The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2011

AFSA DISSENT AWARDS INSIDE!

$4.50 / JULY-AUGUST 2011 OREIGN ERVICE FJ O U R N A L S THE MAGAZINE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS

SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER Constructive Dissent in the Foreign Service

— advertisement — OREIGN ERVICE FJ O U R N A L S CONTENTS July-August 2011 Volume 88, No.7-8

F OCUSON D i s s e n t

WHAT IF I DISAGREE? / 18 Our nation has benefited greatly from the institutionalization of dissent in the culture of the Foreign Service. By Thomas D. Boyatt

DISSENT IN THE KISSINGER ERA / 21 State’s Dissent Channel is a unique government institution. Here is a look at its origins and early history. By Hannah Gurman

SAVIOR DIPLOMATS: FINALLY RECEIVING THEIR DUE / 30 Seven decades later, the examples of these 60 courageous public servants Cover illustration by Marian Smith. still offer lessons for members of today’s Foreign Service. This oil painting, “To Remember,” By Michael M. Uyehara was among her entries to AFSA’s 2011 Art Merit Award competition. F EATURES

A CONSUMMATE NEGOTIATOR: ROZANNE L. RIDGWAY / 56 RESIDENT S IEWS P ’ V / 5 Last month AFSA recognized Ambassador Ridgway’s many contributions Moving Forward Together to American diplomacy and her lifetime of public service. By Susan R. Johnson By Steven Alan Honley SPEAKING OUT / 15 TAKING DIPLOMATIC PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION SERIOUSLY / 66 Needed: A Professional A new American Academy of Diplomacy study makes a compelling case Specialization in International for establishing a systematic training regimen at State. Organization Affairs By Robert M. Beecroft By Edward Marks THE KINGS AND I / 70 EFLECTIONS R / 76 An FSO explains why consorting with heads of state The Greater Honor isn’t everything it’s cracked up to be. By Victoria Hirschland Hess By Henry Precht

LETTERS / 6 CYBERNOTES / 10 MARKETPLACE / 12 INDEX TO ADVERTISERS / 74 As we went to press, we learned of the death of former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger on June 4. His obituary will appear in the September issue of the Journal.

JULY-AUGUST 2011/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 3 OREIGN ERVICE CONTENTS FJ O U R N A L S

Editor STEVEN ALAN HONLEY A F S A N EWS Senior Editor SUSAN B. MAITRA MEMORIAL PLAQUE CEREMONY / 35 Associate Editor SHAWN DORMAN AFSA DISSENT AND PERFORMANCE AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED / 35 AFSA News Editor DONNA AYERST NEWS BRIEFS / 36 Ad & Circulation Manager ED MILTENBERGER VP STATE: LEAVE ME ALONE! / 37 Art Director CARYN SUKO SMITH VP FCS: SPENDING MONEY TO NARROW THE DEFICIT / 38 Editorial Interns WORK-LIFE BALANCE IN THE FOREIGN SERVICE / 38 DANIELLE DERBES ASA HORNER AFSA AWARD WINNERS’ PROFILES / 39 Advertising Intern SUSANNE BRANDS AFSA BOOK NOTES: HIGH-VALUE TARGET / 47 EDITORIAL BOARD 2011 AFSA MERIT AWARD WINNERS / 48 TED WILKINSON Chairman MERIT ESSAY WINNER: “LIFE’S SERENDIPITY” / 50 KELLY ADAMS-SMITH JOSEPH BRUNS THIS MONTH IN DIPLOMATIC HISTORY: RALPH J. BUNCHE / 51 STEPHEN W. BUCK JULIE GIANELLONI CONNOR UNACCOMPANIED BUT NOT ALONE / 52 MARY E. GLANTZ GEORGE JONES CLASSIFIEDS / 52 KATE WIEHAGEN LEONARD LYNN ROCHE RACHEL SCHNELLER JAMES P. SEEVERS A time of service…a time of need THE MAGAZINE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS Foreign Service Journal (ISSN 0146-3543), 2101 E Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20037-2990 is published monthly with a combined July-August Help for Seniors May issue by the American Foreign Service Associa- tion (AFSA), a private, nonprofit organization. Material appearing herein represents the opin- Be Just a Phone Call Away— ions of the writers and does not necessarily represent the views of the Journal, the Editorial The Senior Living Foundation may be Board or AFSA. Writer queries and submissions are invited, preferably by e-mail. Journal sub- able to help you or someone you know. scription: AFSA members – $13 included in annual dues; others – $40. For foreign surface mail, Some examples of assistance are: add $18 per year; foreign airmail, $36 per year. Periodical postage paid at Washington, D.C., and N Home Health Care at additional mailing offices. Indexed by Public Affairs Information Services (PAIS). The Journal N Adult Day Care & Respite Care is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts, photos or illustrations. Advertising inquiries are N Prescription Drug Copayments invited. The appearance of advertisements herein does not imply the endorsement of the N Transportation to Medical Appointments services or goods offered. TELEPHONE: (202) 338-4045 N Durable Medical Equipment FAX: (202) 338-8244 or (202) 338-6820 E-MAIL: [email protected] WEB: www.afsa.org; www.fsjournal.org For more information, please contact the © American Foreign Service Association, 2011. SENIOR LIVING FOUNDATION Printed in the U.S.A. Send address changes to: AFSA OF THE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE Attn: Address Change 1716 N Street, NW N Washington, DC 20036-2902 2101 E Street N.W. Phone: (202) 887-8170 N Fax: (202) 872-9320 Washington DC 20037-2990 E-Mail: [email protected] N Web Site: www.SLFoundation.org Printed on 50-percent recycled paper, of which 10 percent is post-consumer waste. SPONSORED BY THE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION

4 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JULY-AUGUST 2011 PRESIDENT’S VIEWS Moving Forward Together BY SUSAN R. JOHNSON

The impact of globalization tic political support those func- through coverage in the Foreign Service and militarization is generating tions deserve. As part of this ef- Journal, by expanding the quantity and a pressing need to review and fort, AFSA has strongly quality of our programming, by partici- rethink the roles of diplomacy supported full implementation pating in the American Academy of and development, both in sup- of the Diplomacy 3.0 hiring Diplomacy’s project on diplomatic pro- porting our foreign policy and program and completion of the fessional education and training, and national security and in advanc- Quadrennial Diplomacy and working to formulate ethical standards ing American interests and values. Development Review. and a code of conduct for today’s For- Within the broad framework of this de- As our recent annual reports docu- eign Service professionals. This debate, a question arises: how can a pro- ment, AFSA has been investing in its mands more attention and closer coop- fessional association and bargaining unit own capacity building, starting with a eration with management and the For- such as AFSA contribute to strengthen- renovated building, a modernized Web eign Service Institute, as well as with ing our diplomacy and development site and IT communications capacity. American diplomats who, as master services as a tool of national power? We have expanded professional staffing practitioners now in academia, repre- There are three aspects of this issue to deepen our bench in the areas of pol- sent a valuable resource. on which I believe AFSA should con- icy, legislative work, labor management Effective promotion and protection tinue to focus its energies: (1) raising the and retiree services, as well as targeted of the interests of the Foreign Service profile and credibility of diplomacy; (2) use of outside expertise. requires broad understanding of what enhancing the professionalism and AFSA has begun a program to col- the key issues are and what strategies quality of American diplomats and de- lect and present Foreign Service pro- are most likely to be effective. Federal velopment experts; and (3) protecting files to demystify our profession and government employees across the and promoting the interests of each of explain what our diplomats and devel- board have been presented with un- our member agencies. (I will develop opment experts around the world actu- precedented challenges, starting with each of these objectives more fully in fu- ally do, illustrating the excellent return questions about their relevance and ture columns.) I invite readers to share on investment that diplomacy and de- role, but the largest proportional cut in their thoughts on these goals to benefit velopment services offer the American the 2011 and 2012 budgets relates to in- the newly elected 2011-2013 Govern- taxpayer. We have also issued a new ternational affairs. Challenges of this ing Board, which will soon set priorities edition of our book, Inside a U.S. Em- severity to the Foreign Service call for a for the next two years. bassy, expanded media outreach, collective response. AFSA has welcomed the commit- sought out opportunities to testify be- As the 21st Century AFSA Slate’s ment of Secretary of State Hillary Rod- fore Congress, and begun building a campaign theme, “Moving Forward To- ham Clinton and outgoing Defense broader spectrum of alliances with gether,” emphasizes, your support will Secretary Robert Gates to diplomacy other groups. strengthen our credibility and capacity and development as critical tools of na- In addition, AFSA continues to work to speak out on your behalf — whereas tional power, alongside defense. Equal- to define and enhance professionalism lack of interest will diminish our voice. ly important, they have both consis- in American diplomacy and develop- Please share your thoughts at johnson tently sought the resources and domes- ment. We are pursuing this goal @afsa.org. I

JULY-AUGUST 2011/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 5 LETTERS

Well Done! “Hay leche?” (“Do you have milk?”), staff members, many of whom risk Congratulations on your May issue I would ask. “No hay.” Or if the shop- their lives for our country and receive (“Work-Life Balance: Handling the keeper was particularly grumpy, the an- precious little in return. Ups and Downs of Foreign Service swer might be, “Si hay, pero no Concurrently, I suggest that the Life”), which brought together a lively tenemos.” (“Of course, the item you’re U.S. government make Thrift Savings set of articles to address a very appo- asking for is available somewhere in Plan contributions for personnel serv- site theme. I particularly enjoyed the world, but we don’t have it.”) ing overseas based on the Washington, Amanda Fernandez’s contribution, “Si, If things have progressed so much D.C., rate — similar to the scheme Se Puede,” because it is written in the in Ecuador in the last 35 years that “Si, used to assure retirement annuities are present tense, journal-style, and does se puede” is indeed more appropriate based upon virtual locality pay. This not dwell only on the drudgery of the than “No hay,” I am delighted for that slight increase in compensation would advance visit. It also describes the country and its inhabitants. ease the impact of the reduction advo- pleasure of getting away from parent- Stephen Muller cated above. ing responsibilities for a few days, and FSO, retired It would also right the wrong that is pays attention to a soccer match be- Troy, N.Y. presently being done to all non-Senior tween Ecuador and big bad Argentina. Foreign Service personnel serving Larry Lesser Rebalancing Pay overseas. Over the course of a typical FSO, retired The Secretary of State should sug- FS career, this currently translates into Washington, D.C. gest to the appropriate parties that all a reduction in deposits to an em- U.S. government personnel serving ployee’s TSP exceeding $10,000. Ecuador Has It Now overseas receive the “rest of U.S.” lo- For far too long, our Senior Foreign Quito was my first Foreign Service cality pay rate — currently 14.16 per- Service leadership have accepted the posting, so I was interested to read cent. While this would be a salary cut pay-scale change that gave them the Amanda Fernandez’s account of her for everyone serving overseas (approx- equivalent of Washington, D.C., local- quick visit there in the May Foreign imately 2.3 percent for non-Senior ity pay regardless of where they serve, Service Journal. I was particularly Foreign Service personnel and rough- but have done an ineffective job of ad- amused by her report that Ecuador’s ly 10 percent for all others), it would vocating that lower-graded staff receive national motto is “Si, se puede” (“Yes, be a fair change that would put all the same compensation. I acknowl- it can be done,” or “Yes, we can”), civilians serving overseas on an equal edge that many people have worked which she used as the title for her arti- footing. very hard on this issue, and my state- cle. Many will argue we should not will- ment is not meant to diminish those ef- During my time in Ecuador in the ingly give up any compensation. But forts. But the fact remains that they mid-1970s, it seemed like the national we need to consider that in return, we have fallen short. motto was “No hay” (“There isn’t any,” will gain an equitable system and mil- Like many former military person- or “We don’t have any”). I would stop lions of dollars in savings — some of nel, I was always taught that you take at the store to buy something, and very which could be used to address com- care of the troops first. So what a prin- often that was the reply. pensation shortfalls affecting our local cipled Senior Foreign Service leader-

6 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JULY-AUGUST 2011 L ETTERS ship would have done is reject the raise when it was only for them, and work to win it for all Foreign Service personnel. Yes, the lower-graded folks have now received two-thirds of that increase in pay. But it is still unacceptable that the leadership receives the full amount while non-SFS personnel do not. Like- wise, it is unjust that colleagues from other agencies, alongside whom we all serve, receive the full Washington, D.C., locality pay while non-Senior For- eign Service staff do not. I’ve been with State for more than 15 years now and, to tell the truth, never felt like we deserved Washington, D.C., locality pay while serving overseas. (I have never served in Washington, and never received locality pay there.) After all, we’re not in Washington and we do have our housing costs paid. And while I disliked the fact that overseas employees of other federal agencies have been receiving locality pay for years now, I always felt appro- priately compensated for my work — right up until the moment our senior officers took the increase for themselves, leaving the rest of us behind. Since then, I’ve lost a tremendous amount of respect for those who lead us. As Under Secretary for Manage- ment Patrick Kennedy noted in an April 15 department notice on this topic, this is an issue of equity. So it is time for Secretary of State Hillary Rod- ham Clinton to insist on an equitable solution. In this fiscal climate it is virtually certain that Congress would support the approach I’ve proposed above. I hope it receives serious attention and AFSA supports it. Thomas Schmitz Financial Management Officer Embassy Quito

JULY-AUGUST 2011/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 7 L ETTERS

An Annuity for spouse has accompanied him or her Non-Working FS Spouses on official U.S. government travel or- The May Journal documented the ders on foreign tours of duty totaling economic sacrifices made by non- 10 or more years. “Non-employed” working spouses at overseas missions. could be defined as a spouse who does However, this problem actually extends not qualify for a Foreign or Civil Serv- into retirement, because the employed ice annuity. FS member has no option other than Foreign Service tandem couples on to accept the “Reduced Annuity with retirement also qualify for federal em- Survivor Benefit” for his or her non- ployee health benefits as two individu- working spouse. That election instantly als, each paying from their own reduces the couple’s retirement income annuity — whereas a single-income by about 10 percent (as well as de- annuitant couple pays at the “family” creasing future cost-of-living incre- rate, about one-third more. It would ments). be another small but appreciated step Meanwhile, the spouses and part- if a non-working spouse who met the ners of colleagues at other federal “10-year overseas rule” (envisioned agencies who have spent all or most of above) would qualify the couple for a their careers in the United States have new FEHB “self-plus-one” rate. had the opportunity to be employed, These two relatively low-cost ad- publicly or privately, and to qualify for justments would bring official and tan- separate retirement benefits. So when gible fiscal recognition to the non- the government-employed spouse files salaried member of the team, who for retirement, he or she has the option faithfully supported government poli- to reject a survivor benefit reduction, cies and objectives throughout a de- given their other retirement income. manding Foreign Service career at This holds even more true for my U.S. diplomatic missions. tandem-employed Foreign Service Paul J. Steere compatriots, both because each spouse USIA Foreign Service has earned a well-deserved retirement Specialist, retired annuity in his or her own right, and be- Kenmore, Wash. cause both partners would most likely elect a full annuity. This would result in Stick to the Issues about a 20-percent cost avoidance in I’ve generally found the FSJ inter- their total combined annuities (as well esting and informative on many of the as the additional compounding of fu- key issues facing the Foreign Service. ture cost-of-living increases). But AFSA State Vice President Daniel In the interest of equity, and to rec- Hirsch’s column in the April edition of ognize the sacrifices of non-working AFSA News, “Good Supervision Leads Foreign Service spouses, I recom- to a Good EER Season,” was a glaring mend that Section 806(b) of the 1980 exception. Foreign Service Act (as amended), be I’m not denigrating the subject it- further amended. The wording could self, but would simply suggest that dis- be relatively simple to grant the sur- cussions of employee evaluation re- vivor benefit, but waive the reduction ports are best left to State’s manage- of the annuity for any federal government and human resources types. ment employee whose non-employed AFSA’s useful role is at a more general

8 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JULY-AUGUST 2011 L ETTERS level (e.g., negotiating promotion pre- cepts and ensuring general fairness of the promotion process). We look to the Journal to be our conduit into the important issues of the day affecting the Foreign Service. There are a host of those at the moment including the budget, the De- fense Department’s takeover of foreign affairs, and the continuing expenditure of treasure and careers on the Iraq and Afghanistan “expeditions.” The State VP should find plenty of material in those kinds of themes for his monthly column. There’s no need to provide a lecture on EERs and Supervision 101. Joseph Schreiber FSO, retired La Guacima de Alajuela, Costa Rica

Thank You, Ted I read with great interest Ted Wilkinson’s article in the March Jour- nal, “Toward a More Perfect Union.” It was well done! It is but another example of all the hard work he has done for AFSA, both as chairman of the For- eign Service Journal Editorial Board and in many other capacities. Peter Lord FSO, retired Richmond, Va. I

Send your letter to the editor to [email protected].

JULY-AUGUST 2011/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 9 CYBERNOTES

Honoring Public Diplomacy Practitioners s I said to Prime Minister Netanyahu, I believe that the current situation Public diplomacy, when done right, Ain the Middle East does not allow for procrastination. I also believe combines leadership, imagination, re- that real friends talk openly and honestly with one another. sourcefulness and plain determina- So I want to share with you some of what I said to the prime minister. tion, often under challenging condi- Here are the facts we all must confront. First, the number of Palestinians tions. The Public Diplomacy Alumni living west of the Jordan River is growing rapidly and fundamentally Association (formerly the USIA Alum- reshaping the demographic realities of both Israel and the Palestinian ni Association) recognizes outstanding Territories. This will make it harder and harder, without a peace deal, achievement by individuals and teams, to maintain Israel as both a Jewish state and a democratic state. both at overseas posts and at State De- Second, technology will make it harder for Israel to defend itself in the partment headquarters, who display these qualities. absence of a genuine peace. Third, a new generation of Arabs is reshaping This year’s awardees were honored the region. A just and lasting peace can no longer be forged with one or at PDAA’s 2011 annual dinner (the 14th two Arab leaders. Going forward, millions of Arab citizens have to see that such celebration) on May 15 in Arling- peace is possible for that peace to be sustained. ton, Va. They are: — President Barack Obama, addressing the American Israel Public Affairs Christopher Teal, the public af- Committee (www.aipac.org) in Washington, D.C., May 22. fairs officer and deputy consul general at Consulate General Guadalajara, was hailed for his “dedication, vision and leadership in creating ‘Cobertura Se- ganizations to develop online programs officer in Kampala, was saluted for her gura’ (Secure Coverage) to train and to train journalists in developing “leadership and creativity in designing support Mexican journalists in a high- sources, covering dangerous stories and implementing an interagency pub- risk reporting environment.” and getting them out to an audience lic affairs effort that improved the lives In 2010 alone, at least 12 newspeo- while maintaining their own security. of Ugandans across sectors and in- ple were killed in Mexico. Recogniz- He worked with participating reporters creased awareness of and receptivity to ing that, out of fear, Mexican media to create their own network of print, the U.S.” Recognizing the need for co- were underreporting on drug cartels online, bloggers, radio and TV broad- ordinated, innovative and collaborative and thus failing to inform the public of cast journalists, and an electronic public diplomacy, she developed a plan, the threats to Mexico’s security, Teal “guidebook” that has become an im- assembled a team and introduced new developed a pioneering program to portant tool throughout the hemi- technologies to realize her vision of help protect the lives of journalists sphere. Teal also secured funding and “One Mission, One Voice.” and, in turn, to better inform the Mex- support from other government agen- Lockard’s “Uganda Model” was a ican people. cies and NGOs to expand the program multiagency effort consisting of an Teal worked with the University of and to refine the material. array of programs to reach youth, Guadalajara and nongovernmental or- Joann Lockard, the public affairs women, and Muslim communities, and

10 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JULY-AUGUST 2011 C YBERNOTES to develop their technological savvy and spectively, Zilligen and Benini were an journalistic, political and entrepreneur- integral part of the effort to secure a ial skills. She brought young people tenfold increase in funding for the two from the poorest parts of the country to countries. They also ensured that the programs in the capital and arranged additional resources were used to scholarships for poor but talented achieve key PD objectives, including students to attend top U. S. universities increasing media engagement, building like the Massachusetts Institute of communications capacity, strengthen- Technology and Amherst College. She ing people-to-people ties and combat- reached into all sectors, including the ing extremist voices. homosexual community, with program- Their efforts created text messaging ming on HIV/AIDS awareness, jour- platforms where none had existed; nalistic standards and human rights. brought television and radio reach to Albina Burashnikova, Nina Af- at-risk populations in Kandahar and anasyeva and Arzigul Kochkarova both sides of the border between Af- were cited “for their commitment, cre- ghanistan and Pakistan; and helped im- ativity and courage in managing Amer- prove Afghan and Pakistani outreach to ican Corners in Mary, Turkmenabat audiences in Europe and the U.S. and Dashoguz, Turkmenistan, respec- Mr. Zilligen was recognized for his tively, and for connecting America to exceptional support for the public af- tens of thousands of Turkmeni people.” fairs section in Islamabad during a pe- As facility and program managers, riod of unprecedented growth in re- they are the face of America in their sources and programming; for manag- communities, advising and assisting ing the U.S.-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue students to study in the U.S.; providing Communications Working Group; and English, Internet and leadership train- for his diligent support for Pakistani ing; managing rich libraries of Ameri- exchangees in the United States. can books and movies; and organizing Ms. Benini was honored for her co- events on American culture and history. ordination of a pioneer SMS project; That they do so in one of the most for advocating and supporting more restrictive societies in the world testi- European programming on Afghani- fies to their courage, energy and imag- stan; and for exemplary work on a tour ination. The three have had a direct, for Afghan journalists. measurable effect on the lives of many, For more information about the empowering a new generation of Turk- awards and the work of the Public meni youth. Diplomacy Alumni Association, visit Joseph Zilligen and Carla Benini, the organization’s Web site (www.pub PD desk officers in the Bureau of licdiplomacy.org). South and Central Asian Affairs, were — Steven Alan Honley, Editor honored “for their uncommon commitment to duty and their intelligent, The Impact of Social Media steadfast and creative approaches to Recent events in Egypt and Tunisia building broad and strong relationships intensified the debate among foreign with Afghanistan and Pakistan.” policy analysts, communications ex- As the Washington leads for State perts and sociologists on the opportu- Department public diplomacy pro- nities — and limitations — of social grams in Pakistan and Afghanistan, re- media to effect political change. In the

JULY-AUGUST 2011/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 11 C YBERNOTES

WWW.AFSA.ORG April edition of Cybernotes, we exam- tralized networks created online consti- Scroll down & click on AFSA Marketplace ined the impact of social media on the tute inadequate structures for revolu- revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia. This tionary groups. To support this claim, month we’ll focus on the ability of Gladwell cites Mette Eilstrup-Sangio- AFSA Insurance Plans these tools to help advance democratic vanni and Calvert Jones’s fall 2008 essay hirshorn.com/afsa change in the long term. in International Security, “Assessing the In October 2010, sociologist Mal- Dangers of Illicit Networks: Why al- colm Gladwell sparked the debate Qaida May Be Less Dangerous Than AFSA Legacy with a piece in The New Yorker titled Many Think.” Sangiovanni and Jones “Small Change.” According to Glad- argue that decentralized networks are afsa.org/scholar well, social media cannot be decisive problematic structures for illicit groups factors because they fail to promote — and can present new organizational AKA Hotel residences the strong interpersonal ties that sus- dilemmas that threaten both group co- tain high-risk activism. Rather, they hesion and the ability to act collectively. stay-aka.com create weak ties among large commu- However, other observers and poli- nities that are inadequate for over- cymakers foresee great possibilities for Bryan Schwartz Law coming the fears that revolutionary social media. The State Department groups must confront. has supported Internet freedom with www.bryanschwartz.com Gladwell maintains that the decen- more than $20 million over the past

Clements International Site of the Month: www.project-syndicate.org Project Syndicate describes itself as a “unique collaboration of distinguished opin- clements.com ion makers from every corner of the globe.” It is both a nonprofit newspaper syndicate and an association of 459 newspapers from 150 countries, based in Prague. Collington Contributions from the Open Society Institute and the syndicate’s member papers in developed countries support the organization, which provides opinion editorials free www.collington.com of charge to newspapers in less-developed countries, where journalistic resources may be in short supply. The syndicate collects original opinion editorials for these newspapers, on topics ProMax Management Inc. ranging from philosophy and science to international economics and foreign affairs promaxrealtors.com — and publishes them online. This makes its Web site a unique resource for fresh perspectives and incisive expert analyses. It has an impressive list of contributors, including Ban Ki-Moon, Jimmy Carter, SDFCU Mikhail Gorbachev and Joseph S. Nye. Recent contributors include Council on For- sdfcu.org eign Relations President Richard Haass, who wrote a Feb. 13 op-ed titled “Reflections on the Revolution in Egypt,” and Christopher Patten, the current chancellor of Oxford University, who addressed the topic of “Turkey and the Future of NATO” on March 31. WJD Recent op-eds in its Special Series section include a Dec. 16, 2010, piece by for- wjdpm.com mer British Prime Minister Tony Blair titled “Faith in a Globalized Age,” and a March 13 commentary by U.S. Ambassador Christopher Hill titled “Obama of Arabia?” Be- cause of its broad scope and membership,Project Syndicate translates most of its editorials into eight languages: English, French, Czech, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, German and Chinese. The site also has Twitter and Facebook accounts, and produces Podcasts with When contacting an advertiser, kindly commentary from its contributors and an iPhone application. mention the Foreign Service Journal. — Danielle Derbes, Editorial Intern

12 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JULY-AUGUST 2011 C YBERNOTES CHANGE OF ADDRESS three years and has pledged another cial media are not decisive: they can be $25 million for 2011. repressed by governments, as well as Moving? In a rebuttal to Gladwell, New York employed by governments to motivate University New Media Professor Clay their supporters.” Shirky wrote an article titled “The Po- During her Feb. 15 speech on In- litical Power of Social Media” for the ternet freedom, Secretary of State Take AFSA January-February edition of Foreign Hillary Rodham Clinton commented Affairs hailing the force of social media. that the 2009 protests in Iran and the With You! He urges State to shift its focus away 2011 protests in Egypt both represent from anti-censorship software, and to- the power of the Internet as “an accel- ward promoting the Internet as an ac- erant of political, social and economic Change your address cessible gathering place and forum for change and … as a means to stifle or ex- online at: participation. tinguish that change.” www.afsa.org/comment.cfm Shirky sees great potential for social However, Clinton added that this media to strengthen civil society and thread of the debate is “largely beside To log in, use your the public sphere. By increasing com- the point” — because the value of the AFSA membership number municative freedom, social media Internet derives from the various activ- on the mailing label of your strengthen political freedom. More- ities its users pursue within it. The ob- over, they feed what media theorist jective, therefore, is to secure basic Foreign Service Journal. Mark Briggs termed “the conservative rights and freedoms online, so that so- The number is on the top dilemma.” As new forms of media cial media can fulfill their potential to left corner of the label, right emerge and reveal gaps between the form a global public space. above your name. It may be regime’s view of events and those of the Whether social media fall to meet 2 digits or up to 7 digits. public, authoritarian governments must Gladwell’s expectations or rise to meet engage in a game of Whack-a-Mole, Shirky’s remains to be seen. Egypt, The password is your last generating propaganda and censorship where 15-20 percent of the population name. It is not case sensitive. campaigns to counteract competing has Internet access, is one of the bet- narratives. ter-connected countries in the region. Or Social media also provide outside With such a small proportion of the observers with opportunities to better Middle East and North Africa online, understand public opinion and to view it is too early to judge social media’s po- Send change of address to: events through the eyes of the local tential to bring about change in the re- AFSA Membership population. Where they are widely gion. Department used, social media act as a barometer — Danielle Derbes, 2101 E Street NW for public attitudes. This accelerates Editorial Intern Washington, DC 20037 the speed at which policymakers, reformers and observers can gather in- Video Review: formation, and reduces the costs and Public Diplomacy risks they incur in doing so. A re-released video production, Another thread of the debate sur- “Public Diplomacy” (The Public rounds the question of who will bene- Diplomacy Council, 2011, 102 min- fit more from social media: democratic utes), serves both as a primer on the reformers or the governments that seek substance of public diplomacy and a to suppress them. In his op-ed “Re- time capsule on this foreign affairs flections on a Revolution in Egypt,” function as practiced by the U.S. In- Council on Foreign Relations Presi- formation Agency until the end of the dent Richard Haass concludes that “so- last century.

JULY-AUGUST 2011/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 13 C YBERNOTES

50 Years Ago... y reaction to your most stimulating and provocative editorial, “Daring and Dissent,” is that it is excellent as far as it Mgoes — but unfortunately, it doesn’t go far enough. For having the daring to dissent, I was once described in a performance evaluation as “intellectually arrogant.” Again, in another instance a report on the economic excesses of a certain dictator was forwarded by an unusually fair chief of mission, under a transmittal indicating strong disapproval. It was subsequently graded Excellent. I have seen excellent dispatches and reports mercilessly slashed with an editorial pencil and even relegated to the “round file” because they were at odds with a superior’s judgment, critical of the foreign government, or because they might adversely reflect upon a superior’s handling of a policy matter or situation. Should not provision be made, or at least the convenience studied, of having posts submit dissenting reports under a covering comment and evaluation by the superior? Only thus will the policymakers here in Washington have the necessary facts and interpretations (which most frequently differ) upon which THE NEW EDITION OF to base their decisions. Inside a U.S. Embassy — ‘J.B.’, “Daring and Dissent” (letter to the editor), FSJ, August 1961. IS NOW AVAILABLE. Originally produced in 1996 by the material with comments from two sen- USIA Alumni Association, it was a pro- ior PD practioners: Robert Chatten, Visit www.afsa.org/inside gram aimed at making the case, in a once deputy director of the Voice of for details. post–Cold War world, that the practice America, and Linda Jewell, who ended of public diplomacy has validity in the her Foreign Service career as ambassa- future. dor to Ecuador. Looking for Additional The program is divided into two The two do not shy away from criti- Reading Suggestions? parts. The first, “Telling America’s cizing what has happened to the public You can find the AFSA Story,” gives historical background on diplomacy function in the 12 years USIA and describes its premises and since USIA was absorbed by the De- and State Department tools, distinguishing how public diplo- partment of State. Chatten cites the reading lists in our online macy differs from traditional diplo- enormous cuts in personnel, especially bookstore, offering a wide macy. Part II, “The Road Ahead,” overseas, while Jewell laments the re- selection of books on the documents the ways in which USIA duced impact of PD disarmament in Foreign Service. looked to the future to define new au- the last decade. diences and adapt new technologies, “Public Diplomacy” was produced AFSA earns a royalty for such as then-novel interactive TV pro- by Global Village Communications every purchase you make on grams and Internet adaptations. with the help of the Public Diplomacy Amazon.com when you enter The Public Diplomacy Council, Council. Copies for personal or class- via the AFSA Bookstore. which promotes understanding and room use can be ordered from the support for public diplomacy, has now Council at www.publicdiplomacy Visit www.afsa.org/ reissued this original material as an in- council.org, where the video can also I fs_reading_list.aspx formation tool, principally for educa- be viewed or downloaded. tional and international affairs insti- — Michael Canning, tutions. It has bookended the original USIA FSO, retired

14 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JULY-AUGUST 2011 SPEAKING OUT Needed: A Professional Specialization in International Organization Affairs

BY EDWARD MARKS

mbassador Glyn T. Davies’ ar- and assignment patterns for each. ticle in the December issue of International The one-tour limitation is particu- Athe Foreign Service Journal, organization expertise larly characteristic of multilateral as- “Wanted: Experienced Officers to Ad- would be an additional signments, where second tours are rare dress Global Challenges,” persuasively and where much of the experience ac- explains the importance of multilateral specialization — quired does not translate well to bilat- diplomacy and the value to Foreign a sort of overlay eral work. Certainly, at any one time a Service generalists of assignments to in- to the officer’s main good number of our multilateral mis- ternational organizations and agencies. career track. sion staff should be “one-timers,” as is I hope that many readers will take true in bilateral missions. But at the his advice to heart and bid on such same time, there should be a core of ex- postings. Still, his call verges on treat- perienced officers with “local” back- ing such assignments as one-time post- ground and professional memory. ings — a 21st-century version of the old multilateral assignments are no differ- One comforting aspect of this sug- “take an excursion tour to see what the ent from bilateral ones in that regard. gestion is that it does not require any rest of the world looks like” approach. And it is also true that no matter what fundamental change in the current sys- As such, it falls well short of what kind of work they are doing, good offi- tem of five career tracks. These tracks American career diplomats, the For- cers become knowledgeable well be- (or “cones” if you wish) — consular, eign Service and the State Department fore the end of the tour (especially if it economic, management, political and must do to enhance our effectiveness lasts three years or longer). public diplomacy — all represent pro- in multilateral diplomacy, in general, fessional perspectives in play at inter- and our performance at international Acquiring national organizations. Every inter- organizations, in particular. Multilateral Expertise national organization deals with those Instead, the Foreign Service should Nevertheless, one-off tours simply subjects daily, so country representa- be striving to establish a comprehen- do not provide the concerned officer, tives require expertise in all of these sive, professional approach to the dis- nor the U.S. government, with real ex- subjects. For instance, there are many cipline of multilateral diplomacy. pertise. No matter how skillful the in- opportunities for management track of- Toward that end, what is needed is dividual becomes, a good deal of that ficers to represent the United States on not merely a single tour for some offi- experience is lost, or filed away, simply various United Nations budget, man- cers, but a career concentration for a because the officer only rarely gets an agement and reform committees. significant number of FSOs. In other opportunity to use it in future assign- But officers also require the “area words, the Service needs to craft a pro- ments. For this reason, the Foreign expertise” of the specific organization fessional career “area” specialization. Service has created both geographic as a sort of overlay to the track special- It is true that much diplomatic ex- and functional specializations, and pro- ization. For that reason, I would not pertise translates from post to post, and vided appropriate training, education recommend creating a sixth career

JULY-AUGUST 2011/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 15 S PEAKING O UT

track for multilateral diplomacy. headquarters in New York City — is ex- How to manage this in career pat- tremely sought after. Because such terns, assignments and training I will Postings at multilateral postings are considered assignments for leave to the folks in personnel manage- high-flyers, experience with interna- ment. Most, if not all, Foreign Service organizations could tional organizations is common among generalists can lay claim to more than senior officials of many countries. one specialty, generally a combination be interspersed with This is especially true for middle- of area and functional expertise (e.g., sized and smaller countries. Because economic officers with hard-language assignments to the they tend to have fewer overseas mis- training and Latin America service). sions, the opportunities to pursue their There is no reason why similar as- Bureau of International national interests offered by interna- signment patterns cannot be arranged tional organizations are seen as ex- for extensive international organization Organization Affairs tremely valuable. One result of this service and training. Such expertise perspective is the generally high quality can be achieved fairly easily, if we wish. or other agencies. of foreign diplomats posted to places The most important change would like the U.S. Mission to the United Na- be to provide the possibility of multiple tions in New York. tours to selected and interested officers, beginning at a fairly junior level. missions to international organizations Fringe Benefits The first tour should be followed at have long noted, somewhat ruefully, This aspect of international organi- some point not long after with another the “local” expertise of many of our zations creates another potential op- assignment to a multilateral institution counterparts. We usually have to play portunity for American diplomats. The — and then, if the officer’s career is suf- catch-up, learning on the run about the country representatives based at the ficiently successful, a senior appoint- organization in question and the history headquarters of any international or- ment in due course. Along the way, of any specific subject on its agenda. ganization, especially those in New appropriate academic study could be Just like countries, international or- York, Geneva or Vienna, constitute provided, as is done for other profes- ganizations have their own local cul- unique conglomerations of professional sional specialties. tures; understanding them makes life diplomats. They are, in essence, the These assignments could be inter- easier and success more likely. Prece- equivalent of the diplomatic corps in a spersed with assignments in the Bureau dent and local history are extremely im- national capital — but they operate of International Organization Affairs, of portant in international organizations without the distraction of dealing with course, as well as appropriate training because so many of the matters under a host government. or education, either at the Foreign consideration have very long lives; in The milieu of multilateral agencies Service Institute or in graduate-level fact, one is tempted to say, eternal ones! inherently requires extensive interac- coursework at a university. Also desir- Furthermore, as we all know, the tion with colleagues. Representatives able would be relevant assignments to operating procedures in international at all levels spend enormous amounts other departments or agencies, such as organizations are complicated, if not es- of time with each other: in formal and the Treasury Department or the U.S. oteric. It therefore behooves us all the informal meetings, in the fabled corri- Agency for International Development. more to become conversant with them. dors and, particularly when the organ- After all, we respect, and operate ization is in session, in almost endless, Playing Catch-Up within, local custom everywhere we are work-related social activities. There is nothing very radical about assigned. Why not do so with interna- A national representative to a major this proposal. Many countries already tional organizations, as well? international organization therefore offer their diplomatic professionals the It is also useful to note that for the gets to know many of his or her coun- chance to acquire a multilateral spe- diplomatic corps of many countries, an terparts from other countries quite cialty, whether formally or informally. assignment to an international organi- well. At the end of the assignment, an Those of us who have served in U.S. zation — particularly United Nations American representative leaves with

16 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JULY-AUGUST 2011 S PEAKING O UT contacts from all over the world. After eral relationships and organizations.” If such a tour, there would be few capitals she is right, and I think most of us anywhere in the world without a local Many other countries would agree she is, then we ought to contact for the working diplomat. manage our participation in such fora For all their faults, international or- already offer their seriously and professionally, and send ganizations in general, and the United experienced personnel to do the job. I Nations in particular, remain important diplomatic professionals elements of the global community. Edward Marks spent 40 years in the While international affairs is no longer the chance to acquire Foreign Service, including an assign- purely a game for nation-states, they ment as ambassador to Guinea-Bissau continue to be major players and inter- a multilateral specialty, and Cape Verde. After retiring from national organizations constitute im- the Service in 1995, Ambassador Marks portant arenas for their interaction. whether formally did consulting work with the United In addition, numerous non-state ac- Nations, private companies and the De- tors are turning to the international fora or informally. partment of Defense, and continues as a as platforms for action. We don’t have senior mentor at various military insti- to exaggerate their importance to ac- tutions. He is a member of the Ameri- cept their value. can Diplomacy board and a Distin- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham part of the 21st century, we increasingly guished Senior Fellow at George Mason Clinton recently declared, “In this first are focused on networks, on multilat- University.

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WHAT IF I DISAGREE?

OUR NATION HAS BENEFITED GREATLY FROM THE INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF DISSENT IN THE CULTURE OF THE FOREIGN SERVICE.

BY THOMAS D. BOYATT

poradically, the media become vestors billions of dollars. But enthused by a “whistleblower” or an act of “telling truth to he was ignored until the dam- power.” Usually such interest is ex post facto. For exam- age became public. The lesson ple, a career employee of the Securities and Exchange is that to be effective within Commission warned of Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme bureaucracies, dissent must be years before it collapsed in 2009 — in time to save in- institutionalized. In the U.S. federal govern- Thomas D. Boyatt, an FSO from 1959 until 1985, served ment (and probably in the as ambassador to Colombia and to Upper Volta (now world) such institutionalization Ambassador Boyatt testi- Burkino Faso) and chargé d’affaires in Chile, among many exists in only one place — the fies on Capitol Hill in other postings. Currently the treasurer of AFSA’s political U.S. Department of State. For 2007. action committee, AFSA-PAC, he has in the past been more than 40 years, whistle- AFSA’s president, vice president and treasurer, as well as blowers and those prepared to speak truth to power have serving as a retiree representative on the Governing Board. been protected and respected there. Such support exists He is currently president of the Foreign Affairs Coun- equally within the formal bureaucratic system and within cil, chairs the Academy of American Diplomacy’s “Foreign the informal — some would say more powerful — system Affairs Budget for the Future” project, and continues to in which professional reputation is paramount. lecture, teach and consult. Ambassador Boyatt received In the State Department itself, the combination of tur- AFSA awards for dissent two times: the William R. Rivkin moil over the Vietnam War and the advent of white-collar Award in 1970 while serving in Nicosia, and the Christian unions in the early 1970s led to the establishment of an of- A. Herter Award in 1977 while serving as country director ficial mechanism for disagreement called the “Dissent for Cyprus. In 2008, he received the Lifetime Contribu- Channel.” Procedures were promulgated in the Foreign tions to American Diplomacy Award from AFSA. Affairs Manual, State’s regulatory compendium, enabling This article is excerpted from Inside a U.S. Embassy: any Foreign Service employee to write a dissent message Diplomacy at Work (FSBooks/AFSA, 2011). addressed to the Secretary of State and sent through the

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Secretary’s policy planning staff. There is always the also significant. First, policymaking Such messages cannot be stopped is in a constant state of becoming; or altered by supervisors at any possibility, however remote, the struggle continues 24/7. It is level, ambassadorial or otherwise. never settled. The director of policy planning is re- that superior officers — From a micro perspective, U.S. quired to provide a substantive re- ambassadors make representations sponse within 30 to 60 days. like parents — may be virtually every day to the 190 countries and institutions with which we Formal and Informal right from time to time. have diplomatic relations. The re- Structures actions to these démarches, duly re- The Dissent Channel has been ported, change the status quo and used to ventilate differing views on sensitive policy chal- provide opportunities to discuss, consider and, perhaps, lenges — from Vietnam, the Middle East and Cyprus in change American policy. earlier times, to Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan more re- From the macro perspective, every presidential or con- cently. Some of the hundreds of dissent messages sent gressional election; every senior leadership change; major over the decades have led, immediately or eventually, to international events; and a host of other factors constantly policy changes. bombard the policy process. The foreign policy debate is Perhaps most important, the dissent process has influ- unending. enced the quotidian policy debate. Senior officers are Second, upon entering the Foreign Service and after more tolerant of differing views, more willing to discuss each promotion, FSOs swear to “uphold and defend the and debate rather than issue dicta. The permanent policy Constitution of the United States against all enemies, for- discussion is more open and vibrant because of the exis- eign and domestic.” We do not swear allegiance to a pres- tence of the Dissent Channel. ident or an administration. At least implicit in this oath is Outside the official State/Foreign Service structure, the requirement to “tell it like it is” and to give our best the informal system has strongly supported those with policy advice. dissenting views for even longer. In 1969 the American Finally, it is important to understand that dissent is part Foreign Service Association joined with the family of the of a continuum that begins with advocacy. The most ef- recently deceased Ambassador William Rivkin to create fective way to influence the permanent policy process is the annual Rivkin Award. This award recognizes officers to convince superiors of the validity and utility of your working constructively within the system to change pol- views. Being right with some consistency helps. Being icy and performance for the better. An independent wrong is also an option. panel of judges makes the award, which includes public A certain humility on the part of policy advocates recognition at a reception in the State Department’s ele- (and thus potential dissenters) is useful, as well. There gant Benjamin Franklin Room and a cash stipend. is always the possibility, however remote, that superior Since 1969, the Rivkin Award (for mid-level officers) officers — like parents — may be right from time to has been joined by the Harriman (for junior officers), time. Herter (for senior officers) and Tex Harris (for specialists) awards. In a culture where peer regard is very highly The Prime Directive prized, the AFSA awards for constructive dissent bestow Official and informal dissent structures and the unique extraordinary distinction. Moreover, most awardees have aspects of the foreign policy process provide background gone on to enter the Senior Foreign Service and to account and context. Important questions of when and how to dis- for a much higher percentage of ambassadors than the sent remain. Certainly, formal dissent is not to be under- Service as a whole. taken lightly. The key element is that you must believe the national interest is threatened. A Unique Process This assertion leads to the prime directive. Dissent is In addition to the informal and official dissent struc- about the national interest, not individual world views. You tures, the unique aspects of the foreign policy process are may object to the “war in ____” (fill in the blank). But if

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you are not an expert in the country The most effective way to to work and live to fight another or region and/or you do not have day; seek a transfer; or submit your some level of responsibility for poli- influence the permanent resignation and go public. cies there, leave the dissenting to Many, if not most, Foreign others. On the other hand, if you policy process is to convince Service officers will never face the have the bona fides and your advo- hard choices of formal dissent. cacy has not been successful, then superiors of the validity Rather, the vast majority of them you should consider formal dissent. will have an impact on policy If you choose that option, keep and utility of your views. through advocacy. the following points in mind: Those who do choose formal • Articulate the case for change dissent are too valuable to lose, in succinctly and precisely. my view. Accordingly, I am not a strong supporter of res- • Record your years (hopefully) of experience in the ignation, even though I understand that occasionally it will country or area and your current responsibilities in the be the only way. From the perspective of 50 years of in- matter. Your immediate supervisors will know of your ex- volvement, I would argue that particular foreign policies perience and authority; others may not. are not as critical with the passage of time as they seem to • Have a plan for success (your dissent becomes policy) be in the heat of the moment. and for failure (your dissent is dismissed). If the former, Still, dissent has become institutionalized in the cul- have the next steps outlined in detail and ready to table. ture of the State Department and the Foreign Service, If the latter, know how you will proceed — simply go back and the nation has greatly benefited thereby. I

20 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JULY-AUGUST 2011 F OCUSON D ISSENT

DISSENT IN THE KISSINGER ERA

STATE’S DISSENT CHANNEL IS A UNIQUE GOVERNMENT INSTITUTION. HERE IS A LOOK AT ITS ORIGINS AND EARLY HISTORY.

BY HANNAH GURMAN

ichard Milhous Nixon the invasion. It was the largest collective protest in the offered himself to the American people in 1968 as the department to date. The outspokenness of the signato- candidate who would conclude the Vietnam War not only ries contrasted sharply with the passivity of previous gen- with “peace and honor” for America, but also with candor erations at State, who had effectively gone into and honesty toward the American people. In accepting hibernation in response to the attacks of Senator Joseph the Republican Party’s nomination, Nixon declared: “Let McCarthy, R-Wis., and his allies. us begin by committing ourselves to the truth, to see it John Marks, one of those who resigned in opposition like it is and tell it like it is, to speak the truth and to live to the war, gave a name to the emergence of a new type the truth.” In contrast to Lyndon Johnson, who had of “skeptical diplomat” who distrusted the State Depart- gained a reputation for trying to suppress dissent, Nixon ment “as an institution.” In a play on Nixon’s failed pol- vowed to “bring dissenters into policy discussions.” icy in the war, he called it the “Vietnamization of the By the time Nixon assumed office in 1969, those who Foreign Service.” had chosen to remain in government service despite their It was in this, the worst crisis of legitimacy in the his- opposition to the Vietnam policy began to speak out. tory of American foreign relations — in which diplomats, When the president announced his decision to invade as well as the public, had come to distrust the foreign pol- Cambodia in April 1970, 20 Foreign Service officers sent icy establishment — that the State Department created a letter to Secretary of State William Rogers condemning its official “Dissent Channel.” Established in 1971, the Dissent Channel allowed Foreign Service officers to send Hannah Gurman is an assistant professor at New York their disagreements with the policy status quo directly to University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study who the Secretary of State, who would then have the respon- specializes in the history of American foreign policy in the sibility of reading it, considering its merits, and respond- 20th century. This article is excerpted and adapted from ing with a substantive message of his or her own. her forthcoming book, The Dissent Papers: The Voice of This organizational mechanism reflects the degree to Diplomats in the Cold War and Beyond (Columbia Uni- which diplomatic writing had become bureaucratized versity Press). Footnotes have been omitted. since the establishment of the modern State Department

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in the early 20th century. It When President Nixon serves attention as a neglected, stands out not only as an elabo- but illuminating element of the rate and formal bureaucratic announced his decision to invade politics of secrecy and the pub- mechanism, but also as a form of lic’s fight for transparency in the public relations, through which Cambodia in April 1970, Nixon administration — a fight the Nixon and successive admin- that continues today. istrations have tried to enhance 20 FSOs sent a letter to their image as embracers of dis- The First Dissent sent. In institutionalizing dissent Secretary of State William Channel Telegram and marketing the institutional As president, Richard Nixon mechanism to the public, the Rogers condemning the invasion. frequently claimed that he would State Department became, as do what was best for the country, one commentator has noted, regardless of how it might affect “unique as a historical entity and government bureau- his reputation. Contrary to what he said, however, Nixon cracy.” cared greatly about his public image. Intent on enhanc- In the 40 years of its existence, the Dissent Channel ing its reputation, the Nixon administration distorted the has done little to affect U.S. foreign policy. Case closed. Dissent Channel, presenting it to the public as a tool that Or maybe not. That very failure reflects the channel’s would increase the influence of rank-and-file diplomats success at quelling internal dissent in a way that the pub- on foreign policy. Touting the importance of internal dis- lic could actually support. The Dissent Channel thus de- sent to a group of reporters, Under Secretary of State for

The Dissent Channel allowance policy. Some of the policy-related messages he State Department’s official mechanism for policy may have received senior-level consideration. At its peak, dissent, the Dissent Channel was created in 1971 during the Carter administration, the channel logged al- Twhen, under the direction of Secretary of State most as many dissent messages (75) in four years as the William Rogers and Under Secretary of State Reagan and Bush administrations did in 12 for Management William Macomber, the de- Recent Dissent (84). partment revised the Foreign Affairs Manual Channel Usage During the 1990s, annual totals of contri- to give FSOs the explicit freedom to dissent 1994 9 butions averaged in the single digits. In April (2 FAM 070). 1995 6 1998 the department revised the FAM to spec- The director of the Policy Planning Staff 1996 6 ify that the channel is to address only “sub- manages the Dissent Channel. Consistent 1997 9 stantive foreign policy matters.” It also tight- with its mandate to stimulate innovation and 1998 8 ened the security for Dissent Channel mes- creativity in the department, this unique 1999 5 sages, noting proscriptions against, and process allows the policy planning director 2000 2 penalties for, interference with use of the to bring constructive, dissenting or alterna- 2001 11 channel. tive views on substantive foreign policy is- 2002 1 Although there was a blip of increased use sues to the Secretary of State and senior 2003 7 in the channel in 2001 to 11, an official mon- department officials. 2004 6 itoring the channel noted that a number of the In the first three decades of its existence, 2005 6 2001 messages did not accord with the FAM the Dissent Channel received more than 250 2006 4 regulations. 2007 4 messages, ranging from a high of 30 in 1977 During the last decade, dissent messages 2008 1 to a low of two in 2000. Of the first 200 mes- dwindled to one in 2008 before rising again 2009 7 sages from 1971 to 1991, about 50 ad- in the last two years. 2010 14 dressed general topics such as housing — Susan Maitra, Senior Editor

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Management William Macomber Not surprisingly, U.S.-China relations. Nixon and proclaimed, “We want to get it to National Security Adviser Henry those people in positions of author- the Dissent Channel did Kissinger regarded Yahya not only ity who can do something about it.” as an ally, but also as their main con- The very first telegram submit- not change the president’s nection to China. Convincing them ted through the Dissent Channel in to put pressure on Yahya would April 1971 illustrates just how mis- position. But it did have been virtually impossible for a leading this claim actually was. In high-level adviser, let alone a rank- December 1970, East Pakistan, contribute to a growing and-file diplomat expressing his whose population was majority views through a formal bureaucratic Bengali — a group that had histor- concern about leaks. mechanism. When the White ically been treated as second-class House first learned of the likelihood citizens by the ruling elite of West of violence on a massive scale, Pakistan — voted overwhelmingly for representatives of Kissinger had decisively directed against action of any sort. the Awami League, which advocated for an autonomous One week before the dissent cable was sent, Nixon wrote East Pakistan. to Yahya, expressing his happiness that Yahya had been Rather than accept the outcome, the leader of the mil- able to cement his role as leader of all Pakistan. itary junta ruling Pakistan, General Yahya Kahn, cracked Not surprisingly, the Dissent Channel did not change down, arresting the leaders of the Awami League and the president’s position. But it did contribute to a grow- prompting mass protests in the streets. In response, ing concern about leaks. This much is clear from the re- Yahya unleashed the military on East Pakistan, initiating sponse of Secretary of State Rogers to the cable. Upon what was essentially a genocide against the Bengali peo- receiving the message, Rogers called Kissinger. The ple. telegram was, he said, “miserable,” “terrible” and “inex- State Department employees specializing in South cusable.” It was bad enough that they “had bitched about Asia had foreseen such a crisis and had urged the ad- our policies,” but the real problem was that they had ministration to take steps to prevent it. But when the given it lots of distribution, so “it will probably leak,” he Nixon administration chose not to act, Dacca consulate railed. members were forced to wait in the shadows, as thou- Kissinger agreed, and was particularly concerned that sands were killed in death squads on the streets — 7,000 the memo would leak to Senator Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., in a single night — and millions fled to India, creating a vocal opponent of the administration’s South Asia pol- one of the worst refugee crises in history. icy. The head of the Dacca consulate, Archer Blood, was Dismayed and frustrated, staff at the Dacca consulate transferred to another post, as were many of his col- sent a Dissent Channel message to Washington on April leagues. Thereafter, Nixon and Kissinger cut themselves 6, 1971. The memo challenged the administration’s de- off completely from the South Asia experts in the State cision not to publicly condemn the genocide being com- Department, whose voices were ignored when the situ- mitted against the Bengalis by the Pakistani military: ation escalated from humanitarian crisis to a full-blown “Our government has failed to denounce the suppression war between Pakistan and India in 1971. of democracy. Our government has failed to denounce As its inaugural message demonstrates, the Dissent atrocities. … We, as professional public servants, express Channel reveals the limits not only of dissent in the diplo- our dissent [from] current policy and fervently hope that matic establishment, but also of bureaucratized diplo- our true and lasting interests can be defined and our poli- matic writing, which threatened to displace the more cies redirected in order to salvage our nation’s position traditional forms. Many Foreign Service officers as a moral leader of the free world.” lamented the shift and were nostalgic for the days when Nixon had long harbored hostility toward the leaders political reporting had more weight and prominence in of India and a striking warmth toward those of its enemy, the department. “Since the more traditional skills of Pakistan — a feeling that was only strengthened when analysis and reporting were identified with the old elitist Islamabad offered to play a role in aiding a renewal of concept of the Foreign Service,” lamented an old Ger-

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man hand, “they were consciously As its inaugural Months of war in the region re- downgraded in favor of the more sulted in the eventual partition of modern approaches; i.e., manage- message demonstrates, Cyprus between Turkish and ment and various technical spe- Greek enclaves still in existence cialties.” the Dissent Channel reveals today. In his Dissent Channel mes- Testing the Limits of the limits of dissent in the sage, Boyatt argued that Washing- Transparency ton could and should have done The Watergate scandal domi- diplomatic establishment. more to prevent the coup — nated the political scene from specifically, by informing General 1973 to Nixon’s resignation in Au- Dimitrios Ioannides, the head of gust 1974. Its shadow loomed over the Ford adminis- the Greek military junta and mastermind of the coup, tration, putting the issue of accountability at the that the United States did not support his plan and warn- forefront of American foreign policy and presidential ing him that it would lead to serious hostilities between power, and revealing the absurdity of Nixon’s claims to Greece and Turkey. Yet in line with the administration’s be a candid and honest president who wished to create passive attitude toward the Greek junta, the American an open White House in which dissenting views would ambassador in Athens, Henry Tasca, had resisted his sub- be welcome. Watergate became the exemplum of the ordinates’ calls to this end. “imperial presidency” and abuse of executive privilege After the coup, Boyatt argued, the U.S. could have that former government officials, journalists and aca- done more to prevent the Turkish invasion, by putting demics identified and denounced, thus shaping the his- pressure on Greece to remove Nikos Sampson, who had torical legacy of the Nixon administration for decades to taken over in Cyprus. But again, following the policy of come. passivity endorsed in Washington, the American ambas- In the midst of this backlash against the imperial pres- sador did no such thing, thus making Turkey’s interven- idency, a public debate over a Dissent Channel message tion inevitable. Boyatt critiqued the policy of partition, became the exception to the new earnestness in chal- arguing that it did not solve the fundamental problem lenging the abuse of executive power. For what it reveals and warning that it was only a matter of time before the about the limits of post-Watergate reform, particularly in current instability erupted into renewed violence. terms of transparency in foreign policy, the case is worth illuminating in some detail. Loyalty to Subordinates In 1975, the House Select Committee on Intelli- Experts on Cyprus generally agree that then National gence, also known as the Pike Committee (for its chair, Security Adviser and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger Representative Otis Pike, D-N.Y.), began to investigate was willfully ignorant of the area’s complex political dy- the process of gathering intelligence and making deci- namic. “He knew nothing about Cyprus and did not sions in recent foreign affairs crises. As part of its inquiry, bother to inform himself,” wrote George Ball, who had it subpoenaed an official dissent memo on U.S. foreign been critical in preventing such a disaster in the Johnson policy in Cyprus. administration. Almost immediately after reading Boy- The memo had been written in August 1974 by att’s dissent memo, Kissinger had Boyatt removed from Thomas Boyatt, who had served as chief of the Cyprus the Cyprus desk. In so doing, he sent Boyatt and other desk during the coup in which the Greek military junta would-be dissenters a clear message about the conse- had overthrown the Cypriot president. Before the coup, quences of voicing opposition to the administration’s poli- Boyatt had sent a series of messages through the regular cies. cable channels, predicting that continued passive support Yet, just as Macomber and others had originally pre- for the rebels would result in an overthrow of the Cypriot sented the Dissent Channel to the public in a rather rosy government, giving Turkey an excuse to invade the island light, so did Kissinger now present his relationship with on behalf of the Turkish minority there. internal dissenters in a way that masked his actual hostil- Events played out according to his dire predictions. ity toward them. In a letter to the Pike Committee, he

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explained that he could not possibly comply with the re- to loyal public servants, a sapping of the morale and the quest to give Boyatt’s dissent to the committee, as doing abilities of the Foreign Service; and serious damage to so would breach the loyalty he owed his subordinates in the ability of the department and the president to for- the State Department. mulate and conduct the foreign affairs of the nation.” “The ‘Dissent Channel,’ through which this memorandum was submitted,” he wrote, “provides those offi- Invoking the Ghost of McCarthy cers with the Department of State who disagree with Kissinger was, of course, invoking the specter of Mc- established policy, or who have new policies to recom- Carthyism, which had taken such a great toll on the State mend, a means of communicating their views to the high- Department in the 1950s and whose scars had not yet est levels of the department.” If these officers are to fully healed. In accusing the diplomatic establishment “give their best,” he explained, they “must enjoy a guar- of tilting U.S. foreign policy in the interest of world com- antee that their advice or criticism, candidly given, will munism, McCarthy and others made a point of obtaining remain privileged.” the policy papers of the rank-and-file, which they used Kissinger continued: “There have been other times as evidence of communist conspiracy. and other committees — and there may be again — In the months, years and decades following these at- where positions taken by Foreign Service officers were tacks, the department vowed to protect the rank-and-file exposed to ex post facto public examination and recrim- from future political assaults. Never again, its leaders ination. The results are too well known to need elabora- promised, would outsiders be able to hold a Foreign tion here.” Service officer responsible for his or her positions. In But he elaborated them nonetheless: “gross injustice place of individual responsibility, in its dealings with Con-

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gress and the press, the depart- The Boyatt case sheds light on ered a unanimous verdict against ment would stress a sort of col- the White House. Executive priv- lective or organizational respon- the limits of post-Watergate ilege, while not without its merits, sibility. This meant that individ- was not absolute. ual Foreign Service officers were reform, particularly in terms of not to be held publicly account- Not So Fast able for the words they wrote as transparency in foreign policy. Yet in 1975 only Rep. Pike government servants. In effect, voiced concern over Kissinger’s in- the department permanently re- vocation of executive privilege. moved the notion of individual authorship and in its place More than any other member of the committee, Pike saw substituted a version of corporate authorship. a relationship between Kissinger’s foreign policy authority The Secretary of State used the ghost of McCarthyism and his power to control and contain the writing of his sub- to advance his and the administration’s own interests. Mo- ordinates in the State Department. bilizing the image of himself as benevolent protector of When the Secretary testified before the committee on the Foreign Service against the threat of a McCarthyist Oct. 31, 1974, the chairman questioned whether a sum- renewal, Kissinger argued that he and other senior poli- mary could ever substitute for the original. “This Con- cymakers in the department, and not the rank-and-file, gress,” Pike told Kissinger, “has been subject to alleged should be “held accountable” for the agency’s foreign pol- ‘summaries’ before. There is no such thing as a ‘full sum- icy decisions. mary.’” Even if the Secretary did not deliberately intend To this end, the Secretary volunteered to testify before to distort the policy recommendations contained in Boy- the committee. In lieu of handing over the memos sub- att’s memo, Pike declared, by summarizing it and the other mitted to him, he offered to prepare a “summary” of all documents, Kissinger would, by definition, alter them. the dissenting documents he had received (and rejected) Congress must follow the “best evidence rule,” argued in relation to the Cyprus crisis so that the names of the Pike. And “the best evidence of what Mr. Boyatt said is individual authors would remain confidential. No decent not your summary of it, or anybody else’s summary of it. It liberal, or any American for that matter, could take issue is what Mr. Boyatt said.” with the department’s stance when framed in such terms. In a compromise gesture, Kissinger offered to provide Or could they? Congress had certainly witnessed these the committee with an “amalgamation” of the dissenting tactics before. It had only been two years since the scan- views on Cyprus. Unlike a summary, the amalgamated dal of Watergate had begun to rock the nation. In his document would, he promised, contain “the full contents grand effort to cover up the scandal, Nixon had instructed of Mr. Boyatt’s memorandum to me.” These words would his subordinates to do everything they could to prevent be “interspersed among the other paragraphs and without the investigation from airing the administration’s dirty any identification of authorship.” But for Pike, it would laundry. The precise directive was to “stonewall.” When not suffice to say that all the words of Boyatt’s memo would Congress began to request tapes from the White House in be in the amalgamated document. By that measure, he the spring of 1973, stonewalling took the form of execu- pointed out, “The submission of a dictionary to the com- tive privilege. mittee would be in compliance with the subpoena.” Despite severe criticism of the Christmas bombing “What I am trying to find out,” Pike explained to his campaign in North Vietnam and the beginning of the Wa- peers, “is the form in which the words are going to be pre- tergate investigation, Nixon’s popularity peaked in early sented to us.” The most fundamental problem with both 1973, after the signing of the Paris Peace Accords. It was a summary and an amalgamation, argued Pike, was the fact the legal battle between Nixon and Congress on the one that it blurred perspective. “If we are not familiar with say, hand, and Nixon and Watergate Special Prosecutor four or six documents, and all the paragraphs of four or six Archibald Cox on the other, that sparked the first dramatic documents were interspersed and mixed up like some sort decline of confidence in the president. After a series of of magnificent jigsaw puzzle and there was no picture, how decisions and appeals on behalf of the Justice Department, could we elicit from those mixed-up paragraphs what we the case went to the Supreme Court, which in 1974 deliv- are trying to get?”

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In lumping together the telegrams and memos of sev- the public with a flattened-out version of the rank-and- eral dissenters, Pike noted, Kissinger would erase the par- file’s policy analyses. The absence of authority and au- ticular perspective of each one. In order to understand thorship thus became mutually reinforcing. By the process of shaping policy from a conglomeration of ad- emphasizing the corporate status of career diplomats’ writ- mittedly partial perspectives, doesn’t one need to have ing, the department underscored the rank-and-file’s im- some sense of who wrote what? In an amalgamation, it potence in the formulation of foreign policy. would be impossible to know whether the dissenting po- Conversely, by emphasizing the need to protect For- sition “comes from the doorman or the ambassador,” Pike eign Service officers from being held accountable for for- pointed out. “And that,” he said, is a “ridiculous proposi- eign policy decisions, the department strengthened its tion.” position about the corporate ownership of the rank-and- file’s written words. The situation had come full circle. The Principle of Whereas McCarthy had branded State Department offi- Corporate Responsibility cers authors of a policy that made America vulnerable to By offering to submit a summary of Boyatt’s and others’ world communism, the State Department now implied written dissent, the department implied that the words of that career diplomats were not authors of policy, in either rank-and-file Foreign Service officers were not to be in- the symbolic or literal sense of the term. terpreted from the perspective of the individuals who Perhaps even more important than the specter of Mc- wrote them, but rather from that of the senior policymaker Carthyism was the desire on the part of many Americans who read them. And the principle of corporate responsi- to put Watergate behind them and end the mood of bit- bility made it possible for Kissinger to justify presenting terness and mistrust between the legislative and executive

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The “Boyatt Case” from Boyatt’s Perspective here is always a “back story.” I offer mine to add tex- in my office and the directorates for Greece and Turkey, I ture to Ms. Gurman’s article, which usefully and ap- argued that: Tpropriately concentrates on the constitutional duel • The Greek junta was planning to overthrow President between Secretary Kissinger and Chairman Pike. Makarios, notwithstanding their denials of such intent; First, the case did not begin with a debate between the • If the Greek colonels established a puppet regime in two men. Rather, it began when Chairman Pike learned of Cyprus, the Turkish Army would invade and partition the is- my dissent memorandum and summoned me to testify be- land; and fore his committee. Having been relieved of my position as • Such an outcome would be disastrous for the United the country director for Cyprus, I had no formal supervisor States, for it would destabilize NATO’s eastern flank, giving to consult. the Soviets a chance to intervene, and turn the Cyprus prob- When I called Larry Eagleburger for advice, he told me lem into a permanent irritant. to refuse to appear. I countered In order to prevent this disas- that I would not risk a congres- ter, I further argued that we should sional subpoena, but would follow Secretaries of State and confront the junta and tell them any departmental guidelines for clearly to stay out of Cyprus. My my testimony that he might relay presidential administrations analyses were not given credence, to me. Those guidelines instructed and the policy recommendation me initially to refuse to respond to do not deal well with was ignored. The results were any questions, and subsequently even worse than I had predicted to respond only on matters below situations in which the considering the loss of life, includ- the classification of “Confidential.” ing the death of our esteemed col- In short, I was to stonewall Chair- career diplomats are right league, Ambassador Roger Davies. man Pike. The point is that Secretaries of I appeared before the commit- and they are wrong. State and presidential administra- tee twice. Each time I described tions do not deal well with situa- the guidelines I had been given. Chairman Pike eventually tions in which the career diplomats are right and they are exploded at the Secretary and the department, but appeared wrong. This applies on a bipartisan basis; e.g., the Clinton to understand my personal predicament. He then shifted administration’s handling of dissent on an active policy to his focus to the attempt to gain access to my dissent mem- prevent genocide in Serbia; George W. Bush and the Iraq orandum. The Pike-Kissinger constitutional duel Ms. Gur- War; and Barack Obama’s Afghanistan policy and the free- man describes was the result. dom agenda for Arabs. However, career Foreign Service Colleagues will appreciate that my congressional ap- officers still have the responsibility to speak truth to power pearances were harrowing. I was a mid-level officer on my — which the Dissent Channel enables them to do. own without institutional support from State, other than Larry’s telephonic instructions. Nor did I have the money to Attention Must Be Paid hire a Washington lawyer. I did, however, have friends. Tex In my case, the department redeemed its vow cited by Harris, a law school graduate and member of the D.C. bar, Dr. Gurman “to protect the rank-and-file from political as- gave me legal advice pro bono; he and others also worked sault.” My Senior Foreign Service colleagues circled the to salvage my Foreign Service career. wagons around me. Shortly after I was relieved as Cyprus country director, Foreign Service Director General Nathaniel The Professionals Were Right Davis called to say he was assigning me to the Senior Sem- My dissent memorandum was dangerous to the State inar for a sabbatical academic year of reading, study, travel Department’s hierarchy because it summarized the differ- and first-rate lectures by the likes of Buckminster Fuller. I ences between the career diplomats and the department’s did not realize it at the time, but I was being “laundered” for leadership on the Cyprus issue — in a situation in which future use. the professionals were right. With the support of colleagues Larry Eagleburger played an informal but decisive role

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in my onward assignment as minister counselor and branches, which threatened to paralyze the federal gov- deputy chief of mission in Santiago. Historically, DCMs in ernment. It would be a long time before Congress would Chile had gone on to become ambassadors. In this way, compromise on major issues of foreign policy such as war the “network” was making sure that my dissenting views powers. on Cyprus did not end my career. In this sense, at least, the Boyatt case played an impor- There is a denouement to the story. Almost 30 years after the Cyprus crisis of 1973-1975, Henry Kissinger tant role, precisely because, in most people’s eyes, it did spoke at a luncheon hosted by the American Academy of not constitute a major issue, and could thus serve as a sym- Diplomacy. In the question period following his remarks, bol of congressional compromise without actually giving Dr. Kissinger found occasion to refer to the crisis. He up very much. Under pressure from the press as well as stated that Tom Boyatt had written “a prescient memo- the American public, the Pike Committee acquiesced to randum that did not receive the attention it deserved.” this logic. In an 8 to 5 vote, it accepted Kissinger’s amal- He then terminated this brief apologia with a witty re- gamation. mark about how his well-known paranoia had degenerated The Boyatt affair was the first and last time that Con- into masochism. This brought the house down in laugh- gress and the press engaged in public debate about access ter. In this public forum, I would like to thank Secretary to Dissent Channel messages. This case nonetheless pre- Kissinger for his kind public words on that occasion. Every figured fundamental questions about diplomatic dissent one of the 150 distinguished retired FSOs in that room got writing and public transparency that would resurface in re- the message. sponse to diplomatic dissent over the Iraq War and other — Thomas D. Boyatt more recent issues. I

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SAVIOR DIPLOMATS: FINALLY RECEIVING THEIR DUE

SEVEN DECADES LATER, THE EXAMPLES OF THESE 60 COURAGEOUS PUBLIC SERVANTS STILL OFFER LESSONS FOR MEMBERS OF TODAY’S FOREIGN SERVICE.

BY MICHAEL M. UYEHARA

he commission of the Holo- Getting Out caust Memorial in Israel, Yad Vashem, has conducted an Jews attempting to flee Germany or German-occupied extensive search to identify “the Righteous among the Na- countries during the 1930s and 1940s had to provide evi- tions,” non-Jews who saved Jews during World War II. To dence of a visa to another country in order to receive per- be recognized, Yad Vashem requires that a Jewish party mission to leave. In addition, they had to obtain transit make the nomination; the assistance must be repeated visas for any countries that they had to cross in order to and/or substantial; assistance to a family member or Jew- reach their final destination. Jews would circulate from ish convert to Christianity does not count; and there can- consulate to consulate in desperate search for the appro- not have been any expectation of financial gain. More than priate visa, and long lines would immediately form when- 20,000 individuals have been so designated thus far. ever word got around that a particular office was more Drawing on Yad Vashem’s research and other sources, generous with its issuances. the Raoul Wallenberg Foundation has compiled a list of In U.S. practice at the time, and continuing to this day, 60 “savior diplomats” (not all of whom have been desig- each consular officer had to determine whether a poten- nated “Righteous among the Nations”), including five tial immigrant was “likely to become a public charge” be- Americans, on its Web site. The list contains only one fore issuing a visa. To overcome the presumption that this woman, Brazilian Aracy Moebius de Carvalho Tess, who was the case, the applicant had to present either proof of was chief of the passport section at the Brazilian consulate sufficient funds or an affidavit of support from a sponsor in in Hamburg. However, this presumably just reflects the the United States. fact that few women were employed as diplomats then. Because numerical limits were not generally applied to transit visas, consular officials had more discretion to issue Michael M. Uyehara, a Foreign Service officer since 1986, those. is currently a political-military affairs officer at the U.S. Mission to International Organizations in Vienna. This ar- Harry Bingham ticle is based on a research paper he wrote for a graduate While stationed at the U.S. consulate in Marseille from course in international relations. 1940 to 1941, Hiram (“Harry”) Bingham IV and Miles

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Standish issued hundreds of visas to Probably the most with an initial run of 1,500, and later support the work of Varian Fry, the printed thousands more. representative of the private U.S. famous name on the list is Wallenberg was a special case, Emergency Rescue Committee. To- however. First, he was not a career gether, the three men helped at least that of Swedish diplomat diplomat, but a businessman fluent 1,500 Jews escape to Spain and other in several languages, who was specif- safe havens, including artist Marc Raoul Wallenberg. ically hired to carry out a special mis- Chagall, novelist Heinrich Mann, sion. Second, he was acting on political scientist Hannah Arendt behalf of the U.S. War Refugee and other prominent Jewish intellectuals and creative fig- Board and enjoyed the support of the Swedish govern- ures. All told, Bingham saved the lives of more than 2,000 ment in carrying out his mission of saving Hungary’s Jews. Jews and other refugees in Vichy France. Finally, Wallenberg also had some Jewish blood, since his After attracting unfavorable State Department atten- great-great grandfather was Jewish before converting to tion for the large number of visas that he was issuing, Bing- Lutheranism. ham was abruptly transferred, first to Lisbon and then to The mystery of his disappearance in January 1945 con- Buenos Aires, and his Foreign Service career came to an tinues to pique the public’s interest. (He reportedly died untimely end not long thereafter. (See the June 2002 For- while in Soviet custody in 1947, but this has been widely eign Service Journal for a full profile.) disputed.) Numerous books have been written about him, In June 2002, AFSA presented Bingham’s family with and several movies have been made about his life. a posthumous award honoring him for exemplifying the spirit of constructive dissent. And on May 30, 2006, the Doing Their Duty U.S. Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp hon- In general, the activities of the 60 “savior diplomats” on oring Bingham as one of six “Distinguished American the Raoul Wallenberg Foundation list fall into three broad Diplomats.” categories. In the first instance, some of the diplomats were conducting normal diplomatic or consular activity Raoul Wallenberg that also had the effect of protecting Jewish individuals or Probably the most famous name on the list is that of communities. The U.S. consul in Bern, Howard Elting, Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg. According to the was recognized for transmitting the Auschwitz Protocols late U.S. Representative Tom Lantos, D-Calif., one of — eyewitness accounts of the atrocities there — as an au- those whom Wallenberg rescued, during a stay in Bu- thentic document to the Department of State and Jewish dapest of approximately six months the diplomat “saved community leaders in Switzerland. Isidor Fabela, the the lives of tens of thousands of men, women and children Mexican delegate to the League of Nations, drafted his by placing them under the protection of the Swedish country’s official protest of Germany’s 1938 annexation of crown.” (The Yad Vashem Web site notes that he issued at Austria. least 4,500 protective letters to Jews authorizing the bear- The future Pope John XXIII, known then as Arch- ers to travel to Sweden.) bishop Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, was papal nuncio in Is- Wallenberg arrived in Budapest on July 9, 1944, with tanbul during the war. He not only reported to the Vatican $200,000 to spend on his mission. With this generous U.S. on the killings of millions of Jews in Poland and Eastern funding, he established “Section C” within the Swedish Europe, but interceded with King Boris on behalf of the legation to help Jews. He eventually employed 340 peo- Bulgarian Jews, and with the Turkish government on be- ple, most of them Jews, and set up a network of more than half of Jewish refugees who had fled there. Roncalli also 30 safe houses, designated as Swedish legation premises. did his utmost to prevent the deportation of Greek Jews. He extended the initiative of Swedish Minister (Head Other actions fell within the traditional consular re- of Legation) Carl Ivan Danielson in issuing 600 provisional sponsibility to provide protection to citizens of the sending passports to Jews who could prove they had personal or state. The Portuguese vice consul in Paris, Carvalho da commercial ties to Sweden. Wallenberg also concocted Silva, personally intervened and persuaded the Gestapo to the “Schutzpass,” a safe passage document. He started free 40 Portuguese Jews who were at the deportation cen-

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ter in Drancy, France. Radu Flon- In 2002, AFSA presented destinely arranged for Sweden to dor, a Romanian consul in Vienna, is provide them with safe haven. He on the list for issuing passports to Harry Bingham’s family with later became Germany’s ambassa- Jews of Romanian origin in Vienna, dor to Denmark. allowing them to escape Nazi perse- a posthumous constructive Gerhart Feine, director of the cution. Jewish Department of the German Carlos de Liz-Texeira Branquin- dissent award. Plenipotentiary in Budapest, was ho, the Portuguese chargé d’affaires also instrumental in alerting Wal- in Budapest in 1944, acted with the permission of the Por- lenberg and other diplomats regarding Adolf Eichmann’s tuguese government to issue safe conducts to persons with plans to deport Hungarian Jews, allowing them to take relatives in Portugal, Brazil or the Portuguese colonies. timely action to accelerate their programs. His actions Diplomats from other countries also issued visas and pass- went undetected. Portuguese Consul General Aristides ports liberally to Jewish refugees. de Sousa Mendes in Bordeaux, Brazilian Ambassador Luis Although he acted on behalf of Jewish applicants, the Martins de Souza Dantas in Paris, Chinese Consul General U.S. consul general in Tangier, Rives Childs, exercised a Feng Shan Ho in Vienna, and Japanese Consul Chiune familiar consular role when he persuaded Spanish author- Sugihara in Kaunas, Lithuania, all issued visas against the ities to issue visas and access to Spanish safe houses until express orders of their government or superiors. Jewish refugees could emigrate from Algeria. The consul general at the U.S. embassy in Berlin until 1941, Raymond At Risk for Reprisal Herman Geist, was also cited for helping Jews and anti- While diplomatic or consular immunity largely pro- Nazis to emigrate from Germany, intervening on their be- tected savior diplomats from retaliation, this was not al- half with high-ranking Nazi officials. Many of these people ways true. The Nazi authorities bombed the house of the were under imminent threat of deportation to concentra- Turkish consul general in Rhodes, Selahattin Ülkümen, fa- tion camps. tally injuring his pregnant wife, as punishment for his efforts to exempt 42 Jewish families, comprising more than Acting on Their Own Authority 200 people, from deportation to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Another group of savior diplomats took actions that, The Nazi authorities also took action against diplomatic while part of normal diplomatic and consular roles, ex- representatives of countries occupied by Germany. The ceeded their instructions or included activities that would Polish chargé d’affaires in Budapest, Henryk Slawik, was normally be considered improper or even illegal. A U.S. arrested after issuing documents falsely certifying Hun- vice consul in Breslau, Stephen B. Vaughan, issued visas garian Jews as Christians and deported to Mauthausen, for entry to the Philippines (then a U.S. territory) to more where he died. Nazi and French authorities arrested the than 700 Jewish families escaping Germany in 1938 and Czech consul in Marseilles, Vladimir Vochoc, for issuing 1939, on the basis of their qualifications as agricultural ex- false visas and passports to Jews and anti-Nazis, but he perts — although none were farmers. Monsignor Angelo managed to escape. Rotta, as a diplomat of the Holy See in Bulgaria, issued Raoul Wallenberg’s disappearance at the hands of the false baptismal certificates and visas so that Bulgarian Jews Soviets was unlikely to have been related to his efforts to could travel to Palestine. And Thomas Preston, a British rescue Jews. However, a close associate of his, Swiss Vice consul serving in present-day Kaunas, Lithuania, provided Consul Carl Lutz, was arrested and beaten as Allied forces 400 illegal Palestinian certificates and 800 certificates of closed in on Budapest. legal journey to Jews so they could escape through Istan- These diplomats and consular officers also had to strug- bul to Palestine. gle against an organizational and bureaucratic culture that A third group violated their instructions. Conspicuous discouraged risk-taking. So the moral, and sometimes among these was the trade attaché at the German embassy physical, courage required to defy the orders of their su- in Copenhagen, Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz. Though a periors is all the more remarkable. member of the Nazi Party, he alerted the Danish govern- The Japanese consul in Kaunas, Chiune Sugihara, ment to Germany’s plans to deport Danish Jews and clan- began his rescue effort when a Dutch Jew applied for a

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transit visa to reach Curaçao. In 2006, the U.S. Postal diplomat to suffer such conse- When Tokyo denied him permis- quences. sion to issue, Sugihara did so any- Service issued a stamp Two Swiss consular officers sta- way, and continued to do so. He tioned in Milan, Pio Perucchi and issued as many as 10,000 visas, honoring Bingham as Candido Porta, together issued even after receiving two more di- more than 1,600 illegal and unau- rect orders to cease his activity. one of six “Distinguished thorized visas to Jews who had Like all diplomats, Sugihara fled Austria after the Anschluss, would have been cosmopolitan in American Diplomats.” against the specific regulations his outlook (for instance, his first and policies of the Swiss Federal wife was Russian), but little in his background indicates Department of Justice and police. As a result, Perucchi why he decided to help Jewish refugees. Moreover, with was not allowed to continue working at the consulate after his Japanese culture and as a diplomat, Sugihara’s com- March 1939, and Porta was demoted and transferred to a pulsion to conform should have been doubly strong. different section. After the Portuguese government fired its consul gen- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished eral in Bordeaux, Aristides de Sousa Mendes, for issuing However, the greatest threat that diplomats and con- 30,000 visas, he lost his property and died in poverty. Feng sular officers generally faced came from their own gov- Shan Ho was reprimanded by the Chinese ambassador to ernments for violating organizational discipline, as shown Germany, and Chiune Sugihara was forced to resign from by Harry Bingham’s experience. He was far from the only the Japanese diplomatic service.

JULY-AUGUST 2011/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 33 F OCUS

To underscore just how excep- Some of these figures and his staff walked a fine line that tional these men were, here is how allowed them to uphold the law, Varian Fry described Harry Bing- acted in ways that would but in such a way as to grant Amer- ham’s replacement — perhaps a ican visas to as many qualifying ap- more typical specimen of the time: normally be considered plicants as possible.” Just over “The new man in charge of visas two-thirds of the Jews who lived in at the Marseille consulate is young improper or even illegal. pre-Anschluss Austria — 128,500 and inexperienced. This is his first from a population of 185,000 — post. Afraid of making mistakes, he tries to solve his prob- emigrated from March 1938 to November 1941; of this lems by refusing visas whenever he can. number, 28,165 emigrated to the United States. “But he is also a snob,” Fry continued. “The other day I talked to him about just two cases, both women. One Dissent Today was a German Social Democratic underground worker. In the Department of State, like any other large bu- She had a good affidavit. The other was the Countess X. reaucratic organization, the norm is to allow dissent and She has [sic] no affidavit at all. B. refused to give a visa to open debate in the formulation of policy, but to require the German political refugee. ‘How do I know she won’t that all employees fall into line with the policy once it is do underground work in the United States if I let her in?’ formulated. If an individual continues to object strongly he asked. to a particular policy, he or she has the option of resigning “But when I mentioned the Countess X, he became — but not of disregarding the policy or refusing to carry sweet as honey. ‘Oh, I’m sure there’ll be no difficulty it out. about her visa,’ he said. ‘Just tell her to come in any time This was certainly the sequence of events regarding she wants to and ask to see me personally. I’ll fix her up U.S. Balkans policy in the early 1990s, when five State right away.’ He didn’t even ask what the countess’s poli- Department employees eventually resigned in protest of tics were.” U.S. reluctance to intervene to stop genocidal attacks in Bosnia, and during the run-up to the 2003 U.S. interven- The Bureaucratic Tightrope tion in Iraq, when another three diplomats resigned. Yet Melissa Jane Taylor of the State Department’s Office of while both sets of resignations attracted strong media at- the Historian has documented the strains experienced by tention, the value of taking such action is debatable. U.S. consuls in Vienna as they tried to square organiza- Some argue that staying allows dissenters to continue in- tional discipline with their conscience. She singles out fluencing the direction of future policy from within the John Wiley in particular, who was counselor of the U.S. system. legation and then became consul general after the 1938 The quandary for diplomats in World War II, however, Anschluss, when the legation became one of four con- was more immediate and direct. The diplomatic role and sulates in the combined Germany/Austria. Fifteen men its associated immunity changed the calculus of interven- worked in Vienna as consuls or vice consuls from 1938 tion for these officials, as opposed to a private individual until the consulate closed in July 1941. who did not represent a foreign government. Faced with After Germany’s annexation of Austria, the two coun- a need for action, a diplomat has the responsibility to de- tries’ annual quotas under the U.S. Immigration Act of termine whether to “expropriate” his or her government’s 1924 (25,957 and 1,413 respectively) were combined for authorities and privileges toward an objective that might a total of 27,370. In Berlin, the strict application of the not be consistent with the sending country’s foreign policy. public charge clause meant the American embassy could Whether, and how, any public servant should register issue only 10 percent of the available quota each year. dissent is a never-ending dilemma. Each Foreign Serv- In the face of restrictive U.S. immigration quotas and ice member could be called on at any time to choose be- a sudden influx of Jews seeking to emigrate to the U.S., tween conscience and duty. Although under special, and Taylor notes that Wiley’s consulate “would respond to the hopefully never repeated, circumstances, the experience Jews’ plight in a humanitarian manner, but would not sub- of these “savior diplomats” 70 years ago may still hold vert the Department of State’s restrictionist policy. Wiley lessons for us today. I

34 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JULY-AUGUST 2011 AFSAAmerican Foreign ServiceNE Association • July-August 2011WS AFSA Memorial Plaque Ceremony Honors Our Colleagues BY DONNA AYERST

he AFSA Memorial Plaque Cere- mony is a solemn occasion paying Ttribute to those Foreign Service employees who have lost their lives in service to their country. This year’s ceremony — held on May 6, Foreign Affairs Day — was different because family members of Eugene Francis Sullivan Jr. came to cel- ebratehislife. Theycamerememberingthe husband, father and Foreign Service officer he was. They came en masse, all 27 of them. Eugene Francis Sullivan Jr. — whose name was added to the plaque — was a Foreign Service officer with the United DONNA AYERST DONNA States Agency for International Develop- The family of Eugene F. Sullivan pays tribute to him during AFSA’s Memorial Plaque Ceremony, May 6. ment from 1957 until his untimely death from blackwater fever, a complication of malaria, on Jan. 21, 1973, in Addis Ababa, AFSA Announces 2011 Award Winners Ethiopia. n June 23, in the splendor of the State Department’s Benjamin Franklin Room, A Legacy of Dedication AFSA honored the winners of the 2011 AFSA Constructive Dissent Awards and In her opening statement, AFSA OOutstanding Performance Awards. Winners received a certificate of recognition, a monetary prize and — new this year — the AFSA Globe. PresidentSusanJohnsonsaid,“Tothefam- iliesandfriendsgatheredhere,Iexpressour Lifetime Contributions to American Diplomacy deepestgratitudeforthecontributionsthat Ambassador Rozanne L. Ridgway yourlovedonemadetotheForeignService Constructive Dissent Awards andtoournation,andforthesacrificethat Christian A. Herter Award: Dr. James W. Bayuk, Pretoria he and you have made. He has left a lega- William R. Rivkin Award: Joel Ehrendreich, Singapore cy of dedication that serves as inspiration F. Allen “Tex” Harris Award: Maurizio Visani, Surabaya to future generations who pass through these halls.” Outstanding Performance Awards Johnson then read a message from Nelson B. Delavan Award: Ann Rehme, Pretoria PresidentBarackObama:“Today,Eugene M. Juanita Guess Award: Mike Vining, Ulaanbaatar joins other heroes on the Memorial Avis Bohlen Award: Charla Chaudhry, Chisinau; Terry Farrar, Havana Plaques honoring those who have given AFSA Post Representative of the Year: Larry Fields, Kathmandu their lives in pursuit of a higher cause. On Foreign Affairs Day, we pay special trib- Please see page 56 for an FSJ interview with Amb. Ridgway. Constructive Dissent Award ute to all those who have given their lives profiles begin on page 39. Outstanding Performance Award profiles begin on page 42. Continued on page 51

JULY-AUGUST 2011/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 35 A F S A N AFSANEWSBRIEFS E W 51st Annual Art & BookFair Hail and Farewell to AFSA Interns S The 51st annual Art & BookFair of the Associates of AFSA welcomes our new summer interns: Asa Horner joins us as the American Foreign Service Worldwide will take place the Foreign Service Journal editorial intern, Rebekah Yurco is our new from Fri., Oct. 14, through Sun., Oct. 23. As usual, the public affairs intern, Jamie Long is the legislative affairs intern, and event will be held in the Diplomatic Exhibit Hall in the Minh-Nhat “Leo” Tran will join us in August as the new advertising Harry S Truman and publications intern. building. The fair We bid farewell to our outgoing interns: marketing and outreach will feature books, intern Mina Seljogi, legislative affairs intern Stefan Geyer and advertis- art, collectibles and ing intern Susanne Brands. We thank them for their exemplary work stamps and coins and wish them all the best! More information on AFSA internships is from all over the available on our Web site at www.afsa.org/internships_at_afsa.aspx. world. All proceeds benefit Foreign Service families and the AAFSW Scholar- FSYF Welcome-Back Picnic ship Fund. Donations are now being accepted. For dona- Every September, the tion pickup, please call (202) 223-5796 or e-mail book- Foreign Service Youth [email protected]. Foundation organizes a welcome-back picnic for FS families who have recent- Adair Family Memorial Lecture ly returned from overseas. AFSA, in conjunction with the School of International This year, the picnic will Studies at American University, will present Amb. R. Nicholas take place on Sun., Sept. 18, Burns, former under secretary of State for political affairs, from 4 to 6:30 p.m., at Nottoway Park in Vienna, Va. Please join us even if you have not returned to the D.C. area recently. speaking on the subject of Foreign Service challenges in the The picnic is a great opportunity to make new friends, reconnect 21st century. The Fifth Annual Adair Family Memorial lec- with old ones and welcome home your colleagues. FSYF will ture will be held on Wed., Aug. 31, at 3:30 p.m., in the Kaye provide hot dogs and hamburgers (including a vegetarian option) Memorial Chapel on the main A.U. campus in Washington, and drinks. Please bring a salad, side dish or dessert to share. D.C. This program inaugurates the fall semester for A.U.’s The picnic will have a carnival theme, with fun for children of School of International Studies. For more information, all ages, including face painting, a magician and carnival games. RSVP to [email protected] by Wed., Sept. 14. please e-mail [email protected].

AFSA HEADQUARTERS: (202) 338-4045; Fax: (202) 338-6820 Staff: Governing Board: STATE DEPARTMENT AFSA OFFICE: (202) 647-8160; Fax: (202) 647-0265 Executive Director Ian Houston: [email protected] PRESIDENT: Susan R. Johnson Business Department USAID AFSA OFFICE: (202) 712-1941; Fax: (202) 216-3710 Director of Finance Femi Oshobukola: [email protected] STATE VP: Daniel Hirsch FCS AFSA OFFICE: (202) 482-9088; Fax: (202) 482-9087 Controller Kalpna Srimal: [email protected] USAID VP: Francisco Zamora Assistant Controller Cory Nishi: [email protected] FAS VP: Henry Schmick PRESIDENT: [email protected] Labor Management FCS VP: Keith Curtis STATE VP: [email protected] General Counsel Sharon Papp: [email protected] RETIREE VP: Robert Houdek Deputy General Counsel Zlatana Badrich: [email protected] SECRETARY: F.A. “Tex” Harris RETIREE VP: [email protected] Labor Management Specialist James Yorke: [email protected] TREASURER: Andrew Winter USAID VP: [email protected] Labor Management Counselor Janet Weber: [email protected] STATE REPS: Carleton Bulkin Senior Staff Attorney Neera Parikh: [email protected] FAS VP: [email protected] Ako Cromwell FCS VP: [email protected] Staff Attorney Raeka Safai: [email protected] Staff Attorney Andrew Large: [email protected] Mary Glantz Office Manager Christine Warren: [email protected] Mike Haughey AFSA News USAID Senior Labor Management Adviser Douglas Broome: [email protected] Les Hickman Editor Donna Ayerst: [email protected] USAID Staff Assistant Stefan Geyer: [email protected] Bruce Matthews (202) 944-5516; Fax: (202) 338-6820 Member Services Raymond Maxwell Member Services Director Janet Hedrick: [email protected] Joyce Namde Foreign Service Journal Member Services Representative Kristy Pomes: [email protected] Lynn Nelson Administrative Assistant and Office Manager Ana Lopez: [email protected] FSJ: [email protected] Sharon White Communications, Marketing and Outreach USAID REPS: Michael Henning Editor Steven Alan Honley: [email protected] Retiree Counseling & Legislation Coordinator Bonnie Brown: [email protected] Glenn Rogers Senior Editor Susan Maitra: [email protected] Director of Communications Thomas Switzer: [email protected] Associate Editor Shawn Dorman: [email protected] Director of Policy Edward Dickens: [email protected] FCS REP: Stephen Morrison Ad & Circulation Manager Ed Miltenberger: [email protected] Executive Assistant to the President Patrick Bradley: [email protected] FAS REP: Melinda Sallyards Art Director Caryn Suko Smith: [email protected] Scholarship Director Lori Dec: [email protected] IBB REP: Al Pessin Scholarship Program Assistant Jonathan Crawford: [email protected] RETIREE REPS: Janice Bay On the Web Road Scholar Administrator Bernard Alter: [email protected] Robert (Bill) Farrand

How to Contact Us: Contact to How AFSA WEB SITE: www.afsa.org Marketing & Outreach Manager Asgeir Sigfusson: [email protected] Mary Ellen Gilroy FSJ: www.afsa.org/fsj Special Awards & Outreach Coordinator Perri Green: [email protected] Molly Williamson Web and IT Assistant Jeff Lau: [email protected]

36 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JULY-AUGUST 2011 A F V.P. VOICE: STATE ■ BY DANIEL HIRSCH S A N E W S

Leave Me Alone!

oreign Service members are highly dedicated to our mis- students, that a minimum number of students could not be sion and tend to be workaholics. But even the most ded- reached. Office Management Specialists seem to be particu- Ficated workaholic needs to get away from post on occa- larly affected, but we have heard similar complaints from oth- sion — either to relax or to study. ers, as well. AFSA frequently hears from employees unable to do either, Theobvioussolutiontoalloftheseproblemsisbackup,which because they occupy “one-of” positions at posts — perform- in today’s climate may well require out-of-the-box thinking. ing an essential service with no backup. Most frequently, these Rovers are a traditional answer, but often there simply are not are specialists, though as we open new enough of them to fill in everywhere and smaller American Presence Posts or they are needed. When Actually set up new Provincial Reconstruction Employed employees are another tra- Teams, generalists are increasingly ... most bureaus are loath to spend ditional solution, but these are bureau- affected, as well. Often, R&Rs are short- money to allow an employee to take funded — and most bureaus are loath er than the employee would like. leave or even to attend training. to spend money to allow an employ- Sometimes even the ability to take sick ee to take leave or even to attend train- leave is affected. ing. 3 FAM 3412 clearly gives employ- AFSA is urging the department to ees the right to use accumulated annual leave, and supervisors centralize WAE funds, to allow greater opportunities for such have a responsibility to allow, or even require, them to take it. employment and free the process from bureau budgets. Bureaus Leave can be rescheduled due to the needs of the office, but it would be more likely to use a an annuitant if “their” money should be granted at some point during the year. Restoration was not involved. due to exigencies of the Service is possible, but is viewed as an We are urging the department to centralize funds and autho- exceptionalevent. Ingeneral,leavecanceledduetonormalwork- rizations for OMS training, and for all training that is aimed load, vacancies or poor planning, or to provide other employ- at improving an employee’s skills as an individual, rather than ees with the opportunity to use leave, is not considered an exi- serving a post-specific function. gency and therefore does not constitute a basis for restoration. While AFSA is generally wary of filling Foreign Service jobs FS members, and particularly “one-ofs,” also tend to be asked with Civil Service employees, we will be discussing the matter to work overtime and, as a result, accrue compensatory time further within the context of the Quadrennial Diplomacy and off. Here the plot thickens. There are several variants of comp Development Review process. One solution to the “one-of” time, which must be used within 26 weeks after the pay peri- issues might be tapping a Civil Service counterpart to serve as od during which the overtime was accrued and at the post where a backup when possible. While we feel strongly that Foreign the overtime occurred. Again, we hear from members that they Service positions should be filled by FS employees, there is a cannot use this time, or that if they use it, they will forfeit annu- benefit to providing Civil Service employees with actual hands- al leave. on understanding of how overseas posts operate and a better Last but not least, we hear from members who “cannot be picture of the environment in which we work. spared” to attend training, even when that training is manda- Member insights and suggestions of other ways to address tory. Several classes and seminars have been canceled, not for this issue are welcomed. Please share them with me at hirsch@ budgetary reasons, but because so few posts could “spare” the afsa.org. ❏

JULY-AUGUST 2011/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 37 A F S V.P. VOICE: FCS ■ BY KEITH CURTIS AFSA/FSJ PANEL: A Work-Life Balance in N the Foreign Service E W BY DONNA AYERST S n May 26, AFSA followed up the May issue of the Foreign Service OJournal — which focused on work-life balance — by hosting a panel Spending Money to Narrow the Deficit discussion on the topic. The panel, mod- erated by Faye Barnes, president of the AssociatesoftheAmericanForeignService he Foreign Commercial Service tortuously continues the post downsizing Worldwide,includedKathleenM.Lingle, process. Initially, the list of potential closures included up to 30 posts; but it executivedirectorofAllianceforWork-Life Tisnowbelowadozen,aspoliticalrealitiesentertheprocess. Forexample,Dublin Progress; Judy Ikels, chief of the State was on the earlier list, but it wasn’t long before Irish-American forces weighed in Department’s Work-Life Division in the and took it off the list (what were they thinking?). Bureau of Human Resources; Stephen K. The Government Accountability Office would like to think that downsizing can Morrison, a senior commercial officer on be a simple, straightforward management process. But they sometimes seem to lack assignment to the U.S. Export Assistance a basic understanding of their own political environment. Meanwhile, as the days Center; and Margot Carrington, Foreign tick on, the failure of the budgetary process becomes compounded. The basic real- Serviceofficerandrecipientofa2010-2011 ity is that it takes up-front spending Una Chapman Cox Sabbatical Leave to wrestle any long-term savings Fellowshiptoconductresearchonthechal- If you want to narrow the deficit, fromcutsandclosures,withlittletime lenges facing working women. left in this fiscal year to see any sav- The term “work-life balance” was increase spending on export ings. In addition, the closure of FCS coinedin1986andiswidelyused,butwhat programs, don’t decrease it. posts will inevitably affect the budgets does it mean? According to Lingle, it is and workloads of our fellow Foreign aboutthejugglingacteveryonewhoworks This is an argument Republicans Service agencies. does: “It’stheintersectionofthefourballs should understand. We continue to debate how open wejuggle:career,family,community,self.” this process should be. Releasing information about FCS post closures too early can be very destructive to morale and functionality. But letting the process be dominated by the rumor mill can cause even more widespread demoralization and paralysis. Therefore, the sooner the specifics are made known, the better. This is an education process for everyone involved, but especially for a new group of members of Congress who, frankly, have not had the time to fully understand the impact of their decisions. We talked to one staffer several weeks ago who seemed

convinced that sending $70 million in aid to Russia didn’t make sense. That is, until AYERST DONNA we pointed out that the money could be going toward supporting the agreement Judy Ikels displays State’s Work/Life Division’s new logo at AFSA on May 26. to dismantle nuclear warheads now pointed at our homes, buildings and leaders. The great irony of this process is that the more you cut the budget to support “Balance is elusive in the Foreign exports, the more you will widen the deficit. As we have repeatedly told key mem- Service,”saysCarrington,whoisusingher bersontheHilloverthelastseveralmonths,FCScandocument$359worthofexports CoxFellowshiptolookintowaystoachieve we helped make happen for every $1 appropriated. At an average corporate tax rate balance to enhance the Foreign Service of 23 percent, each dollar generates over $83 in tax revenue. If you want to narrow mission. “Workplace flexibility enhances the deficit, increase spending on export programs, don’t decrease it. This is an argu- employees’ lives and, in turn, their pro- ment Republicans should understand. ductivity and sense of accomplishment. We can only hope that this important and necessary educational process sinks But workplace flexibility while at an over- in before it is too late. ❏ Continued on page 50

38 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JULY-AUGUST 2011 A 2011 AFSA CONSTRUCTIVE DISSENT AWARD WINNERS F Profiles of award winners written by Donna Ayerst S A The Christian Herter Award FOR A SENIOR FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICER N E Dr. James W. Bayuk W S he nomination for this award states: “Dr. Bayuk has led a ‘quiet revolution’ in the State Department’s Office of TMedical Services for many years. His recommendations have not always been popular ones and his ideas have not always been adopted, but he always has conducted his dissent within State Department channels. In an era of tight budgets, we need more officers like Dr. Bayuk, who take the time and effort to come up with creative, cost-saving measures to make our system more efficient and responsible to the administration and the taxpayers.” Bureaucracies can be averse to change, even when it will lower costs, increase productivity and provide better service. Dr. James W. Bayuk heads up the medevac center in Pretoria. But Dr. James W. Bayuk, the Regional Medical Officer in Pretoria, is not averse to change. In fact, you could say that he embraces it. that Foreign Service employees could go to private labs as close Why would someone who works in a bureaucracy embrace as three blocks away from State and obtain better services, change? Especially when organizations can fear change and that which would be covered by the employee’s federal health insur- fear can lead to unpleasant experiences for employees, such as ance benefits at less cost to the department. less-than-stellar performance evaluations or a steeper climb to “When talking about what are government services, you get to the top. This fact doesn’t seem to bother Dr. Bayuk. have to ask what an essential service is. Laboratory services are Whenever he sees a problem, he instinctively wants to fix it not an inherent function of the government,” maintains Dr. — making him a conscientious public servant. Luckily for the Bayuk. The X-ray unit was finally closed in 2003. American taxpayer, when Dr. Bayuk fixes a problem, it saves That’s not all. In 2006, Dr. Bayuk received the department’s money. His uphill battles haven’t always been successful, but Award for Innovative Technology, for making it possible to link that doesn’t stop him from trying. post-specific (not personal) medical information to the Take, for instance, the mammogram and X-ray unit in the Overseas Briefing Center, making it available to everyone via the Department’s Office of Medical Services, where Dr. Bayuk Internet. worked from 2000 to 2004. As more and more private com- Dr. Bayuk also set his sights on closing MED’s blood-draw- mercial labs opened in Washington, D.C., Dr. Bayuk argued ing lab as far back as 2002. In this case, he cited much larger for the closing of MED’s underutilized and overstaffed unit. cost-savings and quality-improving factors. He maintained that According to his calculations, “The State Department was all MED needed was a phlebotomist to draw blood, transport it spending over $200,000 each year to keep the unit operating, to a commercial lab, which could deliver results electronically even though it was performing far fewer mammograms and the same day. Yet despite a 2006 Office of the Inspector X-rays in a day than any commercial lab.” General report recommending a review of laboratory services “The government should not be in the business of providing and outsourcing as a cost-effective alternative and the concur- lab work and medical screenings, when contracting these ser- rence of the medical director in 2007, the lab remains open. vices out can save the government substantial costs,” he argued. Currently under his scrutiny: transparent bidding for MED Dr. Bayuk’s reasoning ran into strong opposition from the leadership; State’s medical clearance process; absence of clear Bureau of Human Resources, the laboratory staff and MED guidance on how medical issues are now going to be managed leadership. overseas; using available technology and systems instead of One of Dr. Bayuk’s arguments concerned technology. If you spending millions of dollars to develop a bespoke product; and worry about keeping up with the latest iPod or computer tech- fitness for duty examinations. Who knows what he will focus nology, think about trying to keep up with the latest mammo- on next? gram or X-ray technology. Commercial labs have state-of-the- Dr. Bayuk is just the kind of public servant the Foreign art technology. Pivotal to Dr. Bayuk’s argument was the fact Service needs. ❏

JULY-AUGUST 2011/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 39 A F 2011 AFSA CONSTRUCTIVE DISSENT AWARD WINNERS S A William R. Rivkin Award N FOR A MID-LEVEL FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICER E W Joel Ehrendreich S n 2005 Joel Ehrendreich was serving as Hiroshima simply perpetuated a stigma a mid-level political officer in Tokyo, that somehow the atomic bombing was Iin charge of coordinating external rela- too sensitive to be touched. tions, among other duties. When an invi- Ehrendreich said that the reaction of tation for the American ambassador to those at the country team meeting was less Japan to attend a memorial ceremony than positive. In fact, of the officers on Aug. 6 came from the mayor of attending, only one of the 24 said, “This Hiroshima, the ambassador asked Joel to isn’t a bad idea.” Most felt that attendance handle it. He responded to the invitation at the memorial ceremony could be con- with a “Yes.” Joel Ehrendreich goes over a scavenger hunt strategy strued as some sort of apology for the The ceremony’s stated purpose was with children from a Singaporean orphanage during bombing, or that we would be drawing “to comfort the souls of those people Corporate Community Day. undue attention to ourselves — which, in whose lives were lost due to the atomic turn, could stir up anti-American feelings. bombing, as well as to pray for the realization of everlasting In nominating Ehrendreich for the award, James P. Zumwalt, peace.” For 59 years, the U.S. government’s policy had been a minister counselor at the State Department, says: “Joel demon- to decline the invitation. strated considerable intellectual courage in countering this strong “When I was tasked to respond to the invitation, I started to opposition and pointed out that a U.S. official could attend think, why not? It didn’t make sense to me to refuse the invita- without issuing any official apology.” tion. I felt the time had come to change our policy,” Although the department did not implement the recommen- Ehrendreich explains. With such a controversial idea on the dation in Ehrendreich’s Dissent Channel cable (05 Tokyo 4278), table, Ambassador Thomas he continued to advocate a poli- Schieffer invited the country cy change. Zumwalt states, team to a meeting to discuss the On that day, far from Japan, Joel recalls, “I was really “Joel was no longer in Japan, pros and cons of the proposal. proud to be an American and to see our ambassador but he wrote me each year with “I went to the meeting with a not-so-subtle reminder of his a PowerPoint outlining my key represent our country in such a dignified and decent position on the issue.” points. I pointed out that Support for his idea contin- although the Hiroshima mayor manner, while reinforcing the great friendship the U.S. ued to grow while other sup- had used the event to criticize and Japan have forged together since the bombing.” porters, even those who had U.S. policy in the past, I felt that never seen Joel’s dissent cable, by being absent, we were per- began to appear. And finally, on petuating a free forum for criticism of the United States. Aug. 6, 2010, Ambassador John V. Roos attended the ceremony “Also, other countries in Asia, particularly China, were using in Hiroshima. Japan’s actions during World War II to put Japan on the defen- “In the end, Joel was right,” Zumwalt observes. sive on various issues, including United Nations Security “Ambassador Roos’ attendance at the ceremony was extremely Council reform, participation in peace support operations and well received by the Japanese people and the international com- alliance transformation. I believed that by participating in the munity. Indeed, it helped strengthen U.S.-Japan relations.” Hiroshima ceremony, the U.S. could provide moral authority On that day, far from Japan, Joel recalls, “I was really proud and leadership in dealing with memories of World War II, while to be an American and to see our ambassador represent our strengthening our alliance with Japan by providing them the country in such a dignified and decent manner, while reinforc- opportunity to turn the page with their neighbors,” says ing the great friendship the U.S. and Japan have forged together Ehrendreich. since the bombing.” He also pointed out that U.S. representatives had attended When asked what it took to change an outdated policy, memorial ceremonies at other sites, including Iwo Jima, Joel’s response was simply, “Think compassionately. And Okinawa and Normandy. Accordingly, our absence in never give up.” ❏

40 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JULY-AUGUST 2011 A 2011 AFSA CONSTRUCTIVE DISSENT AWARD WINNERS F S A The F. Allen “Tex” Harris Award FOR A FOREIGN SERVICE SPECIALIST N E Maurizio Visani W S o sooner had I arrived in Surabaya than the securi- Visani persevered. “We were a little disheartened, but ty assessment was handed to me on a silver plat- Regional Security Officer Rodney Collins checked out the DS “Nter,” recalls Maurizio Visani, a mid-level Foreign regulations and I checked out the IRM regulations. We could Service employee and this year’s winner of the F. Allen “Tex” see no reason not to install OpenNet, and were determined to Harris Award for constructive dissent by an FS specialist. see this thing through,” he recalls. Consular Agency Bali had just completed an information Systematically, Maurizio gathered key support from technology assessment that Embassy Jakarta, the East Asia revealed critical security flaws. “Although the plan made sense, many were not and Pacific Affairs Bureau Specifically, it was using the in favor of challenging CA/EX’s worldwide policy. executive office and CA. He Internet to pass U.S. citizen laid out his argument clearly, Personally Identifiable Maurizio worked through the appropriate outlining the benefits of Information, in violation of OpenNet to the U.S. govern- channels and aggressively crafted a convincing U.S. regulations and the Privacy ment and American citizens Act of 1974. On his first full case that would eventually lead to a change in policy, resident in Bali. Referencing day at post as Information federal guidance and report Program Officer, Visani came making CA Bali the first consular agency in the summaries, CA/EX eventually up with a solution to the securi- State Department with OpenNet.” responded favorably to the ty deficiency — bring OpenNet, OpenNet request cable drafted State’s intranet, to CA Bali. by Visani. The immediate response from “Once we got the go-ahead from post, the department’s Bureau of CA/EX, the next hurdle was the Information Resource Management, funding battle. In addition to the IT and the Bureau of Consular Affairs hardware, the office had to be executive office was “no.” changed to meet the security The unanimous thumbs-down requirements, which meant was due, in part, to CA’s worldwide installing locks and bars. In the end, policy granting consular agencies the embassy bore the costs,” Visani OpenNet access only via FOB/ONE recounts. — the department’s program allow- The nomination for the award ing an employee to log in to the states: “In the beginning, although intranet remotely using an electronic the plan made sense, many were not key fob — and to the fact that no in favor of challenging CA/EX’s other consular agency had OpenNet. worldwide policy. But instead of However, Maurizio continued to accepting that bureau’s initial Maurizio Visani (right) mentors others through the mission’s edu- believe that installing the program in cation outreach program. answer, Maurizio worked through Bali was the only appropriate solu- the appropriate channels and tion to prevent personal information aggressively crafted a convincing being passed over the Internet unencrypted. A subsequent case that would eventually lead to a change in policy, making post inspection report by the Office of the Inspector General CA Bali the first consular agency in the State Department with also recommended this solution. Visani set about to meet OpenNet.” IRM and the Bureau of Diplomatic Security requirements for “By establishing OpenNet, our efforts will lead to better the office space before intranet installation could be possible. services for American citizens. Everyone wins,” Visani Once those were met, post informed CA/EX; but again, the declares. ❏ answer was “no.”

JULY-AUGUST 2011/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 41 A F 2011 AFSA OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE AWARD WINNERS S A The Nelson B. Delavan Award N FOR A FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICE MANAGEMENT SPECIALIST E W Ann Rehme S hadn’t lived more than 20 miles from home until I Vice President Joe Biden and several visits to Washington by joined the Foreign Service,” Ann Rehme remembers. South Africa’s president and several foreign ministers.” “IObviously, that has changed. The Delavan Award not only recognizes an individual’s Ann Rehme, this year’s recipient of the Delavan Award, is professionalism and effectiveness, but also his or her contribu- an office management specialist powerhouse. “No task is too tion to morale. The front office in Pretoria is staffed by large or too small” seems to be her Rehme, three seasoned OMSs and four credo. And equally important, “If there OMS first-timers. Rehme appreciates is no fun, there is no Ann,” she says with the role she has taken as a mentor and a laugh. sounding board for her new colleagues, When Rehme was in her mid-20s, by stating: “I listen to their concerns and working for an agricultural trade associa- questions and provide guidance and tion, her supervisor suggested she join answers whenever I can. If they can’t the Foreign Service. At the time, Ann come to me for help, what example wasn’t ready to leave home. Ten years would I be setting?” later, her former supervisor sent her an La Lime concurs: “Ann has a won- ad from the International Herald Tribune derful ability to reach out and to listen to join the Foreign Service. She contact- Ann Rehme (rear) joins Elizabeth Caruso Powers (left), to people’s concerns. Regardless of how and her daughter, Maggie, at the embassy’s 2010 FIFA ed him and he said, “You are well-suited busy she is, she takes the time to answer World Cup pep rally held in June 2010. for the Foreign Service. Give it a try.” questions and assist and mentor officers He was right. According to Helen La and OMSs. Her calm, open demeanor Lime, deputy chief of mission in Pretoria, who nominated builds morale, and her wry sense of humor makes the office a Rehme for the award, “Every once in a while an enterprise has fun place to work.” the good fortune to be graced with an indispensable person Her focus on morale goes beyond the office. Whether host- who ensures the organization reaches its ultimate potential. At ing Marines in her home or finding families to host Peace Embassy Pretoria, that person is Ann Rehme, who delivers day Corps Volunteers during the holidays, Rehme strives to serve after day.” the broader community. Says La Lime, “She takes on sponsor- Rehme approaches her job ing medevac patients here — OMS to a hard-charging, from neighboring posts, ensur- dynamic ambassador — with a “Every once in a while an enterprise has the ing they have what they need customer service attitude, sub- and can get to where they need stantive knowledge of how the good fortune to be graced with an indispensable to be. She is so in tune with department works and a belief person who ensures the organization reaches its the community that the in the importance of forging ambassador looks to her first good partnerships. “I am cus- ultimate potential. At Embassy Pretoria, that person for counsel on reaching out tomer service-oriented, and a is Ann Rehme, who delivers day after day.” both to Americans and South very resourceful person. If I Africans.” don’t have the answer to some- Looking back on her deci- thing, I find it. People soon sion to join the Foreign Service learn they can depend on me,” says Rehme. later in life, Rehme says: “I think waiting to join the Service has Organizational skills were in great demand with the World allowed me to better appreciate the experience and wisdom I Cup, an event of global proportions, coming to South Africa. have gained. I am grateful to Thomas J. Brennan, currently La Lime points out that “Ann’s professionalism and energy serving in the Foreign Commercial Service in Baghdad, for made her supremely effective, and compounded exponentially steering me toward this career. When, as my supervisor, he the effectiveness of everyone around her. She handled with first mentioned it to me, all I could think of was, ‘Why is he perfect aplomb the demands of the World Cup, the visit of trying to get rid of me?’” ❏

42 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JULY-AUGUST 2011 A 2011 AFSA OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE AWARD WINNERS F S A The M. Juanita Guess Award FOR A COMMUNITY LIAISON OFFICE COORDINATOR N E Mike Vining W S ou couldn’t pay me enough to be the CLO,” is a response frequently heard when a Community Liaison “YOffice coordinator position is advertised at posts around the world. Fortunately for Embassy Ulaanbaatar, Mike Vining had a different response. Being a CLO coordinator is not an easy job. How many positions have eight areas of responsibility that range from crisis management to event planning, with employment liaison, guidance Mike Vining (front right) and the embassy team he organized for a Habitat and referral, education liaison, welcoming and orientation, infor- for Humanity project. mation and resource management, and community liaison in between? The list of duties is enough to leave the faint-hearted in hit list of things to do. He successfully lobbied for funding to the dust. turn a dismal basement into a lively facility enjoyed by the entire Within weeks of his arrival in Ulaanbaatar, Vining’s positive community. Family movie nights, happy hours, streamed-in attitude and enthusiasm brought about a perceptible change in sporting events and even homework sessions and extracurricular the level of energy at post. He used his cheery outlook to make activities are now on the center’s calendar. the embassy’s newsletter a lively snapshot of life at post, using Every fall around the world, CLOs in remote posts are think- fresharticles, lots of photos and up-to-date information. By ing about turkeys: how and where to get them. The situation has encouraging community members to contribute articles on their gotten so bad that the department’s Family Liaison Office’s CLO knowledge and experiences of Ulaanbaatar and the rest of training program warns CLOs not to get into the turkey business. Mongolia, he expanded the information base, while creating part- That advice fell on deaf ears in Ulaanbaatar. nerships within the community. Vining and his CLO assistant, Stephen Burnett, had a plan. In addition to working on the newsletter, Vining started orga- But it took many months and manymeetings with local busi- nizing outings and adventures. Soon, more and more people nesspeople before they convinced a local company that there was were joining in. “I sort of fell into the position. The previous a market for turkeys in Ulaanbaatar. That November, an entire CLO had left, and so the position was empty when we arrived at container of frozen turkeys arrived at post. The American com- post. When the position was re-advertised, with a little encour- munity, including the mission, international school, Peace Corps agement, I decided to apply. I was the only applicant,” he said. Volunteers and private companies, all sat down to a proper Vining’s personal goal for his time in Mongolia was to be a Thanksgiving dinner. Today, turkeys are available in many local stay-at-home dad. Vining’s wife, Lisa, serves with the U.S. markets, with one Mongolian catering company offering pre- Army, and this was their first FS tour. “I was really looking for- roastedturkey dinners. ward to spending time with our daughter,” said Vining. “Part of “We have a very proactive community, with everyone pitch- my reasons for taking the CLO position was the opportunity to ing in to help. Stephen has provided enormous support. We are learn more about Mongolia and to share that learning experi- also lucky to have Tumenbayer, our Locally Engaged Staff assis- ence with her.” tant, in the office. He is pivotal in facilitating cultural events, That’s when Vining turned into a whirling dervish, the only which help bring Americans and Mongolians closer together,” way to describe the breadth of activity he unleashed in his com- says Vining. munity. The Fourth of July community event is big at every post, Vining is often asked whether he would be a CLO again at but there aren’t many CLOs who, along with volunteers, will another post. His answer is always yes. actually make hundreds of “brats” by hand to ensure their fellow “I could see myself being a CLO again; what better way to Americans will have hot dogs on the day. learn about the people at post, both American and host country Contacts with local businesses turned into opportunities for nationals? It is a job filled with amazing opportunities for discov- community adventures in Vining’s capable hands. Jet-boat river ery.” excursions, long weekend camping trips and tours of chocolate It is obvious the CLO bug has bitten him. and beer factories, are among the activities that he arranged. The nomination for the M. Juanita Guess Award states: “Mike Soon the post’s decrepit “community center” was on Vining’s believes anything is possible.” ❏

JULY-AUGUST 2011/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 43 A F 2011 AFSA OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE AWARD WINNERS S A The Avis Bohlen Award N FOR A FOREIGN SERVICE FAMILY MEMBER E W Charla Chaudhry S ifty years ago, the Soviets opened Tirnova, a rehabilitation “Everyone was on the same page, and we all ran with it.” center for children suffering from tuberculosis. In 2009 Within months, Chaudhry had assembled a group of major FCharla Chaudhry, a Foreign Service family member in donors, helping hands and inspired partners — including the Chisinau who is one of two winners of this year’s Avis Bohlen State Department’s Humanitarian Assistance Fund, the U.S. Award, walked into Tirnova with her colleagues from the European Command, the state of North Carolina, the Latter International Women’s Club of Moldova. Day Saints Church Humanitarian Mission, the Rotary Club, “It was like going through a time warp. It seemed nothing Moldovan volunteers and many others. Together, they raised had changed since the facility first more than $600,000 in cash and opened. I mean nothing,” supplies. Chaudhry recalls. “No running The club then assembled a team water, no clean drinking water, no of architects, engineers and con- doors, cemented-shut windows, tractors to set priorities, draw up mold, leaking roof, completely plans and define a timeline. dilapidated — you get the pic- Chaudhry attended all of the logis- ture.” tical meetings with the team and At the time, Chaudhry was was pivotal in seeing that deadlines president of the club’s grants com- were met and that all participants mittee, which administers an active were doing their jobs with due dili- charitable outreach program. gence. Her engagement with local Tirnova was one of many places senior government officials brought Charla Chaudhry (left) and colleagues, during a recent visit to the the committee had visited while additional critical support. Tirnova tuberculosis rehabilitation center. seeking out beneficiaries for the Today, more than 200 children club’s small grants. For Chaudhry, at Tirnova have running water and it was a place of lost children; a place the “We have sent them the new bathrooms, mold-free and freshly world had forgotten. It grabbed her and painted walls, computers for their new class- wouldn’t let her go. message that they are not rooms, new windows and roofs, sports “I didn’t come to Moldova with a plan forgotten, and that they are equipment and play areas. And as to do this. I just fell into it. One visit, and I indeed valuable.” Chaudhry says, “…most of all, we have sent felt I couldn’t walk away,” she explains. them the message that they are not forgot- When she got home that night, she told her ten, and that they are indeed valuable. Here husband, U.S. Ambassador Asif Chaudhry, that she needed a in Moldova, we have remembered how good it feels to take lot of money: $2 million, to be exact. care of one another.” The rebirth of the center began with a $10,000 allotment The nomination of Charla Chaudhry for the Avis Bohlen from the Women’s Club for a new girls’ bathroom. At this Award concludes: “It is pivotal to note that Mrs. Chaudhry’s moment, Chaudhry realized she was going to be in this for the efforts with this project didn’t just radically change the living long haul and needed a strategy to accomplish the task. conditions of the children from the center; she supported the “The project began to take on a life of its own. Things diplomatic relationship with the Republic of Moldova in started to go full throttle. This was all new territory for me,” immeasurable terms. The fact that the spouse of the U.S. Chaudhry says excitedly, with an obvious passion in her voice. ambassador engaged in this particular project — and many “I knew I had to ratchet up the game. I decided to take my others — with such vigor and succeeded with such effect, will pictures and story to anyone who would listen and look.” have a lasting impact on the U.S. bilateral partnership with the Chaudhry believes that her passion served to inspire others government of Moldova.” who, in turn, became passionate about the project. Just before the recent dedication ceremony of the Tirnova “Serendipity had a lot to do with how it all came together: the Center, Moldovan Prime Minister Vlad Filat called Chaudhry right place, the right time, the right people,” she says. to ask what he could bring. ❏

44 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JULY-AUGUST 2011 A 2011 AFSA OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE AWARD WINNERS F S A The Avis Bohlen Award FOR A FOREIGN SERVICE FAMILY MEMBER N E Terry Farrar W S hat do rebuilding computers, making dress patterns, Next, Farrar turned her sights to creating a vocational pro- growing vegetables, directing plays and hosting auc- gram at a local church aimed at teaching sewing to impoverished Wtions all have in common? Terry Farrar, a Foreign women. Using the ties she had forged with the artists and the Service family member in Havana, and one of two winners of international community, she was able to raise enough funds to this year’s Avis Bohlen Award. purchase 20 new sewing machines, desks and chairs. Today, “I volunteer. That’s what I do,” declares Farrar. “Before Farrar serves as instructor and mentor to more than 50 women, coming to Havana, I knew working would not be possible. inspiring them to establish their own small businesses or become But I was a bit surprised to learn that volunteering could also be independent seamstresses. difficult, as many local churches and organizations tend to shy “We are blessed and feel privileged to be able to give back away from fraternizing with Americans.” after 31 wonderful years in the Foreign Service,” Farrar says of her husband, chief of mission Jonathan D. Farrar, and herself. Residents of Havana aren’t the only ones to have benefited from Farrar’s tireless efforts to engage and support people. The high morale of the official American community, despite Havana being a hardship post with limited access to goods and services, is a direct result of her hospitality and generosity. For example, she created an extensive vegetable garden at the resi- dence and invited American families to take whatever they wanted. Farrar’s warmth Chief of Mission Jonathan D. Farrar and Terry Farrar (center) join children and staff from the cancer rehabilitation extends to the mission’s local center. staff as well, as she includes them in her massive family bar- That did not stop Farrar, however. In fact, you might say it becues and swimming parties. inspired her to reach out. Her first endeavor was to support a The nomination states: “These examples serve to illuminate local nonprofit for children with cancer or in remission. After Farrar’s unique commitment to creating community at post, but visiting the children in the hospital, or hosting parties and pre- they hardly reflect how overwhelming her commitment has senting children’s plays for them, she turned to Cuba’s artist and been, particularly within the politically complicated Cuban con- diplomatic mission communities for additional support. text. I can think of no other American diplomat in Havana who Her warmth, charm and integrity inspired others. Local gave so much time and energy to all the communities at post, or artists donated more than 40 pieces of work for a benefit auction who so patiently and profoundly inspired good will towards she hosted for the international community. The results were so America and its role in Cuba.” staggering that the nonprofit donated 10 percent of the proceeds “I am a conduit for others to help,” Farrar explains. “They to Haiti’s earthquake relief efforts. may want to volunteer, but feel they can’t. I provide them with Last year, another embassy stepped in to host the auction, the opportunities and hold events; they participate and help the and another has volunteered for next year. “My hope was that cause.” She goes on to say, “I couldn’t accomplish what I do fundraising for the children’s nonprofit would become sustain- without the support of the entire community. I will happily able, and it seems it is on its way,” explains Farrar. accept this award on behalf of the community in Havana.” ❏

JULY-AUGUST 2011/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 45 A F 2011 AFSA OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE AWARD WINNERS S A N AFSA Post Representative of the Year E Larry Fields W S o you want to be an AFSA post representative? Bear in mind that it’s a real job. It requires work. People will Sdepend on you. It is high-profile. It is important. Oh, and you won’t get paid. We could tell you what the job entails, but then it might not be as extensive as the job Larry Fields — and this year’s AFSA Post Representative of the Year — did in Kathmandu. Here is a list of what Fields did (in his own words) during the past year: • I religiously passed on AFSAnet and AFSA News items by e- mail. • I created and posted bills reminding members to apply for AFSA scholarships and awards, and then shared the posters with AFSA for worldwide use. • I established a Foreign Service Professional Development Meghan Aberle, Larry Fields and Amb. Scott DeLisi attend the Dec. 16, 2010, Library, housed in the Information Resource Center, which the dedication ceremony for the AFSA Foreign Affairs Professional Development ambassador applauded in a dedication ceremony. Library in Kathmandu.

Larry Fields is clearly a strong AFSA supporter. • I wrote a biweekly “AFSA Corner” column “AFSA is uniquely placed to benefit both employers for the post newsletter, and the employees. It serves as a good example for ensuring regular com- munication with our both private- and public-sector unions,” says Fields. members. • An EFM, the • When the new AFSA Web site went live, I announced the fact spouse of a USAID offi- to our community and provided feedback to AFSA. cer, applied to the • When some Eligible Family Member employees complained Professional Associate that they were singled our for separate and unequal treatment – Program. She felt that The Fields family on a trek in Nepal. they were assigned escorting duties in a way they felt demeaning – her application would be I accompanied them to meetings with the deputy chief of mission disadvantaged because of USAID’s chaotic summer bidding cycle to raise the issue. Post management then promptly addressed it. this year. I advocated on her behalf with the director general, whose • I teamed up with our human resources officer when she was response addressed the issue. giving presentations on various employee benefits. She would pre- Larry Fields is clearly a strong AFSA supporter. “AFSA is sent the government-provided ones, and I would discuss the non- uniquely placed to benefit both employers and the employees. It governmental ones. For example, when she discussed life and long- serves as a good example for both private- and public-sector term insurance, I presented AFSA insurance options. When she unions,” says Fields. discussed retirement plans, I talked about the different individual This is a bad time for unions, which have gotten a lot of bad retirement plan accounts, real estate and other aspects of retirement press lately. Fields sees unions as a partnership. “I do a job for planning. my employer, and in return, I expect to be treated as a profes- • I created an AFSA recruitment presentation, outlining what sional. It is a partnership and relationship that benefits both,” the association does and how it benefits members. I also shared it said Fields. with AFSA for its use. Judging by the work Fields put into his volunteer job as • I suggested the Zipcar membership idea, which culminated in AFSA post representative, it is clear that AFSA, the post and a sizable discount for AFSA members. Fields have all benefited. ❏

46 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JULY-AUGUST 2011 A F AFSA Book Notes: Amb. Edmund Hull on High-Value Target S A BY DANIELLE DERBES, AFSA STAFF

n May 16, the AFSA Book Notes Finally, Amb. Hull’s third proposition smooth transition from Saleh to a more N program presented former U.S. is that the embassy country team is an popular president. Al-Qaida’s goals to E OAmbassador to Yemen Edmund effective mechanism for a government- establish an Islamic caliphate and imple- W Hull, who discussed his new book High- wide effort, but it needs effective support. ment strict sharia law do not answer the S Value Target: Countering Al Qaeda in One of Hull’s goals in writing High-Value plight of today’s revolutionaries in Yemen, Yemen. As AFSA President Susan Johnson Target was to demonstrate how much his and across the region. Rather, the rights stated in introducing Hull, the release of this team accomplished despite having few being demanded by today’s youth are more book could hardly be timelier, given the resources. He maintains that their suc- in line with the values of democratic gov- recent demise of Osama bin ernance. Laden. FSJ Editorial Board Amb. Hull laid out three Chairman Ted Wilkinson main propositions for effec- asked Hull whether he tive U.S. diplomacy in the thought it necessary to main- fight against al-Qaida. First, tain a “one size fits all” poli- the State Department should cy toward the protests, or place more emphasis on whether the current country- learning from experience and by-country approach is tapping best practices. Draw- preferable. Amb. Hull agreed ing on his own experiences, that the differences among Hull explained that the State individual political situations

Department hires smart peo- AYERST DONNA warrant the country-by- ple and provides them with Amb. Edmund Hull discusses his new book at AFSA -HQ event on May 16. country approach, but cau- training, but much of what tioned that Washington and FSOs learn is dependent on the leaders cesses will save more costly expenditures the international community should not under whom they work. on military operations in the future. The allow Yemen to drift toward al-Qaida. Although every FSO cannot work Foreign Service has taken on many new Amb. Hull urged the U.S. to work with under a great leader, there is a lot they can responsibilities in the area of counterter- its allies to prevent the terror network from learn from what has been done in the past. rorism, but the resources provided are not gaining breathing room. He praised the Hull cited the example of how George yet commensurate with those responsi- work of U.S. allies, including the U.K., Kennan analyzed the sources of Soviet con- bilities. Jordan, Germany and the Netherlands, for duct. Emphasizing the best practices devel- During the subsequent discussion, their work on training the Yemeni military oped by U.S. diplomats over the years Amb. Hull faced a series of questions on and police, and on development issues. would improve the State Department as a the future of U.S. policy in the region, the He also noted positive growth in the learning institution and allow for greater potential impact of the Arab Spring and the Gulf Cooperation Council, and stated that capacity for growth. role of the State Department in counter- he hopes the GCC will take a similar pos- terrorism efforts. ture toward Yemen as Europe took toward, Broad Solutions Needed CNN’s Elise Labott asked how a pos- for example, post-Franco Spain: recogniz- Hull’s second proposition was that an sible regime change in Sana’a could affect ing the long-term importance of stabiliz- effectivecounterterrorismstrategycannot U.S. counterterror efforts in Yemen. Hull ing the country and bringing it into the fold. be conceived of as a purely intelligence or answered that, although Pres. Ali Abdullah In conclusion, Amb. Hull stated that he military issue — the scope of the solution Saleh was important to U.S. efforts in the believes the Obama administration has a must be broad enough to cover the prob- country, the partnership between the U.S. counterterrorism strategy for the region, is lem. During Hull’s ambassadorship in and Yemen is broader than any one man, actively addressing the problem and is allo- Yemen(2001-2004),thismeantlinkingthe and will continue. cating resources. The question now, he says, security issues that are important in is effective implementation of the strategy. Washingtontothedevelopmentissuesthat The Arab Spring Hull ended with some optimism for the areimportantinSana’a. Hullstressedthat The retired ambassador added that in future: the sooner the U.S. acts, the greater it is critical to gain the ‘buy-in’ of the peo- thelongtermitwouldbegoodfortheU.S. its chances of success in the fight against al- ple, as well as of the government. — and bad for al-Qaida — if there were a Qaida. ❏

JULY-AUGUST 2011/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 47 A F S 2011 AFSA Merit Award Winners A BY LORI DEC, SCHOLARSHIP ADMINISTRATOR FSA is proud to announce the 28 Foreign Service high school seniors ing. Art applicants were judged on their art submission, two letters of N who were selected as the 2011 AFSA Merit Award winners. These recommendation and an essay. Katherine Skipper was selected as the Aone-time-only awards, totaling $44,000, were conferred on Art Merit Award winner for her short story and novel submissions. Sophia E Washington, D.C.-area winners on May 6. AFSA congratulates these Hubler and Anna Turner were selected as the Art Merit Honorable W students for their academic and artistic achievements. Winners received Mention Award winners. Sophia submitted photographs, and Anna won $2,000 awards, and honorable mention winners received $1,000 awards. for her piano submission. Anna was also an Academic Merit Winner. S The best-essay winner and the community service winner each received Nine academic merit named scholarships have been established to $500. Judges are members of AFSA’s Committee on Education, chaired date, the newest created this year by the Foreign Service Youth Foundation. by Amb. C. Edward Dillery and made up of individuals from the Foreign These awards were bestowed on the highest-scoring students. The named Service community. scholarships are: the Association of the American Foreign Service This year, 91 students competed for 16 Academic Merit Awards. They Worldwide Scholarship; the John and Priscilla Becker Family Scholarship; were judged on grade point average, standardized test scores, an essay, the Turner C. Cameron Memorial Scholarships; the John C. Leary two letters of recommendation, extracurricular activities and any spe- Memorial Scholarship; the Joanna and Robert Martin Scholarships; and cial circumstances. From the Academic Merit Award applicants, Caroline the Donald S. Memorial and Maria Giuseppa Spigler Scholarship. Huskey was selected best-essay winner, and Jordan Warlick was select- For more information on the AFSA Merit Awards, the AFSA ed as community service winner. Scholarship Program, or how to establish or apply for a scholarship, con- Sixteen students submitted art merit applications under one of the tact Lori Dec at (202) 944-5504 or [email protected], or visit our Web site following categories: visual arts, musical arts, drama or creative writ- at www.afsa.org.

Academic Merit Winners

Erika Cummings – daugh- Hayley Ernyey – daughter of Alexandria Foster – daughter Eliza Hale – daughter of Thaddeus Jones – son of ter of David Cummings Alexander Ernyey and Helen of C. Franklin Foster (FCS) and Jonathan P. Hale (State) and Stuart Edward Jones (State) (State) and Constance Lovejoy (State); graduated Virginia Foster (State); graduat- Sarah J. Sandberg; graduated and Barbara Lynn Jones Cummings; graduated from from Cairo American College, ed from Jamestown High from Escuela Campo Alegre, (State); graduated from Rocky Mountain High Cairo, Egypt; attending Tufts School, Williamsburg, Va.; Caracas, Venezuela; attending Sidwell Friends School, School, Fort Collins, Colo.; University, majoring in Middle attending the College of Harvard University, majoring in Washington, D.C.; attending attending the University of Eastern studies. William & Mary, majoring in cognitive science; designated Duke University, majoring in Oklahoma, majoring in piano international relations; desig- the Joanna and Robert Martin engineering; designated the and pre-med. nated the Associates of the Scholar. Foreign Service Youth American Foreign Service Foundation Scholar. Worldwide Scholar.

Patrick Morgan – son of John Nesemann – son of Alexander Recinos – son of Jennifer Rollins – daughter Marshall Thompson – son Richard H. Morgan (State) Michael E. Nesemann (State) Augusto Recinos (State) and of Jay Reed Rollins (USAID) of Dean R. Thompson (State) and Katheryn Morgan; gradu- and Susan A. Nesemann; Helen Greeley Recinos (State); and Nancy Rollins; graduated and Jane K. Thompson; grad- ated from Escuela Americana, graduated from George graduated from James from Forest Park High School, uated from Walt Whitman San Salvador, El Salvador; Mason High School, Falls Madison High School, Vienna, Woodbridge, Va.; attending High School, Bethesda, Md.; attending the University of Church, Va.; attending the Va.; attending Reed College Brigham Young University, attending Wheaton College, Virginia, majoring in interna- University of Virginia with no with no declared major; des- majoring in English. majoring in philosophy/theol- tional studies. declared major. ignated the Donald S. ogy; designated the Priscilla Memorial and Maria and John Becker Family Giuseppa Spigler Scholar. Scholar.

48 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JULY-AUGUST 2011 A F PMA Funds $4,000 AFSA Scholarship S ick Frankhouser (left), Public Members Association of the A Foreign Service Scholarship coordinator, and Amb. C. Edward NDillery, chairman of the AFSA Committee on Education, join N this year’s AFSA Scholarship recipient, Elise Guice, at PMA’s annual E luncheon on May 5. W S DONNA AYERST DONNA Scholarship Winners Honored AFSA Committee on Education Chairman C. Edward Dillery and nine local AFSA Merit Awards winners attended a May 6 reception at AFSA. Back row, left to right: Amb. Dillery, Thaddeus Jones, John Nesemann, Alexander Recinos, Justin Kanga and Marshall Thompson. Front row, left to right: Jennifer Rollins, Sarah Kelley and Erika Cummings.

Academic Merit Award Honorable Mention Winners Cameron Addleton – son the University of Notre Dame, of Hon. Jonathan S. Addleton majoring in biological studies. (USAID) and Fiona M. Addleton; Rachel Schwartz – daughter graduated from Mount de Sales of David J. Schwartz (State) and Academy, Macon, Ga.; attending Ruth Ellis; graduated from the Georgia Institute of Washington-Lee High School, Technology, majoring in political Arlington, Va.; attending the science. College of William & Mary, major- Mahalia Clark – daughter ing in international relations. of Samuel Clark and Lisa Brodey Samantha Sidhu – daughter (State); graduated from the of Apar S. Sidhu (State) and Mary International School of Geneva, Ellen Sidhu, graduated from Switzerland; attending Brown Lycee Mater Dei, Brussels, University, majoring in chemistry. Belgium; attending Middlebury Justin Kanga – son of Sarah Kelley – daughter of Stephanie McFeeters – Christopher Huffaker – son College, majoring in international Ardeshir F. Kanga (State) and James T. Kelley (State) and daughter of Brian D. of Thomas K. Huffaker (State) politics and economics. Cecilia de Kanga; graduated Martha N. Kelley (State); McFeeters (State) and and Claire Huffaker; graduated Jordan Warlick – daughter from Montgomery Blair High graduated from McLean High Melanie McFeeters; graduated from Webber Academy, Calgary, of Hon. James B. Warlick, Jr. School, Silver Spring, Md.; School, McLean, Va.; attend- from the International School Alberta; attending Williams (State) and Hon. Mary B. Warlick attending the University of ing the University of Virgina, of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; College with no declared major. (State), graduated from the Maryland, majoring in engi- majoring in anthropology; attending Dartmouth College, Elizabeth Leader – daughter International School of Belgrade, neering. designated the John C. Leary majoring in English; designat- of Damian R. Leader (State) and Serbia; attending the University Memorial Scholar. ed the Turner C. Cameron Joan Leader (State); graduated of California Davis, majoring in Memorial Scholar. from the American International international relations. School, Vienna, Austria; attending

Art Merit Award Winner Katherine Skipper – daughter of Thomas Skipper (State) and Kristen B. Skipper (State); graduated from the International School of Beijing, China; attending the University of Richmond with an undeclared major. Katherine won for her creative writing submissions. Art Merit Award Honorable Mention Winners Sophia Hubler – daughter of for her photography submission in Stephen A. Hubler (State) and Ute the Visual Arts category. Reith-Hubler; graduated from the Anna Turner – See Anna’s listing Anglo-American School, St. under the Academic Merit Award Petersburg, Russia; attending winners. Anna won for her piano Anna Turner – daughter of William VanKoughnett – Ksenia Weisz – daughter Pennsylvania State University, submission in the Musical Arts Conrad William Turner (State) son of Hale C. VanKoughnett of David Weisz (State) and majoring in fine arts. Sophia won category. and Susanne Turner; graduat- (State) and Diane B. Kaara Ettesvold (State); ed from the International VanKoughnett; graduated graduated from the John F. Community Service Award Winner School of Belgrade, Serbia; from the International School Kennedy School, Berlin, Jordan Warlick – See Jordan’s listing under the Academic Honorable attending Pomona College of Manila, Philippines; attend- Germany; attending Brown Mention Winners. with an undeclared major; ing Harvard University, major- University, majoring in Best Essay Award Winner designated the Turner C. ing in film; designated the Russian and international Caroline Huskey – daughter of Dr. James L. Huskey (State) and Joanne Cameron Memorial Scholar Joanna and Robert Martin relations. Grady Huskey; graduated from Saint Andrews Episcopal School, Potomac, and an AFSA Art Merit Scholar. Md.; attending Wake Forest University, majoring in economics. Honorable Mention winner.

JULY-AUGUST 2011/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 49 A F S AFSA MERIT ESSAY WINNER in which the Nairobi bombing had enabled cross-cultural under- A standingasIwatchedmymotherteachTeresa—theKikuyuwoman Life’s Serendipity confined to a wheelchair — how to dance. The attack brought tears BY CAROLINE HUSKEY to our eyes, and our knees to the ground, but it brought our hands N 10:34 a.m., Aug. 7, 1998. My world went black. A violent, ter- together: Kenyans and Americans, Kikuyus and Luos, young and E ribleshakesentchunksofcementcrashingdownonmyhead. Dust old, rich and poor, the man crying on the steps and me. Together, W obliterated my senses. I recall the roar of flames, the cries of the we built a memorial park; we prosecuted the guilty; we moved for- S trapped, the pervasive fear. Then a reassuring hand clasped mine ward; we learned to dance again. and led me toward a pinpoint of light — a hole torn through the Still, the burning question remains. Why did a few angry men thick steel door; on the other side, devastation. from a little island called Lamu hate my country, my race, my cul- The scene that ensued was a blur of roaring flames, fleeing bod- ture enough to kill me? I have seen, heard and felt the hateful intol- ies, and thick dust. I remember a Kenyan man kneeling on the erance within our world as those with opposing beliefs and glar- embassy steps, mouth open wide in agony, the color of his deep ing differences act violently toward one another. But experienc- ebony skin eclipsed by the crimson red of the blood that soaked ing this unreasonable hate so early in my life has shaped who I am. through his torn clothing. Despite the surrounding chaos, the mem- I am a person who seeks to understand, rather than be motivated ory of this man is clear. I understood then that I shared with that by anger, fear and hate. man an experience of terrible, hateful, unfair violence. I was blessed to have survived al-Qaida’s bombing of the U.S. Just one month after my fifth birthday, I barely understood what embassy in Nairobi, blessed to have my family alive and blessed to was happening. I could not have explained what motivated the ter- have walked out of a building in which hundreds died. The peo- rorist group al-Qaida. Nor could I have comprehended what fault ple in Nairobi that day did not deserve the hatred of a few angry they found in the United States embassy in Nairobi, or for that mat- men. The victims were not in any way at fault. They were just in ter, the United States itself. I could not have understood why I had the wrong place at the wrong time. Grateful for my family’s sur- been a victim of their hate. vival, I am left feeling that life, for all its logic, is ultimately and unex- Al-Qaida’s 1998 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Nairobi cre- plainably serendipitous. ated a wave of despair throughout Kenya. It was felt by 10 chil- Yet this is what makes us equal. This serendipity is what makes dren left to mourn the loss of their father, Stephen Kimani, who the story of the man on the steps, the story of Rose Mwangi, the had supported them on his meager salary. It was felt by Sue Bartley, story of Stephen Kimani, the story of Sue Bartley, the story of Teresa, who was robbed of her husband and son with just one heartbreaking my own story. The possibility that our fates are interchangeable blast. It was felt by Rose Wanjiku Mwangi, who suffered for four makes us equal. My life experience has resulted in my belief that days trapped under the rubble as the nation prayed for her survival. life’s serendipity makes a stranger’s story my own, which means in It was felt by Teresa, a Kikuyu woman who suddenly found her- every way humans are equal. This belief set my life goal of cross- self confined to a wheelchair. cultural understanding and acceptance. Together, we live seren- One day, weeks after the bombing, I started to realize the ways dipitously. ❏

Work-Life Panel • Continued from page 38 from a distance. “Information Quest can It was starting over each time, finding the seas post is more difficult than in Wash- helppeoplemanagetheircheckbooks,find right school, the right therapist, the right ington,” she concludes. Carrington also acontractor,locateatherapist,managetime support; but you do it because it is your pointsoutthatwherevertheemployeemay andeverythinginbetween,”shesays. “All child, and you can’t quit on your child.” be,workplaceflexibilityisanecessarycom- you have to do is to let them know what Ikelscommentedthatthecultureofthe ponentforwomentoadvanceintheirjobs your needs are and they will do the leg ForeignServicebreedsworkaholics,andtoo or enjoy greater career opportunities. work.” few superiors take the stance of former “The State Department has programs Secretary of State Colin Powell, who and regulations in place, but many people Family Issues famously told State employees: “You are are unaware of what is available,” Ikels Oneofthemostdifficultchallengesfac- not going to impress me by being here at laments. “We want to see more employ- ingForeignServicefamiliesisfindingpro- 8 o’clock tonight. What will impress me eesteleworking,so weareintheprocessof gramsandsupportforchildrenwithlearn- is if you are at home with your family.” identifyingeverypositionastelework-pos- ing difficulties. Stephen Morrison paint- During the question and answer peri- sible or not. If it is, the employee will be ed a picture of the heart-wrenching expe- od,membersoftheaudienceraisedarange notified.” riencesheandhiswifefacedwhenfinding of issues, from maternity leave and lacta- Ikels highlighted the department’s life support for their learning-disabled child: tionstationstohowtakingassignmentsto care program, which was specifically “It was like playing 52 pick-up, only you meet the needs of your child can prevent designedforpeoplewhohavetodothings hadtoplayiteverytimeyouchangedposts. an officer from being promoted. ❏

50 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JULY-AUGUST 2011 A F THIS MONTH IN DIPLOMATIC HISTORY: Nations Charter. He served the U.N. for decades in various posi- S tions, including as under secretary for political affairs, and attained A Ralph J. Bunche: worldwide fame as a Middle East mediator. He won the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating the 1949 Arab-Israeli armistice. Nobel Peace Prize Winner Mr. Bunche used the fame he acquired on the international stage N BY GREG NAARDEN in his advocacy for civil rights in the United States. He marched E withtheRev.MartinLutherKingJr.inAlabamaandWashington, W his month’s combined July-August edition provides us with D.C., and served on the board of the National Association for the S theopportunitytocelebrateaclassicAmericansuccessstory. Advancement of Colored People for 22 years. TRalph J. Bunche, who was born on Aug. 7, 1904, in Detroit, Ralph Bunche died in 1971, leaving an enduring legacy at each establishedhimselfasaluminaryinmultipledisciplines:academia, of the institutions he served. Parks, scholarships, buildings and the diplomacy and civil rights. State Department’s library have all been named after him, testimony Ralph Bunche was a self-made man. He lost his parents at an to a passion for service that was best summed up by U.N. Secretary early age, and his grandmother, a woman of modest means, raised General U Thant in his eulogy: him in Los Angeles. Despite the disadvantages of his early years, “Ralph Bunche was a practical optimist who believed that what- Bunche distinguished himself academically through primary and ever might go wrong in matters of peace or justice, it was never too secondary school. late to try again. His love of humanity and his belief in mankind’s Attending UCLA on a basketball scholarship, he studied polit- ultimate goodness carried him through many a crisis which would ical science, and graduated as valedictorian in 1927. He continued have broken a lesser man.” ❏ hisstudiesatHarvardonanacademicscholarship,earningaPh.D. “This Month in Diplomatic History” is a periodic column on U.S. diplomatic in1934. HethenbecameaprofessoratHowardUniversity,where history. Authors are members of the Friends of the USDC, a support group he had a storied academic career. for the U.S. Diplomacy Center. During World War II, Bunche’s work on colonialism in Africa Greg Naarden is an FSO who has served in Frankfurt, Dushanbe and Kabul. brought him to the Office of Strategic Services and then the State He is currently assigned to Washington, where he is trying to track down Department. He advised the U.S. delegations involved in estab- artifacts for the U.S. Diplomacy Center. If you’re interested in the Friends of lishingtheUnitedNations,andalsodraftedportionsoftheUnited the USDC, feel free to contact him at [email protected].

Plaque Ceremony • Continued from page 35 in service to our nation. I proudly join that I’ve learned in hearing this SecretaryClintoninsalutingthoselostand remarkable story, Gene Sulli- inthankingthemembersofourdiplomatic van’s life was shaped by a pow- service for their selfless contributions to erful sense of mission. During America and the world. Signed, Barack tours of duty of Seoul, Taipei, Obama.” Manila, Bangkok and Addis Explaining the background of the Ababa, Gene lived his dream of AFSAmemorialplaques,Johnsonempha- helping the poor and the pow- sized that family members are an integral erless. That commitment ex- partoftheForeignService. Intheyear2000, tendedtohisprivatelife,aswell.

in cooperation with the Associates of the AYERST DONNA Gene gave generously to many American Foreign Service Worldwide, Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg offers words of con- charities and orphanages. AFSA established a plaque recognizing dolence to the Sullivan on Foreign Affairs Day, May 6. “Gene’s friends and family Foreign Service family members who describe him as a man full of have died abroad. “As we solemnly honor Eugene Sullivan, intellectual curiosity with a love of travel, “Every year, on Foreign Affairs Day, a today, nearly 40 years later, we also newcuisines,andnewlanguages,especially wreath is also placed at that plaque, locat- rememberanothermemberoftheForeign languages. He spoke 13 of them, included on the other side of this lobby, to rec- Service family, Sharon Clark, who died of ing two Chinese dialects. ognizethesacrificesmadebyfamilymem- cerebral malaria on Dec. 26, 2010, while “Theyalsotalkaboutwhatalovinghus- bers who accompany their spouse or par- serving in Abuja, Nigeria.” bandandfatherhewas,andwe’rehonored ents overseas. Today, we proudly honor that so many of his members of his fami- all those represented on these hallowed A Sense of Mission ly are here with us today. And I want to walls,” Johnson said. Deputy Secretary of State James B. pay tribute to you for being here. Thank Johnsonendedherremarksbyadding, Steinbergthentookthepodium:“Fromall you so much.” ❏

JULY-AUGUST 2011/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 51 A F S Unaccompanied inated his 5-year-old son, Matthew, for a A medal. but Not Alone Because they are unable to attend the mid-July award ceremony in Washington, N BY GABRIELLE HAMPSON, Banks contacted the mayor of his home- E COMMUNICATIONS & OUTREACH town, Frisco, Texas. The mayor present- W OFFICER, FAMILY LIAISON OFFICE edMatthewwithhisawardatarecentcity S any Foreign Service families are council meeting. separated when employees are Since establishing the program in 2006, Massigned to a post where family FLO has distributed more than 2,000 members may not accompany them. awards and certificates to children. This This separation creates hardship for all recognition program is now available to all Proud parents Denise and Jason Banks watch membersofthefamily,butcanbeespecially as their son Matthew receives a State Department foreign affairs agency employees serving difficult for children. They must grapple medal. permanent change-of-station or long- with feelings of isolation and loss, as well term TDY assignments at designated as live in a community that may not real- celebrations;atceremoniesatoverseasmis- unaccompanied or limited accompanied izethataparentisnotonlyabsent,butserv- sions; by a local public official; or at the posts. All eligible Foreign Service, Civil ing in a high-risk environment. annual Youth Awards Ceremony held in Service and Locally Engaged Staff employ- To recognize the sacrifices children theStateDepartment’sBenjaminFranklin ees may submit nominations. makewhentheirparentsserveatanunac- Diplomatic Reception Room. To request a medal for your child, you companiedpost,theFamilyLiaisonOffice “Without the support of my family, I may download a nomination form from distributesmedalsandcertificatesofrecog- wouldneverhavebeenabletosurvivemen- FLO’s unaccompanied tours Web page at nitiontoForeignServicechildrenuptothe tally. Myfamilyisthetruehero,”saysJason www.state.gov/m/dghr/flo/c14521.htm. age of 21. The awards are given at a vari- Banks,whorecentlyreturnedfromaone- For additional information please e-mail etyofvenues:thechild’send-of-yearschool year assignment to Pakistan. Banks nom- [email protected]. ❏ CLASSIFIEDS LEGAL SERVICES LEGAL SERVICES LEGAL SERVICES

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54 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JULY-AUGUST 2011

A CONSUMMATE NEGOTIATOR: ROZANNE L. RIDGWAY

LAST MONTH AFSA RECOGNIZED AMBASSADOR RIDGWAY’S MANY CONTRIBUTIONS TO AMERICAN DIPLOMACY AND HER LIFETIME OF PUBLIC SERVICE.

BY STEVEN ALAN HONLEY

n June 23, Ambassador Rozanne L. the Bureau of Inter-American Affairs (now Western Hemi- Ridgway received the American For- sphere Affairs). eign Service Association’s Award for Over the course of a 32-year diplomatic career, Ambassa- Lifetime Contributions to American dor Ridgway used her skills and expertise to negotiate com- Diplomacy, in recognition of a distin- plex multilateral and bilateral agreements across a host of guished 32-year Foreign Service career issues affecting the interests of the United States. Beginning and a lifetime of public service. Past rein the 1970s, for example, Ridgway was a central player in the cipients of the award include U. Alexis Johnson, Frank Car- task of containing disputes over fishing rights to prevent Olucci, George H.W. Bush, Lawrence Eagleburger, Cyrus bloodshed and damage to significant international and do- Vance, David Newsom, Lee Hamilton, Thomas Pickering, mestic interests. George Shultz, Richard Parker, Richard Lugar, Morton Toward this end, she worked closely with the American Abramowitz, Joan Clark, Tom Boyatt, Sam Nunn and Bruce fishing industry, Congress and officials from Ecuador, Peru, Laingen. Brazil and the Bahamas. Her success in this regard led to her Roz Ridgway was born in St. Paul, Minn., on Aug. 22, appointment in 1975 as deputy assistant secretary of State for 1935. While still enrolled at Hamline University, she passed oceans and fisheries affairs and, in 1976, her confirmation by the Foreign Service exam and was accepted into the Service. the Senate as ambassador for oceans and fisheries affairs. So upon graduation from Hamline in June 1957, she imme- Later that year, when Congress enacted a 200-mile exclu- diately left for Washington, D.C., to take the A-100 orienta- sive economic zone before such zones were accepted by the tion course and remained in Washington for her first Foreign international community, Ridgway led dedicated teams of Service assignment, in an office working on educational ex- U.S. negotiators to reconstruct an entire body of law govern- changes. ing ocean resource management, particularly fisheries, and Her overseas postings included Manila, Palermo and Oslo; international marine science. She personally conducted many Nassau, where she was deputy chief of mission; and appoint- of the negotiations and worked with key congressional figures ments as U.S. ambassador to Finland (1977-1980) and the to obtain approval of all the agreements before the legislation German Democratic Republic (1982-1985). In Washington, came into effect. The whirlwind 13-month effort successfully she served as a political-military officer in the Office of North prevented conflict on the high seas. Atlantic Treaty Organization Affairs, and as desk officer and, As Counselor of the Department of State and, subse- later, deputy director for policy and planning in what was then quently, Special Assistant to the Secretary of State for Nego- tiations, Ridgway brought to a successful conclusion the Steven Alan Honley is the editor of the Journal. slow-moving negotiations for the payment of claims of Amer-

56 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JULY-AUGUST 2011 ican citizens for property seized by the communist govern- ings Institution. She was selected as one of Corporate Amer- ment of Czechoslovakia and the return to Prague of gold re- ica’s Outstanding Directors in 2001. At present she is a di- serves stolen by Nazi Germany, which had been held in New rector of the Emerson Electric Company, the Washington York and London since their recovery at the end of World Institute of Foreign Affairs and the Senior Living Founda- War II. tion of the American Foreign Service. In 1985, Amb. Ridgway returned to Washington from her Amb. Ridgway received the American Academy of Diplo- post in East Berlin to praise from President Ronald Reagan macy’s Annenberg Award for Excellence in Diplomacy in for the “careful, clear-eyed dialogue which you were able to 1989, the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Award in establish in this sensitive post.” He noted “the breakthroughs 1989, and the Presidential Citizen’s Medal, also in 1989. She [you] accomplished after patient, difficult negotiations in such was elected to the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1998. areas as religious freedoms, the reunification of divided fam- She and her husband, retired Captain Theodore E. Deming, ilies, and the payment of American claims.” And he added USCG, reside in Arlington, Va. that he looked forward to her “wise counsel and expertise” as Foreign Service Journal Editor Steve Honley interviewed assistant secretary of State for European and Canadian af- Amb. Ridgway on April 20. fairs. For the next four years, Amb. Ridgway led the interagency FSJ: Who were some of the people you admired or were team supporting Pres. Reagan and Secretary of State George inspired by during your Foreign Service career? Shultz through all five Reagan-Mikhail Gorbachev summits, RR: At every stage of my career, whether junior, mid-level was the lead negotiator for all of the summit joint statements, or senior, there was always someone on the horizon of my ac- and chaired the summit working groups dealing with human tivities whom I admired. In my first assignments, which rights. She worked closely with Secretary Shultz to obtain tended to be in educational exchanges and other things that the release of Soviet dissidents and spoke out on behalf of So- women were doing in the late 1950s, there was a group of viet Jewry. women who had entered government service during World Assembling a talented team of colleagues as deputies, of- War II and had segued into the Foreign Service. They were fice directors and desk officers, Amb. Ridgway ensured that very talented and, I must say, very willing to help a junior of- the rich agenda of European, Canadian and international or- ficer — after all, I was only 21 when I came into the Service ganization issues that comprised the bureau’s concerns and — sort of grow up. responsibilities at that time were addressed in a manner that Next, there are names like George Vest, Ron Spiers, Mar- served U.S. interests. garet Tibbets, Joan Clark — and John Hugh Crimmins, a After retiring from the Foreign Service in 1989, she served wonderful figure in Latin American affairs, and particularly as president, chief executive officer and co-chair of the At- important because he taught me how to write for, and work lantic Council of the United States from 1989 to 1996. In with, Congress. 1994, President Bill Clinton named her as chairman of the And then when you get to the end of my career, you’re Board of the Baltic-American Enterprise Fund which, over looking at George Shultz. the next 16 years, worked to assist the strengthening of democracy in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. As required by FSJ: Growing up in Minnesota, did you meet any diplo- law, the Fund sold its successful enterprises in 2010 and fi- mats? nanced the creation of the Baltic-American Freedom Foun- RR: No, though there were some there. I lived at home dation, a legacy institution dedicated to preserving and in a very family-oriented setting, and had never even consid- enhancing ties between the United States and the three Baltic ered the Foreign Service until an FSO on home leave turned countries. up at one of my university classes to talk about diplomatic ca- Amb. Ridgway retired from both the Fund and the Foun- reers and handed out application forms. dation in 2011. She is at present chairman of the Board of Trustees of the CNA Corporation, an Alexandria-based not- FSJ: About this time, you also read a magazine profile of for-profit organization engaged in operations analysis and so- a female FSO that inspired you, right? lutions for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps and a variety of RR: Yes, a piece in Life magazine profiling Pat Byrne, a federal, state and local agencies. talented officer. She also served on many corporate boards of directors between 1989 and 2009, including Boeing, 3M, Sara Lee, Man- FSJ: When did you take the Foreign Service exam? power, Citicorp/Citibank, Berlitz and Nabisco, and on the RR: When I was 20, which was the earliest you could take boards of the National Geographic Society and the Brook- it then.

JULY-AUGUST 2011/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 57 FSJ: You passed it on the first try? I discovered that the Alitalia pilots had RR: Yes, and then I took the oral gone on strike! here in Washington, where I was “In my first assignments Meanwhile, there was a call from spending a semester at American Uni- Washington instructing me to skip versity. During my final semester I worked with a talented home leave and do a direct transfer to back in Minnesota I got a telephone the Netherlands. I was at a colleague’s call from State saying, “We’re going to group of women who were home waiting for flights to resume, so be forming the June 1957 class; would when the consulate called to pass the you be available for it? And what is very willing to help message, they let me choose whether I your preference on an assignment — was still “officially” at post. I decided I Washington, D.C., or overseas?” I a junior officer … really wanted to go home on home chose Washington because I had not leave as planned — my mother had lived away from home, except for tak- sort of grow up.” been recently widowed, and it was im- ing American University’s Washington portant for me to get back to Min- Semester program. And it seemed — Ambassador Rozanne L. Ridgway nesota. And so it was decided that I wise to learn how to live away from had already gotten on the plane and home before venturing halfway was therefore not available for direct around the world. transfer. In addition, I came into the Serv- again, because it just took so much I spent the summer of 1964 in Min- ice on language probation — I had time. nesota wondering what would happen taken Spanish but had not had any op- to me, having given up a political as- portunity to use it. By coming to FSJ: What were your first assign- signment I’d wanted. Then, out of the Washington and getting accustomed ments? blue, I heard from George Vest with an to living on my own, I could room RR: After completing A-100, I was assignment to a regional political-mili- with some other young women and assigned to the Office of International tary affairs job in the office of NATO take my language course before I Educational Exchanges. There I en- affairs, one of the most illustriously went out to Manila. So by the time I countered a group of women who had staffed offices in the State Department went overseas, I was a little older and been in the Office of War Information at the time. a little more experienced, and had during World War II and then came In a way, that began the second gotten my language requirement out into the education exchange part of phase of my career. First there was of the way. State. Then I went to Manila in 1959 what I would call the “growing up” FSJ: How many languages did you for two years as one of three personnel phase, where I gained experience liv- learn over the course of your career? officers, after which I came back to the ing overseas, acquiring a couple of lan- RR: Four in all: Spanish, Italian, Foreign Service Institute to study Ital- guages and developing some pro- Norwegian and German. I got a 4/4 in ian in preparation for my assignment fessional skills. And then I came back Italian, and 3/3 in all the others. As for to Palermo. I really enjoyed Italian — to Washington for a three-year assign- Finnish, that one I studied every morn- it was the language that, for some rea- ment in EUR/RPM, from 1964 to ing with a teacher, and I went back to son, suited me best. 1967. the basics, reading fairy tales and things From 1962 to 1964 I was a visa of- of that sort. There’s one line I can still ficer in Palermo where, once again, I FSJ: What was your next assign- recite that means: “There were once found a group of talented female offi- ment as a political officer? two princesses who lived in faraway cers. It was a great assignment. I have RR: In 1967 I went to Oslo, where China.” an idea that for many FSOs, their con- Margaret Tibbets was ambassador. It I learned enough to give a speech sular assignment is the one that brings was a small post, so I got to work with in Finland’s two languages: Finnish back the fondest memories. her closely and see how she managed and Swedish, which was easy because I had been pushing for a political her relationship with the staff, with the of the Norwegian. I really practiced job for my next assignment, and when Norwegian government and people, and I gave it at the Finnish-American some inspectors came through, they and how she entertained and managed Friendship Day convocation one year. thought they could help. Sure enough, her household. along came an assignment to The FSJ: I bet that was a hit. Hague. But when I went to the airport FSJ: Didn’t Ambassador Tibbets RR: It was. But I never tried that to fly back to the States for home leave, pass away recently?

58 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JULY-AUGUST 2011 RR: Yes, she did. In fact, I wrote a to feel that something was wrong, I was tribute to her that ran in State maga- selected for the job in RPM, which was zine. I think by the time I became am- “Out of the blue, I heard a wonderful opportunity that didn’t bassador to Finland a decade later, I come to a lot of other women. But the very much modeled myself after what from George Vest with an result is that I was not in the course of she had done as chief of mission in my career an “angry woman.” Oslo. She was very generous with staff, assignment to the Office I think you have to have a passion sharing representational funds and and anger and a sense of having been travel opportunities — all the kinds of of NATO Affairs, one of hurt somehow or being disadvantaged things that are so enriching for junior to get involved in lawsuits and the like. and mid-grade officers. the most illustriously And I simply didn’t share that passion. At the same time, she dealt with That said, I certainly knew women major policy questions. France was al- staffed offices in the State who had to resign from the Service ready departing from NATO, and the simply because they had married. Norwegians had a plebiscite coming Department at the time.” They had a real case, but that didn’t af- up on the question of whether they fect me. I see that separately. But as were going to leave the Alliance, as for the other complaints, I didn’t feel well. In addition, Vietnam posed a the passion to join in those fights. And challenge for NATO solidarity. And so so I didn’t. there were many substantive issues on came up early on, but again, I was 21 Embassy Oslo’s agenda. years old when I entered the Service. I FSJ: When you did an oral history By the time I finished my three- don’t think I would have been handing interview with the Association for year tour in Oslo, it was 1970. The senior positions to someone like me, Diplomatic Studies and Training some United States was in turmoil, with the either, until I’d had time to “grow up” years back, you made a comment that Kent State shootings, and the assassi- in the Service. Oslo was your loneliest tour. Was that nations of the Rev. Martin Luther King And about the time that I had begun just the place and stage of your life? Jr. and Robert Kennedy, and so much more. So it seemed like the right time to come back to the States, even though I was “off-cycle” for assignments. But that was when I met Joan Clark, who sort of talked John Hugh Crimmins into letting me be the Ecuador desk officer. And that began yet another phase of my career.

FSJ: Did being a female FSO present any special challenges? RR: No, not really. First of all, I was a girl between two boys in my family and, if I’d sat down at the dinner table and said, “I want to be a fire chief some day,” no- body would have said, “You can’t.” So I sort of went through my career aware of the occa- sional slight, but not letting it become central to my feelings about the Foreign Service. Ambassador Ridgway with President Ronald Reagan and Chief of Staff Donald Regan at There were a few things that a 1985 White House dinner.

JULY-AUGUST 2011/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 59 RR: I think it was Norway. I’m FSJ: What happened? from Minnesota, so the place wasn’t RR: There’s a bit of background to terribly alien. But Norwegians are shy “When I became this. Lucy Benson Wilson was retir- and careful in their friendships, and ing, and suddenly there were no very family-oriented, so they don’t have ambassador to Finland, women among the State Department extensive social circles. And it was way principals on the 7th floor. I was up north, and it could get very dark. I very much modeled called and asked to become counselor, It took a while to be seen as some- even though I was not particularly body who wasn’t just sort of flitting myself after what Margaret close to the department leadership at through the area. But as I mentioned, that time. I had some representation money, so I Tibbets had done as I knew that was a risk but accepted was able to entertain colleagues from the position anyway, on the grounds the Norwegian Foreign Ministry, the chief of mission in Oslo.” that I thought I was qualified. But as Institute of Foreign Affairs, younger I said on the day that I retired, “Don’t parliamentarians and circles like that, ever take a token job unless you have and gradually life got easier. a token mind.” And as I took up my FSJ: You also said something in duties, I realized I was there just to be that interview along the lines that, do things, arrange our travel programs a photograph in the department’s or- when you first got there, you made up for the darkest part of the year, keep ganization chart. Even so, I had a your mind that “I’m not going to learn moving, keep thinking and stay occu- great year. how to play bridge or make rugs or ski pied. cross-country.” But you ended up FSJ: But you had to find your own doing all three! FSJ: Your next assignment was as issues to work on, right? RR: Right. It was lonely, but you State Department counselor, correct? RR: Right. But that allowed the po- get through it. And later, when I be- RR: Yes, in 1980. But between the sition to be placed at the disposal of of- came ambassador in Finland in that time I left Helsinki and started as fices that never had their issues make it same kind of climate, I could see that it counselor, most of the job’s responsi- to the 7th floor. So it worked out. You was tough on the staff. So we tried to bilities disappeared. do what you have to.

FSJ: What happened when the Reagan administration came in the next year? RR: As you would expect, I was replaced as counselor right away, but eventually was named Special Assistant to the Secretary of State for Negoti- ations. Once again I found things to do, like resolving the Czech gold claims issue. That involved very interesting and very intricate negotiations, in which the British were also involved. And I had a really good team, just as I’d had when I was handling fisheries issues. By the way, almost the first international issue facing the new administration involved With Finnish designer Armi Maria Ratia, left, in Helsinki, 1977. fisheries in Canada, on the

60 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JULY-AUGUST 2011 eve of President Ronald Reagan’s visit ject-matter expert. Is that the way to Ottawa. I was asked to take that you tended to approach those assign- issue on, and we managed it success- “When something had ments? Or did you rely on people who fully. knew all the details? to be untangled and RR: Both. You had to know the FSJ: You handled a lot of different subject yourself, because your coun- issues during your career, but I think fixed and put back terpart across the table was probably probably most people would say the national principal for whatever that you’re best known for working in Eu- together again in a way issue was. But I also always tried to rope and dealing with those issues. surround myself with a team of people Do you consider yourself a specialist that served U.S. interests, who knew even more than I did and in European affairs? worked together well. RR: Well, people may think of me that’s what I did.” as a Europeanist, but, in fact, I was a FSJ: Forgive me if this is trying to negotiator. My fisheries activities were read too much meaning into it, but do very extensive, including negotiations you think female FSOs tend to be with Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan and more oriented to teamwork and shar- Mexico. to be untangled and fixed and put back ing credit and getting the job done as together again in a way that served opposed to ego? Or is it just a matter FSJ: You and your team negotiated U.S. interests, that’s what I did. And it of personality? something like 26 bilateral fisheries tends to look European, but it is really RR: Well, I’d be hard put to say that agreements, I believe. negotiations. — think of people like George Vest RR: Something like that. I was a and Ron Spiers and George Shultz. All problem-solver: when something had FSJ: Obviously you became a sub- of them had that same quality of work-

JULY-AUGUST 2011/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 61 ing through teams. So it just depends For example, the Canadians walked on the person, not the gender. away with all of our wheat trade in East “Don’t ever take a token Germany and Eastern Europe. They FSJ: When you went to Nassau in just came in with better interest rates 1973 as Ron Spiers’ deputy chief of job unless you have a on trade, and the rest. I can’t tell you mission, you commented that you how many hundreds of millions of dol- found the DCM course really valu- token mind.” lars of economic trade we lost because able. What made it so useful? people said, “Well, they have to solve RR: At that time the department all these problems first before we can had a very high casualty list of promis- compete for trade with them.” ing officers going out as DCMs, only to And I said, “If that’s what you want fall victim either to misunderstanding first Reagan administration, and it was to do, fine. But you should have both their role within the embassy or not un- clear that the policy was that we didn’t pieces in front of you: Here’s the op- derstanding the DCM’s relationship to talk to people in places like the GDR. portunity and here’s the cost if it’s not the ambassador. And so Dr. Harry They’re the enemy, the Warsaw Pact; pursued. And if you are consciously Wilkinson, who is now at Rice Univer- so unless they’re willing to quit and join accepting the cost to maintain the prin- sity, put the DCM course together. NATO, you don’t talk to them. ciple, fine. But don’t expect me to go And I was one of those who went When I paid my calls on East Ger- out there and do both — seize this op- through one of its first iterations. man officials I said, “This is what we portunity and maintain this principle. The phrase that still stays with me want done: we want families reunited, It’s one thing or the other, a conscious from it was “establishment of the so- we want claims paid, the Jewish claims choice. called ‘psychological contract’ between paid, we want the paintings of Lyonel I think in some respects that’s what the DCM and the ambassador.” What Feininger returned to his family…” brought me to the attention of George is our relationship? What do you ex- And after I recited that long list, Erick Shultz. In my cables back to Washing- pect of me? What do I expect of you Honecker and others said, “Suppose ton, I made my pitch for some of these — and how are we going to conduct we did all that. What are you prepared packages of things. I lost, but I was try- our relationship? I suppose these days to do for us?” I had to say “Not a ing to work these issues in a way that management courses call that candor thing.” served U.S. interests. You can’t oper- and transparency. And so I went back to Washington, ate with a whole long list of “You must” That is a tremendous technique for and said to Larry Eagleburger: Look, and nothing saying “We will.” You all kinds of situations. When I was asif you really want me to solve these can’t operate that way. Yet we often sistant secretary of EUR, I had all problems, you’ve got to give me some- still try that approach today; and when these deputy assistant secretaries and thing to work with — whether it’s trade we do, problems remain unsolved. office directors who were wondering or the opportunity for East German of- what I expected of them; and I, what ficials who are traveling in the States to FSJ: And you believe that put you they expected of me. And there’s noth- come to Washington and meet with on Secretary Shultz’s radar screen. ing wrong with sitting down and talk- counterparts and go over issues, or to RR: Yes. At that time George Vest ing about it. And it was the same with consult with us on the Helsinki was the director general, but I don’t George Shultz when he was Secretary Process. And Larry’s answer to me know what kind of conversation took of State. was, “Well, you know the view. You place in Washington. I only know that can go out there and if you can put I got a call, first from George Vest and FSJ: That’s a good segue to dis- something together, fine. But I leave it then from George Shultz, about the as- cussing your three ambassadorships. up to you to hear the sound of the saw signment as assistant secretary for When you discussed your time in East on the limb behind you.” European and Canadian affairs. I ob- Germany during your oral history, it FSJ: So did you ever hear the saw? viously accepted gladly since I knew sounded like there was no clear idea of RR: No, mostly because I came that it was not going to be like the what the department wanted you to do. back to Washington on issues before counselor job. And the next four years RR: Larry Eagleburger, then under the saw could be sharpened. I still (1985-1989) were just incredible. secretary for political affairs, called me often lost in the Washington intera- in 1982 about going to the German gency setting, but I think I got people FSJ: Did you plan all along to Democratic Republic. I said fine and to understand that there was a balance leave the Foreign Service after that, or started preparing. This was during the here. were you hoping to find another job?

62 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JULY-AUGUST 2011 RR: A little bit of both. There was RR: Yes, I was president and chief RR: Oh, yes. I loved it. But I had an assignment in the offing for me as executive officer for them, doing what to stop — nearly all those companies ambassador to NATO. I think every- everybody does who ends up in not- have mandatory retirement ages. I am body knew it — the Europeans cer- for-profits: I was a fundraiser. And you still on one corporate board, Emerson tainly did. But I decided that I really try to think of projects that might in- in St. Louis, where I’ve been extended had done enough. The four years had terest people who have funding, so that for a couple of years. But this is my last ended on an upbeat note, and you have you can keep the staff together. year there. In the course of the last to ask, “Can I top this?” And the an- three years, I have retired in order swer was “probably not.” FSJ: You spent six years as the from all of the other boards. And now Besides, it was time to go. I really council’s president? I’m trying to understand retirement. didn’t want to pack up again, and I had RR: No, three years as president married before going out to East Ger- and then another three as co-chair, FSJ: Do you have any suggestions many. And we’d had two years apart along with General Andrew Good- for today’s Foreign Service as an in- when I was in East Germany and Ted paster. During the second three-year stitution? was in Alaska. So I just couldn’t do it. period, when David Acheson was the RR: I don’t know the new Foreign Somebody reminded me the other day Atlantic Council president, I really was Service. I look at the nominations in that I was asked, ‘What did you retire sort of a teammate, working on a num- State magazine, and I certainly see a to do?” And I said, “I retired to con- ber of broad issues and doing some range of faces and genders and colors sider the possibilities.” And two or fundraising where I could. But for the and backgrounds. That indicates a three whole new careers unfolded over most part, I built up my corporate ca- Service that has grown and matured, the next 20 years. reer. and is more reflective of American society than it ever was in my day. And FSJ: First, you worked with the At- FSJ: And has that been your other the Service has been willing to change. lantic Council. focus in retirement? Whether it’s been forced to, or just un-

JULY-AUGUST 2011/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 63 derstood that it was missing a lot of women with intellectual and physical good people by being the way it was, I courage and stamina. That’s what I don’t know. “When you look back on would look for. But judging by those pictures, a lot of change has taken place. Judging by a career and can be FSJ: Do you do any recruitment what I see in the Foreign Service Jour- for the Service? nal and State, technology and the warm-hearted about all RR: Yes, when I’m back in Min- whole world of information and media nesota at Hamline University. Plus a and things of that sort have imposed the people you met, lot of people call and ask me to talk to changes. And, of course, terrorism and their children or to small groups of new security requirements have im- even those on opposite people. I’m happy to do that. For one posed enormous pressures on the State thing, it keeps young people moving Department to change. sides of issues, you know through my life. Where else am I Still, when it comes to recruiting, I going to see them? think State ought to continue to go you’ve been part of I’m a big fan of government service. after the very best people it can find. I’m desperately sorry to see the deni- We have to find the kind of people something special.” gration of public service at any level. who constantly learn, who have the There may have been mistakes. And I ability to adjust, a sense of humor, a understand the concern about the pen- delight in interchange with people and sion problem and so on. But the un- other cultures, and general tough- FSO corps with all the wrong abilities derlying issue is whether we’re going mindedness. as time passes. to continue to value public service, as I The Foreign Service is a demand- I’m a great believer in going out and think we must. ing profession, where careers can be finding bright people who are educa- For women and minorities in par- 30 years long or more. Recruiting for ble, comfortable in changing circum- ticular, public service has offered equal specific skills and assuming that those stances, able to relate to other cultures, pay for equal work longer than many requirements are not going to change able to function in other languages other parts of the economy. And in a will simply leave you with an inflexible and able to keep learning. Men and sense, it has moved more quickly to create equal opportunity. That isn’t always the case in other professions. So public service has been a good place for people to start. The Foreign Service is a wonderful career, I believe — an exciting place to be, as are most government careers. I believe in the importance of public service and the value for our country of public servants.

FSJ: Do you see the Foreign Service as a career as opposed to a series of jobs? RR: Yes, it’s a career full of building blocks. We’re back to the capacity to learn. No matter whether you’re a junior officer or With Secretary of State George Shultz in Italy, 1987. mid-level, you’re acquiring

64 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JULY-AUGUST 2011 experience: how to negotiate, how to Perhaps the Office of the Inspector meet with people, how to write and General could take on the subject of speak effectively across a society, and dissent as they do their post reviews. how to develop contacts. You don’t just Include it as a question when inter- pick up knowledge and professional- viewing officers: “Have you ever dis- ism and then leave. agreed with post management? How have you expressed the disagreement? FSJ: Use of the State Department How was it received?” And the team Dissent Channel has fallen consider- should ask ambassadors whether they ably in recent years, as has the num- feel their staff members are thinking ber of nominations for AFSA’s four carefully about problems and coming annual constructive dissent awards. up with alternative approaches. Some people attribute those trends to a change in the culture of the Service, FSJ: That sounds like a terrific where people just give up on trying to idea. Any final thoughts? change policy and suppress their dis- RR: I loved my career, and would sent to get ahead. do it all over again. It felt like 10 years, RR: That’s a shame. When you get not 32. And when you look back on a to where you’re sitting with the presi- With her husband, Captain Theodore career and can be warm-hearted about dent and the Secretary of State, and Deming (ret.), USCG, 1987. all the people you met, even those on are asked your opinion, you don’t give times did when I was arguing for more opposite sides of issues, you know them the answer you think they want. engagement with East Germany. But you’ve been part of something special. You’ve got to give them your opinion. I did my best. And then I went back You may lose the argument, as I some- and tried something else. FSJ: Thank you very much. I

JULY-AUGUST 2011/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 65 TAKING DIPLOMATIC PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION SERIOUSLY

A NEW AMERICAN ACADEMY OF DIPLOMACY STUDY MAKES A COMPELLING CASE FOR ESTABLISHING A SYSTEMATIC TRAINING REGIMEN AT STATE.

BY ROBERT M. BEECROFT

n February, representatives from the United States cludes that building “a civilian capacity to prevent and re- and 15 other countries gathered at Wilton Park in spond to crisis and conflict and give our military the partner the United Kingdom to debate issues related to — it needs and deserves” cannot be done on the cheap. More- as the conference organizers put it —“creating the over, it will require close collaboration, and a broad consen- new diplomat.” Given the fluid, multifaceted en- sus about what is at stake, between the executive and vironment in which diplomacy now operates, par- legislative branches. The full report can be found on the ticipants agreed that relying on informal, on-the- Academy’s Web site: www.academyofdiplomacy.org. job professional education and training for diplomats makes Iabout as much sense as doing so for military officers. Conducting the Study Coincidentally, the question of what the “new diplomacy” In August 2009, the American Academy of Diplomacy’s entails, and how to ensure that U.S. Foreign Service officers president, retired Ambassador Ronald E. Neumann, asked are fully equipped to carry it out, was the subject of a report me to take the lead in producing a report on how the De- the American Academy of Diplomacy released that same partment of State educates and trains its professionals for month. Titled “Forging a 21st-Century Diplomatic Service their roles and missions, including specific recommendations for the United States through Professional Education and for changes and improvements. With funding from the Una Training,” the AAD study calls for amassing and sustaining Chapman Cox Foundation and additional help from AFSA the human and budgetary resources required for a system- and the Delevan Foundation, we assembled an advisory atic regimen of professional diplomatic education at the De- group of some 25 concerned people, chaired by one of Amer- partment of State. ica’s most distinguished senior diplomats, retired Ambassa- That objective dovetails nicely with the thrust of the Quad- dor Thomas R. Pickering. rennial Diplomacy and Development Review, which con- Advisory group participants included retired U.S. diplomatic and military officers, corporate executives, academic Robert M. Beecroft, a Foreign Service officer from 1971 to experts, congressional staff members, QDDR working group 2006, currently serves as a supervisory senior inspector in the members, and representatives from the American Foreign State Department’s Office of the Inspector General. His pre- Service Association and the U.S. Institute of Peace. Although vious assignments include: ambassador and head of the Or- they were not responsible for the study’s conclusions, the di- ganization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s mission rector general of the Foreign Service and the director of the in Bosnia and Herzegovina; special envoy for the Bosnian Foreign Service Institute were regular and welcome partici- Federation; and principal deputy assistant secretary of State pants in the process, along with senior members of their for political-military affairs, among many others. staffs. In addition, through the good offices of AFSA, we

66 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JULY-AUGUST 2011 were able to tap into the views of serving U.S. diplomats in activities that today’s and tomorrow’s U.S. diplomats carry the field and in Washington. out? And are our diplomats being adequately and “specifi- In May 2010, the advisory group held its first meeting, and cally prepared” to perform those activities? a small drafting group got to work. We also assembled a separate “red team,” whose task was to question the assumptions, Investing in Professional Training conclusions and recommendations in the draft. Two of our Those are the core questions that the AAD report ad- colleagues visited a number of embassies in Washington, in- dresses. It is direct and to the point: cluding those of Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, “Since at least 2001, America’s ‘smart power’ equation has India, Mexico and the United Kingdom, to learn how other been out of balance. Increasingly, underinvestment in diplo- diplomatic services educate and train their professionals. We macy and development has led to our military taking on re- also investigated in detail the professional education require- sponsibilities traditionally met by diplomats and development ments of U.S. military officers, which are as systematic as experts. Driven by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the State’s are ad hoc. need to respond to the global threat of Although we compared notes with terrorism, resources and influence have QDDR working group members as the flowed, abundantly and too often uncrit- two projects went forward, the two stud- Relying on informal, ically, to the Defense Department, which ies complement, but do not duplicate, more than anyone has pointed to the lim- each other. Perhaps the most important on-the-job professional itation of bullets in addressing the chal- distinction is the fact that the QDDR lenges in this region. consistently refers to training, while the education and training for “While the root cause of this imbal- AAD project’s stress is on professional ance lies in a lack of broad understand- education across a diplomat’s career. diplomats makes about ing about the value and requirements of In other words, we focused on how diplomacy and development at this point strong intellectual skills, informed analy- as much sense as doing so in history, the lack of resources allocated sis, structured thinking, the art of negoti- to the State Department and other for- ation and the ability to manage programs for military officers. eign affairs agencies, and the inconsistent can best be acquired and developed by and uncoordinated response of those Foreign Service generalists as they ad- agencies to rapidly changing interna- vance through the ranks. Such a focus tional priorities and demands have also goes beyond training, to the core qualities of a diplomat’s abil- played a contributing role.” ities. The heart of the report consists of eight specific recom- Early on in the project, there were intense debates in the mendations that focus on the need to redress America’s working group about whether diplomacy is in fact a profession chronic underinvestment in diplomacy and strengthen and and, if so, what qualifies it as such. Here is one definition, expand the State Department’s professional development drawn from the Web: “Diplomacy is the art and practice of process. The first three deal with the broad question of re- conducting negotiations between accredited persons … rep- sources, for without proper funding and sufficient personnel resenting groups or nations. It usually refers to international the specific steps recommended by us — or anyone else — diplomacy, the conduct of international relations through the will be fruitless. Thus, we stress the need to: intercession of professional diplomats with regard to issues of •Redress the chronic underinvestment in American diplo- trade and war. International treaties are usually negotiated by macy; diplomats prior to endorsement by national politicians.” • Provide and sustain a 15-percent “float,” or personnel I suspect that many Foreign Service officers these days overcomplement, which is essential to free up FSOs for pro- would say: “How old-fashioned.” They might also cite a more fessional education and training (and which already exists at succinct definition: “Diplomacy is the art of being able to tell the Defense Department); and someone to go to hell in such a way that he looks forward to • Make a long-term commitment to investing in profes- the trip.” sional education and training. More seriously, if — to quote another definition from the We are well aware that acquiring and maintaining such re- Web — a profession is “a discipline whose activities are car- sources in the current budget climate will be extraordinarily ried out by a group of specifically prepared and like-minded difficult. To succeed will require active, effective lobbying individuals,” then we need to ensure that the diplomatic pro- on Capitol Hill and a carefully calibrated public outreach ef- fession qualifies as such every bit as much as the military pro- fort, targeting opinion leaders and key audiences throughout fession. Consequently, two questions arise: What are the the United States. But the alternative — a second-rate diplo-

JULY-AUGUST 2011/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 67 matic force incapable of meeting the We recognize that the resources do nation’s goals — is simply unacceptable not currently exist to move instantly to in today’s and tomorrow’s world. The AAD report’s findings such a program. We therefore recommend assigning growing numbers of Taking Training Seriously dovetail nicely with the officers to a year of professional edu- Without a larger work force to in- cation at service colleges and other crease flexibility, those already serving thrust of the Quadrennial universities, until we reach the point at will find that they must remain in crit- which everyone can participate. Re- ical jobs and cannot be spared for Diplomacy and sources permitting, State might revisit training. All the talk of mandates will the utility of something like the old be so much hot air if we cannot estab- Development Review. Senior Seminar, in the hope that we lish a larger reserve of training posi- will someday carry our own weight in tions. This is something the State the area of professional education, as Department realized as early as 2008, FSI now does in training. when it expanded the current training Other recommendations return to requirement to a total of about 1,100 Foreign Service culture of resistance the focus of training. We recommend positions, most of them for language to training — an approach our nation establishing a temporary corps of rov- training. can no longer afford. We recognize ing counselors, drawn extensively from The next two recommendations are that such change must come in tan- among recently retired FSOs, in re- the most far-reaching in the study. The dem with the resources to implement sponse to problems that the mid-level first deals with strengthening the per- them; but come it should. gap has caused. With two-thirds of sonnel system so that at least some as- FSOs having spent less than 10 years signments can be deliberately related Training vs. Education in the Service, more attention must be to a long-term view of essential train- The next recommendation changes paid to mentoring, as well. The direc- ing. the focus from training to education. tor general is moving ahead with a For this to happen, we want to Foreign Service officers, like other se- similar program, which we strongly en- break certain cherished traditions. rious professionals, need intellectual dorse. One of these is the myopic focus on as- preparation for the much broader re- Whatever changes we or others rec- signments that considers only the im- sponsibilities that come with seniority. ommend, on-the-job training will re- mediate needs of the Foreign Service This is recognized in a notion of our main a fact of life. But why should we and the preference of the officer. We military colleagues that they “train for go on assuming that every Foreign do not think this approach adequately certainty and educate for uncertainty.” Service officer knows how best to mo- serves the national interest in a fully The utility of education, not just tivate another generation, or is a great trained professional corps. Instead, training, is borne out overwhelmingly teacher? This is why we recommend the personnel system should be rein- by the experience of those who have conducting a study to examine best forced with staff and authority to play a had such opportunities — in the now- practices in on-the-job training. more central role. discontinued Senior Seminar, at the The Career Development Program service colleges, or through university Senior FSOs Need has already begun to move in this di- training. Professional Education, Too rection, with its list of essential re- We believe the goal must be to give The report’s final three recommen- quirements for promotion. But it every mid-level officer a year of pro- dations apply to how our most senior leaves these steps entirely to the offi- fessional education, not just a pastiche officers are prepared for their jobs. cer. Nor is it yet clear that the person- of short (and mostly optional) training The experience of our large group nel system will be able or willing to courses jammed into already crowded of former chiefs of mission on the ad- enforce its own rules. We think it professional lives. visory group is that few country direc- should. Professional education must involve torates have an adequate knowledge For this to happen, there must be a a more serious commitment to reflec- of how best to prepare a new ambas- rebalancing of forces: enough bodies to tion and thought. Eventually, we rec- sador to go to his or her post. As a re- train; stringent requirements for cer- ommend that such a year of advanced sult, too much time is wasted while tain types of training; and a clear study, relevant to one’s career track, the new chief of mission designs his enough linkage between training and become a firm condition for promotion or her own consultation. A five-day promotion to break the deeply rooted to senior ranks. training course for desk officers and

68 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JULY-AUGUST 2011 others responsible for preparing new fore, but this time the scenery has COMs for their posts would help en- changed. The neat lines dividing sure that bureau personnel are fully The heart of the report diplomacy, development and defense prepared to assist new chiefs of mission have been blurred, and in some cases in identifying major policy issues and consists of eight specific erased altogether. The natural part- arranging for appropriate consultations. ners of diplomats have ceased to be Similarly, we continue to entrust recommendations to primarily other diplomats, or func- senior positions within the department tionaries in ministries. Our Foreign to persons from outside the profession redress America’s chronic Service officers urgently require the who are unfamiliar with the bureau- strongest possible preparation to meet cratic and professional culture in which underinvestment in the new challenges they face. As pro- they must lead and function. To ad- fessionals, they cannot afford a return dress this gap, we recommend devel- diplomacy and strengthen to the status quo. oping a familiarization course for new The American Academy of Diplo- non-career officials based in Washing- State’s professional macy’s diplomatic professional educa- ton. tion and training report, taken together This course should focus on the development process. with the broad vision set out in the structure and procedures of the de- Quadrennial Diplomacy and Develop- partment, the interagency process and ment Review, offers a specific, work- Washington power relationships, not on able road map. What is required now the responsibilities of chiefs of mission is the political will to transform this vi- overseas — the subject of the seminar can public and developing alliances sion into reality. I ambassadors now take before begin- with other individuals and organiza- ning their assignments in the field. tions whose goals complement our Our report focused on the Depart- own. ment of State’s Foreign Service cohort, Ironically, current budgetary con- You Are Our because that is where the competence cerns might be one such ally. In recent Eyes & of the American Academy of Diplo- years, Defense Secretary Robert Gates macy is strongest. However, we rec- and a number of senior U.S. military of- Ears! ognize that our partners in the business ficers, long concerned with relentless of diplomacy in USAID, Commerce force overstretch and mission creep, and Agriculture have similar needs for have been among State’s strongest ad- Dear Readers: expanded professional education and vocates. The Fiscal Year 2011 Depart- training. We strongly support reviews ment of Defense budget request, In order to produce a high- similar to this one in these other agen- which includes overseas contingency quality product, the FSJ cies. operations funding for Afghanistan depends on the revenue it and Iraq, totals $708 billion, though earns from advertising. From Vision to Reality as of late May the final authorization You can help with this. Significant obstacles to implement- had not yet cleared Congress. ing our recommendations remain. Meanwhile, on April 14, the House Please let us know the names Diplomacy continues to be little un- and Senate approved legislation em- of companies that have pro- derstood and largely invisible to much bodying an agreement between the vided good service to you — of the American public. Obama administration and congres- a hotel, insurance company, In Congress, negative stereotypes sional leaders to fund the government auto dealership, or other about diplomats persist, and — unlike for the remainder of FY 2011. Signed concern. the military, with its bases and indus- into law on April 15, H.R. 1473 funds A referral from our readers is trial infrastructure across the country the State Department and Foreign the best entrée! — the State Department can count on Operations accounts at $48.98 billion, relatively few allies on Capitol Hill. some $7.8 billion less than the admin- Ed Miltenberger We are continuing outreach efforts in istration’s original request for $56.8 Advertising & Circulation Manager Congress and the executive branch, ex- billion. Tel: (202) 944-5507 E-mail: [email protected] panding our dialogue with the Ameri- We have been down this road be-

JULY-AUGUST 2011/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 69 THE KINGS AND I

AN FSO EXPLAINS WHY CONSORTING WITH HEADS OF STATE ISN’T EVERYTHING IT’S CRACKED UP TO BE.

BY HENRY PRECHT

y first encounter with a head of curved knives disembarked and boarded limos. I waited, but state, I seem to remember, was on no goats appeared. It was an inauspicious start for my career the front porch next door when my of service to sovereigns. mother held me up to exchange The next opportunity came when I was a new FSO, and waves with FDR as he drove down President John F. Kennedy visited Rome. As a control offi- Montgomery Street in Savannah en cer, I was told that he wished to deliver an unscheduled route to give a speech. As I was less speech on Capitoline Hill after calling on the mayor. “But than 2 years old then, “seem to remember” is the appropriate there will be no one there,” I observed. “All Romans will be Mverb form — as it also might be for the tales that follow. eating lunch.” After a long period without sovereign contacts, a new start “That’s your problem,” was the official response. So I began when I was the Navy duty officer in Naples and re- called the U.S. Information Service and ordered up an en- ceived a call one Sunday afternoon from the embassy in thusiastic audience for JFK to address. Rome. “The king of Saudi Arabia,” I was told, “will arrive at Next to arrive in Rome was Vice President Lyndon John- Capodichino Airport this evening and sail on the Independ- son, preceded by various peculiar demands (e.g., raise the ence for an official visit to the States. We think he may have hotel shower head). Again a control officer, I was told on a a herd of goats with him to provide his usual beverage. Will Saturday evening that LBJ wanted to take with him on de- you take care of meeting the goats and getting them promptly parture at noon Sunday 50 silk ties and five oil paintings, to the ship?” which should include some cows and a lot of blue, and be “Aye, aye, sir,” I replied, and began to wonder just how I priced at not more than $150 each. might do that. But a call to the commissary manager lined up Deputy Chief of Mission Outerbridge Horsey said he a refrigerated truck, which I met at the airport. Finding the would round up the ties and I should see to the paintings. So most in-charge-looking FSO within the official enclosure, I I called the USIS and ordered them up. At 9 a.m. Sunday, saluted smartly, and said, “I’m here for the king’s goats.” somehow everything was in place, including five paintings, “Good. Stand nearby, please.” one with a cow and another an abstract (with some still-sticky The plane landed and a platoon of men in white robes with blue paint) by a USIS staffer — each priced at exactly $150.

Henry Precht, who retired from the Foreign Service in 1987, Dealing with Peacocks is the author of A Diplomat’s Progress: Ten Tales of Diplo- Continuing my quest for top people, I arrived in Tehran in matic Adventures in the Middle East (Williams & Company, 1972 for a four-year tour. Each year I escorted a visiting 2004). group of War College colonels to an audience with the shah

70 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JULY-AUGUST 2011 of Iran, who, for an hour, answered their wide-ranging ques- R-N.C., blocked my appointment as ambassador to Mauri- tions. Most elicited impressive answers, except perhaps for tania because “this fellow brought down one king who was the annual, inevitable query about his opposition. “A mere our friend, and we don’t want to put him close to another nuisance,” he assured them, “which will not impede Iran’s one” (the king of Morocco). My approach to that neighbor- march to greatness.” ing royal realm foiled, I was assigned as deputy chief of mis- On another occasion, I was escort officer for Senator sion in Cairo in July 1981. Charles Percy, D-Ill., who had a private audience with His Imperial Majesty while his staffers and I waited outside. Off Bended Knee After a bell rang, we were ushered in to be introduced by Shortly after arriving, I was taken by the ambassador on the senator. At the end of the list he added, “And of course, an introductory call on President Anwar Sadat in his Delta you know Henry Precht.” I can still hear that booming im- village home — more like a McMansion with very high walls perial silence. in the suburbs. Sadat began to tell us his strategy for forth- A few years later I was the Iran desk officer as the Peacock coming talks with Israel in Washington when a helicopter Throne began to show deep cracks. I was heard outside and Vice President argued against those who wanted the Hosni Mubarak entered. After being shah to use the iron fist to quell his op- introduced, he joined us in the circle, ponents, believing that liberalization of My experience with like me, a silent notetaker. A few the regime might improve the U.S. po- months later, he was president. sition in Iran. Before his fall, the shah the king of Saudi Arabia As chargé d’affaires I had a number came to know my name and told an in- of meetings with Mubarak, one of terviewer I was a “son-of-bitch Mc- was an inauspicious start which was particularly stressful. Two Governite.” Few FSOs, I suspect, have high-level U.S. delegations arrived si- been so creatively cursed. for a career of service multaneously, each with three or four As the Iranian Revolution neared its members of Congress and six or seven climax — the shah fled, the Ayatollah to sovereigns. constituents, for a grand total of more Khomeini returned, Prime Minister than 20 men. Shapour Bakhtiar tried and failed to The Egyptian president normally run the state — Marvin Kalb used a met visitors in a small office with space news broadcast to flag the split between the White House for just five or six guests at most. I asked advice from the and State: “The White House says it fully supports Bakhtiar; chief of protocol, who insisted that only members of Con- State officers say he is doomed.” gress were welcome — no private citizens. The next morning I was summoned to the White When I told the assembled throng that a trip to the bazaar House and found, seated at a huge round table, everyone would be arranged for the excluded travelers, the head of senior to me in the department, from assistant secretaries one delegation said he could not abandon them: “They paid to Secretary of State Cyrus Vance. President Jimmy my way; I must stay with them.” But the leader of the other Carter entered. He was livid. Referring to the Kalb pro- group whispered to me, “I can see you’re in a spot; we’ll go gram, he said, “We cannot conduct effective policy when with you on the bazaar tour.” When I took the pragmatic dissenting opinions are leaked to undercut us. The next Representative Dick Cheney, R-Wyo., and his two colleagues time this happens, the leaker will be fired, and so will his for the audience, Mubarak exclaimed, “What’s this? I boss.” He stormed out. thought there would be two dozen of you.” One assistant secretary, glancing at me, called the presi- When I made my farewell call on the president several dent unfair. (Actually, I agreed with him and had not leaked, years later, he greeted me with a wry smile. “Well, Henry, although many in the department knew my views.) Sec. you were here four years, and we didn’t have an Islamic rev- Vance, ever the healer, cautioned, “We hear what the presi- olution,” he remarked. I responded with an even weaker dent said, and he is right. Now, let us forget this meeting, but smile, not yet imagining that his tenure would some day rival remember his message.” that of Ramses II in its longevity. Three weeks later, someone leaked a report of the meet- But my own time at the top was over. All I was left with ing to the New Republic. was the need for two joint replacements, the consequence Eventually, the shah’s hex worked. Senator Jesse Helms, of so much career time spent on bended knee. I

JULY-AUGUST 2011/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 71 Watch for the October FSJ’s annual roundup of books by current and former members of the Foreign Service and their families.

2011 ANNUAL FS AUTHORS ROUNDUP

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JULY-AUGUST 2011/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 75 REFLECTIONS

The Greater Honor

BY VICTORIA H. HESS

y family moved to Peshawar, We later heard from third-country in the Northwest Frontier We drove east on the friends who had stayed in Peshawar Mprovince of Pakistan, in July Grand Trunk Road that, after a few days, life returned to 1998. That name always suggested a normal, and the international school re- certain wildness to me since the area is toward Islamabad. opened. located at the edge of the country, with But it would be five months before a wide ungovernable belt known as the our government allowed us to return to Tribal Territories between it and the post. The “Pak-Evac” families, as we Afghan border. As long as we stayed in lamabad, then flying from Pakistan. came to be known in Washington, the city, we were assured safety; but if None of the families knew why. We came close to rioting ourselves over this we chose to venture west, a military were puzzled, sleepy and scared, but delay. guard was required. we tried not to upset our children. Still, what I remember most It is the duty of members of the While waiting, we talked among poignantly is our convoy through the dominant Pathan tribe, which is closely ourselves, and learned from the few al- NWFP toward the Punjab. The U.S. affiliated with the Taliban, to protect lowed to stay in-country that our gov- government had not only refused to tell guests with their lives if necessary. This ernment had declined to tell the local officials why we were leaving, but sense of honor helps explain why no NWFP authorities why we were leav- later bombed perilously close to the outside force has ever conquered the ing. These authorities had expressed province. Yet as we left, they did what areas held by the Pathan, and why the concern, for the omission disturbed the they could to protect us until we had Pakistan government concedes that the traditional sense of Pathan honor by left their territory, fulfilling their sense Tribal Territories are still ungovernable. implying that we were running from of duty by providing an escort. In 1998, Peshawar was not yet on their protection. After all, they would As we drove into the dawn, at every the world’s radar screen. Al-Qaida had keep us safe no matter what. dusty kilometer along the route, we saw not yet made the news, nor was Osama Even so, we drove east on the a pair of fatigue-clad soldiers standing bin Laden a household name. But Grand Trunk Road toward Islamabad. at attention, guns held ready. By the within weeks of our arrival, the bomb- The trip through the night and into the time we crossed into the Punjab, the ing of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi gold-rimmed dawn was quiet. A plane sun had risen and our honor guard was and Dar es Salaam changed our lives: would meet us in Islamabad for a 30- gone. I our talk became grim, and we adopted hour trip to Baltimore, but we were still a “but for the grace of God” attitude. in the dark. Victoria Hirschland Hess was married Unknown to us, the U.S. government Only after the Red Cross met us in to a Foreign Service officer for 17 years. was making plans to respond. Baltimore did we learn that, while we Their fourth overseas tour, in Pakistan, At 3 a.m. one mid-August day, with were in the air, the United States had included three evacuations, a car just a 24-hour warning, every American launched cruise missiles at suspected bombing and a coup, interspersed with in our mission was gathered in front of al-Qaida strongholds, one of them only moments of joy from the hospitality of the consulate — about 20 people. We 60 miles from our home and barely their hosts. She and her children now were told we would be driving to Is- outside Pakistan. Rioting followed. live in Jackson Hole, Wyo.

76 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JULY-AUGUST 2011