, an FSO now lated interior of the country to per- continued to work with the groups he posted to Chisinau, Casey and Keith. form. loved: university professors and stu- Mr. Keiderling was commissioned dents, intellectuals and civic leaders. as an FSO in 1973. His sole Wash- His last tour was as CAO in Bogota u ington tour, from 1973 to 1976, was as from 1989 to 1992, after which he Annyce Faye Hendricks Manch, USIA’s Wireless File reporter on retired and settled in Cochabamba. 88, wife of the late FSO Martin Capitol Hill, where he covered Mr. Keiderling viewed retirement Manch, died on April 5 in Fort Watergate and many other stories. as an opportunity to travel again. He Lauderdale, Fla. Posted to Quito as cultural affairs returned often to his other homes in A native of Anniston, Ala., Mrs. officer from 1976 to 1980, Mr. the various countries in which he had Manch was employed by the Navy in

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Washington, D.C., in 1941. There camping and fishing in the nearby Creek (California) Courier-Journal. she met and married Martin (Marty) Adirondacks. He was an Eagle Scout He left the newspaper business to Manch, who joined the State Depart- and an assistant Scoutmaster. enter the Foreign Service in 1947. ment in 1952 as an administrative offi- In 1943 he joined the Army, serv- As a career Foreign Service officer, cer, becoming an FSO in 1955. Mrs. ing in combat for which he was he served in Karachi, Oslo and Bagh- Manch accompanied her husband in awarded the Purple Heart and the dad before returning to Washington postings to Cairo, Athens and Wash- Bronze Star. in 1955 to become officer-in-charge ington, D.C. Mr. O’Mahony joined the State of Arabian Peninsula Affairs. In 1959, In 1971, Mr. Manch retired and Department in 1952, becoming an he attended the National War College the couple settled in Fairhope, Ala. FSO in 1956. During a 32-year and in 1960 was posted to London as There Mrs. Manch was an active career, he served overseas in Seoul, first secretary (with responsibility for member of Fairhope United Metho- Hong Kong, New Delhi, Santiago and Middle East and Africa). From 1962 dist Church, the Thomas Hospital Port of Spain. He retired in 1988. to 1965, he served in Washington as Auxiliary, Sundial Garden Club and He is survived by his wife, Merle, director of Northern African Affairs. Eastern Shore Woman’s Club. She of Bethesda, Md.; two sons, Devin of In 1965, President Lyndon John- was also a member of the American Chevy Chase, Md., and Brian of son appointed him U.S. ambassador Foreign Service Association and Brewster, N.Y.; a daughter, Kerry to Libya. He returned from that post Diplomatic and Consular Officers, Shea Dall, of Annapolis, Md.; a broth- in 1969 to serve as assistant secretary Retired. er, Thomas P. O’Mahony of Burling- of State for African affairs. From 1973 Following the death of her hus- ton, Mass.; and five grandchildren. to 1977 he served as U.S. ambassador band in 1995, Mrs. Manch moved to Indonesia, and was the U.S. ambas- from Fairhope to Fredericksburg, Va., sador to the Philippines from Novem- to be near her grandchildren. u ber 1977 to April 1978. She is survived by four children: David D. Newsom, 90, a retired Ambassador Newsom was named Maryann Irion and Jacqueline Manch FSO, three-time ambassador and for- under secretary of State for political of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Martin mer under secretary of State for polit- affairs in 1978 and served in that posi- Manch IV and his wife Susan, of ical affairs, died on March 30 in tion until February 1981, when he Fredericksburg, Va.; and William Charlottesville, Va. was appointed Secretary of State ad Manch and his wife Susan, of Mc- Mr. Newsom was born on Jan. 6, interim between the Carter and Lean, Va.; five grandchildren; and one 1918, in Richmond, Calif. He re- Reagan administrations. He retired great-grandchild. She also is survived ceived his B.A. degree in English from the Foreign Service with the by two sisters, Eunice Boozer of from the University of California at rank of career minister in February Selma, Ala., and Rosemary Doucette Berkeley in 1938 and an M.S. degree 1981. of Satellite Beach, Fla., and numerous in journalism from the Columbia After retirement, Amb. Newsom nieces, nephews, other relatives and University School of Journalism in became director of the Institute for wonderful friends. 1940. At Columbia, he was the recip- the Study of Diplomacy at George- The family requests donations in ient of a Pulitzer Traveling Fellow- town University. There, he also serv- her memory be made to HospiceCare ship, which enabled him to visit ed as the Marshall B. Coyne Research of Southeast Florida, Inc., 309 SE Japan, China, the Dutch East Indies Professor of Diplomacy in the School 18th St., Fort Lauderdale FL 33316. (Indonesia), India, South Africa, of Foreign Service. In the fall of Argentina and Brazil in 1940–1941. 1986, he became the John Adams Mr. Newsom worked as a reporter Fellow under the Fulbright program u for the San Francisco Chronicle at the Royal Institute of International Joseph E. O’Mahony, 82, a retired before joining the U.S. Navy in 1942. Affairs in London. In 1991, he inau- Foreign Service officer, died on Nov. He was assigned to Naval Intelligence gurated the Hugh Cumming Chair of 26, 2007, at his home in Bethesda, and was stationed in Hawaii during International Relations at the Univer- Md., after a long illness. World War II. Upon his discharge sity of Virginia. He retired in 1998, Mr. O’Mahony was born in from the Navy as a lieutenant in 1946, and resided in Charlottesville until his Indianapolis, Ind., and grew up in he and his wife, the former Jean death. Utica, N.Y., where he enjoyed hiking, Frances Craig, published the Walnut Mr. Newsom is the author of sev-

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I N M EMORY u eral books, including Diplomacy Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, wife of 65 years, Jean; five children: Under a Foreign Flag: When Nations and edited it for two years. Prior to John of Seattle, Wash., Daniel of Bos- Break Relations (Georgetown Univer- his death, he completed his memoirs, ton, Mass., Nancy of Geneva, Cather- sity Institute for the Study of Diplo- scheduled for publication in late 2008. ine of Philadelphia, Pa., and David K. macy, 1990), The Soviet Brigade in In his own words, “During the period of Potomac, Md.; and nine grandchil- Cuba (Indiana University Press, 1987), covered by this memoir (1918–2008), dren. The Diplomacy of Human Rights significant changes have taken place Memorial contributions may be (University Press of America, 1986), in the international scene. I have made to the American Foreign Ser- Diplomacy and the American Demo- been a witness to most and a partici- vice Association Scholarship Fund, cracy (Indiana University Press, pant in many.” 2101 E Street NW, Washington DC 1988), and The Imperial Mantle: The He was the recipient of numerous 20037, or to the Institute for the United States, Decolonization, and the honors, including the Rockefeller Study of Diplomacy, Newsom Junior Third World (Indiana University Public Service Award, the State Fellowship in Diplomacy, 1316 36th Press, 2001). He also published Department’s Meritorious Service Street NW, Washington DC 20007. numerous journal articles and was a Award (1958), the Foreign Service regular columnist for the Christian Cup (1987) and the Lifetime Contri- Science Monitor. butions to American Diplomacy Award u In 1989, Amb. Newsom launched of the American Foreign Service Richard Charles Schoonover, 70, the Diplomatic Record, published Association (2000). a retired FSO with USIA, died on annually by Westview Press for the Amb. Newsom is survived by his March 12 in Chapel Hill, N.C., after

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I N M EMORY u losing a battle with cancer. ple’s excellent entertaining: going to Dhahran, Istanbul, Beirut and Riy- Born in Sacramento, Calif., Mr. one of their parties guaranteed an adh. In Washington, he served in the Schoonover received his undergradu- absorbing time with excellent food Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs from ate degree at the University of and fascinating company. 1957 to 1960 and on the Israel and California, Riverside and did graduate Remembered as a vibrant, intelli- Arab-Israel affairs desk from 1969 to studies at Berkeley. gent and witty individual, who was a 1971. He was then posted to Manila Mr. Schoonover joined the For- true gentleman, Mr. Schoonover from 1971 to 1974. eign Service in 1964. He was posted made important contributions to his After retiring from the State briefly to Kampala in 1965 and, later community both in life and in death. Department in 1980, Mr. Wahl work- that year, transferred to Dar es His remains have been donated to the ed briefly as a consultant for the Salaam. There he met Brenda Brown, University of North Carolina School Multinational Force and Observers, whom he married in 1968. Mr. of Medicine. While his body will go the Sinai peacekeeping force, before Schoonover went on to serve in to benefit science, his spirit lives on in settling first in Swarthmore and, later, Lagos, Tunis and Manila. By this the hearts of family and friends. Media, Pa. time, Brenda Schoonover had joined Mr. Schoonover’s first marriage, to His first wife, Sarah Martin Wahl, the State Department, and the couple the former Virginia Santee, ended in whom he married in Tsingtao in 1948, had subsequent tandem assignments divorce. He is survived by his wife of died in 1978. He remarried in 1981 in Colombo and Tunis, where Mr. 40 years, Brenda of Chapel Hill, N.C.; and his second wife, Tania Cosman Schoonover served as public affairs a son, Peter of Los Angeles, Calif.; Wahl, died in 2006. officer. two daughters, Elizabeth Wrightson Mr. Wahl leaves his three children, In 1990, Mr. Schoonover was of Los Angeles, Calif., and Stephanie Martin Wahl of Corte Madera, Calif., selected to participate in the 33rd Schoonover of Austin, Texas; and a Russell Wahl of Pocatello, Idaho, and Class of the Senior Seminar, followed grandson, Thomas. Harriet Wahl Cowper of Tucson, by a posting to the U.S. mission to Memorial contributions may be to Ariz.; six grandchildren; four stepchil- NATO in Brussels. After retiring in the Senior Living Foundation of the dren; and two step-grandchildren. I 1996, he accompanied Mrs. Schoon- American Foreign Service (www. over on her tours as U.S. ambassador slfoundation.org/), or to Carolina for to Togo, as diplomat-in-residence in Kibera (www.cfk.unc.edu). Chapel Hill, N.C., and on her return to Brussels. Chapel Hill has been the Schoonovers’ permanent residence u since 2004. Theodore A. Wahl, 86, a retired Mr. Schoonover was active in Foreign Service officer, died on April numerous internationally affiliated 19 in Media, Pa., following a series of organizations. He was co-chair of the strokes. Carolina Friends of the Foreign Born in Cooks Falls, N.Y., in 1922, Service in Chapel Hill and served on Mr. Wahl graduated from Colgate the board of directors of the online University in 1942 and served in the magazine, American Diplomacy. Army Air Corps in China during An avid lifetime golfer, he was a World War II, attaining the rank of E-mail your member of the Kenwood Golf and captain. After the war, he received a “In Memory” Country Club in Bethesda, Md. He master’s degree from Tufts Univer- was a single-digit handicapper and sity’s Fletcher School of Law and submission to the enjoyed playing challenging courses Diplomacy, then joined the Foreign Foreign Service Journal, wherever in the world he found him- Service in 1947. attention Susan Maitra self. While living in Chapel Hill, he During a 33-year diplomatic at [email protected], played golf regularly, both locally and career, Mr. Wahl served in consulates or fax it to (202) 338-6820. in the region. in Tsingtao and Chungking, and was No photos, please. Mr. Schoonover was also an ex- then posted to Oslo. For many years quisite chef. Friends recall the cou- he served in the Middle East in

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90 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JULY-AUGUST 2008

REAL ESTATE

JULY-AUGUST 2008/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 91

REFLECTIONS On a Hilltop in Venezuela

BY AMANDA ECKERSON

even months ago, I was living in sides. I felt, however, that if Ameri- a barrio of Caracas, on top of the The only thing I knew cans could see and hear the things Slast green hill in the city. I was for certain was that Venezuelans are fighting for when living in what any outside observer they back Chavez, they would find would call the slums: the water comes my father’s friend had them eerily familiar. Venezuelans just two days a week, the kids play never been to my hilltop, want the dignity and respect of being baseball in the street with bottle caps, and no one I was living a sovereign nation. They want jobs, families live three generations to a with could afford the access to health care and the pride of concrete room, and salsa and techno a strong military. They want things versions of 1980s American rock taxi required to climb that we want ourselves and should songs blare from every house at every the hill to his. therefore be supporting in other hour of every day. nations as they develop — even if they Embassy Caracas also sits on top w sometimes look different than ours. of a hill. It is on the opposite side of Observing America from the other the city, however, in the richest neigh- hilltop was sobering. Like our borhood in Caracas. Before this trip, My father’s friend was against the embassy, it was isolated, not welcom- I had done most of my traveling with reforms because they were undemoc- ing, and catered only to those with the the advantage (or so I thought) of a ratic; I was for them because they money and means to reach it. If elit- diplomatic passport. With a father were democratic. He believed most ism is what our foreign policy is striv- who works for USAID, I was raised Venezuelans hated Chavez; I hadn’t ing to convey, then it is perfectly posi- overseas with an interest in interna- met one who didn’t support him. He tioned. I couldn’t help thinking, how- tional development and a conscious- believed the milk shortage that pre- ever, that in terms of our national ness of other cultures. This time, ceded the election was the fault of the interest, and our cherished American however, I realized that while a diplo- government controlling vital sub- ideals, we should be forming long- matic passport may get one through stances; I had been told that pow- term, sustainable ties with people and lines more quickly, it also tends to dered milk was controlled by the oli- nations based on shared values. keep its bearer separated from the garchy, and ran out before every If we want to understand the com- people and realities they are there to major vote or election to make people mon bonds we share with Venezue- understand. uneasy. lans, we don’t need to move moun- The gulf between our two moun- The only thing I knew for certain tains. Only mountaintops. I taintops was real. In a brief visit to the after our conversation was that my embassy, I met with a friend of my father’s friend had never been to my Amanda Eckerson graduated with a father. It was a week before last De- hilltop, and no one I was living with B.A. in history from Yale University cember’s referendum on constitutional could afford the taxi required to climb in 2007. She grew up in Haiti and reforms, and I had been immersed in to his. The disparities in our facts and Ethiopia, and will be returning to reading and debating the proposals our opinions were vast, and I won- Venezuela on a Fulbright Scholarship with local friends at the bodega. I was dered where the truth lay. next year to research the use of per- unprepared for how completely our I was acutely aware that there were formance in political struggles in two perspectives clashed. dangerous misconceptions on both Caracas.

92 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JULY-AUGUST 2008