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The single best reference for anyone who needs to know the diplomatic community and their countries

What goes on in Washington that makes it one of the most important diplomatic capitals of the world, with 139 countries represented by their embassies in this city of power? Who are the ambassadors representing their respective countries? Who are the important officials in each embassy to be contacted for economic, commercial, political, cultural, visa, passport and travel information? With the turn of a page, The Diplomat’s Almanac 1989 provides, in 300 pages, concise information needed concerning a country, its leader, ambassador and other senior diplomats at their embassy in Washington, D.C. and their Consular offices in cities across the . This valuable fact book also features flags of the country, as well as a four-page atlas map of the world.

The Diplomat’s Almanac 1989 fills a gap in the reference works available to diplomats, senior federal and state government officials, national and international businessmen, journalists, research scholars, academia and others.

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Governing Board hree proposed amendments to the AFSA bylaws were published President: PERRY SHANKLE T State Vice President: CHARLES SCHMITZ in the March issue of the JOURNAL. The constitution provides AID Vice President: Vacant USIA Vice President: WILLIAM JACOBSEN that for 45 days following the date of publication of the proposed Secretary: TED WILKINSON bylaws, members may submit statements in opposition to these proposed Treasurer: SAMUEL MOK State Representatives: MICHAEL COTTER amendments, provided that each statement is signed by not less than 10 BILL DUFFY JONATHAN FARRAR members, and no two statements are signed by the same member. State¬ ROSS QUAN AID Representative: CHARLES UPHAUS ments must be in the hands of the Election Committee no later than USIA Representative: VANCE PACE April 28, 1989. The Election Committee will inform the membership of USDA Representative: ALVIN K. CHOCK Retired Representatives: L. BRUCE LAIN GEN statements in opposition to the proposed amendments during the upcom¬ DAVID SCHNEIDER ing election. JOHN THOMAS Staff During the election period, an Elections Committee member will screen Director for the April, May, and June issues of the JOURNAL to assure compliance Administration: SABINE SISK General Counsel: SUSAN Z. HOLIK with the following policy: Controller: ELLEN TENN Membership Coordinator: MARI RADFORD The Committee on Elections will not authorize publication of letters Membership Assistant: JENNIFER EVANS to the editor, editorials, or articles on, by, or referring to the candidates, Director for Member Services: CHRIS BAZAR or bearing on the election in a manner not compatible with the Election Member Services Representatives: BRUCE A. HENOCH Committee’s responsibility to assure that the FOREIGN SERVICE JOUR¬ JANET SCHOUMACHER Legal Assistant: CHRISTOPHER PERINE NAL and AFSA News are not used to support or oppose any candidate or Law Clerks: ELLEN SILVER slate.” ADAM G. SPIEGEL Administrative Assistant: KAREN J. DENT Executive Assistant: ASHLEY NEY Daniel Newberry Professional Issues RICHARD S. THOMPSON Chairman, Committee on Elections Congressional Liaison ROBERT M. BEERS, RICK WEISS Scholarship Programs CRISTIN K. SPRINGET

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2 Editorial Board Chairman ANTHONY C.E. QUAINTON Vice Chairman PHILIP-MICHAEL GARY FOREIGNSERVICE JIM ANDERSON LAWRENCE FUCHSBERG JOHN E. LANGE PATRICIA MALLON JOHN D. PIELEMEIER BERNARD REICH LYNN SEVER PERRY SHANKLE DAVID E. ZWEIFEL “The Independent Iran: Historical Perspective 28 Voice of the Foreign Service” Henry Precht and Charles Naas

ANN LUPPI Managing Editor NANCY JOHNSON Lost in Creation 37 Assistant Editor1 Advertising Manager PATTY J. MEIER Nancy Bemkopf Tucker

The FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL is pub¬ lished monthly except August by the Ameri¬ 40 can Foreign Service Association, a private : Background to History non-profit organization. Material appear¬ ing herein represents the opinions of the writers and docs not necessarily represent Rebecca B. Matlock the views of AFSA or the JOURNAL. Writer queries invited. JOURNAL subscriptions: AFSA Mem¬ bers—included in annual dues; Others, S20. Overseas subscriptions (except ), add Journal: Back in the USSR $3 per year. Airmail not available. 45 Second-class postage paid at Washington, D.C., and at additional post office. Postmas¬ Nicole and Alan Logan ter: Send address changes to AFSA, 2101 E Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20037. Microfilm copies: University Microfilm Library Services, Ann Arbor Michigan 48106 (October 1967 to present). Indexed People: Fast Times at Hindi High by Public Affairs Information Service 49 (PAIS). Advertising inquiries invited. The ap¬ Kitty Thuermer pearance of advertisements herein does not imply AFSA endorsement of the services or goods offered. ® American Foreign Service Departments Association, 1989 ISSN 0015-7279 April 1989, Vol. 66, no, 4 Letters 4

Cover photo of the interior Focus: Contrasts in History 10 of Spaso House, the U.S. ambassador’s residence in Books 14 , by Sergei Petrov, courtesy of Ambassador and 10-25-50 21 Mrs. Arthur Hartman. Pet¬ Clippings rov, a 36-year-old Soviet 24 citizen who is trying to ob¬ AFSA News 56 tain permission to leave the USSR, has worked as a free¬ AFSA Election Slate 59 lance photographer for em¬ bassies and news bureaus in Moscow since 1981. His photographs have appeared in Architectual Digest and at the State Department and at various American univer¬ sities.

APRIL 1989 3 Letters

A CEO for State our embassies do not necessarily re¬ ers to judge their space requirements, flect our unhappiness with host gov¬ but I doubt that reprints from the News¬ I wish to draw to your attention a ty¬ ernments. Unless we can gain accep¬ letter would prove excessive. Old crocks pographical error in the item I con¬ tance for this principle, Foreign Serv¬ like me, eccentric though we may seem, tributed to your “Dear Mr. Secretary” ice personnel and U.S. foreign policy follow closely the sweepstakes of sur¬ section in the February issue. As one will continue to run unnecessary risks vival and extinction in which we must of my recommendations I suggested because we are afraid to appear to be compete. For some, the JOURNAL’S that the under secretary for manage¬ sending a political message. other features may occupy a less than ment position be filled not by a career Gerald P. Lamherty commanding position on the intellec¬ FSO, “but rather by a qualified man¬ Guatemala City, Guatemala tual horizon than one might think. In ager, perhaps a retired CEO.” As that event, we might do better to sub¬ printed, the letter read retired FSO in¬ Do not surrender scribe to the less ambitious Newsletter stead of CEO. This error detracted from and to grope our way onward without the basic point I had hoped to make: Modern philosophers tell us that some¬ the guiding lights of the JOURNAL. that a professional manager from out¬ thing cannot be right in theory and John Bovey side the system may be better able, wrong in practice, for in such a case Cambridge, Massachusetts through both managerial competency the theory is wrong. Andrew and credibility with Congress and Kauffman’s letter in the January JOUR¬ A personnel view within the administration, to foster an NAL provides us with a fallacious the¬ effective personnel system than could ory when he intimates that legaliza¬ I read with keen interest my friend Leo an “insider” in charge of the manage¬ tion of the alcohol drug is akin to legaliza¬ Reddy’s thoughts on improving the For¬ ment function. tion of the cocaine drug. eign Service personnel system. I think I recognize an element of blasphemy His theory: . . to ban habit¬ he is on the right track in focusing on in this proposition, given the record forming drugs with stiff penalties is as die need to provide more meaningful of a number of outstanding FSOs suc¬ helpless as was the prohibitionist5s cam¬ opportunities for accumulating exper¬ cessfully running large overseas mis¬ paign against liquor.” To show the weak¬ tise and yardsticks for measuring it— sions. Nevertheless, the challenge of the ness of his theory, simply substitute the however much I might question his “M” function requires, I feel, more for¬ word “murder” for “habit-forming view that junior officers should get out malized training and experience in the drugs.” Surrendering to the enemy— of the visa business or that mandatory management field than FSOs hereto¬ in this case the crack pushers—is defi¬ consular or hardship postings are some¬ fore have generally possessed. The nam¬ nitely not the way to solve a problem, how inconsistent with early develop¬ ing of the head of a 2,500-employee theory or no theory. ment of expertise. company to become the new under sec¬ Richard P. Wilson However, speaking as one who has retary for management is an interest¬ Mobile, Alabama spent years acquiring in-depth under¬ ing postscript to this suggestion. Con¬ standing of the South Asia region and gratulations and best wishes, Mr. Selin! Sweepstakes of survival of politico-military affairs, I am sym¬ W. Scott Butcher pathetic to his interest in how best to Washing ton, D.C. I entirely agree with Mr. reward, retain, and utilize our store¬ Flollingsworth’s recommendation in house of functional and foreign-area closing February that the JOURNAL publish expertise in a manner best suited to obituaries of all Foreign Service per¬ support the conduct of effective and The department should be congratu¬ sonnel, as the State Department News¬ informed foreign policy. I would like lated on closing our embassy in Kabul. letter does. I am astonished by the edi¬ to offer the following additional Despite all the money that has been tors’ answer: that the JOURNAL has thoughts on personnel problems. spent on improving the security at U.S. other fish to fry and that the insertion I have been dismayed repeatedly over embassies throughout the world, our of death notices should be left to the the years at how freely the Service squan¬ personnel will remain defenseless when¬ initiative of its readers. Even assuming ders priceless knowledge and under¬ ever a local government is unwilling that more than a small minority of standing of complex foreign areas and (Iran) or unable (Lebanon) to defend friends or family members would take cultures within its ranks. There are, of them. The only option in such cases such initiative, I don’t think obituaries course, many examples of excellent use is evacuation. can be relegated to the status of classi¬ of our unique foreign-area credentials. The U.S. government should make fied ads. But even accepting the usefulness of clear to the world that decisions to close Editors are better placed than read¬ assignments out of area for broaden¬ ing outlook and developing functional

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WRITE TO: DIPLOMATIC SALES NAME FORD MOTOR COMPANY ADDRESS. 815 Connecticut Avenue, N.W. CITY .STATE. Washington, D.C. 20006 Tel: (202) 785-6047 COUNTRY. ZIP. Letters skills, there are still too many misuses and demonstrate managerial experience retention. (or non-uses) of the skills accumulated and the factors actually dictating the In all of this, I found Reddy’s sugges¬ by officers through years of study and assignment process. Time and again, tions thought provoking, an excellent experience. I have seen choice senior managerial first step, and in my view better than In the private sector, there is grow¬ positions filled with officers who have what I regard as excessive concern with ing attention given to use of computer demonstrated little or no managerial the generalist in Lannon Walker’s arti¬ technolog)' to ensure that the balance experience, skill, or interest. cle. New thinking on both specializa¬ of skills and experience matches the an¬ This last goes hand in hand with tion and generalization is needed, how¬ ticipated needs of senior levels of the what I believe to be a major anomaly ever, in light of the near-decade of ex¬ organization. In contrast, Foreign Serv¬ between how much emphasis the For¬ perience with the 1980 Act, and I wel¬ ice promotions seem to have virtually eign Service places on one’s personnel come the debate provoked by both nothing to do with the quite specific file in making judgments about awards, authors’ contributions. foreign affairs needs of die Service in promotions, and tenure, and how ir¬ Herbert G. Hggerty senior grades—beyond, of course, con¬ relevant that file seems to be in terms Washington, D.C. trolling overall numbers and maintain¬ of key assignment decisions, which are ing some balance among cones—nor critical to both promotion and reten¬ PIT is the pits is there any way to ensure that promo¬ tion. For senior officers, personal knowl¬ tion panels do not inadvertently strip edge and corridor reputation are far I think that the acronym for a part- the Service of expertise by selecting out more important to gaining choice as¬ time, intermittent, temporary employee those most knowledgeable about some signments than is any positive infor¬ should be changed to something other key area of the world. mation about performance or exper¬ than PIT. Acronyms are often acrostic, I am nearly as dismayed at the con¬ tise in the personnel file. Yet that file forming a word diat represents the over¬ trast between the continuing lip serv¬ is the basis for promotion panel deci¬ all meaning of the phrase. PIT means ice paid to the need for officers to gain sions, which impact most heavily on a hole in the ground, the abode of evil

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China and : the Chinese people still crave the re¬ The flow of Chinese students to Amer¬ spect and friendship of the United ica began long before Presidents Nixon Contrasts in history States. or Reagan claimed to open the Asian In contrast, American attitudes to¬ world to the West. Credit should be STEPHEN N. SESTANOVICH ward Russians have sprung from less- shared with the Treaty of Wanghia and firm roots. Americans have reservations the Boxer Rebellion. The 1844 Treaty Americans easily believe the Chinese about the reality of change in the of Wanghia created a peace so dread¬ when they speak of kai-fang, openness USSR. The Russians’ xenophobic ways ful that it precipitated the Boxer Re¬ and moderation. Chinese ways appeal have not drawn them to American bellion against Western exploitation. to Americans. We admire Chinese art, hearts. We treasure their Eastern relig¬ In 1901, under the terms of the treaty philosophy, and religions and express ious icons, but our sense of religious that ended this rebellion, China was great respect for the way the Chinese freedom is offended by Soviet stifling required to pay $300 million in repa¬ honor agreements: a handshake is as of that religion. “Trust, but verify” has rations to England, , France, good as a signed contract. In addition, been an essential underpinning of agree¬ Japan, Russia, and the United States. all those years of Yales-in-China, ments between the United States and In an unprecedented gesture, the Berkeleys-in-China,Cornells-in-China, the . The manipulation United States turned around and re¬ and Stanfords-in-China have borne of Soviet history, as well as their pre¬ funded its share of the indemnity (less fruit. These exchanges created bonds tensions to the status of an economic than $100 million, a lot of money in of understanding and ties that over¬ superpower, have disconcerted many the early days of this century) to sup¬ came 15 decades of unequal treaties, fair-minded friends in the West. Ameri¬ port Chinese students in American col¬ economic exploitation, extraterritori¬ can and Soviet students, and czarist stu¬ leges and universities. By any measure, ality, cultural proselytizing, and defa¬ dents before them, have enjoyed only it was the investment of the century'. mation by American merchants and gov¬ token representation on each other’s By 1948, this small amount of seed ernment officials. Despite our history, college campuses. money, to which larger sums were

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added later, had educated 35,000 Chi¬ tween 1900-48, America’s infant tech¬ American diplomas and textbooks. nese students in American universities. nological revolution intrigued young Some died in the bloodbath of the cul¬ So great was the appetite for West¬ Chinese students. American manage¬ tural revolution. Those who knew the ern ideas and American higher educa¬ ment and marketing techniques created ropes of Chinese Communist behavior tion that carbon copies of American in Chinese minds visions of a China survived. A sizable cadre of U.S.- campuses sprang up throughout China. vaulting across centuries of industrial trained specialists in many fields stayed American educational foundations, re¬ and governmental inertia. on the job in China. Some directed ligious organizations, and private bene¬ All this came to a grinding halt in government ministries and university factors became involved in educational, 1948, with the Communist victories faculties. Sadly their numbers are dwin¬ scientific, and cultural exchange pro¬ that drove out the old nationalists. dling, but all was not lost. grams on a scale never before ap¬ Mao’s government diverted Chinese stu¬ Today, more than 20,000 students proached, and exceeded only by the dents from study abroad, except for from China are again on American cam¬ Fulbright programs later. those who were authorized to study puses. Their appetite is as insatiable as Liberal infusions of money from the in countries of the “fraternal” Com¬ ever. The bonding, nourished by deep United States fostered binational co¬ munist sphere. But Chinese fathers, historic roots, flourishes. While much operation in all the arts and sciences. who prepared their children for cam¬ friendship exists between the Soviet Un¬ A national research academy (Acade¬ puses in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Eng¬ ion and America, there is a magic glue mia Sinica) was established in 1928. land, and California, were not happy that binds the Chinese to the Ameri¬ The imperial palace in Beijing was con¬ sending their offspring to the likes of can people. verted into a museum. A new national Patrice Lumumba University. library stimulated the upgrading of pro¬ Chinese students scattered. Many Mr. Sestanovich writes from California. vincial libraries. Archaeological field went to Hong Kong, Singapore, and He is a former U.S. diplomat with many work was started. other countries of Asia. Some remained years of experience in cultural and educa¬ Meanwhile, in the United States, be¬ in the United States, clinging to their tional exchange programs in East Asia.

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Letters to the Next President borne out the wisdom of such a course. for political liberalization in East Asia by Richard Lugar. Simon and For foreign policy professionals, the will change the way those governments Schuster, 1988. senator has another lesson to offer: For¬ cope with a whole range of problems eign policy is not only to be made by and force a greater focus on their in¬ Senator Lugar, former chairman of the the executive branch agencies. In fact, ternal problems rather than on exter¬ Senate Foreign Relations Committee, without bipartisan congressional sup¬ nal issues. Harold Saundcr’s six proposi¬ has distilled his years of experience into port, the senator says, most foreign pol¬ tions on the conduct of international a series of seven precepts which he of¬ icy initiatives are doomed to failure. relations are worth the price of the fers to President Bush in this book. This central point of Senator Lugar’s book. They are relevant beyond the Mid¬ For foreign policy professionals, the book is worth remembering by all those dle East, the area to which he applies points are basic. engaged in the process. them. The structure of the book, using let¬ Jerrold Keilson The book’s one major flaw stems ters describing actual events, provides partly from its own success. The authors the senator widi real, vivid examples Restructuring American assert that effective, astute diplomacy of foreign policy events that were suc¬ Foreign Policy is more vital than before to defend the cessful when these precepts were fol¬ Edited by John D. Steinbrunner. prosperity and ultimate security of the lowed and examples of how and why The Brookings Institution, 1988. United States. Yet none of them ad¬ foreign policy failed when they were dresses the implications of the progres¬ not. Lugar made judicious choices: Iran- This pithy analysis of the changes in sive deterioration of the American dip¬ contra, our policy in Central America, international affairs questions important lomatic establishment and the Foreign and the Philippines. assumptions about American foreign Service because of the continuing The senator was an observer to the policy that have prevailed for nearly budget crisis. Just when we need greater Philippines’ February 1986 elections, 40 years. It is obviously Brookings’ ef¬ capacity to deal with complex interna¬ observing a variety of acts of election fort to influence the thinking of the tional debt and trade problems and fraud, enough to make him question new administration. Its contributors of¬ when key military spending issues are the election’s fairness. When President fer major insights and provocative inextricably tied up with arms control Reagan announced publicly that elec¬ thoughts. initiatives, the State Department and tion fraud had been committed “on Barry Bosworth and Robert Law¬ the Foreign Service spend too much both sides,” the senator both privately rence persuasively outline how the valuable time battling to keep posts and publicly began to tell a different thrust of international politics has open and dodging double-digit person¬ story—a story that ended with the Mar¬ shifted to economic questions. Harry nel cuts. coses’ flight. Harding and Ed Hewctt suggest that If shifts in Soviet policy and other This short description, given in the transition to open economies in the developments are really “the stuff out greater detail in two of the letters, il¬ USSR and China is already occurring; of which new eras of history are made,” lustrates many of the senator’s points. the important questions are how far are we going to be left at the starting Tell the truth—do not be afraid to share and how fast will it go, and how will gate in the race to shape the future? your knowledge even if it contradicts the West relate to it? Any serious restructuring of U.S. for¬ expressed policy or public statements The uneasiness engendered by W.W. eign policy must successfully come to by senior officials. Create a nonpartisan Kaufmann’s description of the Kafka- grips with the resources issue, and foreign policy—in the Philippines’ case, like hopelessness of maintaining ade¬ sooner rather than later. a foreign policy in which Republicans quate military readiness with declining John D. Stempel had to resolve their own differences. budgets is ameliorated only slightly by Encourage democratic institution build¬ Steinbrunner’s thesis that the Gor¬ The Power Game: ing—the central dilemma in this case. bachev reductions in Soviet force may How Washington Works Is it in the best interest of the United “materially improve conditions of in¬ by Hedrick Smith. States to have dictators and repressive ternational security.” Random House, 1988. regimes as allies, or is it self-defeating? Chapters on East Asia and the Arab- If U.S. foreign policy is meant to re¬ Israeli dispute reinforce another of the This book, about the size and weight flect and extend American values, such book’s main themes: that political is¬ of a brick, holds few secrets for even as democracy, then we need to sup¬ sues, as opposed to politico-military Foreign Service beginners. At ex¬ port the tender shoots of such govern¬ ones, are emerging as the dominant haustive length, it tells approximately ments, even if it means abandoning an interacting forces among peoples and the same message that is carried in the old ally. Public opinion worldwide has nations. In the next decade, pressure daily paper. In fact, although there are

14 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL many (usually self-serving) interviews works, but the main problem is that of Washington figures by the author, this book, after rounding up the usual much of the book is a cut-and-paste suspects and discussing their modus op- job from other publications, recounting erandi, does not take us anywhere. the familiar stories—politicians and sen¬ Apart from a few homilies and bland ior executives sometimes chat, they mas¬ quotes (“We need to work at it harder sage each other when they are not stab¬ than we do,” says George Shultz), the bing one another, they are dependent author and those he interviews don’t to a shameful degree on powerful and offer any real remedies for the ailing rich lobbying groups, and the presi¬ system he describes. The overall effect dential selection process does not nec¬ is of reading an interminable copy of essarily produce the best matt. Parade magazine; it gets you a little It is also not news that television is bit angry, but not sore enough to want extremely important and that it distorts to do anything about it, and the author the political and governmental proc¬ himself pulls his final punch when it ess, and that the defense procurement is his turn to suggest something. situation is a continuing scandal. We Jim Anderson knew that. A reader has the right to expect more from Smith, former Wash¬ Discos and Democracy: China ington bureau chief of The New Tork in the Throes of Reform Times and the author of the superb by Orville Schell. Pantheon Books, 1988. study of the Soviet Union, The Rus¬ sians. A heavier editing would have Twelve years after the end of the Cul¬ helped this study of how Washington tural Revolution and Mao’s death,

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APRIL 1989 15 Books Leasing China’s search for its cultural and spiri¬ aspects of Western “culture” have and tual essence remains unfulfilled. The rushed in to fill the void. Orville Schell’s Chinese Communists under Mao’s lead¬ latest book examines the impact of this ership consciously assailed religion, the Western onslaught on China beginning Management family, traditional arts and crafts, lit¬ in the mid-1980s. erature, China’s historical legacy, Con¬ Schell bemusedly describes the wild of fucianism, myth and legend, social popularity of the shallowest aspects of roles—virtually every aspect of Chinese Western culture in China (disco, body¬ society and culture was attacked and building, cosmetic surgery, stretch Fine Homes if not destroyed, at least seriously in¬ limousines, fast food). But the real value jured by the chairman’s quest for con¬ of Schell’s book is not these light¬ is an tinuous revolution. As a result, China hearted portrayals of Western kitsch, today lies culturally exhausted, its in¬ but a serious examination of the de¬ digenous literature, opera, art, theater, mocratization movement and discus¬ and morality only just beginning to re- sions with China’s leading dissidents. emerge after years of suppression. Schell offers a concise and timely re¬ The unfortunate result of the sys¬ view of the 1986 student democracy tematic destruction of one of the movement and of its leaders. The world’s richest cultural legacies is a cul¬ author aptly demonstrates that the sub¬ tural and moral vacuum in China to¬ stance of Western cultures—humanism, day. With the ascendancy of Deng Xiao¬ democracy, intellectual freedom—has ping and his coterie of like-minded re¬ penetrated China along with the mo¬ formers, China has begun to open to notonous bass line of disco. While the the West and as a consequence myriad constant mass political movements of

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APRIL 1989 17 Books of constant political upheaval. His analy¬ MacDonald packs a great deal of in¬ MacDonald begins with the re¬ sis and commentary in these sections formation into one volume. He does minder that “Korea should be under¬ is first rate and should offer insights so with imagination, coming up with stood as a single nation, even though into China’s contemporary political an encyclopedic work that is a good it was divided into two states by su¬ scene to neophytes and experts alike. read as well. perpower rivalry and ideological dif¬ Paul D. Stephenson The author sets out “to explain why ferences.” Two ideas—division and Korea is important—strategically, eco¬ “uniqueness”—are central to Korean The Koreans nomically, and culturally.” He ranges consciousness today. by Donald MacDonald. Westview Press, widely, discussing the country’s history, MacDonald’s key point is well taken: 1988. culture, division in 1945, and the sub¬ South Korea is undergoing tremendous sequent development of different and strain as it transforms itself from an The Japanese mutually hostile governments, societies, agricultural to an industrial society. A economies, and foreign policies in “Chinese Confucian pattern of institu¬ by Edwin O. Reischauer. Belknap Press tions and behavior, with its emphasis of Press, 1988. Soudt and North. His chapter on the knotty problem of reunification is an on hierarchy, virtue, and proper form,” excellent review of the positions of the remains strong. A Western “model of Korean hands—old and new—will two sides over the last four decades. political democracy is only beginning want to have Professor MacDonald’s The book’s great strength is its fo¬ to penetrate below the surface level in The Koreans on their bookshelves. His Korea, although intellectuals have been book is a model of what Foreign Serv¬ cus on the Korean people—North and South—as men and women shaped, long admirers.” (The same can also be ice personnel want to know about a said of North Korea, though “social¬ country—its politics, economics, cul¬ shaping, and being shaped by a dy¬ namic mix of native Korean, Confii- ism” should be substituted for “democ¬ ture, and favorite beverage—rooted in cian Chinese, and, most recently, West¬ racy.”) What is impressive is how well a personal perspective lacking in an area Koreans perform under this stress. The handbook. ern (including Marxist) influences.

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18 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL pressures generated by change, so of the pioneers of Japanese studies. leading nations of the world. This drive destructive in other societies, have pro¬ The first edition of The Japanese was made Japan the first non-European vided the energy for much positive an all-encompassing work to help Ameri¬ “newly industrialized country” prior to development on the peninsula. cans understand our former mortal ene¬ World War II but was, in part, respon¬ The author highlights the U.S. role mies to whom we had become amica¬ sible for the destructive tragedy of that in Korea’s modem history. Having seen bly tied by security, trade, and political war itself. But why, many outside Ja¬ the view from the inside, he is under¬ interests. This significantly revised edi¬ pan ask, don’t the Japanese realize that standing of the problems faced by po¬ tion is a terrific introduction to Japan, they have arrived, economically and po¬ licymakers. But quite a few in Korea, particularly for the Foreign Service litically, and, if not because of their and the United States, hold a harshly reader. Reischauer examines a people own priorities as much as the critical view of U.S. behavior in Ko¬ determined to be thoroughly modern “MacArthur Constitution,” militarily? rea. FSOs—and Americans in general— while carefully holding on to traditions To explain the problem, Reischauer must come to grips with these argu¬ which they believe make them examines Japan’s history, society, poli¬ ments. MacDonald touches too briefly “unique.” The book’s strength is its fo¬ tics, and economy. The story is well on the debate—a real disappointment, cus on the fascinating question of why told, although at 412 pages perhaps for it is the core of the “anti-Ameri¬ the Japanese feel so uncertain about too long. But the book includes con¬ can” rhetoric which has surfaced so their position in the world, even their cise and informative discussions of Ja¬ loudly in Seoul of late. own identity, when their economy and pan’s society, politics, and business, and The author of The Japanese is an society seem so strong and dynamic. an enlightening final section on the ef¬ American “living national treasure” of Since the Meiji Restoration of 1868, forts of the Japanese to deal with U.S.-Japanese relations. Scholar and dip¬ Japan has been engaged in a determined “uniqueness and internationalism.” lomat (JFK’s ambassador to Tokyo), national effort to take what its people Ted Kloth Professor Edwin O. Reischauer is one consider their rightful place among the

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20 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 10 •IS* 50 -

FSJ, April 1979: ies—do not reach large audiences. . . . and movie tickets.... The agency does However, certain factors operate to not have the men, money, and materi¬ An ambassador, who shall be name¬ make even mass media audiences “se¬ als to reach carefully identified mass less, taught me what may have been lected”: literacy is one—pamphlets and audiences overseas with consistency. As my most valuable lesson about com¬ books are no good unless you can read of now, USIA has to take the classes municating—the imaginative use of al¬ them; economics is another—in many over the masses. ternative channels. It was at a weekly countires only the well-to-do can af¬ “Target: the masses or the classes?” staff meeting at a post in the Far East ford to buy radio and television sets John P. McKnight that a junior officer complained of not having received any response to a des¬ patch he had transmitted to Washing¬ ton some two months before. Ambas¬ sador Nameless bestowed a kindly glance upon the junior officer. “Young man,” he said, “when you have been in the Service as long as I, you will realize that nobody in Washington reads despatches. They read telegrams, but seldom pay attention to what is reported or requested.” He paused. “When I want the department to take heed of what I report, or to act upon what I request, I call in [a reporter] of The New York Times and leak it to him. Next morning, it appears in the W hen it is time for your ajaext overseas assignment, Times, which everybody in Washing¬ j (ill the relocation and ton reads. And believes. And obeys.” ||j»rage specialist with S. I. Nadler ■Hner 60 years of |fa|berience. Victory's m(|lern warehouses offer FSJ, April 1964: ccSblete protection for yojmpossessions you lea* in storage. Special USIA must most of the time choose qjtfflgiite controlled, high the selective approach over the mass SjgPTrity areas are because it simply cannot do other. Se¬ ^.available for silver, art, lectivity may ... be itself a virtue. But j^iques and private whether it is or not, the limited re¬ You;- overseas sources of the agency has constituted Shipment will be packed the necessity of making it one. with preeisipn and It is mainly true, though an over¬ accuracy to assure timely simplification, that the number of peo¬ arrival to any point around the world. ple you can reach in an advertising or propaganda campaign is direcdy related to the amount of money you have. How¬ ever large the potential clientale for the USIA product, the number of pam¬ phlets and books it can print, the num¬ ber of radio and television shows it can make, the number of binational cen¬ Joe Talley has expertly protected valuables for ters it can support are all related to the Alexandria, Virginia Victory's customers number of dollars it can spend. for 32 years. (703) 751-5200 That is not to say the so-called “mass 800-572-3131 media”—press, radio, television, mov¬

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FSJ, April 1939: matic mission was generally the center mission into the United States. of misinformation. Social life was the The legation has the same diplomatic The young men who are thinking these predominant factor in the activities of staff it had before tire annexation of days of entering the Foreign Service the ambassador and his staff. Now so¬ Austria. That staff has now not only because they may have a good time cial life is merely a means to obtain to cope with a wider field of diplo¬ in the various European capitals might information and hints about things to matic reporting but is compelled to as¬ just as well forget the words “good come. sist the consular staff in handling im¬ time.” These days the staffs of the for¬ And all the men are overworked be¬ migration applications. The Hungar¬ eign missions from the chiefs down to cause most of the missions are under¬ ian immigration quota is 875 a year. the youngest attaches work overtime. staffed. For instance, since the disap¬ At the present time an average of 650 The traveler visiting American dip¬ pearance of Austria—at one time one aliens apply every day for admission lomatic missions cannot fail to be im¬ of the most important listening cen¬ to the United States. pressed by the high efficiency and the ters in Europe—the political importance The era of cookie-pushing and par¬ tremendous amount of hard work that of Budapest has greatly increased. In ties is over for die American Foreign these former pink-tea hounds are de¬ the meantime, the legation in that city Service. It’s hard work and little pay. livering. They all seem to have eaten has been confronted with an enormous The fun they get is in the work. lion steaks or something. task of taking care of thousands of peo¬ Constantine Brown, In olden days an American diplo¬ ple who are attempting to obtain ad¬ excerpted from The Washington Star

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Behind the scenes On October 16, the day the presi¬ As demonstrated by Llewellyn E. Th¬ dent learned of the Soviet missiles, his ompson’s contribution, the Cuban epi¬ Washington Post, February 5, 1989 advisers leaned toward an air attack on sode shows the value of giving Ameri¬ One of the heretofore overlooked iro¬ the Soviet bases. Tommy dissuaded can presidents the advice of trained men nies of the [Cuban] crisis is that Presi¬ them, warning that Khrushchev was and women who have worked with for¬ dent Kennedy, known for his scoffing more sensitive than most national lead¬ eign leaders for years and who can pro¬ at the usefulness of professional diplo¬ ers to the killing of his troops and that vide the context and penetrating in¬ mats, was decisively guided through¬ this therefore bore a greater risk of es¬ sight that special emissaries and ad hoc out those fateful 13 days by a career calation than the president may have crisis managers cannot. Foreign Service officer, my late hus¬ realized Tommy’s long professional Jane M. Thompson band, Llewellyn E. Thompson. history with Khrushchev gave him the As the crisis unfolded, Kennedy had confidence to make these and other vi¬ The Washingtonian, February 1989 access to intelligence profiles and analy¬ tal recommendations and to persuade The one thing you have to say about ses of the Soviet leader’s intentions, but the president. the State Department is that Foreign these were no substitute for the day-by- My husband was a self-effacing man. Service officers keep you from making day interpretations of a trained diplo¬ He never wrote his memoirs.... Dean terrible mistakes. mat with a decade of Moscow experi¬ Rusk, secretary of state in 1962, has Abe Sofaer, legal adviser, ence, who had spent hundreds of hours written, “I doubt that the full account interviewed by Ken Adelman with Khrushchev over a period that of Llewellyn’s contribution to the Cu¬ included times of both detente and ban missile crisis will ever be recorded, Elusive allusions . With this in mind, the presi¬ but his role proved to be crucial be¬ dent installed Tommy on his now- hind the scenes.” Robert McNamara, Time, February 13, 1989 famous crisis-management panel, Ex secretary of defense, has called Tommy This is one department, I’m told, that Comm. “the unsung hero of the crisis.” tends to capture you if you’re not care-

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24 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL fill. I hope to be very careful. I want The ship of State ATTENTION... to be the president’s man at the State Department, instead of the State De¬ PEOPLE on the partment’s man at the White House. Wall Street Journal, February 16,1989 MOVE... Secretary James A. Baker This president is doing what presidents in a Time magazine interview do, which is to name old cronies and campaign contributors to high diplo¬ The New Republic, March 6, 1989 matic posts, whether or not they are The complaining inside the State Depart¬ qualified for the jobs. That’s probably ment has already begun to die down. okay, since our friends and clients Cathie Gill, inc. (Though not before one of Baker’s in¬ abroad are used to this peculiar Ameri¬ ner circle overheard some FSOs grip¬ can custom. . . . They have seen our Opens Doors ing about him in the elevator and told political appointees come and go and them, “I hope you guys are more dis¬ know that their relations with us will creet overseas than you are here.”) probably survive even the most inept. Baker brought in a dozen or so senior While it seems logical to some ex¬ We specialize in Foreign Service officers for chats, prom¬ perts that the State Department should sales and property ised them plum ambassadorships have the power to go with its alleged management in the abroad, and assured them that while foreign policy leadership role, that is he plans not to be captured by “the not a popular position elsewhere in gov¬ Metropolitan Washington building” as many of his predecessors ernment or on Capitol Hill. The pro¬ area. have been, he still respects the profes¬ fessionals at State are widely mistrusted, sionals for their expertise. primarily because, having been around Morton M. Kondrake when various policy wheels were be- Our name means Personal Attention, INDIAN MOUNTAIN SCHOOL Service, and Results. The Best in Middle School Education

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APRIL 1989 25 Clippings ing invented in the past to no particu¬ That at least is the goal of AID Ad¬ GAO opens mail issue lar effect, they are not inclined to en¬ ministrator Alan Woods, whose agency thusiasm when variations on the old has just published a report suggesting Washington Times, February 7, 1989 policies are offered up as brilliant in¬ that such a reorientation is badly Random inspections of State Depart¬ novations. needed. But there are powerful lobbies ment diplomatic pouches should be con¬ It is also true, however, that the State inside and out of Congress that want ducted by State officials to ensure that Department is poorly structured and to continue, even strengthen, the U.S. contraband—including narcotics—is staffed to handle the wide variety of commitment to ending the effects of not being shipped through the world¬ issues that are now subsumed under poverty. They are likely to resist strenu¬ wide courier system, the General Ac¬ the heading of America’s foreign inter¬ ously the new Woods orientation. counting Office says. . . . “State has ests. Nor is domestic political adroit¬ Secretary of State Baker told the not performed routine spot inspections ness high on the list of qualifications House Foreign Affairs Committee last or periodic test checks of ordinary for the Foreign Service. week that the administration will pouched packages or crates to have rea¬ Listing the objections to giving any shortly put forward a new authoriza¬ sonable assurance that drugs, liquor, of the existing departments and agen¬ tion bill incorporating “some substan¬ and other prohibited material are not cies actual control of American foreign tive changes” and “some initiatives” to entering the system.” policy helps explain why nothing mean¬ stretch scarce foreign aid dollars. “It In response, State officials said it is ingful has been done in recent years. is clear to me that we will need new not practical to unpack, examine, and There is bureaucratic, political, and op¬ legislation so that the executive branch repack the estimated 200,000 classified erational inertia favoring inaction. When¬ will have the latitude to manage effec¬ and unclassified items received each day ever the status quo gives everyone a tively the limited resources at our dis¬ at State’s pouching center in Washing¬ piece of the pie, the status quo seems posal,” he said. ton. However . . . State officials said to be in everyone’s interest. Baker and Woods have not tried to they were in the process of setting up Perhaps this president intends to pur¬ conceal their delight with a recently a pouch contents control program sue business as usual in the foreign pol¬ published report by a special House where a few items are spot checked icy field, as his ambassadorial appoint¬ Foreign Affairs Task Force that con¬ each month. ments seem to confirm. If so, he’s mak¬ cluded the U.S. foreign aid program Another serious problem with the ing a mistake . . . there are too many needs “a new premise, a new frame¬ courier system, the GAO said, is the hands on the wheel, too many charts work, and a new purpose to meet die increasing use of “non-professional” cou¬ in the pilot house, and too few agreed challenges of today” and proposed an riers [designated executive branch em¬ destinations. That way lies shipwreck. end to “most of the conditions, restric¬ ployees] to deliver diplomatic pouches. Hodding Carter III tions, directives, and earmarks” on cur¬ Another area of growing concern to rent legislation. Woods said the [Ha- State officials is the shipment of large, Foreign aid changes? milton-Gilman] report had created bulk}' items—such as building materi¬ “quite a sensation” within AID and had als for construction of a new embassy laid the basis for “a new spirit of coopera¬ Washington Post, February 27, 1989 in Moscow—and how to handle them. tion and unity” between Congress and New larger vehicles that can accom¬ Congress and the Bush administration the administration over mapping a new are gearing up to push through the modate oversized loads are being pur¬ foreign aid bill. chased and warehouses have been con¬ most sweeping changes [in the U.S. Some of the administration’s new foreign aid program] in decades. One structed in two European locations. approaches to foreign aid began to John Purnell possible far-reaching change may be a emerge when Baker appeared before curb—or an end—to the practice of the committee to present its request “earmarks” under which the bulk of for $14.6 billion in bilateral and multi¬ Diplomacy is . . . U.S. assistance has come to be set aside lateral foreign aid for fiscal 1990. for a limited number of special coun¬ While the mood within Congress Los Angeles Times Syndicate tries or causes. Another suggested and die administration clearly favors change is to reorient the ever-shrink¬ the writing of a new foreign aid authori¬ Dear Readers: ing aid effort away from its current shot¬ zation bill, it is far from clear if time After I printed Will Rogers’ defini¬ gun approach in seeking to provide the will permit it for the coming fiscal year. tion of diplomacy I received dozens “basic needs” of life like food, shelter Easter is the tentative deadline for get¬ more. The best: Diplomacy is telling and literacy toward a new focus on pro¬ ting a foreign aid authorization bill to someone to go to hell in such a way moting “sustainable, broad-based eco¬ the floor of the House. that they look forward to the trip. nomic growth” in developing countries. David B. Ottaway Ann Landers

26 FOREIGN SERVICE IOURNAL From BUJUMBURA To OUAGADOUGOU . . American foreign service officers are turning the pages of FOREIGN POLICY magazine to keep them informed of events that are happening on the other side of the world. FOREIGN POLICY arms them with the background, perspective and analysis of the most important issues facing the country. JUST CONSIDER SOME KEY TOPICS RE¬ CENTLY COVERED IN FOREIGN POLICY: • Iran-contra—the underlying cause of the scandal. • Central America — reasons why the U.S. should use its influence indirectly X'-r.l • —new information regard¬ ing Soviet thinking during this critical period Find out for yourself why former Secretary of State IF YOU SUBSCRIBE NOW, YOU’LL GET said that FOREIGN POLICY FOUR ISSUES WITH ARTICLES SUCH AS: is an exciting journal which • A prominent Soviet citizen’s view of perestroika. has gained a well-deserved • Why the Third World’s environmental problems reputation for balanced and may lead to national security risks for the U.S. penetrating analysis. ” • A diplomatic agenda for U.S. policy leaders in the 1990s. SAVE OVER 26%

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7FSJ94 ranHENRY PRECHT and CHARLES NAAS

Front June 1978 to June 1979, six months before and six months after the triumph of Khomeini forces, Charles Naas, deputy chief of mission and later in charge of our embassy in Tehran, and Henry Precht, director of Iranian affairs in Washington, were the two working-level professionals in the State Department managing the Iranian revolution’s massive challenge to American interests. Every day during that year, Naas and Precht talked on the telephone. It was early morning in Washington, late afternoon in Tehran. As the revolution pro¬ gressed, they increasingly shared a common analysis and perspective on U.S. policy. Even in sharp disagreement, however, they could talk through their differences. Ten years later, they met with a tape recorder between them and reflected on lessons learned.

Naas: Looking back, it’s clear that most pie who had no real political rights—and re¬ of us liberally educated Americans were ill pre¬ main stable. pared to understand the complex ingredients Politics didn’t exist for our Iranian friends, of the revolution. Some very Western assump¬ but they were making big money for the first tions misled us. Iran’s two decades of forced- time in their families’ history. Embassy offi¬ pace economic and industrial modernization, cers coming from the USSR to Iran said the expanded educational opportunities, emanci¬ shah had a tighter regime. Could Iran con¬ pation of women, land reform—all that, we tinue its economic advance without political thought, had put Iran firmly in the 20th cen¬ change? My answer then was that political tury. Americans instinctively read those kinds participation didn’t matter much as long as of achievements as good—in themselves and cash flow was adequate. because they displace traditional forces we see Naas: Conditions in south Tehran and the as a drag on progress. bazaars of the major cities were pretty abys¬ Precht: When I served in Iran, 1972-76, mal by any standards. Peasants had flooded we didn’t think a lot about traditional forces; into the cities. Inflation was hurting the mid¬ we focused on the people we knew, the West¬ dle class. But, despite these flaws, most peo¬ ernized elites. The dilemma for them, the shah’s ple seemed materially much better off. If you regime, and U.S. interests was whether a tradi¬ went to south Tehran, you saw TV antennas, tional society could develop so quickly— motorcycles, cars. But, in fact, those people, depending on great numbers of technical peo- while enjoying some of the payout from de¬ velopment, felt the shah’s state was increas¬ Henry Precht and Charles Naas retired from the ingly alienated from their religion and their Foreign Service after 26 and 30years respectively. traditions. Precht is president of the Cleveland Council on Precht: Iran was really two countries: one World Affairs and Naas is now a consultant nation was the northern suburbs of Tehran; and lecturer. the other was everywhere else. In the first,

28 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL housed in sumptuous villas, were the West¬ Secondly, Iran was plainly a success for Ameri¬ ernized developers of die new Iran. Some as¬ can policy. Washington didn’t want bad news. sumed that the small enclave would in a short Henry Kissinger and company didn’t ask if time spread over the country and erase the there were cracks in that grand edifice. When, traditional sector. rarely, we did report unpleasantness, there was never any follow-up response. But we knew that we didn’t know the coun¬ We Just Didn’t Know try. A few months after Richard Helms ar¬ rived as ambassador in 1973, he called all us Naas: President ’s national se¬ political and economic officers together and curity adviser, , and oth¬ told us quite sharply, “This country is a black ers faulted the failure of intelligence. They were hole. We don’t understand the society. We right in a broad sense, but were wrong in don’t know what goes on beyond the em¬ 1978. They looked on Iran as a nation es¬ bassy walls.” And, he said, with a sharp jab sentially modern: a large army, an impressive at me because my job was to follow the mili¬ leader, a country that by the 1990s would tary, ‘The darkest corner of that black hole be a major regional power. All of us failed is the military.” He had us give him a memo to register that in the 1960s and 1970s there every week listing the Iranians we talked to was a tremendous boom in religious societies, and the subjects we covered. That was hard religious literature, mosque attendance. Mil¬ work. Pretty soon we were down to listing lions of people were looking for roots, and barbers, language teachers, shopkeepers. We they turned to Islam. We didn’t see those things just didn’t know Iranians in any number, es¬ because we weren’t looking for them; we were pecially those who were unhappy with the dazzled by the imperial successes. regime. The problem of analysis in 1978 long pre¬ Naas: That problem persisted. When Wil¬ ceded us. After 1965, when Khomeini was liam Sullivan was being briefed in Washing¬ exiled, our embassy, Washington, and most ton in 1977 before going out as ambassador, academics paid practically no attention to the I told him I never had worked on a country religious movement. We just didn’t have peo¬ about which I knew so little, and that I felt ple steeped in Iranian culture. very uneasy about our ignorance. In fact, Sul¬ Precht: There were two basic problems in livan stimulated more aggressive reporting right our reporting and analysis of Iran. One was away. That in itself helped create two new that the shah didn’t want us to know the weak¬ problems: it made the shah very nervous and nesses of his regime. In the mid-1970s, he it made his opposition believe—quite incor¬ vetoed the meeting of an embassy officer with rectly—that we were distancing ourselves from a mullah; we never tried again until the revo¬ the regime. lution was in full swing. Precht: In defence of us embassy officers,

APRIL 1989 Iran is extremely difficult to know. The reality ber 1978, I felt that since the shah had han¬ of Iran is those garden walls. Within those dled earlier crises well, we could assume he walls only the extended family and their friends would again use his vast resources to restore When a large come together. It’s almost impossible for an order. I was misled by my limited knowledge number of bright outsider, particularly an American diplomat of history. young people are without the language, to get behind the walls Precht: On my way to Tehran in 1972, I willing to die we and really understand the society. asked the State Department desk officer to had better look Naas: By the mid-1970s, the people fol¬ recommend books on Iran’s political history. pretty hard at lowing Khomeimi viewed the United States His answer was, ‘There are none.” There were their society as part of their problem, if not their main a few, I learned later, but they were critical problem. They had little desire to meet Ameri¬ of the regime, and not recommended by the cans. And, as we had our own problems, we department. The question I wrestled with made no effort to know them. throughout the revolution was, “What was Precht: It’s not easy to get to know people different about the Iran of 1978, and the Iran who are shooting at you. In my four years of 1963? How was it possible for the shah of service in Iran, six Americans were gunned to put down that popular uprising and fail down, and there were attacks on others. You to handle the revolution?” don’t debate in coffee shops with terrorists. It seems to me quite clear now that Iranian Naas: A real intellectual problem comes society had changed in very fundamental ways. from labeling people “terrorists.” That label It was a young society, 65 percent below age blocks thought—quite understandably, when 21, with little memory of past hardship. In your own survival is at risk. But the attacks large numbers, Iranians became literate. They should have sent a strong signal that some¬ traveled overseas and came to know and envy thing was seriously wrong in a society whose or scorn other societies. Then, their expecta¬ young people, almost all educated, were will¬ tions and self pride, raised by the boom of ing to die for their beliefs. We should have 1960-75, were deflated by the oil price sag understood the implicit fragility of modem and retrenchment of the mid-1970s. The Ira¬ Iran. Yet we didn’t take the intellectual leap nian man in the streets in 1978 was a different to ask why those young people were ready person from his father in 1963. The father to die. went home when troops fired; the son came Precht: After one of the assassinations, our back the next day. public affairs officer told a staff meeting that Naas: Also in those 15 years, Iran became his university contacts approved of the kill¬ more accessible to the international media. The ing. Our reaction was shock and disgust, rather quickness of the West to go after human rights than curiosity about what was going on in¬ abuses made the shah less willing to use force— side Iranian society. had he truly wanted to. He was awfully sensi¬ Naas: My maxim is, when a large number tive about his reputation abroad. of bright young people are willing to die we Precht: Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi was had better look pretty hard at their society. a complex personality. I attended meetings It doesn’t mean a government is going to be with him perhaps half a dozen times. Extremely overthrown, but it does mean serious issues impressive. He spoke with authority on any lie beneath the surface and we ought to dig international issue, from drought in the Sahel to understand them. to economic prospects of the ASEAN coun¬ Precht: My maxim from those days is that tries. He was wise and judicious, easily the any government that has to use torture to equal of any world leader on foreign affairs. hold power is narrowly based and we ought The question from visitors he was never able to be careful about relying on it. to answer, however, was the nature of his op¬ position in Iran. He fell back on labels and slogans. He didn’t know his own country. The Two Shahs Yet he fooled our bosses. He seemed to them so masterfully informed and coopera¬ Naas: Another thing that misled us was tive that they forgot there were two shahs. historical precedence. We didn’t look back far In the 1950s, he didn’t count for much. He enough into Iranian history, say, to the simi¬ initially vacillated during the Mosadeq crisis. lar constitutional eruption of 1906. But we That was the little man in the fancy uniform, were overly aware that, following the eviction inflated by a zooming GNP. We confused Iran of Prime Minister Mosadeq in 1953 and the with the successful shah. And we picked the arrest of Khomeini in 1963, the shah had suc¬ wrong man—forgetting the real one, the weak cessfully dealt with uprisings. Until Novem¬ leader.

30 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Naas: None of us knew that he was seri¬ ously ill by 1978. He knew he had very little time to bring Iran into the 20th century and if he did not succeed in making Iran an indus¬ trialized, secular nation before he died, Iran might fall back into the 19th century.

U.S. Policy in Shah’s Basket

Precht: When I met with Ayatollah Mon- tazeri [Khomeini’s deputy] in October 1979, he told me he was in prison when Carter was elected in 1976, and his heart “leapt up” with hope that America was changing its policy toward Iran. Policy, however, did not change under Carter. There was talk about human rights, but there was no plan, no pressure, no clear message to Iranians, except in their own perceptions—the hopes of some and the fears of others for a new American role. Naas: As desk officer for Iran, I bridged the Ford and Carter years. There had been little real change in the policies that dated from World War II. Carter recognized the importance of Iran. Nevertheless, the shah was quite apprehensive when Carter invited him to Washington in November 1977. When I saw the shall at the White House on that visit, on the Iran desk, a recent visitor to the shah Henry Precht greets after his private conversation with the presi¬ reported that the shah thought we had turned Foreign Minister dent, he was elated. He told me the exchange against him—that the CIA was promoting the Kalatbari under the had gone extremely well. Still, the shah’s sus¬ demonstrations, that we had decided, as the gaze of the shah. picions of Carter were apparently eating at British did with the Russians in the 19th cen¬ him, and when he continued to see mixed tury, to divide Iran with the USSR. Or that signals from Washington, those doubts con¬ we were replacing him with religious leader¬ sumed him. ship to better resist Communist penetration. Precht: Carter came to Washington deter¬ I was shocked, deeply worried. He depended mined to create a policy for arms sales where on us while distrusting us. Our interests were there had been none. It was a psychological set on a terrible foundation, if we depended disaster, despite the fact that Carter’s ceiling on this confused and unhappy man to protect for selling arms abroad never touched Iran. us. Naas: The shah was always concerned when Naas: When I was charge in Tehran, a dip¬ the Democrats came to office. He had little lomatic colleague told me that three visitors understanding or compatibility with their lib¬ from his country had had separate audiences eral approach. There’s no doubt that, quite with the shah and in each of them he raised innocently, Carter’s heavy emphasis on hu¬ the question of U.S. betrayal. He was like man rights and on limiting the export of con¬ many other Iranians in his obsession with con¬ ventional arms was seen in quite a different spiracy theories. They saw an outside hand light in Iran. Here those ideals were laudable behind virtually every domestic problem. To moral objectives. In Iran, people saw us turn¬ their credit, the “foreign hand” theory does, ing our back on an ally. One of the revolu¬ in fact, explain much Iranian history. But the tion’s leaders told me after the shah’s fall that shah and many Iranians believed the United he had been much encouraged and also much States had far more power in their country misled by Carter’s heavy emphasis on human than we actually did. Our every action or in¬ rights. He thought he saw a signal that we action assumed great importance. were cutting our support for the shah. That Precht: Right, we contributed to the con¬ wasn’t intended by any means. spiratorial mind set by our inconsistencies in Precht: On my first day as your successor Washington. When we changed arms sales pol-

APRIL 1989 31 icy, delayed the shah’s orders for tear gas, to include the shah. At the same time, if a mouthed human rights statements, we cre¬ transition was to be orderly and protective I decided the shah ated doubt about our real purposes. The truth of our interests, the shah had to play a part was those actions reflected a Washington that in it. The last thing we wanted was for him just wasn’t going was clumsy, fragmented, and unable to come to pack up and head for the south of France, to make it, that to coherent analyses and decisions on policy leaving the country in the hands of street mobs. sometime in the toward Iran. It would have been strange had We needed a transfer of power to people we near future he the Iranians not been confused. The vacilla¬ could hope to deal with in order to build a would no longer tion of the shah’s government and encourage¬ new relationship. be around ment for its opposition were partly a result Naas: I still believed, even after Jaleh Square, of our own ineptitude and disarray. that the shah had room to maneuver. He had The shah never understood that within the a strong military and capable bureaucratic gov¬ American government, life is a constant strug¬ ernment, but he was never able to bring him¬ gle between agencies and personalities. The self to use tlie forces at hand. Once the shah distrust between agencies and personalities be¬ decided not to use his power effectively, events came sharper as the revolution intensified. The escaped his control. I arrived at your conclu¬ White House thought the State Department sion about two months later, in November. was weak in our support for the shah. Ambas¬ Precht: I guess I differed with many ana¬ sador Sullivan told me after an August 1978 lysts in Washington at that time in my assess¬ meeting that Brzezinski was adamant that we ment of the Iranian military. After all, it had stand behind the shah to resist the Commu¬ been my job for four years to understand that nist threat to Iran. I didn’t see a threat, but I establishment. The conclusion I reached was did see American flexibility as essential for deal¬ that the Iranian forces were not like those in ing with a fast evolving crisis. South America, Pakistan, or Egypt. The over¬ Naas: Brzezinski’s view was consistent with riding principle was loyalty to the shah. I knew every administration since the 1960s. The many fine officers in the senior ranks, but I Nixon doctrine and the Kissinger “green light” didn’t think that in general they were dis¬ on arms sales were the highest expressions of tinguished by imagination, competence, or Iran’s great importance to us. What strikes toughness, and I couldn’t believe they could me is how the weight of our geopolitical ap¬ sustain a military defense of the shah. proach and reliance on the shah affected how The character of the army had also changed we analyzed that country. At no time, except with the shah’s massive buildup. Earlier, offi¬ in the summer of 1978 when it was too late, cers had been recruited from the aristocracy; was there ever a truly searching review of pol¬ with expansion and the demand for technical icy, a hard look at Iran’s changing society. skills, the army had to recruit from the lower In other words, we put all our eggs in the middle classes. That such people would con¬ shah’s basket. Perhaps in consequence, we were tinue to kill their brothers across the barri¬ much more at the end of the shah’s leash than cades seemed to me exceedingly unlikely. In he was on ours. He became, in our geopoliti¬ die end, the erosion of military morale through cal view, so important we couldn’t imagine continued warfare against civilians proved fa¬ Iran without him. tal for the shah. You’re right, the shah lacked the will to unleash his army against unarmed people. Perhaps he understood its weakness better than we did. The Fateful Shower Naas: Frequently, Henry, you and I were on different wavelengths, or when we agreed, it Precht: As the revolution began to heat up was at different times. You asked the embassy’s in August and early September 1978, with assessment of the military’s reliability in late massive demonstrations at the end of the holy October 1978, just before the shah put them month of Ramazan, a fundamental change oc¬ in charge of the government. The embassy’s curred, at least in my mind. I came to a pre¬ opinion was pretty much the same as yours. cise, new judgment during my morning shower Again, we arrived at the same point, but in on September 8, the Saturday after the Jaleh different time sequences. Maybe that was one Square massacre. I decided that the shah just of the problems. We never had the chance wasn’t going to make it, that sometime in the to sit and talk through with each other our near future he would no longer be around. differing perceptions. The telephone and tele¬ Therefore, we ought to prepare ourselves gram aren’t the best means of communica¬ to deal with a very different future, one we tion. Also, die way Washington works, we couldn’t describe, but which was not going always feared that a frank, informal exchange—

32 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL probing together for answers by cable— would be leaked to the press. Precht: There was definitely a breakdown in communications because we couldn’t sit across the table and talk through these prob¬ lems. Sullivan and you had to be on die spot in Tehran, and we didn’t want to give a wrong signal by sending out senior people—making us appear nervous about the shah’s fate. But there was a worse problem in communica¬ tions. I had my differences with the National Security Council (NSC) staff, which intensi¬ fied day by day. I was upset by their insistence on issuing statements of support for the shah when I thought those excessive gestures made it more difficult for us to develop the relation¬ ship we lacked with the opposition, a connec¬ tion that might help us better understand them and vice versa. Those White House state¬ ments—urged by the Iranian ambassador to the United States, Ardeshir Zahedi—also re¬ flected poorly on the shah, making him ap¬ pear dependent on us. The NSC even wanted tion had not been preoccupied with its weak “Khomeini sent us the shah, shattered personality that he had image abroad or apprehensive that it would and only he can tell become, to appear on TV to “lead” the peo¬ appear to be responsible for the feared evils us to leave,” said the ple. I argued for lower, not higher visibility. to come in Iran. mujahideen “guards” At any rate, disagreement reached such a level Naas: You and I, despite our many scars, that accompanied between Gary Sick, the NSC’s Iran specialist, would still fight for a free press, but it sure Charles Naas when¬ and me that he stopped talking to me. That complicates day-to-day operations in a crisis. ever he left the break in coordination hurt us badly. In fact, carrying out foreign policy in the embassy in United States is probably more difficult than mid-1978. in any other country. Another burden is Con¬ Conflicting Interests gress, through the good or mal-intent of its actions. Naas: If it was difficult for you in Wash¬ Then there is the sheer number of Ameri¬ ington, you can imagine how hard it was for can interests beyond our control. The Justice us in Tehran to see those divisions discussed Department scared the shah by investigating in the press and to read in The New Tork Times the alleged misuse of Iranian money in financ¬ in late December almost the full text of very ing the demonstrations during his visit to Wash¬ sensitive telegrams we had just sent. You get ington in November 1977. After the revolu¬ a kind of paranoia about colleagues in Wash¬ tion, the courts got heavily involved when they ington when that happens. That fear of leaks blocked shipments of goods that Iran owned and our suspicion of the White House—in until American firms got compensation for error, it is now clear—led us to more secret their losses in the revolution. Human rights modes of communicating with you that yet groups, all those single-issue people, get in¬ further complicated exchanges with the White volved, so that carrying out policy in a crisis House. is not just a question of bureaucrats working Precht: We bureaucrats, Charlie, cling to with policymakers. All these other influences a bad dream. We imagine that just as we can come to bear, consuming time and effort, dis¬ beat foreign governments in negotiations, we torting foreign perceptions, and, often, Ameri¬ can lick the press in its contest with us. But can decisions. the tracks of truth and policy defense don’t Precht: The Iranian revolutionaries, after always follow the same compass, and they sure they took power, always believed the Ameri¬ didn’t with Iran. I didn’t leak to reporters, can press was an arm of the U.S. government. but I couldn’t tell an outright lie. I tried to Immediately after the revolution’s success, the be as honest as I could short of directly under¬ press shifted from an anti-shah line to attacks mining our disastrous policy. I could have been on Khomeini’s Iran. Journalists went after every a more honorable servant if the administra¬ excess—executions, limitations on women’s

APRIL 1989 33 rights, anti-democratic statements—all wor¬ react forcefully to show its independence. I thy of criticism to be sure. In the eyes of the was later told that Khomeini, on hearing about Iranians, however, the media spoke the true the resolution, wanted immediately to end all We had to make thoughts of the American government. That diplomatic relations with us and that the mod¬ a basic decision wasn’t a new perception in Iran. The shah erates prevailed on him to settle for rejecting whether we himself had had the same reaction to criti¬ Cutler. Any thought of meeting with Iran’s wanted to cism, different only in its conspiratorial analy¬ leader, of course, was ruled out and no other construct a new sis. Once, after a spate of stories critical of cleric would see us for months. relatonship with the way the oil boom was being mismanaged, Precht: That incident illustrates how an in¬ Iran or honor an the shah sent a complaint through an envoy consequential action here, one that few sena¬ old one with its to Jerusalem. He believed had ultimate tors spent more than 15 minutes thinking exiled ruler power over our press. about, had such an enormous impact on the Naas: When I was charge in the spring of conduct of our diplomacy. 1979, every single minister of the new gov¬ On the unanswerable question, Charlie, ernment I called on attacked American press whether we could have developed a passable coverage. I had no answer except to point relationship with Iran, there are some who out the obvious, that the American press was think it was all inevitable; that, after the revo¬ totally independent. As with the shah, they lution, we were fated for the kind of collision never believed it. In desperation, I finally said that occurred in the hostage crisis. When I that our press must be doing something right was told, in February 1979, immediately after because the new Iranian government was criti¬ the revolution succeeded, that the White House cizing it in precisely the same terms as the had decided to work for a new relationship shah. with Iran, I thought our chances were slim indeed. We had a lot to live down—a history of close relations with the shah, especially dur¬ The Shah Lobby ing the bitter days of the revolution. With hindsight, our effort was a mistake. Precht: Iranian revolutionaries, even those It would have been better if we had pulled who had spent years in the United States, never out and let Iran simmer and seethe for a few seemed to grasp the working of our institu¬ years—then try to come back in. But at the tions, particularly Congress. They didn’t un¬ time we didn’t feel we could walk away from derstand Congress is not beholden to the presi¬ a country that was so important. There wasn’t dent and frequently strays far from executive only oil and the false specter of Russian ad¬ branch policy. In May 1979, after Walt Cut¬ vantage in our absence, there were the mi¬ ler was appointed ambassador, approved by norities and other Iranian friends who needed the Senate, and accepted by Tehran, and a our visas. And there was the potential for re¬ meeting was arranged with Khomeini for the newed commercial benefit. So we tried to con¬ first time, the Senate passed the Javits Resolu¬ struct something new with Iran. The policy tion criticizing the Iranian regime for execut¬ foundered on the burden of our past relations, ing the shah’s supporters. It was a proper sub¬ on the chaotic conditions there, and on the ject for criticism, but the resolution was pre¬ persisting divisions in Washington. pared and voted without consultation with Naas: I disagree. It would have been irre¬ us, and it went completely against our plan sponsible, in view of our long-term interests, for repairing relations with Iran. to have withdrawn. As you know, I was never Naas: The Javits Resolution completely un¬ optimistic, but I thought we had to make the dermined everything we were doing to patch effort. The men in the new government were together a tenuous relationship with the revo¬ delighted that we did not leave Iran and that lutionary regime. In retrospect, however, was we were trying to build a relationship with there any likelihood we might have established them. One major problem was a persisting a reasonable relationship with the new gov¬ lack of comprehension at the top in Washing¬ ernment? I think that is questionable. The revo¬ ton about what had really happened in Iran. lution had its own dynamic. But whatever slim When I met with our seniors in March 1979, odds we had were severely undercut by that it struck me vividly that they just didn’t under¬ resolution. It was seen as a return to major stand the total change that had occurred. Per¬ U.S. interference in Iran’s domestic affairs. haps it wasn’t that they didn’t understand; We had enormous demonstrations outside the maybe they just couldn’t cope with what had embassy for days after that. Mehdi Bazargan, happened to U.S. policy in the region—the Khomeini’s first prime minister, had no choice loss of one of Nixon’s “twin pillars” [Iran and but to accept Khomeini’s demand that Iran Saudi Arabia] of regional security.

34 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Precht: One of the crucial points that wasn’t when we reopen in Tehran. understood was the status of the shah. It Naas: We were making small progress in seemed to me we had to make a basic decision 1979 in resolving many problems. But Wash¬ whether we wanted to construct a new rela¬ ington was deluding itself that the people in tionship with Iran or honor an old one with government really had much power. Unfortu¬ its exiled ruler. The former choice was sup¬ nately, it was well after the revolution that ported by geopolitics. The latter had the force full translations were available to us of of a compelling human bond and implications Khomeini’s writings, and we started to com¬ for other despots. Would we turn our back prehend the real scope of his plans for Iran. on an old friend? Getting back to the point of the inevitability It always seemed strange to me that master of a U.S. failure with Iran, Khomeini’s abso¬ geopoliticians like Kissinger and Brzezinski lute aim of creating an Islamic state, com¬ opted for the soft, human values in that di¬ bined with misperceptions and divisions in lemma. I felt that, coldhearted as it was, we Washington and in Tehran probably doomed had to treat the shah in a very unkind way the efforts we made in 1979. and keep him out of the United States while Precht: I wouldn’t place as much emphasis we tried to build a more stable basis for ties as you do on Khomeini’s pre-ordained plan. with the new regime. That policy was under To be sure, his overriding goal was the con¬ constant pressure from people like David struction of an Islamic state, guided by the Rockefeller, John McCloy, Brzezinski, and principle of ultimate religious control. But al¬ Kissinger, and supported by the press. Ulti¬ most as important as his own vision was the mately, it failed because the weakened Carter pressure put on him by the clerics he found administration could not stand up to the criti¬ in Iran when he returned from exile. The radi¬ cism of turning away a sick shah. The com¬ calized mullahs exercised great influence over promise was to pursue conflicting objectives: him, pushed aside competing semi-secularists be nice to the shah and be normal with Iran. such as Bazargan, and nourished Khomeini’s That impossible, flawed decision gave us the hostility toward the United States. Most of hostage crisis. those clerics knew little of government or the Nous: I had great admiration for the shah outside world. In the last three or four years and his immediate family. It was with much they have made great progress in learning that personal pain when I came back to the States governance means a recognition of limits and in March 1979 that I carried out Ambassador some tolerance. So you get a much more prag¬ Sullivan’s instructions to explain that the shall matic Iran now than you had immediately af¬ should not be permitted in the United States ter the revolution. until the dust had settled. I felt bad about Naas: Another maxim, Henry. When a char¬ my role, but I thought it was the only way ismatic leader spells out his plans for the fu¬ we could keep the door ajar for some kind ture, they deserve careful thought. of relationship with the revolutionary regime. Precht: The essential rule for professionals to keep before them is that you can’t make sharp changes in policy if the press and Con¬ Historical Perspective gress are against you. That was behind our failure in 1979 and also the Iran-contra disas¬ Precht: Aside from the shah, a major prob¬ ter. The absolute prerequisite for policy change lem with the new regime was in military af¬ is a benign public opinion. Unhappily, nei¬ fairs. It was a vast, complex connection and ther the Carter nor Reagan administrations few Iranians—or Americans—really under¬ had senior people able or willing to persuade stood the complexities. The Iranians thought the public of the wisdom of what they wanted they had been ripped off by us and their cor¬ to do with Iran. rupt agents and generals. They wanted the Naas: One of my chief concerns is that as hardware they thought they had paid for. Our a bureaucracy and perhaps as a people we’re military had the accounts, wanted payment ill equipped to respond to challenges like the in hand, and wanted to make absolutely sure Iranian revolution. The current Foreign Serv¬ they knew what kind of regime they were deal¬ ice, of course, is not encouraging area spe¬ ing with before shipping arms. When our em¬ cialization; it is not urging young people to bassy was seized we were beginning to make spend their careers learning a culture and a progress in explaining the rules and building language in-depth. And in a presidential term a little confidence. An impossible job, though. of four or eight years, it is extraordinarily dif¬ I don’t envy our official who has this chore ficult to get any administration, Republican

APRIL 1989 or Democrat, to reexamine policies that have prevail? In my cheerful moments, I reason that been accepted and seem to work. Only mas¬ our competing institutions, the free function¬ Know history, sive outside events that jar our people can ing of a pluralistic society, give us unique but more bring a fresh look. For example, those huge strength. And if we ever re-connect with Iran importantly, demonstrations in Manila were necessary to it probably will start and last longer if there know how bring a change of attitude in Washington. are educational, cultural, and commercial con¬ history has Precht: In good part, the successful han¬ nections, not just diplomatic negotiations, as dling of the Philippine turmoil by Reagan’s changed essential as they are. people was because they went to school on Naas: We bureaucrats delude ourselves think¬ our mistakes with Iran. The administration ing that whatever a great power does can shape stuck together, didn’t leak, and acted quickly Third World politics. The Iranian revolution and decisively. It also helped that profession¬ was essentially beyond our ability to control. als and the public knew something about our Foreign autocrats ought to learn from that history with the Philippines and the recent experience that they can’t depend on us to changes there. That’s another rule from Iran: save their “skin.” And we should know not know history, but, more importantly, know to let our “skin” be caught in any leader’s how history has changed. We wouldn’t have tight embrace. It is simple, essential good sense been surprised last summer by the Iranian ac¬ for us to have contacts across a country’s po¬ ceptance of a cease-fire if we had understood litical spectrum—no matter what a dictator the quiet changes in Tehran since 1981. We thinks. And dictators had better have a vaca¬ wouldn’t have been surprised by Gorbachev tion refuge some place outside the United or the Palestinian uprising if our professionals States. and, especially, the press had brought us real Precht: I confess I thought a religious-led understanding in advance. It’s unfortunately government wouldn’t last more than six true that judgments of our leaders are shaped months. I failed to see there would be quali¬ much more by press reports and analyses than fied Iranians willing to work for their govern¬ by what the Foreign Service says. You have ment no matter who was in charge, and many to ask, is the press up to the job? others who truly preferred a cleric-led state Naas: A leading journalist did a survey af¬ and who were technically competent to run ter the Iranian revolution of press reporting an oil industry, a foreign ministry, or a central and of published telegrams that came out of bank. I think Iran is headed toward a synthe¬ the embassy and Washington. He concluded sis of major strands in its national life. One that the bureaucracy, however inadequate, was of the shah’s failings was his exclusion of the far better informed than the press. Islamic element from the society he planned. Precht: We praise the pluralistic nature of That couldn’t be done and no future political our society, but as we move into an era of society in Iran will be without an Islamic for¬ complicated economic and political confron¬ mation. The country that I knew in the 1970s tations, we should be aware of the costs. When listened to the great medieval poets Hafez and the United States is so vulnerable, can our Saadi on prime time radio, treasured classical competition with Japan and Western Europe Iranian music, and delighted in having a bot¬ continue to tolerate the self-serving actions tle of vodka under the table at meals. That of Congress, of competing government agen¬ Iran survives. The elements of secularism and cies, of the multitude of private businesses religion will somehow work out a formula and groups? When the Japanese, the Europe¬ for coexistence. The United States can’t affect ans, the Soviets are so much better coordi¬ that process much, but it must try to under¬ nated, so much more thoroughly unified in stand it as it proceeds. □ their purposes than we are, can we hope to

K \ 1

SVY \#

Ws.-; 36 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Lost in Creation

NANCY BERNKOPF TUCKER A diplomatic historian contends that ^ L oreign Service officers refuse to be mandates direct participation in the work of constrained by history,” remarked the department, not observer status, and so I the Foreign a member of the State Department’s policy had to be given real responsibilities. There Service abuses planning staff at a recent meeting of the Ameri¬ was almost an audible sigh of relief when I the historical proved able to draft memos and meet dead¬ can Historical Association. Determined not record to be controlled by a past they hope to reshape, lines. FSOs often insist history lacks relevance. The problems of using and abusing history Reflecting a widely held American dis¬ at the Department of State quickly became interest in history, today’s Foreign Service of¬ apparent to me. From the first, I was warned ficers, more than ever before, have the ability that there would be no time for scholarly re¬ to translate indifference and distaste into per¬ flection. The speed of breaking events, the manently destructive action. But they would need for immediate turn-around on “taskers” do well to consider whether the nation’s secu¬ from the senior levels of the department and rity is best served by the largely thoughtless on congressional correspondence, the constant elimination of those lessons of the past that telephone inquiries, and the mountain of daily ought to provide guidance for future policymak¬ reporting cables would keep me in constant ing. Already the damage has been profound, motion. At the same time, the department but it can be arrested. seemed to be structured in ways that aggra¬ My exposure to this historians’ nightmare vated such difficulties. There is the tension, came as a result of an exhilarating year, 1987- for example, between the idea that desk offi¬ 88, spent with the Department of State as cers should be country specialists with lan¬ an international affairs fellow. Annually, the guage training and societal expertise, and the Council on Foreign Relations gives up to 15 belief that, to produce a senior corps of glob¬ fellowships to policymakers, who are given ally competent generalists, people must serve time to reflect and write away from job pres¬ in at least two different regional bureaus. This sures, and scholars, who enter the high- means that in every office there are FSOs who velocity life of decision making in mostly in¬ know very little about the nation they are moni¬ ternational or federal organizations. As a dip¬ toring and analyzing. lomatic historian who specializes in American- Absence of background can be aggravated Chinese relations, I chose to spend nine months by the lack of resources at the desk for even in the department’s Office of Chinese and Mon¬ the simplest reference work. Maintenance of golian Affairs and diree months serving at the biographical files tends to be a very low prior¬ U.S. embassy in Beijing. ity, and other historical tools nonexistent. The My arrival at the desk was welcomed cor¬ department library, although a good one, is dially, but the reservations about what useful unknown territory to most officers I encoun¬ role I might play were palpable. The fellowship tered. Telephone calls to the Foreign Broad¬ cast Information Service (FBIS), CIA or USIA Nancy Bernkopf Tucker is an associate professor (not to the Congressional Research Service, at the School of Foreign Service and the history because everything on Capitol Hill was per¬ department of . ceived as in the enemy camp) elicits informa-

APRIL 1989 37 tion, but access to analysts can be serendipi¬ evolution of ideas and alternative arguments tous. Dependence, moreover, on a different is not traceable, and the files which once al¬ agency with different priorities was not al¬ lowed historians to explain why the State De¬ The Wang system ways suitable or desirable. The Intelligence partment held particular positions or advo¬ reduces the and Research (INR) bureau ably filled many cated certain tactics no longer exist—indeed amount of paper gaps but often shared the present-oriented blind¬ are never generated. the department ers restricting desk officers. Imagine trying to account for initial Ameri¬ produces and Historical myopia was not an affliction only can involvement in Vietnam without such docu¬ saves time, but at State. The Commerce Department’s China ments. There would be no evidence showing the cost to history section planned to hold a ceremony in Wash¬ the Asian experts in the State Department ar¬ is great ington to commemorate the United States vic¬ guing strongly diat American interests were tory in the Boxer Rebellion and called to ask not at stake in southeast Asia and that Asian which Chinese they should invite—mainland nationalism precluded reimposition of colo¬ or Taiwan? Desk officers tried as gently as nial empires in the wake of World War II. possible to point out that neither would wel¬ Historians could not confidently point to the come the opportunity to remember a humili¬ primacy given relations with the French and ating defeat at Western hands and urged that the felt need to render support to Paris so the entire project be scrapped. that growing Communist influence in France The absence of historical memory is also could be thwarted. Nor could the Atlantic- heightened by two-year rotations of assign¬ first orientation that gave priority to French ments. If the first months of a tour are spent adherence to a European defense community settling down, learning, and making contacts, (unlikely, given Germany’s adherence) over the middle of the tour in trying to secure a loyalty to principles of national self de¬ favorable next posting, and the final two to termination be adequately demonstrated to fu¬ three months distracted by preparations for ture historians. moving and the new job, there is not much It is not surprising that European issues time to focus on the case at hand. In the sum¬ took precedence over Asian needs. But the mer of 1987, with China approaching the po¬ debate within the Department of State that tentially critical meeting of the Thirteenth Party' produced this result is of significance in un¬ Congress, virtually the entire embassy politi¬ derstanding America’s descent into the war cal section left Beijing. Contacts cultivated over in Vietnam. time were lost, experience and knowledge of Of course, the Wang system reduces the past events eliminated, and a new staff, some amount of paper the department produces and with no prior exposure to China, had to make saves time. But the cost for history is too great. sense of a complicated event. That the em¬ When Oliver North tried to hide decisions bassy would have been better served by stag¬ with a shredding machine or gered departures seemed evident to everyone, erased critical minutes of surreptitious tape but the bureaucratic machinery that dictated recordings, they were indulging in a deliber¬ the change could not be stopped. ate destruction of the historical record, which differs only by degree from what the Depart¬ ment of State, however innocently, does on The most invidious dilemma for the histo¬ a routine basis. rian, however, grows out of the com¬ A more historically aware Foreign Service bination of modern technology and the indi¬ corps could do much to prevent this disaster. vidual officer’s disinterest in history. The arri¬ The secretary of state must believe and make val of the Wang word processing system at clear to department personnel that history Foggy' Bottom revolutionized the way work should not be regarded as an enemy, that pres¬ is done and rendered history a devastating ervation of the past is in the national interest. blow. Today, the paper trail that makes clear Intermediate drafts could be printed and saved. how policy recommendations evolve, how dif¬ The Historian’s Office, which today is a depart¬ fering views are reconciled, is disappearing. ment appendage rarely noticed by most op¬ The department has begun to produce only erational officers, could be directed to under¬ final versions of documents now that officers take an educational program to tell people have the ability to write memos, briefing pa¬ what is and is not useful to retain. A brief pers, and cables on the Wang, send prelimi¬ word in an A-100 classroom before officers nary drafts to higher officials by disk, and have are actually involved in department routine them revise an author’s words on that disk, is not, from my observations, adequate guid¬ all without ever printing a hard copy. The ance to protect the historical record.

38 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL The classification process is also a stum¬ markings was released to me. In it, Foreign bling block for historians. The most Service officers discussed what should be given obvious problem is the over-classification of Chiang Kai-shek by an American official on documents, which delays their release to the a 1950s visit to Taiwan. The generalissimo public. Foreign Service personnel are natu¬ had received a picture of President Eisenhower rally most concerned about national security, on a previous occasion, hence the dilemma. but often classification decisions are made not Although it might have been embarrassing in for security reasons. Sometimes, it appears, a the 1950s to give Chiang two pictures, it is paper will receive a higher than necessary la¬ difficult to see why 30 years later it should bel to draw attention to it, making a prima have required a mandatory review request, the facie case for its acuity, interest, and signifi¬ labors of archivists at die Eisenhower Library cance. More often problems are created by in Abilene, Kansas and the State Department’s the label “OADR” (Originating Agency’s De¬ Classification/Declassification Center (CDC) termination Required), which means that the declassifiers in Washington, and a period of originating agency must be consulted on when three years to gain access to that piece of pa¬ a document may be released, and permits the per. Instances such as this abound and it is officer not to think about when a paper could clear that the burden involved does not fall be safely opened to the public. The old system just on the unhappy researcher but also on that required an individual to calculate in years the resources of an under-budgeted State Depart¬ when a document could be released at least ment and National Archives system. had the potential of being realistic. Finally, As Ernest May has written in two award¬ the custom mandating that all replies should winning books (‘Lessons’ of the Past and Think¬ be sent at the same level of classification as ing in Time), history, properly read, helps po¬ an inquiry or initial correspondence perpetu¬ licymakers avoid repeating mistakes in design¬ ates exaggerated classifying. ing more intelligent decisions for the future. As a practicing historian/researcher with- It is in the interests of the entire nation that sizable Freedom oflnfbrmation Act and manda¬ the history being written should be well- tory review requests lodged with various agen¬ informed, accurate, and comprehensive. When cies around Washington, I know from per¬ secrecy and ignorance dominate those respon¬ sonal experience that large amounts of mate¬ sible for protecting the United States over¬ rial remain classified foolishly and burden- seas, the nation cannot be adequately served somely. Most recently a letter (for which I and bilateral relations in a confusing, multipo¬ paid 35 cents in copying fees) with top secret lar world will suffer. □

APRIL 1989 39 aso

“May this lovely home never lack for visitors, and shared meals, and the sounds of spirited conversation—and even the peal of hearty laughter.”

REBECCA B. MATLOCK

ssembled under the gold and crystal which it is located and the small Russian Or¬ chandelier of Spaso House, the resi¬ thodox church, the Church of the Savior on dence of the ambassador of the United States the Sands, nearby. Spaso House is at number to the Soviet Union, were more than 500 Ameri¬ 10, Spasospeskovskaya Ploshchadka. cans who had gathered to say goodbye to Presi¬ An extraordinary chandelier, the work of dent and Mrs. at the end of a master silversmith named Myshkov, domi¬ their June 1988 visit to the Soviet Union. nates the domed reception room’s white col¬ The President said with a twinkle in his eye umns and white marble walls. It must have and smile in his voice, “If I could have gath¬ been a factor in the selection of Spaso House ered a crowd this big in Hollywood, I’d still as an appropriate residence of the American be there!” ambassador when diplomatic relations were During their historic visit to Moscow, die established between the United States and the four-room vice-presidential suite on the sec¬ Soviet Union in 1933. ond floor was renamed the presidential suite George Kennan, then a young Foreign Serv¬ in their honor, and Spaso House adapted it¬ ice officer, had the responsibility of negotiat¬ self to the needs of the president of the United ing the lease and preparing the residence for States. the ambassador. In a diary he kept of his ef¬ Spaso House, a mansion built in the classic forts during January and February' of 1934, revival style, was designed and built by Moscow he describes the complications of drawing up architects Adamovich and Mayat for the Sibe¬ the lease, of determining an acceptable rate rian merchant family of Nikolai Aleksandrovich of rent, whether payment would be in gold Vtorov. It was completed in 1914, and takes rubles or in dollars, who would pay the insur¬ its name from both the pleasant square on ance, and how long the lease would run. Three years was considered too long because the Cen¬ tral Executive Committee of Narkomindel, Rebecca Matlock is writing a book on now the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which Spaso House. This article first appeared in the had been using Spaso House as an entertain¬ Soviet periodical, International Life. ment center and rooming house for impor-

FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL tant officials, might want it back sooner. were usable only when the people inside were Estimates for the cost of repairs and re¬ dressed in warm clothing. Kerosene stoves sit¬ modeling were difficult to get. Having been ting in boxes of sand were used to supple¬ At Roosevelt’s received, they had to be translated into Eng¬ ment the heating system, which was in bad suggestion, Spaso lish, transmitted to the State Department, and repair. House was approved. The embassy, after negotiation, Spaso House was described by Admiral Stan- outfitted as a agreed to pay for the removal of snow from dley, upon his arrival as ambassador in 1942, newly the roof in order to determine its condition. as being “an impressive looking mansion be¬ commissioned New interior walls would be made of plaster, hind a facade of considerable shoddiness.” He battleship but the new bathrooms would be painted described how stucco had peeled from the walls rather than tiled because all tiles produced were in irregular patches, and how the bannister going into subway construction. When addi¬ railings and columns were plastered over with tional fireplaces were required they were re¬ cheap cement. However, he exulted over the moved from the Narkomindel building and “magnificent chandelier.” Since there was no installed in the house. Although the State De¬ money available from the State Department partment had budgeted $5,000 for the work for furnishing the ambassador’s residence, Ad¬ on Spaso House, the actual cost was $5,800. miral Standley, at President Roosevelt’s sug¬ Makeshift offices also had to be set up at gestion, had Spaso House outfitted as a newly Spaso House. Although the building that commissioned battleship. would become the American embassy, near Kathleen Harriman Mortimer, the daugh¬ Red Square and next door to the National ter of Ambassador Avercll Harriman and his Hotel, appeared ready for occupancy, the em¬ hostess while he was ambassador from 1943 bassy staff was not allowed to move in for to 1946, observed that when they arrived the more than six months. This, according to Ken- residence was incredibly dank and dark, but nan, left Ambassador William C. Bullitt steam¬ that it had one luxury she enjoyed—hot water. ing with fury. It was confessed later that the It took, she said, until the summer of 1944 reason the Americans were not allowed to oc¬ to have the beaverboard replaced by glass so cupy the building was that the ground was the sun could at last filter in. Kathleen was shifting during subway construction and it was unhappy about the interior decoration of the not absolutely certain the building would not “spacious but bleak rooms.” collapse. President Roosevelt died just before the end of the war. Foreign Minister Molotov himself resident Roosevelt sent five am¬ came to Spaso House to offer condolences. bassadors to the Soviet Union dur¬ General Dwight D. Eisenhower, com¬ ing his time in office, 1932-45. All were per¬ mander of allied forces in Europe, was a guest- sonal friends, all political appointees. While at Spaso House when the news of the surren¬ Bullitt was ambassador, there were many con¬ der of Japan came. Stalin invited General Eisen¬ tacts between Soviet citizens and Americans hower and Ambassador Harriman to stand and memorable parties were held at Spaso with him and the Soviet leaders on top of House, attended not only by high-ranking So¬ Lenin’s Tomb to review a physical culture pa¬ viets and foreigners, but also by animals from rade, the first time foreign representatives had the Durov Animal Museum, which performed been so honored. in both expected and unexpected ways. President Harry S. Truman sent General Ambassador Joseph E. Davies was a par¬ to Moscow in 1946. Am¬ ticularly active ambassador, sympathetic to the bassador Smith described the house as a two- Soviet Union, and a collector of Russian art. story masonry and stucco structure with a good During his tenure in Moscow, the ballroom, deal of wasted space. He thought that the also in neoclassical style, was added. His book, pre-revolutionary millionaire who built it was Mission to Moscow, which was supportive of primarily interested in a large reception room, Stalin’s regime, was made into a popular Ameri¬ and that he put most of his money into the can movie. magnificent gold and crystal chandelier, which During the war, while must have weighed a ton, and then added was ambassador, 1939-41, maintenance at on the living quarters as an afterthought. Spaso House was almost nonexistent. The He described large cracks on the outside bombing of 1941 broke window panes, and walls, handsome cornices and frescoes that were openings were covered with beaverboard. mildewed and flaky, and silk and satin wall Wind blew around the edges of the windows coverings that were dirty, split and hanging and the large rooms were dark. Some rooms down in shreds, details which had been ig-

APRIL 1989 41 nored during wartime, when the embassy was him the first American official to speak to the evacuated to Kuibyshev and Spaso House Soviet people on television. served as headquarters for Lend Lease. Admiral Alan G. Kirk arrived in 1949 and remained until 1951. Mrs. Lydia Kirk described (J f\ y husband, Jack Matlock, was first Spaso as being an immense neoclassical palace s' V I sent to Moscow as a second secre¬ which looked tidy and secure set back behind tary to work in the consular section of the an untidy green space beside the ruins of an embassy during Thompson’s tenure. Spaso old church. Inside, she found the interior of House seemed grandiose to me when I saw the house far better than she had feared, digni¬ it for the first time in 1961. I went to pay fied, and not difficult to live with. The house an obligatory social call on Mrs. Jane Th¬ had been freshly painted. The furniture was ompson. I was ushered into the immense re¬ American; although out of scale with the huge ception area where hung the largest chande¬ rooms, she thought it unobjectionable. lier I had ever seen. Kennan, sent by President Truman to be¬ Mrs. Thompson invited me to join her in come the first professional diplomat to be U.S. the Blue Room, which was actually painted ambassador to the Soviet Union, found Spaso green. It was a much smaller, more comfort¬ House, upon his return after several years, able room with high ceilings and impressive “barnlike and empty and a little sad, despite architectural details. It contained several book¬ die freshly painted rooms.” Particularly ob¬ cases. There was a fire in a fine marble fire¬ jectionable, he thought, was being cut off com¬ place. The Andrew Wyeth painting “Christina’s pletely from Soviet citizens by the fence that World” was hanging above a chest. surrounded the residence like a prison wall. A few months later I was in the same room Charles Bohlen, also a Russian-speaking pro- with Mrs. Kohler, whose husband, Foy Kohler, sent by President John F. Kennedy, became ambassador in 1962. Ambassador Kohler had first met during his visit to the United States in 1959, and the two men developed a good relationship. The gen¬ eral secretary attended a Fourth of July recep¬ tion at Spaso House. After President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson kept Ambassador Kohler in Moscow for several more years, replacing him with Ambassador Kohler’s predecessor, Llewellyn E. Thompson, when became general secre- 2 tary in 1967. With his two terms as ambassa- | dor, Thompson served longer than any other | American ambassador to the Soviet Union. <2 Jacob D. Beam, Nixon’s ambassador to the Soviet Union, was appointed in 1969. He was fessional diplomat, was sent to Moscow by an experienced diplomat who had been charge Spaso House in 1988. President Eisenhower. He returned to Moscow d’affaires when Stalin died. He was ambassa¬ in 1953, not having been there since 1945. dor when Nixon came to the Soviet Union He found many changes at Spaso House, all for the first summit meeting with Brezhnev for the best. The grounds had been spruced in 1972. President Nixon was the first Ameri¬ up, the rooms painted and refurnished and can president to visit Moscow while in office, the house, he thought, more pleasant and com¬ Roosevelt having remained in Yalta during fortable than it had been since 1934 when his wartime visit to the Soviet Union. he had lived there as one of the young Rus¬ In 1973, the ambassador resigned and his sian specialists brought to Moscow by Am¬ deputy chief of mission, , re¬ bassador Bullitt. mained charge d’affaires for more than a year. President Eisenhower replaced Bohlen with In June 1974, Nixon went to the Soviet Un¬ Llewellyn E. Thompson in 1957. Former Presi¬ ion to meet again with Brezhnev. During both dent Nixon and Mrs. Nixon stayed at Spaso visits official dinners were held at Spaso House, House in 1959 when he was vice-president. and it was at one of these that Nixon quoted He stayed up one whole night preparing, with Leonid Brezhnev as saying, upon being served the help of the ambassador, a speech that made baked Alaska, “Look, the Americans really are

42 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL miracle workers! They have found a way to After his inauguration, President Jimmy Car¬ set ice cream on fire!” ter supported the interim appointment of pro¬ When my husband returned to Moscow in fessional diplomat as ambassa¬ The largest party 1974, as minister counselor and deputy chief dor. As charge d’affaires in the absence of the ever held at the of mission, Walter Stoessel was ambassador, ambassador, Jack and I hosted our first recep¬ residence was on having been appointed by Nixon earlier that tion at Spaso House. It was to commemorate July 4, 1976 to year. We found that Spaso House had been the success of the joint U.S.-USSR mission commemorate redecorated and looked like a delicate wa- in space. All American and Soviet astronauts the U.S. tercolor, a good set for a classical ballet, with and cosmonauts who had traveled in space bicentennial; pastel curtains and furniture coverings, and attended. For the buffet we combined Rus¬ impressive examples of nonrepresentational sian specialties such as pelmeni, pirozhki and 3,001 persons work by contemporary American artists float¬ caviar zakuski with favorite American hors were recorded ing on the white walls. d’oeuvres such as raw vegetables served with “Detente” was strengthened during this time a dip, miniature ham sandwiches, and small by the meeting of President with pizzas. Since the ambassador was not there General Secretary Brezhnev in Vladivostok. to disappear with his wife when the party offi¬ During the height of detente, following the cially ended, several hundred guests stayed well termination of American military activity in beyond the party’s appointed end. It was the Vietnam, Spaso House came alive with recep¬ last large party at Spaso House, as the co¬ tions, dinners, and movie parties attended by operation of the detente period began to wane. many hundreds of Soviet citizens. Ambassador Toon was replaced in 1979 by Thomas J. Watson, Jr., the first non¬ professional diplomat to be sent to Moscow f historic interest was a gathering at since 1952. His time was difficult because of Spaso House to celebrate the thirti¬ the coolness between the United States and eth anniversary of the meeting at the Elbe of the Soviet Union brought on by the Soviet Russian and American forces in 1945. Mr. intervention in Afghanistan, which occurred Anastas Mikoyan, together with high-ranking two months after his arrival. members of the government and of the mili¬ When Reagan was elected, my husband re¬ tary forces, attended the dinner held in honor turned early in 1981 to be charge d’affaires of veterans of die meeting and of former Am¬ following Watson’s departure. We found many bassador Averell Harriman, who had remained changes in the house, particularly in the pan¬ in Moscow while others were evacuated dur¬ eled State Dining Room, where there was a ing the war, and of other Britons and Ameri¬ new crystal chandelier, a bright red rug, two cans who had cooperated in the herculean task beautiful white and gold hand-painted screens, of destroying Nazi power to bring an end to and handsome red and white curtains. The World War II. most spectacular change was that the large Mrs. Harriman remembered that because window had been replaced to duplicate the many more guests than were expected came, original blue and crystal fanlight. There was dinner was not served until 10 p.m. She ob¬ a bust of President Kennedy, a smaller ver¬ served that everybody was extremely gay, and sion of die one that is in the Kennedy Center that the dinner at tables for ten was extremely in Washington. The Watsons had been very pleasant. She recalled that the toasts, given generous. by Ambassador Stoessel and others saluting During 1981, Mr. and Mrs. Elton Hyder the Red Army, the Soviet people, the British made gifts of an English case clock and ma¬ armed forces, and the American armed forces, hogany secretary' for the representational li¬ gave appropriate tribute to die heroism of the brary' together with furnishings for the am¬ cooperative effort. The evening did not end bassador’s library upstairs. The Hyders were until 1 a.m. supportive of our efforts to make Spaso House The largest party ever held at the residence hospitable even when there was no art on loan was on July 4, 1976, to commemorate the from private lenders and museums. U.S. bicentennial. Tang, the Chinese butler Ambassador Arthur Hartman came to who had worked at Spaso House for more Moscow from Paris, where he had been am¬ than 40 years, greeted each guest personally; bassador. During the years that Hartman was in addition to Americans assembled earlier, in Moscow, from 1981 to 1987, there were his counter recorded 3,001 persons. Even summit meetings in Geneva and in Reykjavik, though it rained, the chandelier room, the ball¬ and the possibility of summit meetings in Wash¬ room, the library', and the dining room man¬ ington and in Moscow began to be discussed. aged to accommodate them all. In April 1987, Reagan sent my husband to

APRIL 1989 43 Moscow as ambassador. Spaso House had been place to receive guests. In that context, I de¬ transformed. The walls and ceilings had been cided to try to reproduce the traditional li¬ It is important, painted vibrant colors, and new rugs had been brary I remembered from my first visit in 1961. in addition to designed and woven to coordinate with the I searched the house for appropriate furniture formal new decor. In the lobby were a very large and found four glass-fronted bookshelves, sev¬ representational American eagle, a figure of Columbia (another eral mahogany chests of Empire design, wing- areas, to have a symbol of America) holding a sheaf of wheat back chairs, and oval coffee tables. Together comfortable place in her hand, and a cigar store Indian. Through¬ with the grandfather clock, the mahogany secre¬ to receive guests out the representational rooms were paint¬ tary, and an ornate gilt mirror which had been ings and art objects by important American donated in 1981, we were able to create a artists. This impressive collection of Ameri¬ room of warmth and comfort for private con¬ cana had been assembled by the Hartmans versations and for small groups of guests. to commemorate 50 years of diplomatic rela¬ In preparation for the visit of the Reagans, tions with the Soviet Union. Since this collec¬ the Greek-revival ceiling in die vestibule was tion had been loaned to Ambassador Hart¬ restored. Master restorers worked on this man personally, it was time for the individual curved space for several weeks, carefully ap¬ pieces to be returned to their owners. How¬ plying paint and gold leaf to recreate the origi¬ ever, several artists donated individual pieces nal classic designs. to the permanent Spaso House collection, where they remain on display. \ _i_ or Spaso House, the dinner the Re- Through the Department of State’s Art in I agans gave for General Secretary and Embassies program, we arranged to borrow Mrs. Gorbachev was the highlight of the visit. art by mid-20th century American artists. We New white curtains were hung throughout also showed works by outstanding young con¬ the house, and masses of flowers were arranged temporary artists. The Corning Museum in all the representational rooms. Pink peo¬ loaned 18 pieces of studio glass from their nies were used as centerpieces on the round permanent holdings. It took well over a year tables in the ballroom where the dinner took to assemble, ship, and install these collections. place. Special platforms were built in the back They were in place before the Moscow sum¬ of the room for the press cameras and at the mit of 1988, and a catalog listing the major opposite end for Dave Brubeck and his jazz works was published with the assistance of ensemble to entertain the guests after dinner. private supporters. Reagan, in his toast at dinner, concluded, It was important, we felt, in addition to “Spaso House has, as I said, seen quiet times— the formal representational areas of Spaso yet the animated conversation of this evening House, to have a comfortable and attractive has already done much to make up for them. And so, I would like to raise a glass to the continued interchange between our two na¬ tions—and, if I may, to Spaso House itself, as a symbol of our relations. May this lovely home never lack for visitors, and shared meals, and the sounds of spirited conversation—and even the peal of hearty laughter. Thank you and God bless you.” Gorbachev, in his response, described his vision of “a world more reliable and safer, a world that is needed by all people on earth, their children and granchildren, so that they can acquire and preserve the basic human rights—the right to life, to work, to freedom, and to the pursuit of happiness.” He ended by saying, “Let die coming years bring about an improvement in the international situation! Let life triumph!” With these words, spoken by the leaders of the U.S. and the USSR, Spaso House, which for 55 years had furnished an elegant backdrop to history, experienced one of its The Church of the Savior on the Sands. finest hours. □

44 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Journal

Back in the USSR

Nicole: Try spending three weeks NICOLE and ALAN LOGAN tered. They are ingenious in making with friends; chances are they may not efficient use of every inch of space, as remain your friends for long. Not so one would on a sailboat, to fit in in the Soviet Union! Russian friends In Fall 1988, Alan and Nicole Logan thousands of books, a piano, and an recently gave us a lesson in hospitality obtained a family visa to spend three entire workshop. and generosity by graciously putting Although our friends belong to the weeks with Russian friends in Moscow— up with us for three weeks. In a coun¬ upper middle class, their salaries are an experience that would have been try where living space is limited, where low—less than 250 rubles per month— food is hard to get, where everyone unheard of a few years ago. This and have changed little for 20 years. holds a full time job, the way dtey personal, firsthand account of life in (1 ruble/100 kopecks = 1.4 $U.S.). pampered, entertained, and showed us Moscow today is recounted by a When they retire, their pension will around constituted a real tour de force. husband and wife who lived in the be only 130 rubles. Although blue Freshly ground coffee greeted us in Soviet Union in the 1960s. collar workers are allowed to hold sev¬ the morning. No matter what time of eral jobs, our friends, as professionals, the day we returned to the apartment, do not have this right. we found golden “piroshkis” and a people standing in lines in the “Gas- It is usually said that low salaries thick soup awaiting us on the stove. tronoms” of Gorky Street at the end correspond to low living expenses. The freezer was stocked with meat and of a long workday. Survival also re¬ Granted, their monthly rent is only fish; there was always a bowl of fresh quires an ability to adapt, to be flex¬ 20 rubles, including utilities; a bus fruit on our window sill. They made ible. One does not decide ahead of ride costs 5 kopecks; a loaf of bread, this constant feast look effortless, but time what will be for dinner. The sale 15 kopecks; an orchestra seat at the we knew the planning, the running of products happens unexpectedly at Bolshoi, only 3 rubles. Granted, medi¬ around, the standing in line, and the street corners and lasts as long as the cal care and yearly vacations are paid extravagant expenses all this meant. supplies do. One night, all Moscow for. But many things are not accessible Hunting for everyday necessities in ate bananas from Colombia, another to them because of the cost. We vis¬ the Soviet Union requires an incred¬ night it was pomegranates and lemons ited the best market in Moscow, which ible amount of stamina. I have seen from . caters to the upper class and foreign¬ the utter exhaustion and the expres¬ Our hosts are both engineers, highly ers, where the products were beauti¬ sion of explosive anger on the face of educated, articulate, and conversant in ful: pyramids of peaches, apples, toma¬ Alan Logan retired in 1982 after 31 current affairs. They live in Lenin Hills, toes, grapes, appetizing honey, good- years in the Foreign Service, including in a handsome brick building dating looking meat and fish. “The prices are two years as political officer in Moscow. back to the 1950s. They have turned too high,” remarked our friend. “We Nicole Logan received her MA. in Rus¬ their three spacious rooms into multi¬ do our regular shopping in government sian Studies from American University purpose use. Their apartment, like stores, where prices are lower even in 1987. many others we have seen, is unclut¬ though quality and choice are also

APRIL 1989 45 lower.” A pair of blue jeans at 120 While nominally approving a more mar¬ dents were also loaded with new hi-fi rubles is a luxury Who can afford a ket-oriented economic system, others and television equipment. A French cassette deck costing several hundred criticized the state encouragement of translator working for a Moscow rubles or a VCR at several thousand? private cooperatives for creating a new weekly magazine was bringing in a At a time when expectations and wealthy class. small library of books, including some needs have risen, we saw impatience The process Gorbachev has initiated by dissident emigres, and video cas¬ and frustration at the continued scar¬ is complex and may release forces and settes. city of goods. On the other hand, we ideas which can be neither foreseen At the Brest border post, customs saw relief and excitement at the new nor controlled. As a result, there is officials were extremely thorough in free flow of information, at being able great apprehension, and some of our determining the contents of the moun¬ to express opinions so long kept hid¬ friends fear that the Soviet Union may tains of cases and trunks filling our den, at having access to the works of be entering a new “time of troubles” railcar. We were told that pornographic heretofore censured writers, and at the similar to those which periodically and “excessively” religious or anti- lifting of the secrecy which had shook Tsarist Russia in the past. We Soviet material is still not admitted, shrouded their historical past. felt, however, that the great majority and one of our fellow travelers was of Soviet citizens welcome glasnost. subject to a third degree grilling when Alan: Our very presence in Moscow Our first direct exposure to the chang¬ the customs official found undeclared as guests of a Soviet family exempli¬ ing Soviet scene was on the single Bibles (worth over $125 each on the fied the changes that are taking place railroad car which shuttles between Moscow black market) and suppos¬ in the USSR. American and British Paris and Moscow. During our two- edly Zionist propaganda. However, in diplomats found it unprecedented that day journey, we met a young Estonian the end, to our surprise, everything Soviet authorities would was admitted and no duty grant visas for a private visit was charged. to a retired U.S. State De¬ We arrived at the Beloruski partment colleague who Station in Moscow and re¬ had been the object of an called that 22 years earlier unjustified attack in the So¬ in broad daylight three tires viet press 23 years earlier. of my personal car were During the three weeks slashed in virtually acknowl¬ that we were authorized to edged KGB retaliation for stay with our Soviet friends, the vandalizing of the car Nicole and I lived like Rus¬ of a Soviet diplomat on a sians as we tried to un¬ back street in Washington, derstand the changing So¬ D.C. According to Ameri¬ viet scene. In contrast to can and British diplomatic our tour with the Ameri¬ colleagues, this type of act can embassy in the 1960s still occurs and the official and during subsequent vis¬ Alan Logan in the GUM department store in Moscow, treatment of Western dip¬ its, we had no feeling that we were film maker who seems to be free to lomats is one area where there has under surveillance or that the authori¬ travel to the West despite the fact been little improvement since the 1960s ties had any interest in us. that—to our surprise—he expressed and possibly some deterioration, par¬ The changes that have taken place strong support for Estonian national¬ ticularly for Americans. Despite some and are continuing to take place at a ism. While insisting that the efforts of relaxation of restrictions for senior diplo¬ dizzy pace are truly amazing and pro¬ Estonians for greater autonomy are matic staff, there is less opportunity found. Very few of the Russians or completely different from those of the for travel in the country as a whole, foreigners we spoke to have a clear Armenian claim for territory in Azer¬ largely because of the competing de¬ idea of where the process of reform baijan, he recognized the dilemma faced mands by tourists for limited travel launched by Communist party leader by Moscow authorities in dealing with and hotel accommodations. Americans is going to lead these and similar demands. are subject to special restrictions. They the USSR, and they doubt he knows We were also struck by the extent are not allowed to invite family mem¬ at this time. General opposition to to which travelers on our railcar felt bers or friends as house guests nor to openness and restructuring as repre¬ free to bring in publications and gen¬ bring in non-American nannies. The sented under the buzz words ofglasnost eral consumer goods difficult to find American diplomatic community seems and perestroika is strong in some cir¬ in Moscow. Electronic equipment scat¬ to be retreating behind an iron curtain cles, and individual elements of Gor¬ tered in several compartments by an of its own making. Several Russians bachev’s program are openly criticized. Armenian mother and son appeared commented on the irony that as Soviet For example, many felt the reduction sufficient to stock a small retail outlet society is becoming more open, the in the supply of all alcoholic beverages (which might have been the inten¬ U.S. official presence appears to be was too drastic and was badly timed. tion!). Vietnamese and African stu¬ becoming more closed. This impres-

46 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL sion is not helped by the new embassy and welcome the greater freedom and goods in the state oudets at reasonable compound and empty chancery build¬ access to information. Another friend prices. A variety of fruits, vegetables, ing; its stark massive brick walls with¬ also feels that there are too many mil¬ and flowers, and some consumer goods out outside windows or color make it lions of people at the top and in the are available in large quantities at the look more like a fort or penitentiary bureaucracy with a vested interest in established farmers’ markets or coop¬ than the outpost of a free society open preserving the status quo or too afraid eratives, although at admittedly high to the local citizenry for business and of the unknown to depart from it. One prices. Though difficult to judge, we dialogue. long-time French resident, on the other had the impression that people had With the departure of all Soviet hand, felt that the process of change more money to spend then in earlier employees in 1987, the embassy has and restructuring was irreversible, and years. They grumbled but were willing had to close its cultural library. Re¬ that the people will be motivated by to pay these high prices for higher laxation of Soviet restrictions on travel the promise of a better way of life to quality products. abroad has resulted in an increase in create a more rational and productive demand for U.S. visas. The lines of economy. We were left with the im¬ Nicole: The creation of cooperatives visa applicants waiting in the street pression, however, that most of the is one of the most exciting and prom¬ add to the impression that the em¬ people we met underestimate and prob¬ ising trends toward free enterprise. bassy is deliberately keeping Soviet citi¬ ably do not really understand the prob¬ More than 50,000 are already in op¬ zens out. The general attitude was lems of converting a centrally admini¬ eration in various sectors of the econ¬ well captured by a young Marine guard stered, planned economy with con¬ omy: small industry, transports, farm¬ when he kept us from entering for a trolled prices, distribution, and em¬ ing, repairs, servicing of cars, housing, look at the new embassy compound: ployment into a more market-oriented restaurants, and even public toilets. “We are in a hostile environment,” he one controlled by competitive forces. Some private enterprises are run very said, “surrounded by unfriendly ele¬ efficiendy; however, there is still plenty ments.” Nicole: “What do you think of peres¬ of room for improvement. Coopera¬ The most striking change we ob¬ troika?” we asked everyone. The an¬ tive cafes and restaurants are too ex¬ served in Soviet society was the will¬ swers ranged from pessimism, to skep¬ pensive for average citizens. Some of ingness—verging on eagerness—of the ticism, to enthusiasm. Foreign diplo¬ them would not last very long in a people to talk openly and frankly. There mats, still surrounded by an atmosphere truly competitive context. The service are still some limits, however, for as of suspicion and restrictions, expressed is mediocre, and they run out of mer¬ one Russian friend put it, ‘We now a great deal of caution as to the future chandise. One afternoon Alan and I can talk about anything—but not every¬ ofperestroika. They feel that many peo¬ decided to go into a tearoom. A few thing.” ple still revere Stalin and miss his law- tables were already occupied. We or¬ Most of the Soviet people we met and-order society. dered tea, and the manager abrupdy liked and respected Gorbachev. One But the overwhelming majority of asked, “Is that all you want?” “ Yes,” high party official told us that for the the Russians we met expressed hope we answered. He retorted, “We do first time in decades the USSR has a and excitement. An optimistic hair¬ not have and will not have any tea,” leader who, driven by economic neces¬ dresser-turned-gardener told us: pushing us out of the room and hang¬ sity, knows in which direction he wants “Maybe it will take 15 years, but it will ing a “closed” sign at the door. to go, in contrast to his predecessors, work. The new generation will not who were opportunists reacting to accept lies any more.” A member of Alan: The most important vehicle of events in order to hold power or make the influential privileged class shared change is the mass media. The press short-term gains. He admitted that this enthusiasm but qualified it, say¬ reports of Stalin’s crimes and corruption some people may feel lost without the ing, “The changes are very exciting under Brezhnev, of Soviet economic comfort of an ideology. As he said, “in but, the pace cannot be maintained. and technological backwardness, and this period of change we don’t even The pendulum of history will even¬ of various criminal and social prob¬ know what is communism.” tually come back to the center.” lems such as prostitution, youth gangs, While there was general support of and black markets, must appear amaz¬ Gorbachev’s attempts to reform and Alan: We heard charges that the peo¬ ingly frank to Soviet citizens. The press restructure the economy, many were ple are worse off now. The difficulties even carries articles or letters of dissent pessimistic and even cynical as to what of everyday life and the search for against current policy, including some may be accomplished. One senior offi¬ consumer goods certainly continue. But defending Stalin. Accidents or natural cial said that he finds the same ineffi¬ the contrast with the 1960s and even disasters in the USSR, efforts of dif¬ ciencies, shortages of food and con¬ the late 1970s is striking: Housing ferent Soviet nationalities for greater sumer goods, long lines, stagnating construction in Moscow and the sur¬ autonomy, international problems and and stultifying bureaucracy, decaying rounding towns and rural areas is most developments (including internal op¬ buildings, and state of disrepair as be¬ impressive; people are better dressed position to the Soviet military in Af¬ fore. He feels that fundamental change and more attentive to their appear¬ ghanistan), or foreign criticism of the is impossible. However, his wife is ance; there is a big improvement in USSR are reported in a relatively ob¬ optimistic, and they both recognize the supplies of food and consumer jective way.

APRIL 1989 47 Nicole: Glasnost brings into the open They still go through the ritual of Nicole: Living with a family gave more and more social topics. In the membership in the youth communist us the opportunity to see how much 1960s, the theater, poetry readings, organizations (first Pioneers followed physical and intellectual alertness is and underground literature were the by Komosol) as necessary to passage required from the Soviet people today most important channels of dissent but into and through the select high schools in order to adapt to the changes. This only reached a few thousands in the and universities, but with little enthusi¬ period of transition is a difficult one, city. As a means of criticism of the asm and minimum activity. As one not only for the government leaders regime and Soviet society these have mother told us: “My children feel they but also for each single individual. now been overtaken by films and tele¬ have been lied to for years; now they One of the qualities we have most vision reaching millions throughout want the truth and will never accept a admired in our Soviet friends is their the Soviet Union. return to the past.” While many young extreme pride. They wanted to give Vocal and now legal “informal organi¬ people remain considerate and polite, us the best and to show us the best in zations” are a new tool for the free the proportion that appears loud, re¬ their country. Their concern for mate¬ expression of ideas. They also act as bellious, and unruly has greatly in¬ rial goods was not greed but only the lobbying groups formed to put pres¬ creased. expression of human need. sure on the authorities. The weekly Fligh school and university students The second trait which impressed Moscow News reported the creation of regard the compulsory month they have us is the energy they devote to their the first consumer rights organization to spend every year helping the ineffi¬ work, their studies, or their friend¬ in October 1988. From an expression cient agricultural sector harvest its crops ships. We admired the tour guide, of spontaneous environmental protest not as a voluntary contribution for the who after a day-long excursion told his against industrial plans for the area, benefit of society but as something to group that he does not mind doing this body developed into a legal entity be avoided, if possible. Both boys and overtime, or the high school girl who to defend the inhabitants’ interests on girls feel the time they have to spend complained about not being called on all local issues. in military training beginning at age more often in class and does several Spontaneous discussion groups and 13 is a waste and of questionable pa¬ hours of homework every night. orators haranguing the crowds are a triotic value. If this energy, this dedication to frequent sight in Moscow’s Pushkin The Soviet people are eager to learn one’s occupation, this enthusiasm were Square. Each living room at night be¬ more about America, but considerable mobilized into constructive channels comes an open forum where heated effort is necessary to overcome mis¬ instead of being wasted in queues or commentaries are triggered by the conceptions and suspicions resulting fighting red tapc,jjlasnost and peres¬ themes of social concern presented by from years of isolation and official propa¬ troika would have a better chance to the TV. ganda. We were subject to many search¬ work. Now full of news and opinions, the ing questions regarding what Russians daily newspapers and periodicals are believe are the negative aspects of Ameri¬ Alan: We left Moscow convinced read avidly. One has to get up at 5 can society and policies, such as pov¬ that Gorbachev, in the few years he a.m. to buy Izvestia or any other daily erty and homelessness, unemployment, has assumed power, has indeed newspaper. At 10 a.m. the kiosks are mistreatment of native Americans and launched his country on a course which empty. Some periodicals disappear be¬ minorities, actions against Nicaragua, can only be described as revolutionary. fore they are even put on sale. and continued restrictions on our eco¬ The USSR emerging from this decade The cinema has undergone a total nomic relations with the USSR. Al¬ will be very different from the country change and is merciless in its indict¬ though most of the people we spoke that entered it and should contribute ment of Soviet society today. Drugs, to opposed Soviet intervention in to a better and safer world. □ promiscuity, violence—the social com¬ Afghanistan, they asked ment is damning to the point of exag¬ why we were supplying geration. One cannot help wondering American weapons to kill how the Russian audience, fundamen¬ or wound Soviet youth in tally puritanical and moral, reacts to that country. Americans such a new vision of society and should be prepared to re¬ whether this kind of shock treatment spond honesdy to such ques¬ will have a lasting effect on traditional tions. On the other hand, values. many Soviet citizens have exaggerated visions of the Alan: One of the most important but United States as the land difficult areas to judge is the current of unbounded freedom, in¬ attitude of young people in the USSR. credible bounty, and “milk From our contacts, we had the impres¬ and honey”. Americans sion that the open criticism of so many should also tty to temper aspects of Soviet life is leading to great these exaggerations with re- disillusionment among young people. alitv. Nicole Logan boards a Paris-to-Moscow train.

48 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL People

introduced to someone. “Hi, I’m Kitty.” A pause, and then the inevitable crack about Kitty Carlisle or Miss Kitty of Gunsmoke. To this day, I grimace Fast Times at Hindi High politely and only have the vaguest no¬ tion of who they’re talking about. A Foreign Service “brat” looks at the The political milestones that marked pluses and minuses of growing up overseas. my 1960s generation found me not pro¬ testing in their midst, but rather lan¬ KITTY THUERMER last two hours haven’t we carried on guishing in some exotic locale. I only an interesting conversation?” remember John F. Kennedy’s death My sister and I share a recur¬ He looked at me. “Yes.” from the tattered Life magazine pic¬ ring nightmare. We are “About international issues?” tures that I saw in a USIS library years posted in a far-off land. One “Sure.” later. Robert Kennedy’s assassination day we are taken hostage—mistaken “Well,” I stuck out my chin, “I’m found our family in the middle of a for spies from a neighboring country. an American!” safari on the Serengeti plains. When We flash our diplomatic passports, but He laughed. “Oh, you don’t count.” the 1967 Arab-Israeli war broke out, our captors laugh in our faces. They And then, dismissing me with a wave, I was floating on a houseboat in a lake refuse to believe we are Americans since “You’re not a real American.” full of lilies in Kashmir. It was in India we are fluent in the local language. We Visions of the firing squad danced that I learned about Martin Luther beg to be released. After a month of through my head. King’s death, the tragedies of Kent imprisonment, our captors finally agree When I returned to Thestates (one State and Jackson State, and the dis¬ to release us on one condition: that word) after growing up overseas, I tant rumblings of a land called Viet¬ we pass a test to prove that we are taught myself a little survival game: nam. The fall of Nixon found me jet¬ true Americans. We are gready relieved, “How to Pass as an American.” Over ting halfway round the world to but our relief turns to horror as we the years I have managed to bluff my Madagascar, and the day I left Mali survey the three questions: way through an 18-year “gap” in my was the signing of the Camp David knowledge of Americana. Why would peace accords. Name one state that borders Kansas. I want to do such a thing? The humili¬ Paranoid parents are always con¬ Who is Joe Namath? ation of not being able to identify the cerned about how their children will What was the name of Beaver’s mother top rock songs, “turn out” after they on Leave it to Beaver? the snorts of laugh¬ have been brought We are shot at dawn. ter following my up abroad. As Not long ago I was sitting next to pronunciation of long as we’re using a Namibian gentleman at a party in “Mooslim,” and this culinary meta¬ Washington. We exchanged pleasant¬ my conspicuous si¬ phor, I have to con¬ ries, but I knew he was merely humor¬ lence amidst a cho¬ fess that my own ing me. Finally I slipped the word rus of TV Jeop¬ experience was “Windhoek” into the conversation— ardy answers was rather like a turkey pronounced with a “v”—and he was too cruel to bear being roasted in so overcome he choked on his bread repeating. So I be¬ an oven the old- stick. We spent the rest of the evening gan to fake it. fashioned way— carrying on an animated discussion of In the process, however, I soon dis¬ browned evenly on all sides and rea¬ current events, punctuated only by his covered that unlike other learning dis¬ sonably marinated in the local culture. grunts of delight at my unexpected abilities, it was futile to try and over¬ Today’s children, alas, are weaned on worldliness. compensate my ignorance by dem¬ MTV in Bangui; they are the mi¬ Later in the evening the non-Ameri¬ onstrating brilliance in another arena. crowave expats. can guests were drawn into our con¬ So what if I knew the capital of Ma¬ Some parents are afraid their chil¬ versation, swayed by the Namibian’s dagascar or could sing the Indian na¬ dren won’t get the proper dosage of pronouncement that all Americans are tional anthem; to admit it would have allegiance to the United States; foods, total ignoramuses when it comes to been a one-way ticket to social Siberia. flags, and the Fourth of July. This is world affairs. I listened in uncharacter¬ And of course I knew exactly where a legitimate concern. Every single day istic silence. Finally I turned to my table- Siberia is. for three years in grade school I proudly mate and said, “Excuse me, but for the My double life began when I was shouted out the Ghanaian national an-

APRIL 1989 49 People In Memory The following is excerpted front re¬ them while my friend Barbara stood standing behind me keeled over in an marks at the memorial service for stiffly next to me with her lips grimly epileptic fit. Flow did I cope? Interna¬ three FSOs who died in the pursed. tional savoir-faire and a dash of Hindi Locherbie plane crash, held at Fort When our fourth grade teacher an¬ High French. Meyer Chapel, January 9, 1989. nounced that New York was the capi¬ During training in Mali, The Bureau of Diplomatic Secu¬ tal of the United States, Barbara turned I was assigned to a health clinic run rity was born out of our nation’s to me in a firry. What could I do? I by Chinese acupuncturists. Since this commitment to protect all of the no more knew the capital of my own was the height of ping-pong diplomacy, people who would do our nation’s country than I knew our national an¬ I was anxious to communicate with my work abroad. It is a world in which them. And when Queen Elizabeth came erstwhile comrades. I was sorely disap¬ DS has made a difference. It to town I lined up with the other school pointed to discover that their French touches us deeply, therefore, to children on the roadside and waved the was as poor as my Bambara, until I gather here today to mourn the Ghanaian flag—thrilled that she had realized I could use my Saturday- loss of young men who dedicated come to see our President—Kwame Nk- morning-nothing-better-to-do Man¬ their lives to protecting others. rumah. darin. These men represent the high¬ Naturally, parents overseas are also At graduate school in East Lansing, est traditions of government serv¬ concerned about sex and their children’s Michigan, I made friends with students ice—America’s best. Special agents activities overseas. My own opinion is from all over the world and in the proc¬ Ron Lariviere and Dan O’Conner that sex overseas is no different than ess discovered I actually had a skill I had survived the rigorous screen¬ the home-grown variety. In fact, wor¬ could offer the locals: workshops on ing and a tough examination proc¬ ried parents should keep their eyes more African studies, which I conducted ess to be selected from thousands on the American boy next door. As throughout the state. of applicants for Diplomatic Secu¬ insidious as sex, of course, are drugs. And despite the very privileged life rity. Both endured long hours and Drugs can indeed be a bit of a problem we lived overseas, I like to think that demanding assignments to prepare overseas. Especially when the harmless a seed of global humanitarianism was them for the future. old man swathed in a shawl squatting planted somewhere along the way. Of Matthew Gannon was especially outside the New Delhi school is sell¬ course it didn’t always bear fruit. Dur¬ close to us in DS. ... he worked ing hashish. The drug education of an ing my junior year in Delhi, my Indian closely with us as political officer American classmate only ended this year girlfriend and I plotted a movement in Beirut, his last post. We con¬ with his release, after eight years, from to ban the Junior Prom and use the sider him a member of our family. a Thai prison for heroin smuggling. money to purchase tube-wells for a All three of these men had vol¬ But drugs are everywhere and kids will parched Rajasthan. Our efforts were unteered for their last assignments, be exposed to them no matter where rewarded with zero rupees and no date accepting without question, the dan¬ they live. for the prom. gers of their work—and danger¬ So what’s the good news about grow¬ Nowadays, I still tty to pass for an ous it is. The Foreign Service and ing up overseas? Well, aside from hu¬ American. I think I’m getting better the Department of State are for miliation at home, just about every¬ at it. A few months ago I was attend¬ many of us like an extended fam¬ thing. When I walked into my African ing a conference in St. Louis when I ily. But the members of the Diplo¬ history class my freshman year at Yale ran into an old family friend, fresh from matic Security Service share a spe¬ I laughed out loud to see the names his ambassadorship in Chile. At din¬ cial bond drawn from the nature of Osei Tutu, Apuku Wari, and ner, the keynote speaker made a caus¬ of our work, the frequent and dif¬ Akomfo Anachi scrawled on the black¬ tic remark about the presidential cam¬ ficult travel, the shift work, and board. The resurrection of the Ashanti paign which compared the behavior of the long hours. . . . Our families kings of Ghana, whose names remained one of the candidates to the antics of grow accustomed to the sacrifices branded in my memory since the sec¬ David Letterman. I knew I had made and accept them with love and un¬ ond grade, was much more gratifying it when I could come to the aid of derstanding. Today, we are re¬ to me than the fascinating career of my distinguished friend, a 30-year For¬ minded how great those sacrifices Martin Van Buren. eign Service veteran, when he leaned can ultimately be. When I took a year off from school over to me and whispered, “Who is Matthew Kevin Gannon to work on a leprosy project in Madagas¬ David Letterman?” □ Daniel Emmett O’Conner car it took me two full days to arrive Ronald Albert Lariviere at the Antananarivo airport, only to Kitty Thuermer currently works for the discover I had no visa, no local money, National Council of Returned, Peace We are proud of you. We shall miss no one to meet me. Then the woman Corps Volunteers. you.

50 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Foreign Exchange

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Also lecture Taxes1 monthly at FSI in Rosslyn, man, Inc. 3 Bethesda Metro Center agent (703)448-0212. (800)525-2582. #850 Bethesda, MD 20814 VA. Office located across from Vir¬ OLD TOWN ALEXANDRIA Vic¬ (301)986-8770 ALEXANDRIA LUXURY HIGH- ginia Square Metro Station, 3601 torian Townhouse—completely fur¬ RISE APARTMENTS, 1,2, 3 bed¬ N. Fairfax Dr., Arlington, VA nished with antiques, modern NEED A HOME BASE? Lake of rooms including utilities and many 22201. (703)841-0158. the Woods, between Fredericksburg amenities. Short/long term rentals, kitchen and baths. 2 BR; 2 Baths; Jacuzzi; Off-Street Parking. Avail¬ and Culpeper, 50 miles from D.C., fiimished/unfumished. The Summit, ATTORNEYS specializing in tax offers lake front, golf course, off¬ 260 S. Reynolds, Alexandria, VA able by weekend or week. 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Bruce lina? Call or write ERA Dozier Re¬ (301)951-4111. Reserve early! Hirshom, Esquire, Suite E, 307 Ma¬ alty, 442 Main St. North Myrtle New Hampshire 03449 or phone (603)525-6672. Photos on request. Avoid disappointment! ple Ave. West, Vienna, VA 22180. Beach, S.C. 29582. (803)249- (703)281-2161. WASHINGTON D.C. APART¬ 4043. ROSSLYNAVARRENTON Short/ TAX PREPARATION AND AD¬ Long Term apts. or houses. Fully MENTS. Short or long term. Decora¬ tor furnished, fully equipped: micro- VICE byT.R. McCartney E. A., (ex- furnished, all sizes, all lovely, all con¬ wave, cable, phone, poof, spa. Two PROPERTY MANAGEMENT venient. Lots of high-tech extras. FS) and staff. Enrolled to practice before the IRS. Business Data Corp., Write for reservations & details. S. blocks FSI and Metro, 5 min. State, MARKET HOMES PROPERTY Oper, 9 Laurel Dr., Port Jefferson, Georgetown. Photos. (703)522- P.O. Box 1040, Lanham, MD MGMT.: Expertise and personal NY 11777; (516)473-6774; or DC 2588 or write Adrian B.B. 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MENT SERVICES: Use our dominium near Pennekamp Under¬ Preparation and representation by TELEX service to inquire about pro¬ water Park. Private marina, heated Enrolled Agents, avg. fee $195 in¬ fessional services for the FS com¬ pools, tennis. Fully furnished. $550/ cludes return and ‘TAX Trax‘, APRIL 1989 51 Foreign Exchange

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52 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Domestic Postings

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Notes In the previous Sales, Rentals, Investments Notes on Real Es¬ and on tate I gave a brief Careful, Expert Property Management Real Estate overview of buyer’s D.C., Maryland, and Virginia brokerage. One of By John Clunan the key elements to BARBARA ABEILLE PATRICIA GARRISON BOORMAN buyer’s brokerage KEVIN CAULFIELD BETTY GELDARD is selecting a com¬ ♦CHRISTINA GRIFFIN WENDY GUILLOU petent broker. Pur¬ MARY HANSTAD CAROLE B. HERS MAN chasing a home is an emotional and a ♦JOSEPHINE HOLLIDAY ♦MAR1ELLA LEHFELDT financially draining endeavor and just as ISABELLE MACKIE ♦LYNN MOFFLY MAGRUDER you would not randomly pick a lawyer to MARILYN J. MANGAN ♦JOHN Y. MILLAR represent you, you should not haphaz¬ MARGARET MOSELEY DIANE NOBLE ardly select a broker. What follows is a list JOHN ALDRICH NOBLE SUZY H. NORTH of tips that should be helpful when select¬ SUSAN RAEHN CAROLINE RAYFIELD ing a broker: DOUG SCHOCKE ♦ROBERT W. SKIFF ♦JOHN TURNER 1) You should feel completely comfortable ALEX ULLRICH RICHARD S. WILLIAMS with your agent. This will make the whole VERA WILLIAMS process of purchasing a home a lot easier for you as well as the agent. 2) If possible try to find an agent who MGMB, inc. Realtors specializes in the area you are interested 362-4480 in. Foxhall Square • 3301 New Mexico Avenue 3) Does your broker have access to the Washington D.C. 20016 local Mutliple Listing Service? If not, s/he ‘Foreign Service will probably not have access to all the suitable properties that are available. You do not want to be limited just because your broker is. 4) Your agent is your personal represen¬ tative and as such should be aware of not only what you want in a home, i.e. style, number of bedrooms, and so on, but also your financial situation. S/he should ask about these considerations before starting the search for your new home. If the agent does not you might consider a different agent. 5) You may not be aware of what you can FARAH McCARD ANN KOERBER or can not afford. Your broker should assist COMING HOME? you in this determination. Let our experience work for you. We are vet¬ 6) Does your broker return calls promptly? erans of numerous international relocations If not, s/he might be tied up in too many and appreciate your special housing needs. other things to do the best job possible.

Call Farah or Ann or write to Attn of For information about buyer’s broker¬ “STATERELO” for a FREE HOUSING KIT. age or how Lewis & Silverman can repre¬ sent you please call or write. Merrill Lynch Realty

JOANNE PF.RNICK Real Estate Division 6045-1 Burke Centre Parkway 4801 Massachusetts Ave., N.W. Burke, Virginia 22015 Washington, D.C. 20016 _ _ (703) 250-1800 TeJ. 202-363-9100 Toll Free: 1-800-627-3546 AF S A ♦ N E W

AFSA welcomes State withdrawal New benefit ta of psychological screening proposal AFSA members: AFSA announced on March 10 that national security. hotel discounts the Department of State has with¬ AFSA has actively opposed the drawn its proposal on psychological psychological screening program both screening of American diplomats in negotiations with the State De¬ AFSA is delighted to announce a bound for Eastern European posts. partment and on Capitol Hill, hold¬ new agreement between the State The decision was based largely on ing that such a program was unnec¬ Plaza Hotel and the association, the recognition of “the exceptionally essary, overly intrusive, and ineffective offering significantly reduced rates good record of Foreign Service em¬ in predicting behavior that would to AFSA members. Those plan¬ ployees,” according to AFSA execu¬ lead to security risks. ning a trip to Washington, or tives. AFSA is pleased on behalf of its needing a temporary home dur¬ Senior department executives sup¬ 9,300 members that the Department ing summer transfers won’t want ported that conclusion. Dr. Paul Goff, of State has reaffirmed its confidence to miss this exceptional offer. assistant secretary for medical serv¬ in the integrity of its Foreign Service Located just across the street ices at the Department of State, said, employees. from the department (and next “We know our people. If they serve to the Foreign Service Club), the successfully at other posts, we think State Plaza Hotel is newly reno¬ we know who is going to succeed Retiring retirement vated and features full kitchens in Eastern Europe.” in all rooms and laundry facilities “Psychological testing of the For¬ chief honored within the building. AFSA rates eign Service has always been a bad are $59 (room with a queen-size idea,” said Perry Shankle, AFSA Presi¬ Approximately 150 of Gertrude bed) and $79 (suite with a queen¬ dent. In protracted discussions stretch¬ Wieckoski’s supervisors, colleagues, sized bed and queen-sized ing over 10 months with State De¬ and friends gathered for a luncheon sofabed), available between June partment management, AFSA has at the Ft. McNair Officers Club on 15 and September 10. Children’s strenuously opposed subjecting For¬ February 23 to commemorate her cots are offered at no extra charge. eign Service professionals to addi¬ retirement from the department af¬ Favorable rates will be available tional tests of their fitness to serve ter 30 years’ service, the last 12 as during the rest of the year also; in high risk posts. AFSA noted, how¬ chief of the Retirement Division. contact State Plaza for details. ever, that the department now has ‘Trudy” was accorded warm trib¬ Those familiar with the Wash¬ taken responsible steps to deal with utes by a group of speakers headed ington D.C. area will realize what security problems through improved by George S. Vest, director general an outstanding offer this is. The hotel is convenient to Metro, the counter-intelligence and security brief¬ of the Foreign Service. She was ings of employees prior to departing praised for her competence and com¬ Kennedy Center, the White for Eastern European posts. passion in administering what is re¬ House, Georgetown, monuments, The proposal to psychologically garded as one of the most efficient and much more. Take advantage screen employees was the result of a and responsive retirement programs of the Foreign Service Club for lunch or special functions—it is recommendation of the Laird Com¬ in the federal service. mission, convened in the wake of Ambassador Vest presented located just two doors away. the Moscow Embassy incident. Upon Weickoski with a special award from Reservations can be made with closer study of the events in Moscow, former Secretary Shultz, and both the State Plaza Hotel directly: it has become clear to members of AFSA and DACOR presented her 2117 E Street N.W., Washington Congress and the executive branch with inscribed certificates of ap¬ D.C. 20037 800/424-2859 (toll- that the Foreign Service was not preciation for her many years of de¬ free) or 202/861-8200. Telex: involved with any breaches of our voted service to the Foreign Service 140181 (Wayside). retiree community.

56 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Foreign aid: a new approach and a new act?

By Richard S. Thompson the course of a year. Its major find¬ Professional Issues Coordinator ings are that AID has too many objectives, that a way must be found Although experts believe reforms in to reduce paperwork and emphasize U.S. foreign assistance are needed, the impact of assistance rather than it will be difficult to bring them detailed accountability, and AID or about, according to a discussion at a new agency must be given flexibil¬ an AFSA luncheon on February 23 ity to respond to the needs of receiv¬ at the Foreign Service Club. ing states. Greater coordination of The three panel members, Dr. Rich¬ U.S. assistance is needed in Wash¬ ard E. Bissell, AID assistant admin¬ ington with other economic policies, istrator for program and policy co¬ with other bilateral and multilateral ordination, Dr. George Ingram, sen¬ donors, and, in the field, with other ior staff consultant, House Foreign U.S. programs. Affairs Committee, and Dr. Lewis Ingram warned that new legisla¬ Gulick, representative of The Phoe¬ tion this year would require drafting nix Group, stressed in their opening A full house listens to the AID a bill in the next two months, but discussion at an AFSA luncheon. remarks that the Foreign Assistance the administration is not yet pre¬ Act as now written includes too many pared and private organizations development assistance is weaken¬ objectives and should be rewritten, would need longer than that to ar¬ ing, especially in view of the expan¬ and that the aid program has be¬ rive at a consensus. However, those sion of the environmental movement. come too involved with process, as interested on the Hill will make a Gulick suggested that assistance distinguished from results. strong effort, he added. programs, if carefully explained, can Bissell noted that AID Adminis¬ Gulick described The Phoenix be justified to taxpayers in terms of trator Alan Woods has campaigned Group as an ad-hoc organization the national interest. A new law and for a new FAA, a need which has formed about a year ago by indi¬ a narrower focus would strengthen been recognized in a series of recent viduals with development experience. the support of constituencies. reports by various groups. Bissel iden¬ The group’s recent report concluded In reply to the off-heard question tified two key issues: the legal frame¬ that there must be more emphasis of why the U.S. does not simply pay work, including priorities set by Con¬ on results rather than process, greater rent for bases instead of using the gress; and the need to accurately concentration on a few areas in which cumbersome foreign assistance pro¬ reflect the constituencies concerned the United States performs best, a cedures, Ingram responded that this with assistance. The first agenda is reduction in full-fledged AID mis¬ idea had been considered at length between the executive branch and sions overseas in favor of bi-national by the task force, but was rejected Congress, while the second is be¬ task forces, improved U.S. govern¬ because Congress would demand ac¬ tween the government and the Ameri¬ ment coordination by a Cabinet- countability even for base rent. Gulick can people. In his article in the Feb¬ level council, a new assistance agency, noted that The Phoenix Group felt ruary FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL, a new foreign assistance act, and “no military assistance should be admini¬ Bissell had laid out a number of year” appropriations for assistance. stered by the Department of De¬ concerns that must be dealt with, Much of the discussion period fo¬ fense, economic aid provided for po¬ such as problems with functional ac¬ cused on restoring a consensus among litical reasons should be administered counts and the need for improved the executive branch, Congress, and by the State Department, and devel¬ coordination within the U.S. gov¬ constituencies. Bissell asserted that opment assistance should be ad¬ ernment. Bissell concluded that dis¬ the American people support the idea ministered by a new agency. cussions in Washington and with of helping people in need, but are Another suggestion was that the constituencies throughout the United skeptical of the ability of the govern¬ U.S. simply funnel its assistance States are needed to arrive at a new ment to deliver. Congress has had through the multilateral financial in¬ consensus, which should be reflected similar skepticism, resulting in de¬ stitutions. Bissell replied that the in new legislation. tailed requirements for accountabil¬ World Bank is effective with large Ingram said that those who es¬ ity. In his view, the executive branch infrastructure loans, but is not capa¬ tablished the Task Force on Foreign needs to build trust with Congress, ble of carrying out field-based pro¬ Assistance of the House Foreign Af¬ which in turn will help build support grams in which the U.S. has a lead¬ fairs Committee a year ago were at among the American people. ership role. Furthermore, our na¬ that time unaware that similar frus¬ Ingram added the hope that, if tional interests can be reflected in trations were sparking similar efforts Congress will simplify procedures, our bilateral programs. The meeting by other bodies. The task force re¬ the administration will pay more at¬ was chaired by Wendell Morse, a port represents a consensus of the tention to congressional views. He member of the AID Standing Com¬ views heard from many sources over does not believe the constituency for mittee of AFSA. □

APRIL 1989 57 Legislative Action Fund contributors Margaret E. Tracy Roger C. Brewin State Standing Committee Herbert Levin Theodora M. Grant-Katz Stephen Winship Leon Weintraub Parker D. Wvman R.A. Brown any outside candidate on quali¬ Morris Weisz fications: we acknowledge die con¬ Norman W. Mosher Thomas H. Ball tributions to the United States and George M. Barbis to the Foreign Sendee of numbers Barbara Good Put our money of political appointees who have William R. Duggan brought especially beneficial skills to John G. Oliver on the Donald R. MacKenzie the conduct of diplomacy. Nonethe¬ Henry L. Pitts professionals less, if we had as level a playing field John Donev Jr. in ambassadorial appointments as we Herbert G. Wing are calling for in our international A. Virginia Weppner In its edition of March 4, 1989, The trade relations, we would put our Douglas J. Clark John D. Ingcrsoll Economist printed an article entitled money on the experienced foreign “Ambassadors—What price Mon¬ Lars D. Hydle affairs professional almost every time. John Medeiros aco?” It began like this: In the last administration, the pro¬ Alan D. Oslick ‘“To the victor go the spoils’ is an portion of outsiders to career people Richard D. Haynes enduring political adage, and among in plum assignments approached 40 Mark Louis Jr. die richest spoils of American poli¬ E. Allan Wendt percent. Why is it that the United Ixiuis Espada-PIatet tics are ambassadorships. New presi¬ States, alone of rich and powerful Julia S. De M. Gatewood dents treat glamorous postings like countries, can be so cavalier about William Belton baubles to be handed out to friends the qualities of its ambassadors? Is Virginia Petree Vincent J. Farley and campaign contributors. Quali¬ it that we think our friends and allies fications (or lack of them) are sel¬ Gordon Gray will do what we want them to do Slator C. Blackiston dom considered. anyway and that our adversaries will Mart' England “For all his stern talk about gov¬ not, regardless of the quality of our George Freimarck ernment ethics, President Bush is representation? Robert A. Clark Jr. handing out the prizes as merrily as Patricia Byrne If so, the dawning diplomatic era Genevieve J. Pratt any predecessor. Two Florida prop¬ may give us another think coming. Richard B. IxBaron erty-developers and campaign con¬ We don’t have all the political and Helen Milkus tributors, Mr. Joseph Zappala and economic marbles now: other coun¬ D. Thomas Longo Jr., Charles G. Stefan Mr.Mel Sembler, are to be ambassa¬ tries have come to be rich and pow¬ dors to Spain and Australia, respec¬ William B. Coolidge erful and have good ideas and decent Robert H. Iocke tively. Other beaming campaign work¬ moral codes too. Especially with the William H. Bray ers include Mr.Fred Bush (no rela¬ blooming of Gorbachevian diplomacy David C. Holton tion) who will get Luxembourg, Mr. from our principal adversary, it no Sara L. Andren Peter Secchia (Italy), Mrs. Della New¬ Domnick G. Riley longer is as self-evident to our friends James Derrick man (New Zealand) and Mr. Joseph and allies as it perhaps once was that Lyne S. Few Gildenhorn (Switzerland).” the only way to get along is to go Henry G. Krausse Jr Why should the United States, as along with the United States. In the Robert O. Blake Mar)' F. Replogie The Economist observes, be the only new era, the United States may have rich country to exchange ambassa¬ Anthony A. Funicello to (gasp!) persuade other countries Luay D. Quinn dorships for campaign money? If any to agree with our point of view. Patrick O’Connor readers know the answer to that ques¬ Who is going to do the persuading? Frederick C. Occhsncr George B. Lambrakis tion, please send it along. In the Now, more dian ever before, the meantime, it seems important for Kenneth Bailey United States needs a strong diplo¬ Dane F. Smith AFSA to keep calling for high level matic establishment. We need an ex¬ Willy D. Baum appointments to be only from those cellent Foreign Service and State De¬ William D. Broderick best qualified to serve in the par¬ partment led by the best qualified Robert Gilson Laurie Johnston ticular position in consideration. We individuals we can find to serve at are not saying that any career For¬ Brian S. Kirkpatrick home and abroad. Flow about it, Orson W. Trueworthy eign Service officer can always beat Mr. President? Clark H. Billings Alphonso Arenales

58 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 1989 candidates for AFSA election announced

The following candidacies have been re¬ Treasurer: ceived by the AFSA Elections Committee Michael Davila (Continuity and Renewal Slate) Samuel T. Mok during the nomination season specified in the 1989 election call. The order in which AID Constituency (two representatives): candidates’ names appear was determined Samuel Scott (Continuity and Renewal Slate) by lot drawing. Wendell Morse (Continuity and Renewal Slate)

Retired Constituency (three representatives): President: John J. Harter Theodore S. Wilkinson (Continuity and Renewal L. Bruce Laingen (Continuity and Renewal Slate) Slate) David Schneider (Continuity and Renewal Slate) Hartford T. Jennings State Constituency (five representatives): State Vice President: Ross Quan (Continuity and Renewal Slate) Charles Schmitz (Continuity and Renewal Slate) Purnell Delly (Continuity and Renewal Slate) Michael Cotter (Continuity and Renewal Slate) AID Vice President: Eileen Heaphy (Continuity and Renewal Slate) Charles Uphaus (Continuity and Renewal Slate)

USIA Vice President: For Agriculture, Commerce, and USIA constituency Vance Pace (Continuity and Renewal Slate) representatives (one each), no nominations were received. Secretary: Perry Shankle (Continuity and Renewal Slate)

Scholarships

Merit Awards to honor Dawn Cuthell

Cristin K. Springet Overseas, Dawn worked both pro¬ to administer the Scholarship Pro¬ Scholarship Administrator fessionally and as a volunteer in pro¬ grams because “it is the only pro¬ grams including the Queen’s Or¬ gram dedicated to helping our peri¬ This year the AFSA/ phanage program in Athens, the Crip¬ patetic Foreign Service students. They AAFSW Merit pled Children’s Hospital in Manila, deserve our support and admiration.” Awards are in the Eversley Childs Leprosarium in Dawn left the role of scholarship honor of Dawn Cebu, the American Women’s Social administrator to attend Mount Ho¬ Cuthell, who made Work Center in Istanbul, and the lyoke College where she is pursuing the Foreign Service Turkish-Amcrican Bookmobile pro¬ a degree in environmental science. her life and career gram for village schools around Ank¬ for more than 25 ara. Dawn also worked on Red Cross years. Dawn would be the first to Dawn training boards overseas and was a praise the invaluable contribution that Cuthell, school board member at every post. the spouse of a Foreign Service em¬ reporting In the U.S., Dawn developed and ployee makes both at home and to the administered programs at the Han¬ abroad. She herself, by using her Education nah Harrison School of the YMCA, talents and expertise in a variety of Commit¬ and the Beauvoir School summer settings worldwide, has typified the tee when program. She also worked as legisla¬ initiative and enthusiasm of the For¬ she was tive liaison with Common Cause. eign Service. scholarship Dawn feels that it was an honor administrator.

APRIL 1989 59 NEWS

AID Standing Committee

Ward, a four-year veteran counselor Washington area and as a liaison Career counseling and a member of AID’s training re¬ with Employee Consultation Service view committee. “We feel we have counselors and with the State De¬ for AID employees to work together and be straight¬ partment’s alcohol and drug abuse forward with an employee. If the program coordinator. These two of¬ employee has any areas that appear fices are located in the State building The Foreign Service Act of 1980 to need strengthening, we will be and may also be contacted directly required AID to establish a career honest and candid so that the em¬ by any AID employee. While both development program to assure that ployee can make an effort to im¬ programs address special medical is¬ members of the Foreign Service ob¬ prove in these areas and/or develop sues, ECS also offers a wide range tain the skills and knowledge re¬ realistic aspirations.” of confidential counseling services, in¬ quired at appropriate stages in their Ward adds, however, that “the cluding assessments of children with careers. By January 1985, the Career biggest challenge of die program is special learning needs and their place¬ Development Branch (CD) was set walking the fine line between being ment in boarding schools. “They are up and tully staffed to handle all the advocate of the employee and there to help, but relatively few em¬ (non-EPAP) employees. In spite of meeting the needs of die agency. ployees know what they can do,” this available service, however, AFSA Nevertheless, we have been very suc¬ Jones adds. has been advised that not all employ¬ cessful during the last two years in Counselors also know of many ees are effectively utilizing this of¬ matching employee desires against support groups in the Washington fice. available positions.” metropolitan area that may be help¬ Employees may hesitate to ap¬ ‘Working for employees is not ful to employees regardless of their proach career counselors because they just telling them what they want to special needs. For example, women are located within the Office of Per¬ hear,” Steve Ryner points out, “it’s employees may be interested in the sonnel Management (M/PM). Employ¬ advising them on areas of perform¬ activities of the Women’s Action Or¬ ees also may not be fully aware of ance that could be improved.” He ganization (WAO) and the Associa¬ the service provided by the counsel¬ adds that an employee often hears tion of American Foreign Service ors. In an effort to explore the mis¬ about an area needing improvement Women (AAFSW). Black employees sion of the Career Development for the first time from a counselor may be interested in attending meet¬ Branch, members of AFSA’s ATP because many supervisors find it dif¬ ings of the Thursday Luncheon Standing Committee met with A IP’s ficult to be candid with subordi¬ Group, a forum through which a career counselors. nates. This lack of candor is a great variety of minority issues are ad¬ Steve Ryner, Chief of CD, defines disservice to the employee and to dressed. career development as the process AID. ‘We make a great effort to be Apart from their role as advisers, of selecting the proper mix of assign¬ honest,” he says, “even if it hurts!” counselors participate in the assign¬ ments and training to ensure profes¬ There is always room for improve¬ ment process by working closely with sional growth. He views career coun¬ ment, and CDOs will work with M/PM placement officers, Bureau ex¬ seling as the holistic development employees to help turn negative per¬ ecutive management staff and other of a person’s career and any aspect ceptions around and help them work offices to ensure that employee ca¬ of his life that affects his career. This through problems and develop strate¬ reer development needs are addressed may include the spouse, the spouse’s gies to create change. at assignment time. The counselors career, children’s education, as well Career counseling can help with have one vote on the Assignment as the employee’s career goals. a wide range of problems anywhere. Board. Ken Martin, CDO, urges, Employees should establish a work¬ ‘We can’t change an employee’s work therefore, “that employees contact ing relationship with their career devel¬ environment,” notes CDO Cecilia us before they submit their COARS.” opment officer (CDO). In striedy Pitas, “but we can have a positive An employee must “be in touch with confidential sessions with them, em¬ effect if the employee realizes that reality in terms of what is and is not ployees can discuss personal matters he has an input into the overall sys¬ possible in the bidding process and that may support or detract from tem.” Many times people just need the CDO is fully prepared to discuss their career, e.g., job burn-out, a someone to talk to who knows the options with each employee.” Over¬ family crisis, tandem couple issues, options available. seas employees are reminded that aging parents, etc. Employees needing special assis¬ calls to their CDOs and ECS coun¬ The career counselor’s role as advo¬ tance are referred to Carole Jones, a selors are considered official busi¬ cate on behalf of employees serves clinical social worker, who serves as ness. to enhance communication between CD’s professional counselor. Jones Career counselors are located in employees and M/PM. “Ids another also serves as a referral source to Room 1140, Columbia Plaza. Appoint¬ line of communication,” advises Tom community sendees within the greater ments are recommended.

60 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL The Mona Lisa would be

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