The Foreign Service Journal, May 2019
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PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE ASSOCIATION MAY 2019 THE DIPLOMACY IMPERATIVE A Q&A WITH WILLIAM J. BURNS PROFESSIONAL DIPLOMATS LEADERSHIP AND LESSONS THE STATE OF STATE FOREIGN SERVICE May 2019 Volume 96, No. 4 Focus on Professional Diplomats: Leadership & Lessons 24 36 Role Models—Lessons for My Parkinson’s Story— Today from AFSA’s Past Managing Medical Here’s how the U.S. Foreign Service Challenges in the FS found its voice in the late 1960s. Optimism and determination It’s up to today’s AFSA members saw this FSO through a career to keep it relevant. he loved after being diagnosed By Harry W. Kopp with a debilitating illness. By Paul Rohrlich Cover Story 40 Dual Identity 18 and Diplomacy The Diplomacy An Indian American FSO learns Imperative: to navigate the rocky waters of ethnic and gender identity A Q&A with while serving in India. William J. Burns “The Tandem Tussle” By Sandya Das 29 BONAZZI DAVIDE Serving in Tandem for State The number of tandems in the Foreign Service is growing. State could make better use of Feature their tremendous potential. By Kathryn Fitrell and 48 Kanishka Gangopadhyay Why Peacekeeping Fails 42 Does peacekeeping have a 33 From Generation future? Here’s a discussion of the Treating PTSD: to Generation: fundamental challenge it faces today. Learning Firsthand Career Advice from By Dennis Jett How to Manage David Fischer If you have symptoms of PTSD, Diplomacy insights don’t wait to get help. Take it from from an old pro. an FS member who’s been there. By Alexis Ludwig By James Eusanio FS Know-How 46 52 If You Mess Up, Fess Up Reclaim Your A retired FSO reflects on the utility of a piece of advice he took to Unclaimed Property heart during his career. By Lori Johnson By Jonathan B. Rickert THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MAY 2019 5 FOREIGN SERVICE Perspectives 80 Reflections Departments Diplomacy Can Save the Day 7 12 Letters President’s Views By George B. Lambrakis The State of State: Putting the 13 Talking Points Back Channel Up Front 82 By Barbara Stephenson Local Lens 69 In Memory Maramures, Romania 10 By Caitlin B. Hartford 72 Books Letter from the Editor The FS Career ... in the Balance By Shawn Dorman 67 Marketplace Family Member Matters Objects in the Rearview Mirror 74 Classifieds By Kelly Bembry Midura 76 Real Estate 79 Index to Advertisers AFSA NEWS THE OFFICIAL RECORD OF THE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE ASSOCIATION 54 The Foreign Service Journal 63 Where We Stand—Career Diplomats Matter Centennial Exhibit Opens 64 Teaching International Affairs and Diplomacy 56 State VP Voice—A Job Worth Having 65 Visit Our Refreshed and Reset Retirement 57 FCS VP Voice—Making the BUILD Act a Success Services Webpage 58 USAID VP Voice—The Future of USAID’s 65 Planning for Lifetime Financial Success Foreign Service 59 Retiree VP Voice—Threats to Retirement Benefits 59 The View from Washington: A Webinar 60 Austin Panel: Why Leading Globally Matters Locally 60 Look for Your Ballot: Vote in the AFSA 54 Governing Board Election 61 The Shutdown: Why Didn’t AFSA Sue the Federal Government? 61 Governing Board Meeting, March 2019 62 Resilience in the Foreign Service On the Cover—Diplomatic challenges, digital art by Davide Bonazzi. 6 MAY 2019 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL PRESIDENT’S VIEWS The State of State: Putting the Back Channel Up Front BY BARBARA STEPHENSON am so pleased that this edition of the FSJ of the Foreign Policy Association’s Great the mid-ranks—FS-1, FS-2 and FS-3—in contains an interview with Bill Burns. Decisions series, many of them draw- December 2018 than in December 2016. For those of you who have missed the ing on background material and talking The mid-level staffing deficit is now Ivoice of Ambassador Burns—I know I points provided by AFSA. We have given behind us, and the hiring freeze was lifted have—there is cause for celebration. His serious thought to “the state of State,” and in time to preserve the health of State’s book is now finished—and at the top of I’d like to use this, one of my few remain- mid-ranks. This bodes well for the future The Washington Post’s nonfiction best- ing columns as AFSA president, to frame of our institution, and it also sets us up to seller list, no less—and he is back in the the issues facing our institution. restore core diplomatic staffing at embas- public eye making the case for American First, the good news. The hiring freeze sies right now. diplomacy. AFSA was proud to host him kept in place by Secretary of State Rex That is, with our healthy mid-ranks and on April 10 to talk about The Back Chan- Tillerson was lifted as soon as Secretary the $84 million plus-up for “overseas pro- nel: A Memoir of American Diplomacy and of State Mike Pompeo arrived, and new grams” contained in the FY 2019 appropri- the Case for Its Renewal. members of the Foreign Service are once ations, State is in a position to address the The Back Channel is getting excellent again filling our ranks, with A-100 and deficit in overseas positions identified by reviews, and The Washington Post review specialist classes reporting for duty even the Overseas Staffing Board and described by David Ignatius, who writes regularly on during the government shutdown. in such vivid detail by FS members serving national security issues, is no exception. Strong bipartisan majorities in in understaffed embassies—especially He finds much to admire in this “master- Congress have made clear they do not those facing daunting competition from ful diplomatic memoir,” but the line in the support weakening American diplo- China and other rising powers. review that has most stuck with me, been matic capability. Congress instructed the As Sec. Pompeo said to HFAC, it is hardest to shake, is Ignatius’ conclusion department in Fiscal Year 2018 appro- time “to get those folks out there so we that the State Department is “gutted” and priations to resume hiring; even stronger can deliver American diplomacy in every that, much as a reader wishes Burns were language in the FY 2019 appropriations corner of the world”—including in Africa, still in government, one “wonders if even prohibits the department and USAID where American diplomats working on he could make much of a difference.” from falling below specified staffing floors economic and commercial issues are That is a sobering, even jarring assess- and encourages the department to hire regularly outnumbered by Chinese coun- ment of an institution to which I have above those numbers. terparts five to one. proudly and gladly devoted myself for What is more, Sec. Pompeo stated in If State’s mid-ranks are in such good more than three decades. So, what is the his March 27 testimony before the House shape, why does a well-respected writer state of the State Foreign Affairs Committee: “By the end of like Ignatius describe State as “gutted”? Department? this year, we’ll have at or near more FSOs The problem, of course, is at the top. That is a topic than ever in the history of the United State’s senior ranks are, by all accounts, retired members States of America.” seriously depleted. of the U.S. Foreign Department workforce figures show The same workforce figures that pro- Service have been State is well on its way to restoring FSO vide such a reassuring picture of the health addressing all over bench strength, particularly in the mid- of our mid-ranks highlight the weakened the country as part ranks. There were more officers in each of leadership bench: from December 2016 Ambassador Barbara Stephenson is the president of the American Foreign Service Association. THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MAY 2019 7 to December 2018, the number of Career Reporting on a comparative study of individual mid-level employees are black- Ministers (three-star equivalents) fell from eight leading diplomatic services that listed because they worked on controver- 33 to 19; Minister Counselors (two-star AFSA sponsored to glean best prac- sial issues in the previous administration.” equivalents) fell from 470 to 376; and the tices, Jeremi Suri and Robert Hutchings This practice extends to the senior number of Counselors (one-star equiva- observe: “In all eight countries, ambassa- ranks and is yet another factor contribut- lents) fell from 459 to 391. dorial posts are almost entirely reserved ing to the depleted leadership bench. In his interview, Bill Burns neatly draws for career diplomats. Most ambassadors Career professionals who were particu- the connection between senior vacancies to key posts have prior experience as larly effective in achieving the foreign and depleted ranks: “There are too many ambassadors, speak the local language policy goals of the previous administra- senior vacancies, and too few opportuni- fluently and have served in senior levels tion might also be, if given the chance, ties for career professionals.” As I explain in their home ministries.” particularly effective at achieving a new to members of Congress, the media and Suri and Hutchings conclude: “The administration’s foreign policy goals. the public when I talk about the state of United States is an extreme outlier in the Sidelining effective career profession- State, these two issues—unprecedented number of political appointees who serve als is hardly a recipe for building a strong senior vacancies and depleted senior as ambassadors and senior leaders in the institution. What is more, the practice, ranks—are interconnected. State Department.” Burns observes in response to a question The best way to retain top talent, In addition to reducing opportunities about falling interest in the FSO test, con- especially in a mission-driven organiza- for career diplomats, the extraordinary tributes to “a pretty uninspiring recruit- tion like the U.S.