The Foreign Service Journal, April 2000

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COVER FEATURES CRACKS IN CROATIA / 49 Focus ON VIETNAM—25 YEARS LATER “Brotherhood and Unity” was the party line in communist Yugoslavia, but even 30 years ago national tensions were 20 / HEARTS AND MINDS: USAID IN VIETNAM USAID workers in the countryside had some plainly visible. of the hardest jobs in Americas Vietnam mission, By J. Chapman Chester but their story has seldom been told. By Marc Leepson HOUSING RESOURCE DIRECTORY / 56 COVER An FSJ guide to Washington D.C.-area extended-stay hotels and property management firms.

COLUMNS

PRESIDENT’S VIEWS / 5 Better Prospects for Embassy Security By Marshall P. Adair

Page 20 SPEAKING OUT / 16 Why They Stay In 28 / FROM DIPLOMAT TO DISSIDENT By Niels Marquardt A “fallen FSO” recalls his metamorphosis from Vietnam War supporter to State Department dove to POSTCARD FROM ABROAD / 64 whistle-blowing anti-war activist. Mexican Welterweights With Wings By John Marks By Paid Berg

36 / ADVISE AND DISSENT: THE FSO AS PROTESTER FSO protests of the Vietnam War may not have ended DEPARTMENTS U.S. involvement in Indochina, but they did lead to the Open Forum and the Dissent Channel. LETTERS/6 By David T. Jones CLIPPINGS / 12

41 / LEAVING SAIGON: THE LAST DAY BOOKS/54 An FSO who was on one of the last helicopters out recalls the harrowing experience as Americas longest war ended. By Richard S. Thompson Cover and inside illustrations by Ben Fishman Special thanks to the following people for use of their personal Vietnam photos: Harold E. Meinheit, William J. Cunningham, Robert A. Powers, Bill Bach, John R. Campbell, John Marks, Gilbert H. Sheinbaum, Bob Myers, Shep Lawman, Richard Thompson and Joel Rochow.

THE MAGAZINE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS OREIGN SERVICE Foreign Service Journal (ISSN 0146-3543), 2101 E Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 200.37-2990 is published J 0 U II \ A L monthly by the American Foreign Service Association, a private, non-profit organization. Material appearing here¬ Editor Editorial Board in represents the opinions of the writers and does not necessarily represent tile views of the Journal, the Editorial BOB GULDIN EDWARD MARKS, Board or AFSA. Writer queries are invited. Journal subscription: AFSA Members - $9.50 included in annual dues; Managing Editor CHAIRMAN KATHLEEN CURRIE others - $40. For foreign surface mail, add $18 per year; foreign airmail, $36 per year. Periodical postage paid at Associate Editor ELIZABETH SPIRO CLARK STEVEN ALAN HONLEY MITCHELL A. COHN Manchester, N.H., and at additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to Foreign Service AI/A. Circulation Manager THEODORE CRAIG Journal, 2101 E Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20037-2990. Indexed by Public Affairs Information Service n MILTENBERCEM AFSA NEWS Editor MAUREEN S. DUGAN (PAIS). The Journal is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts, photos or illustrations. Advertising inquiries RITA COLORITO AURELIUS FERNANDEZ are invited. The appearance of advertisements herein does not imply the endorsement of the services or goods Art Director CAROL A. GIACOMO CARYN |. SUKO offered. FAX: (202) 338-8244 or (202) 338-6820. E-MAIL: [email protected]. WEB: www.afsa.org. TELEPHONE: CAROLINE MEIRS Editorial Intern (202) 338-4045. © American Foreign Service Association, 2000. Printed in the U.S. A. Send address changes AM STOYANOYA WAYNE MOLSTAD Advertising Interns to AFSA Membership, 2101 E Sheet N.W., Washington, D.C. 20037-2990. Printed on 50 percent recycled ARNOLD SCHIFFERDECKER ELIZABETH FISH paper, of which 10 percent is post-consumer waste. SONIA IRENE OLIVA WILLIAM WANLUND

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BY MARSHALL P. ADAIR

The President’s FY 2001 budget Finally, continued support over request includes $1.07 billion for time — at least 10 years — is essential. embassy security, almost double what The new This will require a stronger commit¬ was requested in FY2000. That is good budget request ment from bodi the administration and news. Congress to logistical support for This is a substantial increase in the for security is diplomacy. On Feb. 10, President priority given to protecting Americans Clinton issued a statement stressing a overseas. Secretary Albright and almost twice sustained commitment to maintaining senior State Department manage¬ that for FY2000. a high level of security readiness, allo¬ ment fought hai'd for it. We commend cating $14 billion over the next 10 them for tiieir leadership and their years. We cannot take tins pledge for effectiveness. It will make a differ¬ granted. ence to the safety of thousands of offi¬ It is important to stress that funding cial Americans overseas, and will these investments should not be in enhance the efficacy of our foreign $1.4 billion recommended. competition witii other foreign affairs policy overall. There are important differences responsibilities, but in support of There is still a long way to go. The between the administration and them. I often encounter concern from total request is still more than $300 Congress on funding for infrastructure my Foreign Service colleagues that we million short of what Adm. William work. At the urging of States Foreign will pay for security at the expense of Crowe and the Accountability Review Buildings Office, the administration diplomatic programs; or that we will Boards recommended as an annual has requested advance appropriations emphasize security to the point of appropriation for 10 years. Combined of $3.35 billion over four years begin¬ building fortresses and isolating our¬ with the $800 million shortfall in ning in FY2002. Congress, however, selves. These important concerns must FY2000, we will be almost one year argues that money can only be appro¬ not weaken our determination to behind what Crowe recommended by priated for diat which is executable in enhance security. die end of FY2001. the appropriation year. This difference Ultimately, funding for all parts of We face some important chal¬ must be bridged. the international affairs accounts must lenges. In diis election year, Congress There is also room for improve¬ increase. It is now 41 percent below will by to compress its appropriations ment in State and FBO procedures. the levels of the mid-1980s, and the work into a shorter dian usual season. This building campaign will severely gap between military and non-mili¬ While there is some welcome opti¬ challenge State Department capabili¬ tary spending is still growing. In 1950, mism about surpluses in Congress, ties, particularly when other major pro¬ 39 percent of the national budget there is also a strong political impera¬ jects are added to it. While FBO has went to defense, and 17 percent to tive to cut taxes and tighdy control made substantial improvements in non-military international affairs. In spending. AFSA will continue to urge recent years, it will probably have to 2000, 16 percent goes to defense and both Congress and die administration shift more project management to die 1 percent to international affairs. to increase FY2001 funding to die full private sector to meet this challenge Diplomacy is no less critical to nation¬ effectively. The report by die Overseas al security today than it was in 1950. It Marshall P. Adair is the president of Presence Advisory Panel may offer die is time to reverse this trend, and the American Foreign Service department an opportunity to secure appropriate the funding our national Association. broader backing for such changes. security interests require. ■

APRIL 2000/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 5 LETTERS

Destructive Criticism fanners were only one of many groups on USAID in Haiti and unfairly dis¬ The letter to the editor in the that benefited from USAID Malawi’s parages the reputation of our firm, January 2000 Journal (“Tobacco, agricultural programs. USAID Malawi Checchi and Co. Consulting, Inc. USAID and Malawi”) from Frank subsequently ceased all support for Had you checked the story with Giarrizzo reiterates the inaccuracies tobacco farmers. Checchi or USAID (both located in and erroneous conclusions that The organizations comprising the Washington), you might not have appeared in the November 1999 FSJ U.S. mission in Malawi (State run it. article, “Support for Tobacco Trade: Department, USAID, CDC and The distortions begin with the Up in Smoke.” Giarrizzos assertions Peace Corps) engage in a myriad of assertion that “most of the people the of an “unholy alliance between the activities in support of our primary program interviewed” stated that the tobacco industry, the Africa Division goals, including: safeguarding the “U.S. has not gotten very much for its of USAID and the U S. State interests of U.S. citizens; strengthen¬ money in Haiti.” Department” are baseless and absurd. ing Malawi’s fledgling democracy; Only one person on the program Giarrizzo claims wrongly that and promoting Malawi’s economic expressed that view, a disaffected for¬ “famine” in Malawi is “donor-man- development and integration into the mer Checchi subcontractor who, as a aged”. In another letter in tire January global economy. We also strive to competitor on a subsequent USAID 2000 Journal, Verne Newton, deputy help Malawi combat the scourge of procurement in Haiti, had an interest assistant administrator in USAID’s HIV/AIDS — a pandemic of crisis in criticizing Checchi’s performance. Bureau for Africa, notes that data proportions that endangers the Contrary to the impression con¬ from credible sources such as the nations hard-earned democratic and veyed by the 60 Minutes piece and Harvard Institute for International socio-economic gains. While we your clipping, Checchi’s contract did Development, the World Bank and always welcome constructive criti¬ not entail improving prison condi¬ the International Food Policy cism of our activities, groundless tions or the functioning of the Research Institute prove inaccurate claims and unfounded attacks serve Haitian penal system. Our goal was Giarrizzos statement that Malawi’s only to distract from the important greater efficiency and accountability “hungry season” has lengthened. tasks at hand, and thereby do a dis¬ in the judicial system. We did sup¬ Giarrizzos summation of my com¬ service to the v ery people the critics port the provision of legal aid to ments during his February 1998 meet¬ are trying to assist. detainees at 10 prisons, including the ing with me at the U.S. Embassy in A. Ellen Shippy National Penitentiary, under a small Lilongwe as “We do tobacco” misrep¬ Ambassador grants program. At their high point, resents the content of our conversa¬ U. S. Embassy Malawi these services reached 434 prisoners, tion. At that time, smallholder tobacco 23 percent of the total pxison popula¬ Check the Facts tion at the National Penitentiary. The Foreign Service Journal welcomes In the February FSJ, the Your clipping says that a subsequent your signed letters to the editor. Please “Clippings” column extrapolated USAID investigation found “only 3 mail letters to the Journal, 2101 E St., from a Nov. 14, 1999 broadcast of 60 percent [of prisoners] had received NW, Washington, D.C., 20037; fax to Minutes on U.S. assistance to the lawyers through [Checchi’s] legal aid (202) 338-8244; or send via e-mail to rule of law in Haiti. Unfortunately, program ... .” This is incomplete and [email protected]. Letters, which are many of the distortions and inaccura¬ misleading because the investigation subject to editing should include full cies in the original stoiy are repeated took place approximately eight weeks name, title and post, address and day¬ and ev en amplified in your rewrite. after Checchi’s legal assistance activi¬ time telephone number. The Journal casts a negative light ties had ended, and the percentage

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we reached had previously been criticizes efforts in that country of an “much higher,” as 60 Minutes made AID-funded administration of justice clear. reform team led by Checchi & Co. Similarly, the Journal badly dis¬ consultants. As part of his complaint, Mercedes-Benz torts die situation involving technical the author states that the team’s “top assistance provider Jim Smith. You man, Jim Smith, has been disbarred state that Checchi’s former subcon¬ from ... California ... following convic¬ tractor called Smith our “top man” in tion on several felonies...” without Haiti. Smith was never Checchi’s identifying Smith further. chief of party' in Haiti. He was taken I also am a “Jim Smith” (James F. Diplomacy on as a midlevel administrator to to be exact) and was quite active in complete work that he had begun for the justice reform field before another USAID contractor. Still, 60 retirement. I served as AID chief in has its Minutes referred to Smith as “a top Bogota, Colombia, from 1984 to executive,” an inaccurate term but 1992. I am an attorney, but have rewards. one that does not translate into “the never been disbarred nor have I top man.” The Journal also implies ever committed any felony, much that Checchi waited four months to less in California. The linkage of my At American Service Center, your remove Smith after learning of his name — without sufficient discrimi¬ diplomatic or official passport* disbarment, but in fact Checchi nating identification — to misdeeds will allow you to purchase a new requested Smiths resignation three in the very field for which I received days after receiving this information. accolades, is extremely embarrass- Mercedes-Benz at dramatic The Journal did not check the ing, harmful and potentially costly. savings. Contact Erik Granholm, basic facts of the story with either James F. “Jim” Smith our Diplomat and Tourist Sales Checchi or USAID, and it did not Tucson, Ariz. even report accurately on the 60 Manager. A native of Munich, Minutes broadcast. When the Sticking with It Germany, Erik has been Journal uses a pre-existing story that I agree with Phyllis Oakley (“I with ASC for 33 years. contains highly damaging material, Would Do It All Again,” Foreign harmful to individuals and organiza¬ Service Journal, December 1999). *Applies only while on official business tions, it should be obliged to check We both entered the Foreign Service or diplomatic assignment. sources and facts. That another — for the first time — in 1957. Even news organization publishes inaccu¬ then I heard about low morale and racies does not give the FSJ license poor management. I returned to the to repeat them, particularly when, FS 16 years later, after having been mean as in this instance, the FSJ edits and forced to resign because of marriage, service Center even rewrites the material. The and heard the same complaints. They Journal failed to exercise due care still have validity. Mercedes. Just Mercedes. in this case, thus falling short of Management at State still needs basic standards of journalistic pro¬ improvement. Staffing is grossly 585 N. Glebe Road, fessionalism. inadequate for our obligations as a Patricia McPhelim world power. Work environments are Arlington, VA 22203 Vice President poor. Moving remains a dreadful has¬ Checchi Consulting sle at best and a horror at worst. The 703.525.2100 vagaries of an FS career can be dev¬ A Different Jim Smith astating, especially as TIC deadlines Telefax: 703.284.2482 Your article in the February approach, and dedication is not nec¬ “Clippings,” entitled “Haiti: Five essarily rewarded by the system. Mobile: 703.405.4018 Years Later,” has caused me consider¬ Families have to share in the com¬ www.justmercedes.com able difficulty personally, as well as mitment to the FS because of travel, disturbed me by its potential for mis¬ long hours and unaccompanied interpretation. The writer strongly assignments — only one in my case.

8 FOREIGN SERVICE j OU RX AU APRIL 2000 LETTERS

Although the Foreign Service can Ridiculing Religion? the hypocrites; for they love to be a tough commitment, it is a great “Shipping Bibles to Afghan¬ stand and pray in the synagogues experience. I have recommended it as istan,” by R.T. Davies, featured and at the street corners, so that a career. Perhaps satisfaction widi this in the February issue, caused they may be seen by others. But career depends on the personal me misgivings about the whenever you pray, go into your expectations and needs of people Journal. room and shut the door and pray to entering it. I wanted a public service The intended moral of the story your Father who is in secret; and career and I am a foreign affairs is evidently the ambassador’s your Father who sees in secret will “junkie.” I have spent most of my knowledge of the Bible in dealing reward you.” career amazed that I could be paid to with Christian proselytizers, based The quote has to do more with work on such fascinating issues, meet on biblical familiarity acquired ostentation in individual prayer so many interesting people and learn from being a bishop’s son. (The than with corporate worship. so much about the rest of the world. article is subtitled “A Foreign Therefore, the passage the ambas¬ Yet, there are also days when I mutter Service parable in which a sador quotes can in no way excuse that I cannot be paid enough to do Christian proselytizer meets an non-attendance at church, of which this job. American ambassador brought up he is accused in the story. However, given the chance, I, too, on the Word.”) What it really shows If the ambassador’s purpose was would do it all again. is the superficiality of the ambas¬ to reprove the man’s proselytizing, Eleanore Raven-Hamilton sador’s biblical knowledge, or per¬ the passage reveals the ambassador Senior Adviser haps his analytical weakness, when to be ignorant of Matthew 28:19, in Bu reau of International he quotes Matthew 6:5 and 6, here which Jesus commands his follow¬ Narcotics and Law in a modern translation: ers: “Go therefore and make disci¬ Enforcement “Whenever you pray, do not be like ples of all nations, baptizing them

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APRIL 2000/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 9 LETTEHS

in the name of the Father and of Buchanan, Illustrated Catholic bashing, please refund the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” As a dues-paying member of the my membership immediately. This is known as the dominical com¬ American Foreign Service Associa¬ Robert F. Grech mandment. tion, I would like to know your cri¬ Asst. Regional Security My main misgiving, though, teria for selecting and approving Officer regards the article’s holding of Dave Arkle’s illustration of Pat U. S. Embassy Kingston Christian missionaries up to ridicule; Buchanan dressed in the Roman indeed, this seems its whole point. collar of the Catholic Church on Footnote to a Footnote Not only is this unfair to the devotion the cover of the January 2000 issue In his letter concerning Turks and of so many whom I at least have of the Foreign Service Journal. I Armenians in tire Ottoman Empire encountered overseas, it displays noticed that none of the other four (February FSJ), Zofar Gali displays extraordinary insensitivity to presidential hopefuls were depict¬ more good intentions than historical Christian sensibilities, even while ed in clerical garb so I’m wonder¬ accuracy in describing tire political cli¬ calling for sensitivity to the sensibili¬ ing why you equate Buchanan with mate which provoked the Armenians ties of others. Perhaps, along with Catholicism. to “armed insurrection” and the Turks being credited with the FSJ’s recent The illustrations of Bush, Gore, to react so savagely. The FSJ article good articles, the editors and Bradley and McCain seem to poke which, in Iris words, “necessitates a Editorial Board should account for fun at, if not mock, these men based footnote,” depicted the heroism of their acceptance of this one. on their previous occupations or American diplomats, singling out Rev. Theodore L. Lewis causes. Why did you feel it was nec¬ Leslie Davis during World War I. Gali FSO, retired essary to mock Buchanan’s religion? wished “to shed light on the historical Germantown, Md. If the Journal continues in this circumstances in which Davis

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10 FOREIGN SERVICE J O U RN A L/AP RIL 2000 LETTERS Education that makes operated,” but his “footnote” requires a difference. yet another. Gah makes no distinction between die Ottoman Turkey of Sultan Abdul Hamid II and the Young Turks who deposed him in 1908, and dierefore Most young people respond to fails to differentiate between the two challenge, and at The Delphian quite separate massacres. The first in 1895-6 by the sultan employed School1" they get plenty of it. Kurdish troops (to absolve Turkish soldiers of any crimes) and resulted in Whether an honor student the murder of some 250,000 or someone not operating Armenians. Their “crime ” was their growing restlessness manifest in other at his or her highest parts of the Ottoman Empire — because of heightened persecution: tial, we’ve learned how to high taxes, prohibition to speak really make a difference in Armenian, exclusion from testifying in Turkish courts, and the ban on bear¬ a young person’s life. Our ing arms. True that until then, Armenians and Turks lived “peaceful¬ program provokes intellec¬ ly” together, but tolerance did not tual query, demands hands- mean equality. Then came die three pashas, Talaat, on application, and results in Enver and Djemal — the so-called “Young Turks,” who, while maintaining competence. Beyond academ¬ the nominal trappings of Ottomanism, ics, our students learn about proclaimed a revolutionary program based on a constitution. The leadership, integrity, and Armenians ecstatically supported what they considered a new era for their responsibility so when they two-million-strong nation in Anatolia. graduate, they are really pre¬ But their hopes were dashed when, in 1915, die Young Turks began a pro¬ pared—not just for college, gram of “purification” to cleanse Turkey of all alien elements. Operating but for life. behind the curtain of World War I, the Young Turks released from prison murderers, rapists and robbers and then organized diem into criminal bands with orders to pillage and destroy die Armenian nation. They almost succeeded, wiping out close to The Delphian School 1.5 million. 20950 SW Rock Creek Rd The present Turkish government is • K - 12th Grade certainly not responsible for what Sheridan, Oregon 97378 happened 85 years ago, but only for 800-626-6610 - Boarding & Day School denying die historical truth, as it vehe¬ • Individualized Program mently continues to do. www.delphian.org

BALKAN DISASTERS: IS [former Republic of Yugoslavia] is now in the past for us and the proposals for the MONTENEGRO NEXT? redefinition of relations between Increasingly tense Serbian- Montenegro and Serbia are already dead.” Montenegrin relations are the focus of For its part, Serbia remains as intransi¬ the Jan. 31 issue of Montenegro Watch, gent as ever. Serbian Deputy Prime the Open Society Institutes bulletin Minister Vojislav Seselj said on Jan. 29 reporting on political, economic and that he, President Slobodan Milosevic security issues in that country. While the and all parties within the country’s ruling “When I was Washington-based publication presents a coalition are convinced that “the round-up of news clips and does not take Montenegrins voting for independence at coming up overt editorial positions, its latest edition a referendum is an impossibility.” But if does highlight die hardening of attitudes they do go ahead, Montenegro Watch it was a in Belgrade and Podgorica (the capital of notes a warning by Col. Ljubomir dangerous Montenegro) over Montenegro’s status Stojadinovic, a former Yugoslav Army within the former Republic of Yugoslavia. spokesman, that the federal authority world and we The thrust of the coverage is that might intervene forcibly if it loses all Montenegrins are no longer willing to set¬ other means of exercising even formal knew exactly tle for autonomy and the Serbs are control over Montenegro. who the they unlikely to let their neighbor secede from Such threats are only reinforcing the federation widiout a fight. Montenegrin determination to press were. It was us For example, one item traces tire evo¬ ahead, however. In the CNN interview, lution of Montenegrin president Milo Djukanovic summed up the conse¬ versus them Djukanovics views on independence. quences of allowing Milosevic to get away and it was Djukanovic began disassociating himself with suppressing democracy in from Serbian President Slobodan Montenegro: “Then we’ll have a single clear who Milosevics government over two years unified Yugoslavia as the last dictatorship ago, but until recently his emphasis was in Europe. I hope it’s not just Montenegro them was. on achieving greater autonomy for that is against this.” Today; we re Montenegro within the federation. Now he is stepping up the pressure on not so sure Belgrade, Montenegro Watch reports, cit¬ NOT JUST ing his warning in a late January CNN who the they interview that unless the Serbs soon “CONTEMPTIRLE” ewe, but we accept a proposal that redefines Language maven William S afire includ¬ Montenegro’s status within Yugoslavia, it ed this anecdote in Iris Feb. 6 column in know they 're will be forced to pursue independence The New York Times Magazine. “Some from the rump Yugoslav republic by the years ago, a State Department spokesman there." end of 2000. denounced as contemptible an article of — GEORGE W BI SH, Some of his compatriots have already mine sneering at some feckless action of QL OTED IN THE gone further down that road, like Zarko the then-Secretary. An alert reporter fol¬ JAN. 29 Rakcevic, president of the Social lowed up with, ‘Don’t you mean contemp¬ ECONOMIST MAGAZINE Democratic Party of Montenegro and a tuous?’ To which the quick-thinking diplo¬ member of the ruling coalition: “The FRY mat replied, ‘That, too.’”

12 FOREIGN SERVICE J O U RN A L/AP RIL 2000 CLIPPINGS

FORMER ENVOY humanitarian mission that was visiting Belgrade at the same time. But he noted BANNED IN BELGRADE that Bissett s public comments had been A former Canadian ambassador to used by the Milosevic government for Yugoslavia told the Canadian propaganda and said his visit could also Broadcasting Company’s “Radio As It be used by the Yugoslavian government, Happens” program that he was not which Wright described as a “pariah allowed to speak with any officials in his regime.” country’s embassy in Belgrade during a YEARS AGO recent visit, due to his outspoken criticism of NATO’s 1999 Kosovo bomb¬ FROM AMBASSADOR ing campaign. James Bissett was Canada’s ambas¬ To MR. NORMAL sador to Yugoslavia from 1990 until Ken Adelman’s “What I’ve Learned” “There is nothing 1992, when the current Liberal govern¬ column in the January 2000 sacred about either ment came to power in Ottawa. On Jan. Washingtonian Magazine features an the State Depart¬ 10, he published an article in the interview with former ambassador and Toronto Globe and Mail accusing long-time AFSA activist and Governing ment or the Foreign NATO of misleading the public about Board member Bill Harrop. Although Service; thev are the reasons and consequences of the the bulk of Adelman’s questions relate to administrative bombing campaign. He wrote that retirement, Harrop also reflects on his there were approximately 2,000 casual¬ nearly 40-year-long diplomatic career, mechanisms to serve ties in Kosovo up to the NATO bomb¬ particularly his final posting as ambas¬ the national interest. ing — but asserted that NATO bombing sador to Israel. Thev can and should killed more than 2,000 Yugoslavian A six-time ambassador, Harrop makes J civilians. Bissett also said more than clear that he still resents the way his be altered from time 800,000 ethnic Albanians fled Kosovo career ended in 1993. In line with U.S. to time to remedy after NATO bombing started, com¬ policy, he had been urging his Israeli their deficiencies pared will i 200,000 who were displaced contacts to privatize and open up their prior to the military campaign. economy so they would not be so depen¬ and to improve their In late January, Bissett returned to the dent on American aid. But when he effectiveness.” Yugoslavian capital to speak to a Serbian made the same recommendations in a — FRANK SXOMAEX writers conference. When he contacted public presentation to an economic orga¬ the embassy to set up appointments, air nization in Tel Aviv, the ensuing publici¬ HOPKIXS, official told him that neither the Canadian ty caused a congressional firestorm and ASSISTAXT DIRECTOR nor local staff were allowed to speak with prompted the Clinton administration to him, on orders from Ottawa. ask for his resignation. OF THE FOIIEIGX Queried by CBC Radio, Canadian After retirement, Harrop “initially SER} ICE IXSTITL TE, Foreign Affairs Department spokesman felt undernourished without the daily Jim Wright confirmed that officials in adrenaline of diplomatic cables, top- WRITING I X THE Ottawa had indeed instructed the secret intelligence and other informa¬ APRIL 1950 FSJ Belgrade embassy staff not to talk to tion.” So how did he handle his with¬ Bissett, but said this was because they drawal symptoms, Adelman asked? were fully occupied with supporting a By spending half the morning poring

APRIL 2000/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 13 CLIPPINGS

over newspapers and magazines, until Wow there’s no national day reception “7 he guerrilla he could accept “no longer being at the tonight, no dinner party today, no cock¬ wins if he cutting edge of information.” Harrop tail party.” does, however, still closely follow devel¬ does not lose; the opments in Israel, the Middle East and conventional ami) * Africa via the Internet and other loses if it does not sources and is active in numerous for¬ CORRECTION win. Guerrilla eign affairs groups such as AFSA. Harrop acknowledges, “The competi¬ The January issue of the FSJ failed to tears are about tive juices I felt in the midst of negotia¬ mention that the article, “Breaking the winners and losers, tions or in the rough-and-tumble of Cycle of the 20th Century” by Ralph not about bureaucratic jostling...gave an exhilara¬ Buultjens, was based on Buultjens’ 1998 compromise." tion I don’t feel now.” But he definitely Nizer Lecture for the Carnegie Council does not miss the social whirl, which he on Ethics and International Affairs, considers the worst side of diplomacy. copyright 1999 Carnegie Council on — I ti xm KissixoEft “After six years, I still wake up and think, Ethics and International Affairs. ■

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APRIL 2000/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL. 15 SPEAKING OUT Why They Stay In

BY NIELS MARQUARDT

I have an upbeat response when I certainly makes clear that even hear dirges about the demise of the Statistics show difficult professional and lifestyle Foreign Service. As director of entry- issues are on die table for discussion level personnel for the Foreign that junior officers and remedy. The study revealed Service since August 1998,1 have wit¬ significant disparities between the nessed a period of record-breaking attitudes and expectations of the ewe not tearingO the hiring of new junior officers and FS current generation of new hires and specialists. Where some see crisis, I Foreign Service those of current management. These see opportunity. And, based on the disparities will need to be addressed if quality of new employees, I see new the State Department wishes to in largeCJ numbers. life and a strong future for the remain a competitive employer. I Foreign Service. know of many posts — including I am writing largely in response to Mexico City — where the McKinsey two recently resigned junior officers findings have generated worthwhile who wrote an article entitled “Why We modifications in the way that junior Got Out” in die December FSJ. Their such loyalty among their new officers are treated. For example, complaints struck a sympathetic chord recruits. many posts are rotating JOs more to widi me in some ways. I remember fil¬ The Foreign Sendee does have enhance their career development ing off a self-satisfying fare-tiiee-well staffing shortages, as die situation in and provide them more variety, offer¬ letter to die Peace Corps many years Mexico City illustrates, but these are ing them more opportunities to do ago. But I also found their list of due to insufficient hiring in the reporting and more temporary duty wrongs about embassy Mexico City to budget-crunch years of the early 1990s assignments at other posts. be typical of frequentiy heard negative ratirer than any increase in resignations I have gotten to know personally opinions, which I believe are mosdy or attrition. Moreover, the authors’ more than half of the 1,000-plus JOs untrue. I am especially skeptical reasons for resigning — profound dis¬ currendy on die State Department’s because I made a trip last April to satisfaction with the profession — payroll. Mexico City and other posts I Mexico and talked witii junior officers were unusual. Most JOs resign have visited with serious consular there myself. because of irreconcilable “lifestyle” workloads are far along in helping First, statistics show that junior issues: spouses or partners with per¬ dremselves by introducing new man¬ officers are not leaving the Foreign sonal or professional reservations agement policies that are part of tire Service in large numbers. On aver¬ about a transient lifestyle, better pay in Consular Bureaus “Best Practices” age, only 20 junior officers have left die private sector, a desire to return to program. This program of innovative the Foreign Service each year for graduate school and so on. Attrition management approaches speaks well the past six years. In 1999, the among junior officers is a healtiiy of States commitment to improving authors were two of only 18 junior mechanism for both the Foreign working conditions and providing good officers who resigned worldwide. Service and tire officers who leave. public service, all in a taxpayer-friendly During that same period, 313 new Neitiier tire profession nor the lifestyle manner. junior officers were hired. In 1998 is for everyone; what surprises me is So to my second point: The notion the State Department hired 224 how few JOs leave for any reason. that die situation in Mexico City is an I Os ; 280 more will be added this A recent study on the State example of State department’s year. Few organizations in the pub¬ Department by the McKinsey Group “unmanaged” nature is contradicted lic or private sectors can point to entitled “The War for Talent” by the facts. Most of die problems in

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APRIL 2000/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 17 SPEAKING OUT i

the non-immigrant visa unit in years, consular employees on their Mexico City can be traced to the way to work don’t have to negotiate a crushing and rapidly increasing work¬ snaking throng of visa applicants, load. The number of NIV applications many of whom have spent the night increased 80 percent in two years, on the sidewalk. The new system also from fewer than 800,000 in FY97 to allows post management to control in almost 1.4 million in FY99. The advance the number of daily appli¬ expected FYOO level is 1.8 million. cants, match staffing to demand, Much of the increase is the result of reduce applicants’ waiting time, and Do you need to read congressional mandates for which no reduce stress and improve attitudes on and understand a foreign additional resources were allocated. both sides of the interviewing window. language? On top of these increases, immigrant When I visited Mexico City, 1 held visa applications for all of Mexico a meeting for all junior officers, hut Now you can do this easier than ever with almost doubled, from about 67,000 in neither author of “Why We Got Out” FY97 to more than 130,000 in FY99. chose to attend. During the meeting, I QUICKTIONARY! Faced with the avalanche that found great appreciation for recent resulted from the recent amendments changes in the consular section. I to die Immigration and Nationality stand by my observation at the time No need to type or spell! Act, the State Department and that the JOs’ morale — with the Just slide the Quicktionary over the word, and see the translation Embassy Mexico City didn’t just ask explicit exception of that of the instantly on the screen. It is as more of dieir junior officers. Instead, authors — was positive and improv¬ easy as using a highlighter! staffing was increased. The total num¬ ing. Much of the credit goes to good ber of consular' officers devoted to management at post and particularly Use your Quicktionary at the NIV work in Mexico tripled from 40 to increased staffing to meet surging office, in the car, on a plane, even in FY97 to 120 in FYOO. This was demand. The JOs also appreciated on the metro. It's so light and portable, it fits right in your accomplished by creatively mixing ongoing renovation projects, including pocket or briefcase. junior officers, civil servants and other major improvements to residences for added personnel. The number of entry-level officers in Mexico City. A • Ideal for anyone traveling or locally hired employees devoted to further reason for the improving working in other countries, or NIV work across Mexico was also morale was the focussed, hardwork¬ students of a foreign language increased from 43 to 207. None of ing, professional attitudes of the JOs • Automatically displays transla¬ tions of scanned words tiiis would have occurred without vig¬ themselves. Most understood the • Recognizes over 480,000 words ilant, energetic management in the challenge before them, saw that help and idioms consular and administrative sections was on the way and did their best • Logs the last 75 words scanned in Mexico City and in Washington. under the circumstances. for easy reference and review In addition, Embassy Mexico City Most JOs today are working veiy • Increases comprehension and facilitates language acquisition. reconstructed the non-immigrant visa hard doing consular work. This is • Take it with you wherever you pavilion to provide better working because, as in Mexico, most of States go! space for employees and to create a entry-level workload is in the consular more efficient flow for the thousands area. Every new officer is asked to do Available at the State of visa applicants who pass through it a minimum of one year of consular Department Sift Store (room every week. Eight additional consular work, but each is also offered the 2928) and at the Sift shop in the Foreign Service Language sections have been renovated opportunity to work in at least one Institute. throughout Mexico since 1998. other cone during the first two assign¬ Other innovations also make con¬ ments. Many opt voluntarily for more WizCom Technologies, Inc. sular work in Mexico more pleasant than one consular tour, because they 257 Sreat Rd., Acton, MA 01720 and efficient. A computerized appreciate that the skills they develop USA appointments and home delivery Email: [email protected] are valuable over a long-term career. Website: www.wizcomtech.com system for visas has reduced the tradi¬ In reading literally thousands of Toll Free: 1-888-777-0552 tional four-to-six-block-long line of junior officers’ performance ratings, I visa applicants. For the first time in have noted the following skills and

18 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/APRIL 2000 SPEAKING OH T Web Certificates in Educational Technology Intensive Masters «p:. traits particularly exhibited by those Programs in Technology doing consular work: decisiveness, foreign language ability, ability to per¬ Earn a certificate in educational technology, solely on the Web, or an form under pressure and under a M.A. degree by attending courses for 2 or 3 Julysessions in New York. deadline, courtesy, good judgment, Credits earned in the Certificate programs may be applied to the M.A. degree. the key diplomatic skill of saying “no” Concentrate in: in a way that both sticks and does not Multimedia Design alienate, supervisory skills across cul¬ Technology Leadership tural and language barriers, ability to Teaching and Learning With Technology innovate, stamina, and self-discipline, Telecommunications and Networking among others. Those are some of the same attributes the State Department For more information contact: seeks in its deputy chiefs of mission The Center for Technology and School Change and deputy assistant secretaries. email: [email protected] Reference # DLP4A Or: Many issues raised in the The Distance Learning Project December FS] have merit. But I also Phone: 888-633-6933 Fax: 212-678-8417 believe that those issues are receiving serious attention. The question of http://dlp.tc.columbia.edu nepotism, for example, presents par¬ Approval for Certificate of Advanced Standing pending New York State Education Department review ticular challenges. There are no easy T E ACHE R S COL L E C E answers to the dilemma of having to C O L U M B I A U N I V E R S I T Y choose — as was the case in Mexico — between full staffing and the issues raised by tandem couples. There are, in fact, no easy answers when manag¬ ing a staff as large and diverse as the Foreign Service. When 1 wrote my own “why I got out” letter so long ago, I had no idea what it was like to manage people and organizations. I have come to realize that States worldwide management challenges are, simply put, phenome¬ Volvo S80 Sedan nal. But I have also seen that States responses to these challenges are often phenomenally creative — often more creative than we admit to our¬ selves. No doubt State will face huge K fnnHi new problems in the new millenni¬ Diplomatic Corps ■ Embassy Personnel ■ Foreign Service Professionals um. But 1 am happy to report that we Military . World Bank • Inter-American Development Bank have recruited some truly outstand¬ ing junior officers who will be respon¬ Organization of American States sible for coming up with solutions to A o ,‘i v, Domestic or Foreign ■ Active or Retired I USA's LARGEST 20 YEARS! those future challenges, and those Contact Dana Martens r A-i*, JOs are staying in the Foreign Service Diplomatic Sales Director in record numbers. ■ e-mail: MM M 4800 Wisconsin Avc NW M AIITEMC Washington DC 20016 Niels Marquardt, an FSO, is director, [email protected] Wjf (202) 537-3000 entry level personnel, in the Office of website: Career Development and Assign¬ www.martensvolvo.com VOLVO FAX (202)537-1826 ments, Bu reau of Personnel.

APRIL 2000/FORE1GN SERVICE JOURNAL 19 Focus ON VIETNAM

THE HEART AND MIND OF USAID’s VIETNAM MISSION

MOST USAID PERSONNEL IN VIETNAM, INCLUDING STATE FSOS, LABORED IN OBSCURITY. HERE ARE SOME OF THEIR STORIES.

BY MARC LEEPSON

uring the Vietnam War, the U.S. set out not only to win military victor)', but also to “win the hearts and minds” of the Vietnamese. This second, equally important campaign to bolster pop¬ ular support for tire South Vietnamese government against tire Viet Cong centered on assistance and development programs worth billions of dollars to the war-tom country. The program was directed by a government agency designed to aid underdeveloped countries — the U.S. Agency for International Development — but its soul for the most part was molded in the minds of military men and spymasters like William Colby, who would later serve as director of the Central Intelligence Agency. From his perch as Saigon CIA station chief and later as the second director of the Civil Operations and Rural

20 FOREIGN SERVICE JO URNAL/APRIL 2000 Focus

Development Support Program, Between 1962 and Assistance Act into law in 1961, just Colby was highly influential in the war before the U.S. began to escalate its effort. Early on, he was a strong pro¬ 1975, South Vietnam involvement in Vietnam. At the same ponent of the “hearts and minds” strat¬ time Kennedy also issued an execu¬ egy of which USAID was to be an received by far the tive order establishing the U.S. important component. The CORDS Agency for International Develop¬ initiative epitomized Colby’s convic¬ largest portion of ment as an independent federal gov¬ tion that the war would be won or lost ernment agency that received its for¬ not on the battlefield, but in the strug¬ USAID economic eign policy guidance from the secre¬ gle for the loyalty of the South tary of State. Whether the timing of Vietnamese people. assistance. USAID’s founding was coincidental In hindsight, Colby blamed the loss or not, this reorganization marked the in Vietnam on failure to implement beginning of large increases in this strategy. The “major error of the Americans in American foreign aid, both to South Vietnam and Vietnam was insisting upon fighting an American-style worldwide. military war against an enemy who, through the early Previously, the bulk of U.S. overseas aid had gone in years of the war, was fighting his style of people s war at lump sums to central government accounts, which left the level of the population,” he wrote in his 1989 book the funds vulnerable to diversion and mismanagement. on Vietnam, Lost Victory. The new agency provided assistance in the form of Throughout the war, USAID, which stayed in smaller loans and grants and targeted long-range plans Vietnam until the fall of Saigon, designed and imple¬ to build up the economies of less-developed countries. mented a wide array of American development and Specifically, it concentrated on the areas of health, agri¬ assistance programs in South Vietnam, of which culture, population planning, education and energy. CORDS was perhaps the best known. The USAID effort in Vietnam, which was but one of many poor countries around the globe, took on some¬ Present At The Creation thing of a showcase quality. Between 1962 and 1975, U.S. assistance to South Vietnam pre-dated the estab¬ South Vietnam received by far the largest portion of lishment of USAID by some six years, beginning shortly USAID economic assistance. In 1967 alone the agency’s after the nation came into being in May 1954. The budget allocated more than $550 million out of its International Cooperation Administration and the worldwide budget of more than $2 billion for a nation of Development Loan Fund, which had been created to some 17 million people. implement the Marshall Plan in post-World War II To demonstrate American commitment to shoring up Europe and then to administer similar economic assis¬ democracy in South Vietnam, between 1961 and 1972 tance to other regions, jointly administered the program. (when it began winding down its assistance), USAID The two groups began steering American non-military established countless self-help projects, schools, health foreign aid to the fledgling South Vietnamese govern¬ clinics, hospitals, highways, hydroelectric facilities, ment of Ngo Dinh Diem in June 1955. Initial funding industrial centers and farming cooperatives. The agency went for land reform programs and for training South also sent thousands of agricultural experts, doctors, nurs¬ Vietnamese police forces and intelligence services in es, teachers, engineers, intelligence agents, and civilian anti-guerrilla tactics. advisers. For example, more than 700 American physi¬ President John F. Kennedy signed the Foreign cians served tours in USAID-built South Vietnamese hospitals. Marc Leepson, who served with the U.S. Army in During roughly the same period, the agency also ran Vietnam, is arts editor and columnist for The VVA the extensive Commercial Import Program, worth bil¬ Veteran, the newspaper published by Vietnam Veterans lions of dollars. USAID supported Vietnamese of America. His latest book is The Webster’s New importers who ordered foreign goods through tire CIP, World Dictionary of the Vietnam War. paying for the purchases in South Vietnamese currency.

APRIL 2000/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 21 Focus

That money then went into a fund at USAID’s entire outspoken criticism of U.S. policy. the National Bank of Vietnam, which Others, such as current U.S. the South Vietnamese government mission in the war Ambassador to the United Nations used to finance development projects Richard Plolbrooke, who was a and cover operating expenses. has been notably USAID province adviser in Vietnam USAID was also instrumental in in 1963-64, achieved prominence helping settle hundreds of thousands of underreported in the well after the war. refugees, in promoting land reform and Most of those who worked for in administering the amnesty program vast body of Vietnam USAID in Vietnam, however, (known as Chieu Hoi, or “open arms”) labored in relative obscurity. that encouraged Viet Cong to desert War literature that Moreover, even after tire war, their and join the South Vietnamese cause. stories were not widely disseminat¬ has been published ed. Indeed, USAID’s entire mission Unlikely Bed Partners? in the war has been notably underre¬ In 1967, much of USAID’s work was since 1975. ported in the vast body of Vietnam melded into the new military- and CIA- War literature that has been pub¬ dominated Civil Operations and Rural lished since 1975. Development Support Program, which became proba¬ bly the most famous component of its presence in The POW Vietnam. The CORDS program was the brainchild of Take, for example, the amazing story of Mike Benge, Robert Komer, President Lyndon Johnsons special assis¬ who first went to Vietnam in 1963 as a volunteer with tant for pacification in Vietnam. In that position, Komer International Voluntary Services, the forerunner of the was responsible for the governments non-military Peace Coips. Working under a USAID contract, Benge efforts to “pacify” Viet Cong-controlled areas and return specialized in education and agriculture. them to South Vietnamese government control. “USAID had a very big rural school program, build¬ CORDS brought into one program all of the diverse ing usually one- and two-room schoolhouses out in the counterinsurgency programs run by the military, USAID rural areas,” Benge said in an interview. “I was working and the CIA. Under CORDS, USAID personnel worked on drat, going around and checking die construction of in conjunction with American and South Vietnamese them to see if they met up to specs. I also was making military and CIA personnel throughout the country, set¬ sure we had teachers who had gone tirrough a teacher ting up programs designed to win Vietnamese peasants training program, and getting books and other supplies over to the South Vietnamese government’s cause and to out to them.” destroy support for the Viet Cong. In particular, CORDS Benge was posted in the Central Highlands city of helped the South Vietnamese develop and then support Ban Me Thuot. He worked primarily with the a national police force and local militias known as the Montagnards, the predominant ethnic minority tribal Regional and Popular Forces. group in the region, translating and teaching. ‘We were Included in CORDS was tire controversial Phoenix translating some of the primers into the Rliade language program, which was designed to eliminate the rural Viet [the language of the Montagnards], using Rhade to ease Cong infrastructure. Under Phoenix, which began in them into Vietnamese, which was the main language July 1968, South Vietnamese and American pacification being used in tire schools.” intelligence operatives gathered information on suspect¬ From Ban Me Thuot, Benge was transferred to ed guerrillas and then worked to capture, convert or kill Kontunr Province where he set up a demonstration farm them. That program ended in 1972. and agricultural training center. He then went back to A few USAID people — most notably John Paul the Central Highlands, where he continued his work Vann, who was a development officer from 1965 to 1967 with the Montagnards. Among other things, Benge and a CORDS adviser from 1968 to 1971 — gained taught at a USAID-built technical-vocational education notoriety during their tours of duty in Vietnam for their center.

22 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/APRIL 2000 Focus

In 1965 he was hired by USAID “The North for heroism and another for valor for and held jobs as provincial representa¬ his conduct in the prison camp. tive in Kontum, Phu Yen Province and Vietnamese had a B-40 Ban Me Thuot. At the later post, as The Future U.N. Ambassador the civilian adviser to the South rocket launcher Richard Holbrooke joined the U.S. Vietnamese province chief, Benge was Foreign Service in 1962 shortly after in charge of all non-military matters. pointed at me, plus Ograduating from OBrown University. J Benges team, among other things, He studied Vietnamese and went to dug wells, put in a new telephone sys¬ their [rifles], and said, Vietnam in May 1963 where he served tem, built a new airport and many for six years in several posts. After a miles of roads, and installed electric- ‘Surrender brief initial stint in Saigon, Holbrooke generating systems. They also rebuilt a became a USAID provincial represen¬ hospital and built a new teachers which I did.” tative in the Mekong Delta. He was 22 training college for ethnic minorities. years old. — Mike Benge, USAID worker At the missions height in 1967 “I was assigned first to USAID’s Benge was in charge of some 65 held as a POW for five years. office of Rural Development, headed Americans, including a 45-member by a young man named Rufus Phillips military civic action team. The civilians under his com¬ who was a protege of [legendary CIA man] Ed mand included education, agricultural and refugee Lansdale,” Holbrooke said in Kim Willenson’s The Bad advisers. War: An Oral History of the Vietnam War (1987). “At The pivotal moment in Mike Benges Vietnam tour 22, I found myself in charge of the Strategic Hamlet came on Jan. 28, 1968, during the first attack of the Tet Program in Ba Xuyen, a province of 600,000 people, Offensive. When Ban Me Thuot came under attack by a where the Bassac River meets the South China Sea. battalion of NVA regulars, Benge frantically tried to The capital was Soc Trang. There was an American mil¬ arrange the evacuation of his USAID team. While doing itary advisory group there, and a division advisory so, he was captured by a squad of North Vietnamese group.” Army troops. About a third of Ba Xuyen province was controlled by “The North Vietnamese had a B-40 rocket launcher the Viet Cong, Holbrooke said, and about a third was pointed at me, plus their [rifles], and said, ‘Surrender,’ controlled by the South Vietnamese government. The which I did,” Benge said. “I was held for five years.” rest, he said, “was a gray area.” That situation was at odds Benge became one of a handful of USAID and State with what was reported to Saigon and Washington. Department employees who were POWs in Vietnam. “There was a profound gap between what Washington He was taken to a prison camp in South Vietnam, and had been told about this province, listing 400,000 people then was moved to another camp in Cambodia where he under government control, and the real situation, which was held in a cage for a year. He was moved again to a was far shakier than that,” he said. hospital POW camp in Laos, and finally to North Holbrooke said he was “outraged” by tire misreport- Vietnam, where he eventually was incarcerated in the ing and “raised questions” about it. But he continued to infamous “Hanoi Hilton.” believe in lhs mission. “I did not draw die conclusion “In North Vietnam they locked me up in a black box. diat something was wrong with our effort; I only drew I was there for a year. It was about six by four feet with die conclusion that there was something wrong widi our the walls painted black, the doors closed,” Benge said. “I reporting and that you have to seek truth from facts,” he spent 27 months total in solitary confinement — one said. “It never occurred to me in the year 1963 that the year in a cage, one year in a black box.” United States could lose a war. How could it?” Benge was released in January 1973 along with the other American POWs held in Hanoi. He was credited The Doctor with saving the lives of 11 USAID personnel in Ban Me Beale Rogers was typical of die many American doc¬ Thuot and received the State Departments highest award tors who volunteered to go to Vietnam to work for

APRIL 2000/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 23 Focus

USAID. In 1967 the New York “It never occurred to any good. Did they think about it? Did physician took a leave of absence they say, ‘That great United States did from his practice and signed up for a me in the year 1963 this for us?’ Or did they say, ‘Why isn’t two-month stint in a USAID-run it doing more?’ Did they make any program administered by the that the United States connection to the United States at all? American Medical Association. I don’t know.” “They were recruiting physicians could lose a war. to go and work among the civilian The Agricultural Expert population,” Rogers said in Harry How could it?” Mike Korin spent nearly seven Maurer’s Strange Ground: years in Vietnam, from 1967 to 1973, — Richard Holbrooke Americans in Vietnam, 1945-1975, working for the U.S. Department of An Oral History (1989). Rogers vol¬ Agriculture on loan to USAID. He unteered, he said, because he saw “the prospect of a spent two years in the city of Tam Ky in Quang Tin great adventure, a very useful kind of adventure [and Province, where he shared an office with USAID civil¬ because] I was going to be working with people who ian doctors and construction experts, U.S. military civic were in great need.” affairs specialists and a Vietnamese professional and He went to work in a hospital in the Mekong Delta support staff. town of Phu Vinh. “I was told before I went there that Korin worked there on a wide range of development it was a secure area, but I quickly learned that wasn’t activities, including rice production, and fisheries, so.” Rogers said. “There wasn’t the intensity of the war forestry and irrigation systems development. “My work in the north, but the possibility of injury and death and was with Vietnamese government officials,” he said in tension of war was there. [But] I never saw anything an interview, “representing different agencies and pro¬ happen. I only saw the results of it in the hospital.” viding USAID resources to help fund those activities.” Rogers lived in a U.S. militaiy compound with sev¬ Korin said the experience was, in most respects, a eral other USAID personnel, including a U.S. Navy positive one. “It was exciting. We felt a sense of accom¬ lieutenant commander, a civilian agricultural expert, plishment,” he said. “But there was also a certain and a police lieutenant, all of whom worked with degree of frustration because there was a lot of fighting Vietnamese counterparts. USAID, he said, “was new to going on in the province, including attacks on the me, and it was impressive. I was so impressed with provincial capital.” these people who went out there eager to accomplish The main problem in Korin’s area was the large something. And with their frustration at [often] being number of refugees. “It made things difficult,” he said. thwarted by the system.” “People were constantly being routed out of their vil¬ He was put to work immediately in the hospital, lages and their villages were being burned down either working with several American military doctors and by the bad guys or the good guys. People were put into medics along with three Vietnamese doctors and a refugee camps. It was very difficult for the people.” dozen Vietnamese nurses. Rogers worked exclusively Korin was based in Saigon during his last four years with civilian patients. “I let it be known that I wasn’t in Vietnam. He was among nearly 200 USAID agricul¬ going to treat soldiers,” he said. “That was the respon¬ tural experts in the country at the time. His Saigon sibility of the military. I was there on a people-to-peo- office was made up of about two dozen American ple program. My main ward was for women and chil¬ USAID agriculture professionals involved in land- dren and elderly civilians. On this ward, 25 percent had reform programs. Korin traveled throughout the coun¬ legs blown off.” try working on the Montagnard land reform and land- Rogers had mixed feelings about the experience. “I to-the-tiller programs, which paid landlords to give came home having done I don’t know how many oper¬ land to peasant farmers. ations, saved a few lives, comforted a few,” he said. He saw a good deal of the war. “I was shot at a num¬ “But as to doing anything lasting, I’m not ever sure how ber of times. I was rocketed. I was close enough to see my presence was received as far as doing my country the fins on our allied planes’ 500-pound bombs as they

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APRIL 2000/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 25 Focus

fell through the air to the targets “.My main ward was Vietnam to evaluate different which were a few hundred yards CORDS programs. away,” he said. “I had a 50-caliber for women and “The Evaluation Branch was 50 machine gun rake the room I lived in percent civilian, 50 percent military,” while I was in it in Tam Ky. I drove children and elderly Chernenkoff said. “This was the over roads where there were land group that reported to [CORDS mines. I had vehicles that followed civilians, 25 percent head] Robert Komer and then later me blown up.” to William Colby, who replaced him. Korin, as is the case with most for¬ [of whom] had legs We did studies based on our field mer USAID personnel, has positive experience and our facility with the things to say about the Vietnamese he blown off.” language.” worked with. They “were generally During his four years in Vietnam,s — Beale Rogers, effective, appreciative and hard Chernenkoff worked with hundreds working,” he said. Korin praised the USAID doctor ill Vietnam of American USAID and CORDS “enthusiasm and commitment” of his personnel, virtually all of whom were Vietnamese contacts from the “lower committed to the pacification effort. levels all the way up to the senior ministry level “What struck me was that I would meet someone I officials. They worked very hard. They were committed never knew who was working in a district on the other to it all. There were just other factors that led to the side of the country and we would come to the same turn of events.” conclusions about things,” Chernenkoff said. “Most of us thought that what we were doing was worthwhile The CORDS Man and we were having some impact.” Sidney Chernenkoff was part of one of USAID’s On the other hand, he said, many USAID people largest efforts in the Vietnam War, the CORDS pro¬ worried about what would happen in Vietnam after the gram. Chernenkoff quit his job with the Bank of American troops left. “We had a lot of questions” about America in San Francisco in 1966 to sign up with South Vietnam “after U.S. troops were pulled out,” he USAID. After spending six months in Hawaii taking said. Most USAID people, Chernenkoff said, believed language training and courses in Vietnamese history, that the South Vietnamese far too often relied too culture, politics and community development, he heavily on American military power as well as on arrived in Vietnam in March 1967. He spent the next American help in non-military areas. four years there. “The more we did for the Vietnamese, the less they Chernenkoffs first posting was as deputy? district did for diemselves,” he said. “That wasn’t true in all adviser in the town of Tuy Phuoc in Binh Dinh cases [however]. There were a tremendous number of Province near the city? of Qui Nhon. He and other dedicated [Vietnamese] people.” USAID personnel worked with an American army team of 10 men whose job was to advise the local In Retrospect Vietnamese district chief on military matters, including What impact did the massive USAID effort in recruitment, training and deployment of the Regional Vietnam have on the war’s outcome? As is the case with and Popular Forces (the local militia). nearly every aspect of the nation’s longest war, there are “My job on die civilian side was working with starkly differing opinions about the answer to that refugees,” Chernenkoff said in an interview. “We had question. Some believe that non-military programs had programs with funds to finance die construction of little or no place in the war. Others contend that if the bridges, schools and roads.” decision-makers who shaped American policy during After 18 months in that job, Chernenkoff trans¬ the nations longest and most controversial overseas ferred to the capital, where he worked in the CORDS war had paid more attention to the non-military com¬ Evaluation Branch, also known as “Pentagon East.” He ponent of our strategy, its outcome might have been spent the rest of his tour traveling throughout South more favorable.

26 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/APRIL 2000 Focus

Another opinion holds that what “Most of us thought served in Thailand during the USAID did in Vietnam could not Vietnam War. overcome the fatally flawed that what we were What can be said with certainty is American military strategy of fighting that USAID played an important role a limited war. “We had some good doing was worthwhile in the war effort. “USAID adminis¬ [USAID] programs and we had some trators were a large part of the U.S. bad programs,” Mike Benge, the for¬ and we were having mission in the Vietnam War,” noted mer POW, said. “We were there for Richard A. Hunt, a U.S. Army Center the right reasons. We just did a lot of some impact.” of Military History historian and the wrong things,” he said. “The military author of Pacification: The American — Sidney Chernenkoff, was fighting the war to lose.” Struggle for Vietnam’s Hearts and Chernenkoff agreed with that USAID development Minds (1995). “They had a seat at the [policy-making] table in Saigon with assessment. “My view is that [the officer in Vietnam U.S. military] and USAID didn’t lose the military and the CIA.” the war,” he said. “Our policy was USAID personnel, Reuther flawed.” added, “were highly motivated, believed in what they Others point to the immense problems involved in were doing, thought they doing good things, and by working on pacification programs in a country that is and large worked with South Vietnamese counter¬ involved in a shooting war. “USAID programs are not parts who were also motivated and good. Of course, built to dig wells and duck bullets at the same time,” the whole thing went to hell. But not because of lack said David Reuther, a Foreign Service officer who of trying.” ■

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APRIL 2 000/F O RE IGN SERVICE JOURNAL 27 Focus ON VIETNAM

FROM DIPLOMAT TO DISSIDENT: A STATE DEPARTMENT ODYSSEY

A SELF-DESCRIBED “FALLEN FSO” RECOUNTS THE IMPACT OF VIETNAM ON HIS DIPLOMATIC CAREER — AND WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THAT ENDED.

BY JOHN MARKS

he Foreign Service Journal published die first article I ever wrote in December 1971, during the height of the Vietnam War. At diat time, some 20 percent of the FSO corps, includ¬ ing me, had served in Vietnam. My article, entitled “Vietnamization of the Foreign Service,” drew on my experi¬ ences and those of my colleagues to assess the impact of the conflict on the career we had chosen. For me, this question was intensely personal. The year before, the war had knocked me off the linear path of a State Department career and I had resigned from the Foreign Service. Now, as I reread my FSJ article and look at my Vietnam slides for the first time in 25 years, I am carried back to a time when the Foreign Service faced intense division over the war.

28 FOREIGN SERVICE J O U RN A L / A P RIL 2000 Focus

I entered the Foreign Service in I was one of the few “new life development” — a catch-all 1966 as an inexperienced 22-year- effort to improve South Vietnamese old, fresh out of college. I joined members of my government responsiveness to popu¬ because I wanted to do something lar needs. With no training except meaningful with my life — to do well generation who went three weeks of Southeast Asia area by doing good. When posts were studies, I stepped into duties that handed out to my A-100 class, I was to Vietnam to avoid included resettling refugees, helping assigned to what Time Magazine had the local hospital get U.S. medical just described as “Swinging the draft. supplies, dispatching helicopters on London.” I was overjoyed at the idea humanitarian missions and coordinat¬ of starting my career in a grand old ing with U.S. military forces. European capital. Early in 1967, I launched a pig project in a village that the South Vietnamese government had recendy To Vietnam With Enthusiasm taken back from Viet Cong control. Witli a USAID It turned out that was too good to be true. Four days warehouse to back me up, I offered to provide gravel, before I was supposed to sail to England on the USS cement and roofing to every peasant who built a pig sty United States, my draft board reclassified me 1-A. I did -— and to put a pig in each completed sty. The peasants not want to go into the military, but State Department were initially skeptical. Rut after I helped build the first personnel officers said that there was little chance I sty and gave away the first pig, about 20 Vietnamese could win a deferment as a diplomat in London. My joined this “self-help” effort. Then, one night the Viet best chance to stay out of uniform, they advised, would Cong attacked die village with little opposition from be to accept an assignment to the pacification program government militia. By morning, most of the village in Vietnam. In that capacity, I would be detailed to had been burned down, the people who had cooperat¬ USAID as one of the first of about 350 FSOs who ed with us had been killed and all the pigs had been would eventually serve in what later became the carried off. Needless to say, I was devastated. CORDS, the Civil Operations and Rural Development Over time, I came to see the failure of the pig pro¬ Support program. As I wrote in the Journal in 1971: gram as emblematic of U.S. involvement in Vietnam. “During the middle ’60s, USAID conducted extensive Despite our good intentions and massive intervention, recruiting campaigns throughout the United States in a the South Vietnamese government was unable to pro¬ search for sufficient volunteers. These campaigns vide adequate security or to function effectively. invariably fell short of their goals, and after 1966 I was becoming increasingly disillusioned with U.S. increasing numbers of FSOs were assigned to USAID policy on the grounds that I did not think it was work¬ to fill the gap.” ing well. Nevertheless, I still thought that somehow, if I reluctantly agreed to be reassigned, and I thus better tactics were used, the American side could win. became one of the few members of my generation to I did not yet question whether the U.S. should be in have gone to Vietnam to avoid the draft. Vietnam. Arriving in Vietnam in August 1966,1 was still moti¬ vated by John Kennedy-era enthusiasm for government Working Within The System service, and I did not yet have strong views about In 1967, the Johnson administration took away con¬ Vietnam policy. I wound up in Xuan Loc, a dusty trol of the pacification program from USAID and gave provincial capital about 50 miles east of Saigon, as an it to the Pentagon. So after a year in Xuan Loc, I was adviser to the local government. I was responsible for transferred for the final six months of my tour to Saigon, where I worked at U.S. military headquarters John Marks, who describes himself as a “fallen FSO,” as a plans and programs officer. Although I had the pro¬ is president of Search for Common Ground in tocol rank of a mere 2nd lieutenant, my new boss and Washington, D.C. and the European Centre for the other colonels seemed to listen to me because I had Common Ground in Brussels. on-the-ground experience in the countryside.

APRIL 2000/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 29 Focus

This was a time when very senior With no training Cambodia in April 1970. I felt per¬ U.S. officials were making optimistic sonally abused because a few months public statements, claiming they except three weeks earlier I had been part of a White could “see the light at the end of the House study group that had gone to tunnel.” That view came crashing of Southeast Asia area Vietnam and written a relatively pes¬ down in January 1968 when, during simistic report. It seemed that our the Tet offensive, communist forces studies, I did group’s honest conclusions were launched coordinated attacks on being used to help justify expansion Vietnamese cities and even penetrat¬ everything from of the war into a new countiy. I felt I ed the U.S. embassy compound. could not, with good conscience, Fighting was everywhere in Saigon, resettling refugees to continue to work for the Nixon and I could not get to work. For a administration, even as an opponent week, I was on the roof of my apart¬ coordinating with U.S. within the system. However, I lacked ment building, with camera and the courage to resign immediately, binoculars, watching the war play out military forces. unlike my colleagues Anthony Lake across Saigon. — who later became President Bill In March 1968, I returned to Washington for an Clinton’s first national security adviser — Roger Morris assignment in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research. and William Watts. I quit four months later, after I The very day of my return, President Lyndon Johnson found a position as executive assistant to Sen. Clifford announced that he would not run for re-election. The Case of New Jersey. Case opposed U.S. involvement in U.S. seemed caught up in a cultural revolution, at the the war. My job was to get Congress to pass the Case- core of which was opposition to the war. In this heady Church amendment which would, in 1973, finally cut atmosphere, I became convinced that not only was U.S. off funding for American military operations in policy in Vietnam ineffective, it was wrong. Vietnam. So while I served in INR, first as an analyst of Looking back now, while I still believe the United Belgian and French affairs and then as staff assistant to States made a huge mistake in getting involved in the director, I was a dove, working inside the system to Vietnam, I also realize that I was wrong to have focused end U.S. involvement in Vietnam. In November 1969, almost exclusively on the U.S. side of the war and not while a nationwide “moratorium” — a series of anti-war to have taken into account that communist victories in demonstrations — was taking place, I was in upstate Southeast Asia would result in massive violations of New York recruiting college students for the State human rights, particularly genocide in Cambodia. Department. I was so keen to show opposition to my employer’s position on the war that I fashioned a black Enter “John Claymore” sock into an armband, which I wore as I talked to stu¬ In 1971, the FSJ agreed to publish my article on dents about Foreign Service careers. “Vietnamization of the Foreign Service.” As was true in During this period, I was one of a small group of most senatorial offices, Sen. Case had a rule that staff junior officers granted a meeting with Secretaiy of members could not write1 for publication — except State William Rogers to urge changes in U.S. policy. I under his name. I decided to get around this by using a remember well being ushered into the secretary’s pseudonym. I chose John Claymore. A claymore is a grand office on the seventh floor and sitting down to type of landmine, and at that time in my life, I was very chat. In response to our concerns, he talked mainly angry and wanted nothing more than to have an explo¬ about his Navy service during World War II. I came sive impact. away convinced that he was disconnected from my The author’s biography attached to the article reality. Afterwards, a senior colleague told me how for¬ explained: “John Claymore is the pseudonym of a for¬ tunate I was, because in all his years in the Foreign mer FSO who served in Vietnam. The primary reason Service he had never met a secretary of State. for his resignation from the State Department was dis¬ For me, tire last straw was the U.S. invasion of agreement with U.S. policy on Southeast Asia. He is

30 FOREIGN SERVICE ] O U RN AL/AP R1L 2000 Focus

not using his real name because of a Even after a year in ed Sen. Case forgave me almost limitation on publishing in his cur¬ immediately.) rent job, but he would be glad to cor¬ Vietnam, I still Welles wanted to know more respond or meet with anyone inter¬ about the following passage in the ested in discussing his article.” thought that the article: “Many [FSOs in Vietnam] A few days after the article served in proto-combat roles widi appeared I got a call from Benjamin American side could command responsibility. While not Welles, a New York Times reporter participants, they received reports of who covered the State Department win. I did not yet war crimes and what often seemed and who was the son of Franklin like the unnecessary loss of human Roosevelts under secretary of State, question whether life. Some were faced with the moral Sumner Welles. My cover had been dilemma of how far they should go in blown. Someone — presumably not the U.S. should exposing incidents they knew to be at the Foreign Service Journal — wrong. told Welles that I was John Claymore. be there at all — “One FSO currently serving in While I was concerned diat I might Washington possesses a file of docu¬ get into trouble with the senator, I but I soon would. mented atrocities, including pho¬ could truthfully state that I had had tographs. He has written extensive nothing to do with Welles’s discovery of my identity. I reports on these apparent war crimes he investigated in was also thrilled that my article was going to be at the Vietnam. As far as he knows, no action has ever been center of a New York Times story. (And the good-heart¬ taken to punish the guilty. Because he is a supporter of

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APRIL 2000/FOREICN SERVICE JOURNAL 31 Focus

the presidents Vietnam policy, and During the Tet The Fallout Continues because he fears the effect on that The Los Angeles Times did not policy of additional war crime contro¬ offensive, I spent a identify me, but the next day the versy, he has not chosen to make his New York Times did, when Welles’s information public. He also is week on the roof of article finally appeared under the undoubtedly aware of the negative headline: “U.S. Diplomats in result disclosure would have on his my apartment Vietnam Said to Face Moral Issue.” I career prospects.” had negotiated with Welles that the The FSO in question had entered building with camera article would describe me simply as the Foreign Service in my A-100 “a foreign policy consultant to class. I knew that, unlike me, he and binoculars Congress” and that it would not would not be thrilled by the New York mention Sen. Case. Welles wrote: Times’ interest, so I decided to safe¬ watching the war play “State Department sources said guard his identity. (I still do, even that the alleged atrocities were inves¬ after he has risen to the rank of out across Saigon. tigated by the Department and were ambassador.) Still, I told Welles also reported in the United States everything else I knew about the incident. I suppose press on Jan. 12, 1970. They are said to have concerned that in other times I might have remained completely tire South Korean “Tiger” Division, one of two South quiet to protect a colleague. In 1971, however, how one Korean infantry divisions serving in Vietnam, and not felt about the war seemed of overriding importance. United States forces. A Pentagon spokesman said that I talked to Welles just before the Christmas holi¬ officers in its Southeast Asia section had not been able days, and Washington soon shut down. I kept checking to obtain the current issue of tire Foreign Service the New York Times, but no article appeared. Then, on Jowrnal and thus could not comment.” Dec. 29, 1971, the Los Angeles Times’ George The matter probably would have died there if the McArthur wrote a piece from Saigon entitled “U.S. State Departments Vietnam Working Group director, War Atrocity File Alleged.” The article began: Josialr W. Bennett, had not written a letter in tire “A semiofficial publication of the U.S. State February 1972 FSJ, in which he said about my article: Department this month rather casually presented the “Concerned that this account might convey a mislead¬ charge that an American diplomat now serving in ing impression of the conduct of one FSO and of Washington has a file of documented U.S. atrocities in Foreign Service attitudes generally, I looked up the file South Vietnam about which nothing has been done. (In on the matter. I found that the alleged atrocities do not Washington, a State Department spokesman said that involve American troops, as one might infer from read¬ the department is not currently trying to identify the ing the article, but Korean forces in Vietnam. The files author or obtain more details on the atrocity allega¬ show that the Department of State took action on the tions.) reports it received from various sources regarding “The unsubstantiated charges of atrocities in a semi¬ these alleged atrocities and that MACV [the U.S. mili¬ official publication which obviously reflects the senti¬ tary command], along with our Embassy in Saigon, ments of a broad segment of State Department officers sought to get to the bottom of the allegations and have raised hackles among military men. ‘Let them put up or corrective action taken. shut up,’ one staff officer snorted.” “The files also show the FSO referred to by Mr. This Los Angeles Times article was inaccurate in two Claymore did far more than write reports on incidents respects. First, the FSJ is not and never has been a pub¬ that came to his attention in the field. On his return to lication of the State Department, either officially or Washington, he took a prominent part in the semi-officially. Second, I had not written that Departments efforts to follow up on these and similar Americans had committed the atrocities. In fact, I had reports.” already told the New York Times that the perpetrators The FSJ graciously gave me die right to reply in the were South Koreans. same issue, and I wrote: “I would agree with Mr.

32 FOREIGN SERVICE JO URNALtAPRIL 2000 American Foreign Service Association • April 2000

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE I By Ken Nakamura, Director of Congressional Relations This Issue in Brief: The FY2001 Budget Fight FY2001 BUDGET FIGHT 1 MOBILIZING OUR MEMBERSHIP.. 1 On Feb. 7, President Clinton sent State Budget his FY 2001 budget request to Within the overall State Department AFSA NEWS BRIEF ? Congress, starting another bud¬ portion, the embassy security funding PROMOTING THE FOREIGN SERVICE .3 get and funding cycle. The $1.8 trillion request increased from $568 million to HINTS FOR COMPLETING AEFs 3 dollar budget request contains a $22.75 about $1.07 billion, international peace¬ DEFENDING THE FOREIGN SERVICE ...4 billion request for foreign affairs, and a keeping increased from $498.1 million to LUTZ RECEIVES FSI AWARD 4 supplemental request of $1.65 billion for $738.7 million and the capital investment S Colombia, Kosovo and Southeastern fund, to meet the needs identified in the FOREIGN SERVICE DAY Europe, and debt reduction for the Overseas Presence Advisory Panel report, LETTER TO THE EDITOR fi Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) increased by $17 million. MORALE IS IN THE EYE initiative. The proposed budget is about Funding for embassy security is in two OF THE BEHOLDER 7 2 percent higher than FY2000, if the one¬ parts of the budget request for State. RETIREE Q&A 9 time funding of the $1.8 billion Wye Within the Diplomatic and Consular JOBS FOR RETIREES 10 River/Middle East peace package is Programs account, the worldwide included, 11 percent higher without security upgrade increased from $254 Wye. Foreign affairs funding still stands million to $410 million. Part of this is the MOBIUZING OUR MEMBERSHIP at about 1 percent of the overall budget. Continued on page 6 Grassroots Initiatives Under Way WORKING FOR YOU RKING FOR YOU AROUNDTHF.WORI.I UNO THE WORLD n political campaigns, grassroots sup¬ Jiamolic Moments I President Bush and the Foreign Service port helps determine who succeeds. ... 1 O “The whole idea behind grassroots is to influence the political environment in which Congress and the administration operate,” says Ken Nakamura, AFSA’s leg¬ islative affairs director. AFSA’s legislative concerns include increased funding for embassy security and the overall foreign affairs budget, FS personnel issues, and FS retiree issues. While members of associations often lobby Congress, certain laws restrict gov¬ ernment employees from lobbying Congress. Specifically, active-duty AFSA Distinguished guests helped inaugurate AFSA’s first Foreign Service exhibit, which opened at the members can not use government George Bush Presidential Library on February 21. From left to right Texas A&M President Ray Bowen, resources, such as letterhead or telephones 75th Anniversary Director Louise Eaton, retired Ambassador Sheldon Krys, former First Lady Barbara Bush, former President George Bush, Foreign Service Director General Skip Gnehm, and AFSA to contact their representatives, or lobby President Marshall Adair. Front and center is Sadie (Millie’s daughter), stoiy on page 3 Continued on page 5 AFSANEWSBRIEF

Progress on Allowances

AFSA has convinced State management to raise the Miscellaneous Expense Portions of the Home Service Transfer Allowance and Foreign Transfer Allowance. Employees without families now get $500, up from $350, and employees with AFSA News Adds Features families get $1000. up In this issue, AFSA News launches a “Q & A” column. from $700. Retiree Liaison Ward Thompson and Labor Management AFSA also convinced Specialist James Yorke will serve as alternate authors of this State to raise the monthly column. Periodically, we will also publish “On the wardrobe allowance for Web” to let you know what’s happening on AFSA’s web site at a two-zone transfer— www.afsa.org. We’ve also revived “Inside the FS Community,” from $250 to $450 for which will appear every other month. employees without fam¬ We look forward to hearing your comments on these new ily, from $450 to $750 for employees with one family features. In addition, we welcome your letters to the editor on member, and from $600 to $1000 for employees with issues published in AFSA News. Because of space limitations, more than one family member. letters should be no longer than 200 words, and are subject to Finally, AFSA got State to increase the transportation editing. If you want to submit a letter to the editor or any news allowance for evacuees with family members from $10 to of interest to the FS community or news related to an AFSA $15 a day for employees with one family member and member, you may send a fax to Rita Colorito, AFSA News edi¬ from $10 to $20 a day for employees with more than one tor at (202) 338-8244 or an e-mail at [email protected]. family member.

What: Three hour-long sessions relating to Where: AFSA Headquarters, topics of particular interest to Foreign Foreign Service Club “Life in the Service Employees 2101 ESt, N.W. • Insurance Options (across from State Dept.) Foreign Service” • Financial and Tax Planning Washington, D.C. 20037 • Real Estate/Property Management Registration: $10 AFSA Members, Enjoy a panel approach with ample time $75 Non-AFSA Members Seminar for questions. Registration required, only first 50 When: Saturday, April 29th Registration forms available in all AFSA accepted, R.S.V.P by April 14,2000 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Refreshments will be offices. For further information call Chrissy provided Spaulding at (800) 704-2372 ext. 525.

AFSA News Editor Rita Colorito Governing Board: Staff: President Marshall P. Adair Executive Director Susan Reardon (202) 3384045 x 503 Business Department State Vice President John Naland Controller Kalpna Srimal Internet Addresses: USAID Vice President Frank Miller Accounting Assistant Vacant Labor Management [email protected] (Association) CS Vice President Peter Frederick 6 General Counsel: Sharon Papp [email protected] (President) FAS Vice President Evans Browne Labor Management Attorney: Zlatana Badrich Specialist James Yorke a [email protected] (FSJ) Retiree Vice President Willard De Pree Labor Relations Specialist Carol Lutz Secretary. Aurelius Fernandez Grievance Attorneys: Harry Sizer, Tracy Smith AFSA Headquarters: Law Ckrk Richard Bernstein Treasurer Thomas Tieman I (202) 3384045 FAX: (202) 3386820 Office Managers: Karen Batchelder, Naida Harrington State Representatives: Marilyn Bruno, Daniel Geisler, Member Services State Department Office: Stephen J. Klein, Lauren May, David Robinson, J. Riley Director Janet Hedrick Representative: Christine Spaulding (202) 647-8160 FAX: (202) 647-0265 Sever, Adviser. Bruce Byers Administrative Assistant Thomasina Johnson USAID Representative: James Dempsey Retiree Liaison: Ward Thompson USAID Office: Professional Programs Retiree Representatives: Harry Cahill, Garber Davidson, (202) 712-1941 FAX (202) 216-3710 Professional Issues Coordinator Vacant George Jones, Robert Lamb Congressional Affairs Director Ken Nakamura Communications Coordinator Lauren McCuen SA44 Office: FAS Representative: Ed Porter Scholarship Administrator Lori Dec (202)4016405 FAX: (202) 4016410 CS Representative: Eric Sletten Corporate Relations: Barbara Bowie-Whitman

2 AFSA NEWS • APRIL 2000 £gSP£al Dramolit Mor

PROMOTING THE FOREIGN SERVICE Presidential Library Exhibit Opens To enhance the understanding of the To further educate exhibit goers, critical role played by the Foreign AFSA, the Bush Presidential Library Service in the daily lives of all Foundation, and the Bush Americans, the 75th Anniversary International Center sponsored a Exhibit goers learn about the Foreign Service. Committee decided the celebration should seminar, “The U.S. Foreign Service: spread across the country. It proposed pay¬ Careers of Challenges and Opportunities.” At a reception following the program ing tribute to FS men and women through Panelists included Adair, Gnehm and Krys. students and FS retirees had the opportu¬ a series of photo exhibits to be showcased In opening remarks, Bush urged students nity to meet with the panel participants. at presidential libraries nationwide. to consider joining the Foreign Service. He Adair also met with several students who The first exhibit opened on Feb. 21 at praised the knowledge, dedication, pro¬ were interested in internships in the George Bush Presidential Library and fessionalism and skill of the FSOs who kept Washington Museum in College Station, Texas. him from “falling on his face,” during his Texas A&M University, on whose cam¬ President and Mrs. Bush toured the time as ambassador to the United Nations pus the Bush Library is located, declared exhibit accompanied by AFSA President and as director of the liaison office in the opening of the exhibit as Foreign Marshall Adair, State Director General Skip Beijing. Bush also said that as vice presi¬ Service Day. A second parallel photo exhib¬ Gnehm, retired Ambassador Sheldon dent he was appreciative of the briefings it opened on February 22nd at the Jimmy Krys, and 75th Anniversary Director he received from overseas posts when he Carter Presidential Library in Atlanta. Louise Eaton. Some 250 students and FS would visit or attend funerals of foreign President Carter will visit the exhibit on retirees attended the opening. leaders. March 22nd.

USAID ■ BY FRANK MILLER accomplishments. The boards are looking for FSOs who can think and work “outside the box” and can see the “big picture.” Do not Hints for Completing AEFs limit your scope of performance and interest to a narrow techni¬ cal or programmatic field. Most FSOs participate in teams that cross An April 1999 AID notice informed FSOs that AFSA and AID technical fields. Describe your contribution to team efforts and your had negotiated new precepts that are to be used by rating offi¬ impact on results. Show your professional growth. cers, appraisal committees and selection boards to establish When your AEF is given to you, carefully review it to ensure work objectives, evaluate performance, and determine tenure for that it meets all the requirements. All work objectives must be the current rating cycle. The new precepts identify six skill areas that addressed. Failure to meet a work objective that was within your FSOs are expected to demonstrate at each grade leveL You can down¬ span of control could result in a low ranking. Moreover, make sure load the skills matrix from the human resource web page. the description of your skills meets the standards for your class. An AEF that demonstrates you met the standard for your grade If you believe that the AEF contains errors of fact, errors of omis¬ should be eligible for a “B” ranking on your report card. An AEF sion, inconsistencies or falsely prejudicial statements, bring this to that documents that you demonstrate potential to meet the stan¬ the attention of your rating officer and your appraisal committee dards at the next higher level should make you more competitive (AC). If your rating officer refuses to correct discrepancies, docu¬ for promotion and may result in an “A” ranking. An AEF that ment your case and take it to your AC. Your AC must make the demonstrates you are not meeting the standards of your class would changes you requested or document in writing why they disagreed result in a “C” ranking. with your request. It is now time for FSOs to start preparing self-assessments for As a final hint, I strongly encourage you to fill out the employ¬ their rating officers. Take each work objective and describe how ee comments section. This section provides the boards with anoth¬ it was met and what skills were utilized in reaching results. Don’t er dimension of your performance. The boards reported that waste time on process; focus on results. What difference did you employees were able to significantly overcome poorly written eval¬ make? Your work objectives must be in your span of control. If uations and improve their rankings with their own comments. In there were barriers that may have affected your performance explain your comments, be positive, not defensive. Provide examples of them. Make sure you give examples of the skills you demonstrat¬ professional growth—how you broadened your skills and knowl¬ ed in meeting objectives. At least one sub-skill area under the six edge of agency programs. skill categories must be described in each AEF. Note that I failed to mention the dreaded areas of improvement It is important to show cross-sector skills in describing your section. This section has been dropped. Amen.

APRIL 2000* AFSA NEWS 3 STATE! BY JOHN NALAND DEDICATION RECOGNIZED Defending the Foreign Service Lutz Receives FSI Award Earlier this year, AFSA raised its voice to protest the At the end of a course at the assignment of a Civil Service employee to a DCM Foreign Service Institute, students position. In so doing, we received an unexpected evaluate their professors. In the case response from some AFSA members. While most mem¬ of adjunct faculty member Carol Lutz, pos¬ bers intuitively understood what was at stake and why it itive student evaluations led her to receive was our duty to speak out, some members were upset at FSI’s Adjunct Faculty award. AFSA. They argued that we were wrong because 1) this FSI’s Political Training Division was an enormously talented person and 2) it was only one nominated Lutz, AFSA’s senior labor man¬ assignment. One remarked that “We have all seen FSO DCMs who were real agement specialist, for the award, turkeys, so why not give this gifted civil servant a try?” citing her help with some of the division’s In replying, I made the following points: most important training priorities over the ■ AFSA’s objection had nothing to do with the civil servant in question. In last several years. fact, because we learned of this through a vague rumor at the last minute Four times a year, Lutz collaborates instead of a friendly head’s-up from personnel or the regional bureau, we with three colleagues to conduct a half-day set our position before we even learned the civil servant’s name. seminar on mediation, one of the core ■ It is AFSA’s institutional role to speak out when modules of FSI’s Negotiation Art & Skills we see threats to the Foreign Service. Asking why AFSA’s objection course. The seminar introduces students we worry so much about things like this is like ask¬ to the critical skills of a mediator and then had nothing to ing the Cuba desk why they worry so much about enables them to practice those skills in real¬ Fidel Castro. do with the istic role-play scenarios. I AFSA can not defend the Foreign Service in gen¬ “Ms. Lutz not only delivers a presen¬ eral without defending it on a case-by-case basis. civil servant in tation, but she also coaches the students This “only one assignment” is but a single frame question. during their role-play exercises to provide in a never-ending movie. Two years ago man¬ on-the-spot feedback and steer them in the agement intervened to secure a principal officer right direction,” says AFSA member Bob position for State’s chief financial officer. AFSA, a U.S. Senator, and the Hopper, FSI’s director of political train¬ Washington Post raised a ruckus. Although the assignment went through, ing. “Students find this segment one of the State did wait two years before issuing the next challenge. Remaining silent most useful and applicable during this five- this time would have only encouraged more frequent challenges. day course.” ■ The Foreign Service is under constant pressure. The percentage of politi¬ Negotiation skills don’t come naturally cal ambassadorships reached 36 percent last fall. Some in Congress and else¬ for most people, says Lutz. “I think this where depreciate our unique role, arguing that anyone can do our jobs or course is valuable because it teaches that our jobs need not be done at all (“close embassies and have Washington those skills, and I’m appreciative to the e-mail foreign governments direcdy”). Sending someone with no overseas Foreign Service Institute for offering the experience to be a DCM only reinforces the view that there is nothing spe¬ course.” cial about the FS. It sets a terrible precedent that the administration tak¬ Lutz has considerable experience as an ing office next January may be tempted to follow. alternative dispute resolution practition¬ ■ AFSA must object to sending someone with no overseas service to be the er. In addition to her work with AFSA, she DCM of a busy embassy that manages a difficult bilateral relationship. The mediates Equal Employment Opportunity FSOs passed over for that job each had decades of apprenticeship. DCM (EEO) disputes for the District of is the quintessential FSO job and a prerequisite for being an ambassador. Columbia Office of Human Rights and ■ Finally, AFSA believes that the process by which this assignment was made arbitrates legal malpractice and fee disputes violates the terms of a 1996 agreement establishing procedures for filling for the D.C. Bar Attorney-Client FS jobs with non-FS people. AFSA, as the guardian of the rules that we have Arbitration Service. She also worked with negotiated, cannot remain silent while State ignores even one established the State Department’s Dispute Resolution procedure lest we put all our hard-won checks and balances in jeopardy. Specialist and the Federal Mediation and As always, I welcome member input. Contact me at [email protected] or by Conciliation Service to teach an EEO pilot fax at 202-647-0265. mediation course at the institute.

4 AFSA NEWS • APRIL 2000 Grassroots • Continued from page 1 Congress on government time. They also er,” says AFSA President Marshall Adair, “Congress needs to know what the can not lobby Congress in their official “We want our members to take initiative, Foreign Service looks like, and they need capacity, only as private citizens. but we will provide guidance on issues.” to hear from us,” says Adair. Because Instead, AFSA focuses its grassroots ini¬ To do so, AFSA is rejuvenating its Congress is more apt to pay attention tiatives on retired members and a dozen Legislative Action Network of members when an issue is backed by many con¬ local FS retiree groups nationwide. stituents, AFSA works with the “These retiree associations provide the Coalition for American Leadership Foreign Service community with a Abroad (COLEAD), an organization grassroots safety net,” says Ward of 40 non-profits concerned with Thompson, AFSA’s retiree liaison and promoting active U.S. engagement in outreach director. international affairs. If it wasn’t for FS retiree assistance, On important issues, such as the Senate Resolution 217—the Foreign FY2001 budget for foreign affairs (see Service Day Resolution—may never story pg. 1), COLEAD organizes have passed. “It was tough getting it group sign-on letters to Congress and co-sponsored, right down to the sends model letters to grassroots wire,” says Nakamura. groups and national organizations, To pass a resolution, 51 senators such as the National Peace Corps must approve it, 20 from each party. Association, the Fulbright Association Members of the Foreign Affairs Retirees and the United Nations Association. of Northern Virginia, working with They in turn send the letters to their Maryland colleagues, had secured 50 members to sign and send to co-sponsors. Then, Vernon Merrill, Congress. COLEAD has a web site, head of the Washington state organi¬ www.colead.org, which provides zation of FS retirees, moved to action, information about foreign affairs getting his members to sign and send binding, major speeches and model two dozen letters in support of the resolu¬ who are interested in lobbying Congress letters to Congress. “Uniting the foreign tion to Sen. Patty Murray. The final sig¬ and actively supporting AFSA issues. The affairs community to work together nature from Murray passed the resolution. list, which was started five years ago, is across the country is, perhaps, the most “Our goal is to make grassroots lean¬ being updated. urgent task to ensure we do not abandon our international responsibilities,” says Harry C. Blaney, COLEAD president and FSO retiree. The backbone of any grassroots effort is getting the message out. “It’s important to keep the issues on the radar screen,” says Nakamura. Retirees lead the effort through AFSA’s Speaker’s Bureau, which provides lec¬ turers for schools and organizations. “We want to talk to anyone in America who is interested in the Foreign Service,” says Thompson, adding that many FS col¬ leagues are requesting speakers for groups to which they belong such as Kiwanis and Rotary clubs. To receive an invitation, send your name, For more information on AFSA’s address and telephone number to: Special Events Coordinator, Legislative Action Network and the Speaker’s Bureau contact Ward PER/EX-Room HI 103 SA-1, Department of State, Thompson at 800-704-2372 ext. 528; Washington, D.C 20522-0108. on COLEAD contact Harry Blaney at If you have any questions, telephone (202) 663-3600. 800-704-2372 ext. 519.

APRIL 2000 • AFSA NEWS 5 Budget 2000 • Continued from page 1 LETTER TO THE EDITOR million for the construction of new on-compound facil¬ ities for USAID in Kampala, For the Uganda, and Nairobi, Kenya, $134 million for further DOD Record perimeter security studies In his February President’s Views and $13.6 million for other column, Marshall Adair correcdy recurring costs. Finally, the identified the long-term weaknesses in administration requested the Foreign Service’s attention to and $3.35 billion in advanced success with training its employees. appropriations for capital Comparing us to DOD, vastly better projects for FY2002 to at training its people—at all levels and FY2005. in all fields—is reasonable as long as Nevertheless, the $1.07 we bear in mind three key differences. billion requested for embassy The first, mentioned by Adair, is security falls short, by more college credits for courses. DOD has than $300 million, of what made major efforts to connect cours¬ Admiral Crowe recom¬ es to civilian education, both under¬ mended as an annual appropriation for We will be almost one year graduate and graduate. The benefits of the next 10 years. Combined with the this approach, to the government and behind schedule in improving $800 million shortfall last year we will be the individual, are so evident that it is almost one year behind schedule in depressing to admit that we have never embassy security by the end improving embassy security by the end taken the required steps. of FY2001. of FY2001. A second is the military’s inclusion of long-term training slots in projec¬ inflation-adjusted carry-over of person¬ Foreign Assistance tions of personnel needs. This provides nel costs from the FY99 reaction to the Under the Title II Bilateral Economic the trainees and, in glaring contrast to bombings in east Africa. It also includes Assistance, the development aid request our approach, reduces the pressures $66 million to continue the perimeter increased by 10.7 percent, from $1,934.7 from future bosses to fill the position security upgrades programs and $16 mil¬ million to $2.14 million, including major now, and training be damned. We lion for 162 additional security profes¬ increases for international family plan¬ have become accustomed to lengthy sionals. ning, AIDS in Africa, and new environ¬ underlaps in assignments; DOD The second part falls in the Embassy ment programs. Within the Title II revels in extensive overlaps, with Security, Construction, and Maintenance account, the Economic Support Funds training included. account, formerly known as the Foreign request decreased from $2.8 million to Lastly, in our defense, it’s important Buildings account. The request for the $2.3 million as did the assistance request to remember that in peacetime, the regular part of this account is $431.6 mil¬ for the former Soviet Union and the military trains for war. In wartime, lion: In FY2000, the appropriation was Newly Independent States from $836 training falls to the bottom of priori¬ $425.7 million. The real change is in the million to $830 million. ties. For the FS, however, there is no Worldwide Security sub-account. The SEED funds request for Eastern equivalent to peacetime/wartime. FY2001 request is for $647.6 million, up Europe and the Baltics increased from Foreign relations never shut down. from $313,617 million appropriated in $533 million to $610 million. The request Without question, we could do a FY2000. for Export and Investment assistance (Ex- significantly better job of training offi¬ According to State’s Budget in Brief, Im, OPIC, TDA, etc.) increased from cers and specialists. AFSA can well this amount includes $450 million to sup¬ $635.8 million to $844 million. Debt spend some time and effort on that port the next tranche “of security driven reduction for the HIPC initiative received worthy cause. projects,” as well as design and/or con¬ a 113 percent request increase from $123 Edward L. Peck struction of facilities in Cape Town, million to $262 million. FSO, Retired Damascus, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, The counter-narcotics aid for Sofia, and Yerevan. This funding will Colombia increases more than seven-fold allow State to acquire five to eight addi¬ if combined with the FY2000 supple¬ tional sites. The total also includes $50 mental request for Plan Colombia, and

6 AFSA NEWS • APRIL 2000 PUBLIC DIPLOMACY ■ BY J. RILEY SEVER the FY2001 request. These funds cover purchases of helicopters, training and "Morale Is In the Eye of the equipment for the Colombian military, interdiction, economic development, and alternative employment and reset¬ During a recent discussion of morale in the Foreign tlement programs. Service, a senior management official, who had recent¬ USAID’s Operation Expense account, ly returned from visiting posts overseas, exclaimed which is the personnel account, is less that morale was high. An AFSA representative disputed this than impressive. Except for State’s by citing e-mails, letters and phone calls of complaints from security funding for facilities in Uganda FSOs on various issues. Considerable debate ensued over who and Kenya, the USAID request went from had the best “take” on Foreign Service morale. $519 million to $520 million. It’s natural that senior officials won’t hear all the complaints The overall budget request increases, that employees share with their union, nor does a union hear often from satisfied employ¬ though welcome, are still insufficient for ees. It is also true that for many FSOs morale is only high in hindsight. That’s why we the expanded needs and mission of diplo¬ hear so many references to “the good old days.” macy. AFSA continues its efforts to con¬ If you asked me what it takes to generate high morale, I would mention the fol¬ vince the administration and the lowing: challenging work; talented and professional colleagues; salaries and bene¬ Congress to treat the International fits competitive with those in the private sector; predictable promotion opportuni¬ Affairs account as part of a national secu¬ ties; a transparent bidding and assignment system; benefits and allowances reflec¬ rity budget. There is a real cost to be paid tive of changes in inflation as well as in the private sector; a safe work environment; when we lack in diplomatic readiness. a supportive environment for our families and dependents; and, most important¬ ly, public recognition that FS work has worth. Although the FS certainly offers challenging and rewarding work as well as a high¬ ly professional corps of colleagues, we are woefully lacking in meeting the other cri¬ teria. To begin with, surveys consistendy show that all federal workers are underpaid compared to the private sector and that this disparity is particularly true for FS salaries. While promotion opportunities have increased recendy, there is no system in place to avoid TICing out large numbers of officers, should the government reduce the foreign affairs budget as it did a few years ago. In regard to the bidding and assign¬ Address ment system, I have met few FSOs who think it is transparent or fair. In addition, many FS allowances and benefits haven’t been revised since the 1980s and haven’t Changes? kept pace with inflation. Summer transfer season is almost The FS also continues to fail at supporting our families. As families become more upon us. If you know your onward dependent on dual incomes and more spouses seek their own careers, a lack of employ¬ assignment, send it to AFSA now and ment for spouses overseas is a growing problem. The failure of many overseas schools note the day it takes effect. You can to keep pace with the American curriculum has increased challenges for FSOs with update your address via e-mail to children. Finally, the failure of the FS to keep pace with changes in American soci¬ [email protected], by telephone (202) ety with regard to the acceptance of extended families and unmarried partners fur¬ 338-4045 ext. 525, with an insert card ther complicates a career which seems to regulate your personal as well as your pro¬ in this issue of the FSJ, or by postcard fessional life. to AFSA, 2101 E St., N.W., As for a safe work environment, funding for overseas security continues to be Washington, D.C. 20037. inadequate, while the current administration and Congress blame each other for Submitting an address change not providing the necessary resources. will affect all your AFSA mailing, The fall of the Soviet Union and technological advances have led many Americans, including the Foreign Service Journal and even Congress, to question the need for diplomats or even embassies. This lack To ensure more efficient communi¬ of public support is disheartening to all FSOs. cation with our members, AFSA is Considering the above factors, it’s impossible to believe that the Foreign Service now collecting e-mail addresses. Be has high morale. I suspect what the management official found in overseas posts sure to include your e-mail address on was a high level of dedication among FSOs and this should not be confused with all correspondence. high morale. The Foreign Service has a long way to go before anyone would ever consider these “the good old days.”

APRIL 2000 • AFSA NEWS 7 their time. Some interviews cover diplo¬ macy that occurred as far back as the 1920s. The majority of interviews focus on the post World War II period. Transcripts can be read at the Special Collections Room of the Lauinger Library at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. Individual transcripts may be Join Retirees in Florida Cities Association and is a member of the obtained by writing to: Association for The Foreign Service Retirees Florida All Media Executive Roundtable. Diplomatic Studies and Training, 4000 Association of Florida, over 700 members Arlington Blvd., Arlington, Va., 22204 or strong, invites you to join its ranks. The AAFSWWeb Site by calling (703) 302-6990. Each transcript association meets for four luncheons and is $15 and is loaded on to a diskette. For one banquet a year throughout the state. Expanded more information contact Charles Stuart Membership is $ 15 a year for couples and The AAFSW has added resources on Kennedy, director of the program at (703) $10 for individuals. For more informa¬ its web site at www.aafsw.org. A new fea¬ 302-6990. tion write to Membership Chairperson ture, “Foreign Service Toolkit,” offers links Miriam Belcher, Foreign Service Retirees to U.S. government publications and web¬ Foundation Assists Association of Florida, Salvia Court, sites. The “Member Activities” and Homosassa, Fla., 34446, or call Chairman “Newcomers” pages feature information FS Seniors Irwin Rubenstein at (954) 474-2949. on how you can get involved. The Since 1991, the American Foreign “Cyberspouse” page has new links for Service Protective Association (AFSPA) Byrnes Receives has provided information and assis¬ tance to retired FS personnel (including Mayor’s Award AAFSW surviving or divorced spouses) through Associates of the American Foreign Flope Byrnes, wife of retired FSO Paul Service Worldwide the Senior Living Foundation of the Byrnes, recently received the Mayor of American Foreign Service. The founda¬ Sarasota’s (Fla.) Award for Community tion helps defray the costs of home health Service. Mrs. Byrnes’ community involve¬ care, senior housing facilities, long-term ment includes serving as a member of the care insurance or other senior services that American Legion Auxiliary Sarasota Post amateur web developers, including a list contribute to health and security. 30; chairing the volunteer committee of of web sites owned by FS family mem¬ It was not until the late 1980’s that the Sarasota Opera Guild; and editing the bers. You can also add your own business those who composed the greatly expand¬ Asolo [Theatre] Guild Newsletter. She or personal web page. ed Foreign Service of the post-World War serves as president of the Sarasota Sister In addition, you can subscribe to II era began to reach “old” age. AFSPA AAFSW’s virtual newsletter by filling out became involved in finding a solution to the form on the “What’s New” page or senior living problems after it received an by sending a blank e-mail message to increasing number of inquiries from its [email protected]. members—colleagues, ex-spouses and surviving spouses—who were in precar¬ Looking for Foreign ious financial situations, were deterio¬ rating physically or mentally and/or had Affairs Information? few options available to them. If you want to know how diploma¬ To date, the foundation has received cy was conducted by US officials through¬ more than 1500 donations from AFSPA out history, contact the Foreign Affairs members and various corporations. The Oral History Program based at the foundation accepts tax deductible gifts Foreign Service Institute. The archives and is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. contain in-depth interviews with more To find out how you can help, contact: than 700 retired American diplomats and The Senior Living Foundation of the consuls who were posted to more than American Foreign Service 1716 N Street, From left Mollie Cardamone, mayor of Sarasota, NW Washington, DC 20036-2907 Tel: Fla., presents Flope Byrnes with the Mayor of 200 posts abroad, who discuss their expe¬ Sarasota’s Award for Community Service. riences and perceptions of diplomacies of (202) 887-8170 Fax: (202) 833-4918.

8 AFSA NEWS • APRIL 2000 these plans will waive the co-payment and If your FEHB carrier is an HMO, the deductible if the health care provider which might not have any co-payments accepts Medicare assignment. for any participant, the difference under Example: If you are 64 now and go to Medicare will be less noticeable. your doctor for a routine visit, your FEHB fee-for-service plan would pay for the visit Q: What will change if I do not enroll? WITH RETIREE LIAISON after you satisfy a calendar-year deductible A Your FEHB coverage will con- WARD THOMPSON and you make a co-payment. If you are • tinue as before. If you have a 65 and have Medicare B, Medicare will claim for hospitalization after you turn 65, Q: How will my health care cost and you may be asked by your FEHB carrier coverage change when I enroll in Medicare? either to enroll in Medicare A or to cer¬ Medicare comes in two parts— tify that you are not eligible for premium- A If your FEHB carrier is an HMO, • A and B. Part A is hospital free Part A. Also FEHB benefits for par¬ insurance. If you were a federal employ¬ which might not have any ticipants 65 and older who do not have ee on January 1, 1983, you and your Medicare are affected to some extent by co-payments for any participant, spouse or survivor are eligible for pre¬ Medicare law. In most cases, this will be mium-free Medicare A on turning 65 (see the difference under Medicare to your advantage, since the law limits next question). Most others may purchase what providers can charge even to those will be less noticeable. Part A, but the cost (currently $301 a who do not have Medicare and FEHB. month or $331.10 per month if enrolling Co-payments are based on what Medicare after age 65) is too high to make it worth¬ prescribes. while for anyone who already has FEHB pay 80 percent of the cost (once the annu¬ For more information on healthcare, (Federal Employees Health Benefits). Part al $100 deductible is satisfied) and your see “The Federal Employee Health B, medical insurance, covers visits to doc¬ FEHB plan will pay the rest, with no Benefits Program and Medicare” at tors and related services. It is available to deductible or co-pay. You will continue www.opm.gov/hr/insure/mcare/MHBO all Americans, including all federal annu¬ to pay your FEHB premium, as well as l.htm or contact Ward Thompson at itants, on the same basis — a monthly the Medicare B premium, but your out- (800) 704-2372 ext. 528 or at thomp- premium, currently $45.50 (plus 10 per¬ of-pocket expenses will be reduced. [email protected]. cent for each year one delays enrolling after 65). Medicare coverage is good only for health care in the United States. After you enroll in Medicare A and/or B, Medicare becomes the primary payer for hospital and/or medical care. That means that your claims will be filed (usu¬ ally by the provider) with Medicare, which will pay its normal coverage, which is sub¬ ject to deductibles and co-insurance, and then pass the remainder of the claim to your FEHB plan, which is the secondary payer. Your FEHB plan usually will pay all of the rest of the claim, waiving deductibles and co-payments normally applied by a fee-for-service plan like Blue Cross or the Foreign Service Benefit Plan. Exception: Beginning in 2000, most fee- for-service plans stopped waiving the co¬ payment for prescription drugs for annu¬ itants covered by Medicare, which they had been doing even though Medicare has no drug coverage. For other medical care,

APRIL 2000 • AFSA NEWS 9 RETIREES M GUEST COLUMNIST HARRY CAHILL ly imposed long waiting periods. Having advanced on this front, we Jobs for Retirees then met with executive directors of geo¬ graphic and functional bureaus and When the new AFSA Board took office, we faced a num¬ learned that their need and desire to ber of troublesome issues. One problem was the increas¬ rehire qualified retirees are overwhelm¬ ingly serious work force shortages in the State ing. We shared the information obtained Department. Another was the large number of able retirees who from DS with the bureaus and the views wanted to keep active, but who had no opportunity for mean¬ obtained from the bureaus with DS, demonstrating that we were ingful work. The much publicized Foreign Service Reserve Corps all marching on the same road. As a result, our retirees can now had raised expectations a few years ago, only to crash and leave join the march column. a residue of cynicism. We have also contacted small liberal arts colleges, discussing The board concluded that the two problems might solve each how our alumni can serve as visiting professors to augment fac¬ other. Vacancies both in Washington, D.C. and overseas could ulty in international affairs courses. In December and lanuary, be filled if the Foreign Service could develop a viable way to bring our first “VPs” went forth to the campus successfully. our alumni back on board as WAEs (when actually employed) Our AFSA program is structured to help provide part-time or contractors. The naysayers quickly pointed out that this was work in four areas: (1) jobs at State and overseas posts, (2) teach¬ impossible. “It can’t be done,” they said. One alleged barrier was ing in colleges, (3) lecturing in Elderhostel sessions, and (4) pub¬ the reluctance of Diplomatic Security (DS) to give clearances to lic speaking on international affairs in various fora. AFSANET retirees. In addition, each bureau in State allegedly did not want will also continue to post job opportunities in the public and pri¬ to hire outsiders because it had its own stable of favored people. vate sectors. In February, we sent a questionnaire to all AFSA Both allegations proved untrue. We conferred with DS offi¬ retirees to ascertain interest and obtain needed biographic infor¬ cials who control the clearance process and found them very mation for a database, which will be maintained at AFSA head¬ cooperative and positive. Explaining how the current execu¬ quarters. tive order facilitates rehiring, they specified the few key steps With your participation and interest, AFSA is opening the road that offices should follow to rehire annuitants. They empha¬ back for Foreign Service retirees. sized that each applicant case is handled on an individual basis For more information contact AFSA Retiree Liaison Ward and that clearances can be obtained without undergoing rigid¬ Thompson at (202) 944-5528 or [email protected]. AFSACLASSIFIEDS W

FREE TAX CONSULTATION: For overseas TAX ft FINANCIAL SERVICES ROLAND S. HEARD, CPA personnel. We process returns as received, with¬ ATTORNEY, FORMER FOREIGN SER¬ 1091 Chaddwyck Dr., out delay. Preparation and representation by VICE OFFICER: Extensive experience w/ tax Enrolled Agents. Federal and all states prepared. Athens, GA 30606 problems peculiar to the Foreign Service. Includes ‘TAX TFtAX” unique mini-financial plan¬ Tel/Fax (706) 769-8976 Available for consultation, tax planning, and ning review with recommendations. Full planning E-mail: [email protected] preparation of returns: M. Bruce Hirshorn, Boring & Pilger available. Get the most from your financial dol¬ • U.S. income tax services lar! Financial Forecasts Inc., Barry B. De Marr, 307 Maple Ave, Suite D, West Vienna, VA • Many FS & contractor clients CFP, EA 1001 N. Highland St. #301 Arlington, 22180 (703) 281-2161 Fax: (703) 281-9464 E- * Practiced before the IRS Va 22201, Clarendon Metro, (703) 841-1040, mail [email protected] • Financial planning FAX (703) 841-5865, Website: www.taxbea- • American Institute of CPAs, Member COMPLETE TAX & ACCOUNTING SER- con.com/ffi E-mail: [email protected] VICE: Specialize in Foreign Service and over¬ FIRST CONSULTATION FREE seas contractor situations. Virginia M. Test, CPA 2595 Chandler Ave.# 18, Las Vegas, NV TAX PREPARATION: CPA SPECIALIST in 89120, (702) 795-3648, FAX (702) 433-9191, offshore U.S. taxpayer issues. 40+ years as a tax E-mail: [email protected] professional. Income tax and estate planning and FINANCIAL PLANNING: Investment analysis. Portfolio management. Plan for PROFESSIONAL TAX RETURN PREPA- TAX RETURN PREPARATION, all federal and retirement, children’s educational expenses, RATION: Thirty years in public tax practice all states. Initial consultation is FREE. Absolutely confidential. Special care for delinquent filers, and home purchases. Fee-only. No product sales. Arthur A Granberg, EA, ATA, ATP. Our IRS and state controversies. Member AICPA tax charges are $55 per hour. Most FSO returns Impartial advice. Carried out by former FSO, section. take 3 to 4 hours. Our office is 100’ from Virginia MBA, Registered Investment Adviser. Michael Square Metro Station, Tax Matters, Associates, John D. Nebeker, CPA Hirsh, Financial Consulting International, PC 3601 North Fairfax Dr. Arlington, VA 22201 179 N. Nightfall Ave., Tucson, AZ 85748 10455 Southern Pine PI., San Diego, CA Tel. (703) 522-3828, Fax (703) 522-5726, E- Tel. (520) 721-7718, Fax (520) 92131, (858) 689-0790, E-mail: mail: [email protected] 721-1758. E-mail: [email protected] [email protected]

10 AFSA NEWS • APRIL 2000 AFSACLASSIFIEDS M TAX ft FINANCIAL SERVICES PROPERTY MANAGEMENT PROPERTY MANAGEMENT J.P. PROPERTIES, LTD.: Complete pro¬ TAX RETURN PREPARATION AND H.A.GILL & SON, INC.: Family owned PLANNING: Relocation Tax Service, LLC fessional dedication to the management of res¬ and operated firm specializing in the leasing (RTS) provides Foreign Service personnel with idential property in Northern Virginia. Our pro¬ and management of fine single-family hous¬ fessionals will provide personal attention to your federal and state tax preparation and planning. es, condominiums and cooperatives in home, careful tenant screening, and video RTS offers online tax return processing as well Washington, D.C. and Montgomery County as traditional paper preparation, and year- inspections of your property. We are equipped since 1888. While we operate with cutting edge to handle all of your property management round tax hotline with our tax preparation ser¬ technology, we do business the old-fashioned vices. Call for a free tax booklet explaining tax¬ needs. We work 7 days a week! Over 19 years way - providing close personal attention to our ation of foreign income if a spouse is working real estate experience and Foreign Service clients and their properties. We provide overseas living experience. JOANN PIEKNEY, on the economy. RTS employees have over expertise in dealing with jurisdictional legal 200 years of experience servicing Americans 301 Maple Ave. W„ 4-C, Vienna, VA 22180. requirements, rent control, property registra¬ overseas and we believe in personal year- Tel. (703) 938-0909 Fax (703) 281-9782. E- tion, and lead paint requirements. We close¬ mail: [email protected] www.foreignservice- round service. Visit our website at www.tax- ly screen all tenant applications and are on¬ move.com or contact Jane Bruno at Relocation homes.com line with Equi-fax Credit Information Services Tax Services, 12597 Torbay Dr., Boca Raton, which provides our firm with instantaneous PEAKE MANAGEMENT - Do you want to FL 33428. Tel. (561) 470-7631, Fax (561) 470- hard-copy credit reports. You can rest assured make sure your house is well managed while 4790; E-mail: [email protected] while you are abroad that your property will you're overseas? Call Lindsey Peake and set be in the most capable hands. Please call John up an appointment to discuss how we provide Gill, Jr. at (202) 338-5000 or email at hag- exceptional services to our clients. Want to ATTORNEY [email protected] for more information or a learn more about us first? Visit our new Website FORMER FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICER brochure. at www.peakeinc.co or call for our free, high¬ NOW PRACTICING LAW IN DC/MD. General ly acclaimed Landlord Reference Manual which practice; estate planning: wills, trusts, living wills, walks you through the entire process. Most of powers of attorney; probate administration; our clients are FSOs, so we understand your domestic relations; FS grievances. Gregory V. special needs and would love to work with you. DIPLOMAT PROPERTIES, Is proud to Powell; Furey, Doolan & Abell, LLP; 8401 Conn. Friendly, personal, professional and knowl¬ announce a merger with PRUDENTIAL Ave., #1100, Chevy Chase, MD 20815 (301) edgeable. The best combination! CARRUTHERS, REALTORS. The union 652-6880 fax (301) 652-8972. Looking for a great property manager expe¬ was easy - we share a commitment to excel¬ lence in property management and service. WILUESTATE PLANNING by attorney rienced with FS clients? Call me to set up an We are known for our highly experienced man¬ who is a former FSO. Have your will reviewed appointment, or to receive our free Landlord agement team, superior maintenance, strong and updated, or new one prepared: No charge Manual. We're professional, experienced, communication, 24-hour emergency service, for initial consultation. and friendly. In business since 1982. Lindsey and effective advertising at no additional cost. M. Bruce Hirshorn, Boring & Pilger, 307 Peake: 6842 Elm St. McLean, VA 22101. Under our new name we will meet and exceed Maple Ave. W, Suite D, Vienna, VA 22180 Tel.(703) 448-0212. the high expectations our clients have come (703) 281-2161, Fax (703) 281-9464 E-mail: [email protected] to expect. Both companies have something E-mail: [email protected] MANOR SERVICES: FORMER federal law in common: our primary source of property GRIEVANCES: MANDATORY enforcement officer, offers BEST tenant screen¬ management business is referrals from satis¬ RETIREMENT OR ing. Frequent inspections. Mortgages paid. fied past clients. GET TO KNOW US, OUR SEPARATION? DEFECTIVE EER? Repairs. Close PERSONAL attention. We’re REPUTATION SPEAKS FOR ITSELF. ATTORNEY WITH 20 years successful small, but VERY effective. FS and Mil. refe. Our For information (703) 522-5900. Fax: experience SPECIALIZING IN FS GRIEV¬ rates are lower than anyone on this page. And (703) 525-4173; E-mail: dipprop@earth- ANCES will represent you to protect vital inter¬ our SERVICE is better, too. Compare — you’ll link.net. For sales information ask for Anne ests in these or other career matters including see. We don't sell, we do "HANDS-ON” man¬ Gomez. non-promotion, selection out, non-tenuring, dis¬ agement only. TERSH NORTON Box 42429, ciplinary actions at State, AID, and Commerce. Washington, D.C. 20015Tel. (202) 363-2990, Fax Call Bridget R. Mugane at Tel. (202) 387- (202)3634736 4383 (Farragut Square), Tel. (301) 596-0175, E-mail: [email protected] or E-mail: [email protected] Free initial con¬ sultation. REALTY GROUP, INC.

GRIEVANCES & DISCRIMINATION DC PROPERTY MANAGEMENT & SALES ATTORNEY PRACTICING IN areas of FS of single family homes, grievances at State and Commerce Depts., condos & small apartment bldgs. USAID and USIA; MSPB and Employment We serve owners Discrimination cases; actions under Title VII who appreciate personalized and the Rehabilitation Act. Will write and file service & quality maintenance. your claims, appeals and complaints, represent you at hearings, and counsel you in challeng¬ Amy Fisher, CRS (202)544-8762 ing adverse employment decisions. Offices in Certified Residential Specialist VA (Arlington) and DC ( Indiana Ave. NW Email: [email protected] Wash., DC 20004). Call George Elfter at (202) Visit our website: 637-1325, Fax (703) 354-8734. E-mail: www.dcpropertymanagement.com [email protected]

APRIL 2000 • AFSA NEWS 11 AFSACLASSIFIEDS M

SHORT - TERM RENTALS NORTH ARLINGTON HOUSE available FOR RENT 8/00 for 6-12 months. Perfect for NFATC train¬ FOREIGN SERVICE ASSOCIATES has fully HISTORIC CAPITOL HILL TOWN- ing. 3 BRs, 2 BA; fenced back yard. Charming HOUSE: Fully furnished 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, furnished apartments at River Place just 5 min¬ Westover neighborhood; walk to shops, eat-in kitchen, fenced in patio/garden. Central utes from NFATC and one block from Rosslyn metro.Contact: [email protected] A/C; cable TV. Minutes from Metro, stores, Metro. Efficiencies, 1 and 2 bedrooms have fully restaurants, movies. References from previ¬ furnished with kitchens, cable TV, telephone, FLORIDA ous FSO family. Available May to September. linens, and all utilities included. Call: or Fax (703) Exact dates negotiable. $1,500/mo. + utils. 527-0279,or E-mail: [email protected] website GOLF/BEACH PARADISE! Why not own Call (202) 546-0341. E-mail: at: www.foreignservicehousing.com property at the Currituck Club, a world class [email protected] golf/beach resort in Corolla, NC in the Outer ROOMMATES PREFERRED, LTD. Are you Banks. Corolla voted by WSJ one of five top HELP WANTED looking for, or do you have a residence to share? U.S. retirement spots. For more information on WE NEED A FS spouse to help us intro¬ Would you like to be a host to someone who is, retirement/vacation property in the Outer duce high-tech home/office air & water or are you, looking for a place to live for a short Banks or Northern Virginia Real Estate call or purification technology to the diplomatic time, long time? Studying a language and want write Barry Heyman, former FSO, Blue Heron community. This is a home-based business with great profit potential! Contact B. T. or to live with someone for whom this language is Realty, Cambra & Associates, (703) 644-8591, Vicky Marking (retired FS) at a first language? Need a home between assign¬ e-mail: [email protected] [email protected] ments? Want to get the lay of the land before set¬ tling down? Betsy Neal Egan at 202.965.4004. NO STATE INCOME tax enhances gra¬ 110 220 VOLT STORE E-mail [email protected] cious living in Florida. Former FSO Paul MULTI-SYSTEM ELECTRONICS Byrnes specializes in home, villa, and condo PAL-SECAM-NTSC TVs, VCRs, AUDIO, CAMCORDER, BEST RATES IN WASHINGTON: When the sales in Sarasota, but also helps anywhere in ADAPTOR, TRANSFORMERS, need for housing in the DC area arises, try the the State. Ask for Paul at Toll Free (877) 924- KITCHEN APPLIANCES Newly Renovated Pennsylvania House, fully fur¬ 9001, use E-mail: [email protected] or EXPORTS ELECTRONICS, INC. nished, full kitchen. Minutes from anywhere you write him at Arvida Realty Services, 100 N. 1719 Connecticut Ave. N.W. need to be in the DC area. One block from Foggy Tamiami Tr. Sarasota, FL 34236. Washington, D.C. 20009, near Dupont Bottom/GWU metro line. 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12 AFSA NEWS • APRIL 2000 Focus

Bennett that the FSO who compiled I was so keen to show Allies’ Atrocities.” By then, Welles the file did everything possible inside had managed to learn the date and tlie State Department to see that jus¬ opposition to the war place of the massacre, along with tice was served. His persistence was specific details. There had been a remarkable within the system. The that I fashioned a death toll of 60 to 80 civilians, he existence of the file — mentioned in reported, and “many of the dead my article and confirmed by Mr. black sock into an were found with powder burns — Bennett — underscores the fact that indicating execution at point-blank there was official American knowl¬ armband, which 1 range.” edge of Korean atrocities. 1 would be grateful if Mr. Bennett or anyone else wore while I talked to A Generation Gap in the State Department could The controversy that erupted explain to me how the identification students about Foreign around my article supported one of of the guilty as Koreans makes their the basic points I was trying to make war crimes any less heinous or regret¬ Service careers. — namely, that “Vietnam is differ¬ table.” No reply was forthcoming. ent. Serving [there] is not like serv¬ On Feb. 13, 1972, Ben Welles ing elsewhere. It meant a violent wrote a second article for the New York Times — this breaking away from the traditional diplomatic life and time about the exchange of letters in the FSJ — enti¬ an exposure to the realities of war. tled “Letters Raise Question of U.S. Responsibility for “Vietnam has undoubtedly sharpened the genera-

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APRIL 2000/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 33 Focus

tion gap between young and old I was thrilled that both to dieir careers and their safety, FSOs. In some of the junior grades, a they managed to put several hundred disproportionately large number have my Foreign Service Vietnamese on Rights out of the been to Vietnam. Almost all return country. When they returned to with a healthy skepticism, often bor¬ Journal article was Washington, diey thought they would dering on contempt, for the Foreign be disciplined or fired. Instead, Service. One recent returnee says, going to be at the Secretary of State Henry Kissinger ‘Vietnam is where you learn that your called them into his office to honor elders aren’t what you thought they center of a them. were.’ Another describes Vietnam as I very much admire such behavior. his ‘final disillusionment with the New York Times story. At the same time, I will never forget Foreign Service as an institution.’ He tiiat when I resigned, another of my says ‘he can no longer take the Service A-100 classmates, who later became at its word,’ and he goes on to mention the lack of an ambassador, told me in all seriousness tiiat an FSO integrity in the reporting process he saw in Vietnam. should not have policy views. My sense is that his per¬ “Yet this same officer feels that his own and his col¬ spective also persists. leagues’ disillusionment with the Foreign Service bodes well for the future of the American diplomatic estab¬ The Road Not Taken lishment. He believes Vietnam has created a new, skep¬ As for me, I have few regrets about hairing left the tical type of diplomat able to work more effectively Foreign Service. I went on to co-author a best-seller, within the foreign affairs bureaucracy than the old The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence and write The striped-pants set. Shorn of the mythology of protocol Search for the Manchurian Candidate. These books and cocktail parties, these new skeptics see themselves reflected my strong opposition to a foreign policy that as ‘operators’ who know how to infight. The emphasis in included covert manipulation and intervention. But as Vietnam was on doing things whether inside or outside the 1970s were ending, I realized tiiat my work, first in the system. If Vietnamese officials would not feed hun¬ battling against the Vietnam War and then in taking on gry refugees, the FSO usually found a way to get die job what I considered to be the abuses of the intelligence done himself.” agencies, had become largely defined by what I was Having left the service, I cannot be sure to what against. I made a decision that, rather than continue to extent FSOs who served in Vietnam continued to be tear down the old system, I would try to help build a entrepreneurial infighters. My impression, however, is new one. Influenced by a series of personal growth that at least a few, such as Richard Holbrooke, now U.S. workshops, I gradually became immersed in the prac¬ ambassador to die United Nations, and Frank Wisner, a tice of conflict resolution. former under secretary of State and Defense and a four¬ I reinvented myself as a “social entrepreneur” — still time ambassador, became especially good at proactive with that “can do” spirit learned in Vietnam — and behavior. founded Search for Common Ground in 1982 and the A classic example of Vietnam-era FSOs showing European Centre for Common Ground in 1995. These courage under bureaucratic fire occurred in 1975. As organizations share a vision of transforming how the the Soudi Vietnamese government was falling, Lionel world deals with conflict by moving from adversarial, Rosenblatt and Craig Johnstone pushed successfully in win-lose approaches to non-adversarial, win-win solu¬ Washington for creation of an interagency task force to tions. Together, they have grown into the largest NGO rescue Vietnamese who might be in danger because of in the world working in conflict prevention and conflict their ties to the U.S. government. Still, they still felt that resolution. the U.S. mission in Saigon was not doing enough to I still stand by the conclusion I wrote to my 1971FS] honor its obligations to individual Vietnamese. Aldiough article: “The Vietnam War may someday come to an specifically told by senior officials not to go, they took end. But many Foreign Service officers, and perhaps leave and dew off to Saigon. Disregarding the risks, the service as a whole, will never be the same again.” ■

34 FOREIGN SERVICE ] OU RN A LI AP RIL 2000 An INVITATION for SUMMER FICTION

The Foreign Service Journal is seeking works of fiction of up to 3,000 words for its annual sum¬ mer fiction issue. Stories should have an overseas setting. Story lines or characters ij involving the Foreign Service are pre¬ ferred, but not required. The Journats editorial board will select up to six stories in May for simultaneous publication in the July/August issue and on the Journafs web site. All stories must be previously unpublished. Submissions should be unsigned and accompa¬ nied by a cover sheet with the authors name, address, telephone numbers and email address.

Deadline for submissions is May 1,2000. No Exceptions.

Please send stories to the attention of Kathleen Currie, Managing Editor Foreign Service Journal, 2101 E Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20037 Submissions will also be accepted by email at [email protected] and by fax at (202) 338-8244

APRIL 2000/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 35 Focus ON VIETNAM

ADVISE AND DISSENT: THE DIPLOMAT AS PROTESTER

PROTESTS OVER VIETNAM FROM FSOS DIDN’T END THE WAR—BUT THEY DID LEAD TO THE OPEN FORUM AND THE DISSENT CHANNEL.

BY DAVID T. JONES

opular images of the Vietnam War don’t usually include Foreign Service officers protesting in pinstriped suits or carrying placards with familiar anti-war slogans outside the diplomatic entrance at State. “Hell, no, we won’t go” might not have rolled off the lips of FSOs, but nevertheless, many diplomats staged their own protests deep within the drab corridors of State, using cable traffic from overseas and other tools to wage bureaucratic guerrilla warfare against American involvement in Indochina during the 1960s and 1970s. For young FSOs of the period, dissent over U.S. policy in Southeast Asia reflected self-interest. By June 1968, every unmarried male junior officer who had not performed active duty military service was automatically sent

36 FOREIGN SERVICE JO URNAL!AFR1L 2000 Focus

to Vietnam for his first Foreign Until 1972, decision to continue backing Chiang Service tour, whether or not he had Kai-shek’s Nationalists well after it requested the assignment. To make State refused to became clear drat Mao Tse-tungs matters worse, many FSOs received Communists were going to win con¬ assignments as development officers, acknowledge the scope trol of China was understandable, administering USAID programs and but also extremely short-sighted. helping the Vietnamese set up self- of its losses in the war, The lack of reliable information help projects in the provinces, often about Beijing’s capabilities and with little or no security against Viet permitting rumors to intentions fostered hysterical visions Cong attacks. As a result, they were of “Red China” overrunning U.S. killed in Vietnam and neighboring run rampant military forces throughout East Asia. countries in numbers totally Many historians believe that this unprecedented for the diplomatic among FSOs. panic, in turn, led to strategic blun¬ profession. Between 1960 and 1975, ders which unnecessarily prolonged 36 members of the Foreign Service the Korean conflict and would even¬ died in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. tually lead the U.S. to stumble blindly into the Moreover, in a still inexplicable personnel decision, Vietnam swamp. Conversely, though the years have the department waited until 1972 to acknowledge the thinned their ranks, there are still some historians who scope of its losses in the war, permitting rumors to run insist that the dissenters to U.S. China and Vietnam rampant. Most American diplomats knew at least one policies, if not active traitors, severely undercut their FSO who had died in Vietnam, so suspicions about government’s position and diereby brought about the true casualty totals only fanned fears among junior very outcome they had predicted. officers and depressed morale throughout the Foreign But instead of learning from the debacle and utiliz¬ Service. One effect of this crisis of confidence quickly ing the expertise of its China hands to minimize the became obvious: In 1968 alone, 266 FSOs, 80 percent damage done by that miscalculation, the State of them junior officers, resigned from the Foreign Department panicked. In the wake of witch hunts Service, while only 103 JOs entered — a drop of more launched by Republican Sen. Joseph McCarthy of than half from the previous year, when 219 new offi¬ Wisconsin in the early 1950s, State not only retaliated cers joined the service. Although not all the resigna¬ against the “old China hands” but generally cracked tions can be attributed to disagreements about down on dissent throughout the Foreign Service. Vietnam policy, there is little doubt that the war was It would take until 1967, when it could no longer one of the main underlying factors for this massive ignore the growing disenchantment among FSOs over exodus. U.S. involvement in Vietnam, for State to acknowl¬ edge the value of listening to diverse points of view How Not To Handle Dissent and begin moving to institutionalize its handling of Vietnam was hardly the first case of widespread pol¬ dissent. icy dissent within the State Department. Even though it occurred two decades before the Vietnam War, the The Open Forum “Who lost China?” controversy still represents the Like the American public they represented overseas, prime example of a diplomatic disaster caused by the 1960s-era FSOs tended to be idealistic and were predis¬ failure of State Department policymakers to heed dis¬ posed to support U.S. policy. Many had either entered senting views from better-informed representatives in the service in the spirit of President John F. Kennedy’s the field. call — “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask The Truman administrations post-World War II what you can do for your country” — or thought of their profession in those terms. As a consequence, resistance David Jones is a retired senior FSO and a frequent con¬ to the war within the Foreign Sendee was slow to devel¬ tributor to the Journal. op and tended to be passive, at least during the 1960s.

APRIL 2000/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 37 Focus

(It is worth noting that the pages of the “Open Forum was a with their general concerns about Foreign Service Journal during this Vietnam policy and their perception period contain few references to steam valve, not a that dissent over such policy was Vietnam, and even fewer negative being suppressed within the depart¬ ones.) And as with any organization, steam turbine.” ment. Nothing came of this initia¬ drere was also a significant minority tive, however, partly because mem¬ — William Marsh, former who may not have supported the pres¬ bers were reluctant to embarrass idents position on Vietnam on the Open Forum panel member Rogers wdth further illustrations of merits but decided to live with their State Department dissent, but main¬ misgivings eidrer out of loyalty or for ly because it was already becoming the sake of career advancement. apparent that National Security Council Director As the U.S. military commitment to Vietnam grew, flenry Kissinger was running U.S. foreign policy, not more officers began resigning outright, as noted Rogers. (At least one group of JOs did meet with above, but most dissidents simply evaded assignment Secretary Rogers to discuss Vietnam policy, but that to Southeast Asia as best they could. By the late 1960s, meeting was apparently not connected to the OFP ini¬ however, a critical mass of officers had genuinely come tiative. See “From Diplomat to Dissident: A State to believe that U.S. policy in Vietnam was wrong, inef¬ Department Odyssey” on page 28.) fective or both. Their growing defiance and their will¬ The panel members eventually came to the conclu¬ ingness to speak out in an organized manner prompt¬ sion that no obvious untapped reservoir of “deep ed the State Department to create a mechanism that think” among new officers existed, as most of the sub¬ would channel and control the growing dissatisfaction missions the OFP had received dealt wdth personnel or with Southeast Asia policy. administrative concerns. In addition, it is not certain In 1967, largely at Secretary of State Dean Rusk’s that most FSOs even opposed the war at this point. instigation, the Foreign Service created its first-ever bureaucratic mechanism for gathering the views of the Cambodia rank-and-file, the Open Forum Panel. Drawing on his The most spectacular single instance of policy dis¬ academic background, Rusk reportedly conceived of sent within the Foreign Service over Vietnam the OFP as a potential seedbed of fresh thinking by occurred completely outside the parameters of the younger officers. Inaugurated in August 1967, the Open Forum process, as then-Under Secretary for OFP began with 10 self-selected junior- and mid-level Political Affairs U. Alexis Johnson describes in his officers who would serve terms of 12 months each. 1984 memoir, The Right Hand of Power. Although The panel had a mandate to “review all suggestions none of them had ever served in Southeast Asia, a submitted and select those worthy of further consider¬ group of 50 FSOs sent a letter to Secretary of State ation.” By December 1967, the OFP’s mandate had William Rogers in April 1970 protesting an anticipated widened to generate new ideas and serve as a general U.S. invasion of Cambodia designed to relieve North conduit for the views of junior officers on personnel Vietnamese pressure on Saigon and Phnom Penh. In and administrative matters, as well as policy. his book, Johnson acknowledges the legitimacy of the During the first year of its operation the Forum officers’ substantive complaint, but he faults their tac¬ received 150 submissions, but only 10 addressed poli¬ tics in circulating multiple copies of the letter to cy and just one questioned the U.S. role in Vietnam. secure additional signatures, which led to its leak to So far as policy contributions were concerned, the new the media. Making matters worse, the letter hit the forum was not a hotbed of dissent. As William Marsh, news just as the U.S. military assault was taking place a now-retired FSO who was one of the first panel in Cambodia. members, put it, “Open Forum was a steam valve, not Johnson received a 2 a.m. phone call from a steam turbine.” President Richard Nixon, who, spouting abuse and In 1969 tire OFP repeatedly considered the idea of expletives, demanded that the offenders be fired approaching Secretary of State William Rogers, both immediately. With the tacit approval of Secretary

38 FOREIGN SERVICE J O U RN A L/A P RIL 2000 Focus

Rogers, who recognized that creating 50 martyrs awards for dissent by junior- and mid-level officers; wouldn’t stimulate public support for an already con¬ the following year an award was established for senior troversial policy, Johnson obfuscated to protect the officers. Of the eight winners who received the awards group from White House wrath. On another front, the in the first three years, four were honored for work in American Foreign Service Association Governing Southeast Asia. All but one of the honorees, however, Board addressed a letter to President Nixon, assuring seem to have been recognized for creatively advancing him of the Foreign Service’s “full loyalty and support.” U.S. policy interests rather than dissenting from them. Although the board also used the letter to call for For example, the 1969 award was given to John Paul openness and “candid communication within the Vann, a former military officer with a reputation for Department of State,” the pledge of loyalty was a con¬ criticism of Vietnam policy, only after he switched troversial and divisive action all the same. positions following the Tet offensive and began advo¬ cating more forceful prosecution of the war effort. Alternative Approaches Such well-intentioned efforts were clearly not By tins point it was clear that while Foreign Service enough to address the growing disaffection within the regulations permitted the submission of alternative Foreign Service, however. The fact that 50 FSOs were political opinions by embassies, there was no effective willing to take their protests over U.S. policy to the way for individual officers to dissent. There were no media constituted but one symptom of a more serious assurances that their careers would not suffer, much less malady. any prospect that tiieir views would be taken seriously. Good-faith efforts within the department to fill this Channeling Dissent gap continued on an ad hoc basis. For many years, the To address these concerns, Under Secretary for Open Forum circulated a classified in-house publica¬ Management William Macomber, with the support of tion featuring a selection of articles by FSOs, but that Secretary Rogers and Deputy Secretary Elliott has been discontinued. The panel now places empha¬ Richardson, launched a five-month study in 1970 sis on stimulating policy discussions, chiefly through its involving 13 task forces. That study ultimately yielded speakers series, which is unclassified but off the over 500 recommendations in a report entitled record, and is looking into the possibility of creating a “Diplomacy for the ’70s,” known in shorthand as the classified e-mail exchange. Macomber Report. The Bureau of Intelligence and Research tried Like studies before and since, this one recom¬ another approach. INR is where much of the dissent mended “a climate more conducive to creative think¬ over Vietnam was concentrated, because it received ing is essential if the Department and the Foreign the widest range of data and because it encouraged Sendee are to continue to attract and hold the best analytical thinking and consideration of worst-case young people.” Southeast Asia and Cambodia were scenarios. After considerable discussion between barely mentioned in the Macomber report. If any¬ junior officers and senior officials within INR, in June thing, it deliberately avoided criticism of existing 1970 the bureau authorized an internal publication, administration policy. For example, while one task Viewpoint, as an outlet for “thoughtful, creative, new force included biting thumbnail critiques on each analysis” that could be circulated among government postwar secretary of State, there was no comment on agencies without being misinterpreted as an official sitting Secretary of State Rogers. This same task force State Department statement. Only one issue appeared lambasted Sen. Joseph McCarthy for stilling State at the time and then the idea died. In 1993, INR Department creativity, but avoided discussion of revived Viewpoint, which Thomas Fingar, the INR Vietnam dissent. The one substantive comment on deputy assistant secretary for analysis, says now runs Vietnam was, “...Secretary [Rusk] did not welcome dis¬ around 50 articles a year, mostly written by a small sent on the Vietnam issue and had little time to number of geographic analysts with sometimes eso¬ encourage creative thinking in other areas.” teric views. Still, the report urged the establishment of “a gen¬ On a parallel track, in 1968 AFSA instituted two eral principle ... that officers who cannot concur in a

APRIL 2 000/F O RE IGN SERVICE JOURNAL 39 Focus

report or recommendation submitted State learned perhaps Officers in the field also have the by the mission are free to submit a option of including a dissenting opin¬ dissenting statement.” the most valuable ion on an embassy telegram, while As a result of this and other recom¬ those in the department can take a mendations, the State Department lesson of all from its footnote on interagency intelligence revised the Foreign Affairs Manual in assessments indicating their dis¬ February 1971 to give FSOs the internal debate over agreement with the consensus. explicit freedom to dissent. After fur¬ These dissents (which require senior- ther internal discussions throughout Vietnam: Ignoring level clearance) come from INR, not 1971, the secretary of States Policy the individual drafter, but some of Planning Staff was selected as the dissent only them are easily identified with an office designated to handle individual individual analyst, whose credibility dissents. Both the Open Forum and exacerbates problems. may carry considerable weight with INR offered to play a role in oversee¬ other agencies. ing the handling of dissent within the State Department, but their overtures were rejected by Lessons Learned State management. While disagreements about the U.S. role in Vietnam In October 1973, however, Secretary of State Henry were the most readily identifiable stimulus for tire Kissinger issued his own guidance about dissent. He establishment of the Dissent Channel, it is also true that said the dissent should be heard, but also expected “that societal fury about the war never manifested itself in the all officers ... will keep dissenting views in the channels Foreign Sendee. While State Department officials peri¬ provided for,” and observed that “expression of differing odically wage fierce internal policy debates, most of views will of course be subject to the ambassadors con¬ these battles have been fought over questions of U.S. trol.” Kissingers less than wholehearted welcome of national interest more than ideology or personality contrarian views may help account for the fact that the (though those factors are often important as well). No dissent channel, once it was established, did not stimu¬ matter how adroitly the Foreign Service handles such late an immediate burst of cable traffic protesting the controversies, some officers will always resign over pol¬ war. icy differences. Others will avoid implementing dis¬ Nor was Vietnam or Southeast Asia the subject of agreeable policies by seeking transfers. Still others, most messages. Only one dissent message was submit¬ probably a majority of the corps, will express their oppo¬ ted in 1971 and it was about the Middle East. Of the sition and then faithfully execute policy. nine message submitted in 1972, four were about East But while State is open to contrasting policy views, Asia, but there is no way to be sure that any of them not many FSOs use official dissent channels. Some addressed the Vietnam War. In 1973 there were only believe that the strict legal protections available to four dissent messages and none of them touched upon dissenters are very thin if an ambassador or deputy East Asia. assistant secretary is irritated. A more mundane expla¬ That pattern has continued since Vietnam. In the nation might be that no issue has galvanized American almost 30 years of its existence, the Dissent Channel has society, or the Foreign Sendee, in the way the received over 250 messages, ranging from a high of 30 Vietnam War did 30 years ago. in 1977 to a low of 3 in 1997. Of the first 200 messages Whatever die explanation, when State decided — from 1971 to 1991, about 50 addressed “general,” non- however reluctantly — a generation ago to institutional¬ foreign-policy topics such as housing allowance policy. ize dissent, it helped defuse the inevitable tensions pol¬ None of the other 150 or so messages can be credited icy disagreements generate. And in opting for greater with reversing existing policy; instead, at best, the dis¬ tolerance of divergent views, State has learned a valu¬ senting viewpoint may have received some senior level able lesson from the debate over Vietnam: No matter consideration. During the past decade, annual totals of how irritating dissenters may be, ignoring them can be contributions have averaged in the single digits. hazardous to an agency’s health. ■

40 FOREIGN SERVICE JO URNAL/APR1L 2000 Focus ON VIETNAM

LEAVING SAIGON: AN FSO’S LAST DAY IN VIETNAM

HELICOPTERS FLEW THE LAST U.S. OFFICIALS OUT OF SAIGON 25 YEARS AGO. ONE FSO RECALLS THAT HARROWING DAY.

BY RICHARD S. THOMPSON

.he impact of massive explosions only a few miles from my villa in Saigon awakened me abruptly. It was 4 a.m. on Tuesday, April 29, 1975. Even half-asleep, I instantly knew that North Vietnamese forces, which had been steadily approaching the capital over the past several weeks, had begun shelling Tan Son Nhut Airfield just north of town. I also realized that this bombardment probably signaled the beginning of the final American evacuation that the embassy had been planning for weeks. I had already sent my family to Bangkok several weeks earlier, and had packed my household effects for shipment. For the past two weeks, each morning when I went down to breakfast, there had been several solemn-faced Vietnamese waiting in my living room. Some I knew; others had been referred by third parties. As I ate,

APRIL 2000/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 41 Focus

apologizing for the discourtesy, each Just a few days after I ation with Vietnam, and how the would come to the table to tell me end of my time in country was mir¬ why he or she would be in danger in first arrived in Saigon roring the turmoil and uncertainty I the event of a communist victory, had experienced upon my arrival in and would hand me a list of family in 1968, the embassy Saigon in January 1968, following members who should be evacuated 42 weeks of Vietnamese language and a contact telephone number or was attacked and training. address. Just a few days after I reported When I arrived at the embassy a almost blown up. for duty to the political section, the little later each morning, I would embassy was attacked and almost type a brief cover memo for each list with my assess¬ blown up by a Viet Cong sapper unit as part of the ment of the merits of the request, and put them in famous Tet offensive. I could hear the nighttime the in-box of Shep Lowman, chief of the Internal attack from my apartment a few blocks away, and Political Affairs Unit. He and his staff would sort arrived at the embassy the next morning to find the through the requests and each night would pick up building damaged but not penetrated, and the bodies those selected for evacuation and take them to Tan of guerrillas still lying near the entrance. This was my Son Nhut Airport for departure on American aircraft. welcome to almost four years of sendee in the On my last morning in Saigon, however, no one embassy political section, including considerable was waiting to greet me when I came down to break¬ travel in the provinces with many exciting and some¬ fast. I was alone except for Nguyet, one of the maids times anxious experiences. on my household staff, who served me breakfast. I In 1972 I was assigned to the Paris Peace Talks, speculated that the Vietnamese were no longer seek¬ where I had a front-row seat for the final negotiations ing me out because they had also heard the bom¬ that resulted in the Paris Agreement on Vietnam of bardment of Tan Son Nhut, and decided the U.S. January 1973. Under this agreement American troops government could no longer help them. were withdrawn and our POWs were released, Preparing for work, I put on my best dark blue, although substantial American aid to the Republic of tropical weight, pinstriped suit. I might as well take South Vietnam continued. In 1974, Ambassador my best suit out with me, I thought, since most of my Graham Martin asked me to return to Saigon, which wardrobe would be left behind. I also packed a small I did, along with my wife and three children. As chief black bag I had purchased in the market a couple of of the External Political Affairs Unit of the Political weeks before, taking necessities such as cotton cloth¬ Section, my job was to work with the South ing, a toilet kit and a towel which would (and did) Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to defend the keep me comfortable aboard my evacuation ship. position of the Republic of Vietnam and the United When I got into my car, I placed the small bag against States in international organizations and ensure that the passenger side door, where my Vietnamese gate Saigon, not Hanoi, represented the country. guard couldn’t see it and become alarmed as I drove The first part of that last Saigon tour was quite out the gate of my compound. pleasant, with few hostilities and growing prosperity among the Vietnamese. President Nixon had given Signs And Portents South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu As I drove the few blocks from my house to the strong assurances of a forceful U.S. response if Hanoi embassy, a modern concrete structure with a heli¬ violated the Paris Agreement. After Nixon resigned copter pad on the roof, I reflected on my long associ- in August 1974, however, the North Vietnamese became less fearful that renewed activity on their Richard Thompson is a retired Foreign Service officer part would arouse such a response, and stepped up who served in Andm, Curagao, Niamey, Saigon, Paris their infiltration of the South. and Algiers. Until March, he was AFSA’s coordinator On Jan. 7, 1975, Northern forces captured the for professional issues. capital of Phuoc Long Province only 75 miles north

42 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/APRIL 2 000 Focus

of Saigon. When there was no One Japanese know they all remained in Saigon American reaction, North Vietnam and took part in the April 27 decided to move ahead as soon as diplomat had some debate. They took very seriously possible, accelerating its original their role under the constitution of plans for victory in 1976. harrowing experiences the Republic of Vietnam, and did The capture of the mountain not want to leave while this consti¬ provincial capital of Ban Me Thuot before his government tution was still in force. I was on March 10 by three North deeply impressed by their loyalty. Vietnamese divisions not even was able to pluck him But once they had recommended known to be in the area sparked the appointment of General Minh, general agreement in the American from a freighter. an action totally outside the scope mission, at least at the working level, of the constitution, they felt the that a North Vietnamese victory was This made him quite a constitutional basis of the Republic near. (Nevertheless, I suspect of Vietnam had been destroyed. embassy reporting to Washington celebrity in his They therefore had no further remained more sanguine for a time.) responsibilities and were free to In the following weeks large areas diplomatic service. leave the country. of South Vietnam were abandoned These final days in Saigon were to the communist forces, and the both surreal and poignant. On one Saigon government’s confused efforts to withdraw occasion I was enjoying an elegant lunch with my South Vietnamese units to more defensible positions friend Bud Merick, a reporter for U.S. News World merely resulted in the dissolution of these units as Report, in the top floor restaurant of the Caravelle effective fighting forces. North Vietnam was able to Hotel. As we were being served by an elderly, concentrate its forces at any location it desired and French-trained waiter, we could clearly see a bridge thus achieve overwhelming superiority over the thin¬ across the Saigon River about three miles away that ly spread South Vietnamese forces. had been the scene of skirmishes, and thick black With North Vietnamese military forces rapidly smoke rising from the U.S. embassy warehouse on closing in on Saigon, President Thieu resigned, hop¬ the other side. We joked that this smoke might be ing his departure would facilitate negotiations, and coming from my household effects, which had only was succeeded by Vice President Tran Van Huong. recently been packed for shipping. It was only sever¬ The communists continued to demand an entirely al months later that I learned my goods had in fact new administration and an end to all U.S. involve¬ made it out of Saigon in the last commercial ship¬ ment in Vietnam. After some hesitation, on April 27 ment. the National Assembly recommended that full presi¬ In these last days there were two schools of dential powers be conferred on General Duong Van thought about the likely final scenario. Ambassador Minh (commonly referred to as “Big Minh”), who Martin, based at least in part on the advice of the was considered more acceptable to the communists. Polish and Hungarian delegates present in Saigon as Normally the Internal Affairs Unit of the embassy part of a commission to oversee the Paris would have reported on events in the assembly, but Agreements, still believed the North Vietnamese they were busy helping endangered Vietnamese — might voluntarily stop short of capturing Saigon. including many of my breakfast visitors — leave the Instead, he anticipated that the communists would country. Since I had reported on the assembly during negotiate a coalition government which they would earlier tours of duty in Saigon, I was pressed into dominate, but which could be portrayed as falling action. I was concerned that legislators would be within the terms of the 1973 agreement. Such an angry at the Americans for abandoning them, but arrangement would pave the way for a continued they greeted me warmly as an old friend and American presence in Saigon, international recogni¬ explained to me what they were doing. As far as I tion and foreign assistance.

APRIL 2000/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 43 Focus

Saigon-based CIA Hanoi-watch- 1 told my maid that Washington authorities, however, on er Frank Snepp was the chief pro¬ some days the tally would actually ponent of the competing school of the Americans were increase as Americans came to thought on the endgame. His con¬ Saigon to ensure the departure of tacts with Vietnamese communist evacuating and she their Vietnamese relatives and intelligence sources convinced him friends, especially those they that Hanoi’s aim was indeed the should take anything thought would be in danger. military seizure of Saigon and the Even though the embassy staff South. (Snepp’s Decent Interval is a in the house she was steadily shrinking I had fascinating account of the last days remained because I had a role in the of the American mission in Saigon.) wanted because I final evacuation plan: I was respon¬ This more hard-boiled prediction sible for liaison with certain proved to be correct. would not be back. embassies that had already decided During these final weeks the they would leave at the same time embassy had been doing its best to we did with American assistance. reduce the number of Americans (U.S. government employees, their family members and private citi¬ Hard Decisions zens) in Vietnam, so that as few people as possible My memories of that last day are a series of some¬ would have to depart by helicopter in a final evacua¬ what disconnected scenes: tion. To the great distress of Ambassador Martin and When I arrived at the embassy, I found that Need Auto Parts N0IV?

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employees were barred from park¬ During an elegant been gathering around the embassy ing in the embassy compound and for weeks seeking entry to the were instead being directed to a lot lunch at a French United States soon completely across the street. This was a signifi¬ blocked access to the entrance cant signal that the evacuation was hotel, we saw thick nearest the consular buildings as about to get under way: The parking well as the back gate. area inside the compound would be black smoke rising During the night many needed as an additional helicopter Americans and Vietnamese, plus a landing pad. (Later that day, a tree from the U.S. embassy sprinkling of other nationalities, in the embassy parking area was cut had been brought into the com¬ down, removing the last obstacle to warehouse on the pound, which already contained helicopter flights.) several thousand people by the time The walled and protected area of other side of the river. I arrived. Upon arrival, many sim¬ the embassy bounded approximately ply abandoned their cars in the two acres. The rectangular block of street, so the block in front of the the embassy and separate consular buildings faced embassy quickly began to resemble a haphazard Unification Boulevard and formed one complex. parking lot full of luxury vehicles. A company of Behind this was another grouping including some armed Marines in fatigues manned the perimeter, administrative buildings and a swimming pool, with a and entiy and exit became very difficult. back gate. The large Vietnamese crowds that had Upon entering the embassy, I quickly learned

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APRIL 2 000/F O RE IGN SERVICE JOURNAL 45 Focus

from Joe Bennett, the political Ambassador Martin newsmen arrived at the back of the minister-counselor, that evacuation compound seeking to get in. Because was indeed the order of the day. remained at the of the crush of humanity it was Since we had already worked out impossible to open the gate, so the detailed plans for assisting our diplo¬ embassy as long as journalists with some difficulty were matic colleagues to depart, my main directed to climb a pile of sandbags. task was to notify them that the evac¬ possible because he From there, the Marines helped uation was about to start. For several them, one-by-one, over the gate. weeks the embassy switchboard had felt a strong sense of Other American journalists decided been almost constantly tied up with to remain in Saigon and were able to incoming calls, and I thought I might duty to evacuate the chronicle the North Vietnamese have to visit the embassies in person takeover the next day. to deliver the alerts. But for whatev¬ maximum number of Later, someone brought to me a er reason, our telephones were eeri¬ somewhat disheveled young ly quiet this morning, and I was able Vietnamese. Vietnamese man with whitewash marks to complete the notifications in a few on his clothing from where he had minutes. climbed over the embassy wall. Nguyen Trong Nho was A diplomat from the Japanese embassy arrived a member of the lower house of the Vietnamese early in the day in his ambassadors car to discuss the National Assembly and a friend of mine. In his student evacuation. Before he could leave, Vietnamese trying years he had been active in protesting against the gov¬ to get in the gates surrounded the compound, and he ernment of Soufii Vietnam, earning the nickname “King was unable to depart. After consulting his embassy by of Street Demonstrations.” (It sounds better in telephone, he decided to remain in our compound and Vietnamese.) More recently he had been in the democ¬ leave with us. But when we boarded an evacuation ves¬ ratic opposition to President Thieu. His family had left sel that night, we learned the U.S. Navy had received tlie country earlier and he was seeking to join them. To orders, based on Philippine desires, that only my sorrow, all I could do was give him my emergency Americans could travel to the Philippines, and all food supply—a large jar of peanuts — and wish him well. other nationalities must be placed on freighters with At one point I was near the consulate gate when the Vietnamese refugees and taken to Guam. I heard someone in the crowd outside beckoned to me with a later that this Japanese diplomat underwent some har¬ discreet gesture. He was a Vietnamese whom I had rowing experiences before his government was able to first known slightly as a colonel, and who had there¬ locate him and pluck him from a freighter, which made after been promoted to general. He was considered him quite a celebrity in the Japanese diplomatic ser¬ honest (not a universal trait in the South Vietnamese vice. military) and able, and a friend of the Americans who Early in the day my maid, Nguyet, phoned me, had worked with him. He told me his family was crying, saying she was frightened because the gate already out of the country, and asked for my assistance guard at my house had fled. It was difficult for me to in gaining entry to the compound. It was possible for speak because I was crying too, but I told her the the Marines to let someone in without being forced to Americans were evacuating and she should take any¬ shoot people to get the gate closed again, but it was thing in the house she wanted because I would not be always dicey. I checked with higher authority in the back. Later my chauffeur, Mot, called and we embassy for permission to let him in, but was told the arranged to meet at a secluded iron gate to the compound was too full to do so, since there was doubt embassy, where I handed him three months sever¬ as to whether all those already in the compound could ance pay to distribute to each member of the house¬ be taken out. hold staff. I was too choked up to say a word, but we Destruction of classified material was an important shook hands through the bars. activity. The corridor outside the communications cen¬ At one point, a group of distinguished American ter gradually filled with shredded paper. We had been

46 FOREIGN SERVICE J O U RN A L/A P RIL 2000 Focus

told some time ago to reduce our When my turn came periodic bursts of anti-aircraft fire files for just this eventuality, so I had directed at us, but as we had been just a handful of paper left. I went up about 9 p.m., I walked assured would happen, they fell on the roof where a young Foreign short of our altitude. Service officer, perspiring in the sun up the narrow iron The North Vietnamese forces had and wearing protective gear over his reached the outskirts of Saigon, but ears, was presiding over a cylindrical ladder to the now they were pausing to let the machine which produced a loud, Americans get out before resuming high-pitched scream. This machine helicopter pad on the their advance. To the east tire exten¬ did not just shred paper but ground sive logistical base at Long Binh, it into tiny bits. I threw in my hand¬ roof and boarded the now abandoned, was burning bright¬ ful, including an address finder with ly. Forty-five minutes later we land¬ a list of my Vietnamese contacts and plane with my bag. ed on the USS Denver in the South their phone numbers — definitely China Sea. not something I wanted the commu¬ This vessel was a landing pad nists to have — and it disappeared in one shriek. dock, which meant it had a helicopter pad on the deck and a hold containing small boats. The stern of die The Evacuation Begins boat was a large gate, and when it was lowered the Once the tree in the parking lot had been felled, boats could sail out. Americans arriving from Saigon everyone began asking where the helicopters were. remained on the Denver, but Vietnamese and other The hours seemed to drag on interminably, but finally nationalities were taken below and put on the boats, they began coming about 3:30 p.m., landing alternate¬ which took them to freighters destined for Guam, a ly in the parking lot and on the roof. The CH-46 and 10-day trip, where refugee camps had been estab¬ CH-53 helicopters could carry 50 or more people on lished. We were told the Philippines had directed that each trip; once the shuttling operation began, the only Americans be brought to their countiy. This number of people taken out was impressive. triage was unfortunate, since the other nationalities The embassy was not the only evacuation point on included individuals such as the Japanese diplomat that last day. Military helicopters extracted large num¬ mentioned before and a French mother and daughter, bers of people from the defense attache’s compound who certainly would not have caused any immigration near Tan Son Nhut. Helicopters from Air America, the problems for the Philippines. I believe that eventually CIA proprietary airline, performed heroic service in these persons were plucked from the refugee stream picking up people from a number of locations. Some before the freighters left the area. evacuees were taken by bus to board boats in the As we landed at night I had only been dimly aware Saigon River. of other vessels in the vicinity. When I came up on The afternoon and evening wore on with the almost deck tlie next morning, a beautiful sunny day, I found constant roar of helicopters pervading the embassy. At a vast armada of American naval power stretching to first most of the passengers were drawn from the the horizon. Interspersed with the naval vessels were crowds in the compound, but as time went on the the freighters for the Vietnamese refugees. evacuation of Americans in the embassy building began, starting with the lower floors. An Era Passes I was on the fourth floor. When my turn came at The American evacuation by helicopter finally about 9 p.m., I walked up the narrow iron ladder to the ended in the early hours of April 30, 1975, after the helicopter pad on the roof and boarded the plane with planes’ crews had extended themselves far beyond any my small bag. We were strapped into narrow canvas margin of safety. Ambassador Martin had remained at seats along each side, and could see out small windows the embassy until the last possible moment because he beside us. As the plane lifted higher, tracers bright¬ felt a strong sense of duty to evacuate the maximum ened the sky in all directions. The tracers illuminated number of Vietnamese. Finally President Ford

APRIL 2000/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 47 Focus

ordered him to leave. Once he had We will never forget time for not beginning the American departed, the Marines gradually evacuation sooner. Some officials in pulled out, leaxing the embassy to the those Vietnamese who both Saigon and Washington even crowds in the surrounding streets. went so far as to claim he had been For four days the U.S. naval task believed in and negligent. There is no doubt the final force lay off the coast to take on departure was marked by consider¬ refugees. The first day a cloud of worked for able confusion and disorder, and helicopters arrived, bringing the many endangered Vietnamese were members of the Republic of Vietnam democracy, and whose left behind. But it must be kept in Air Force based in the Delta south of mind that the situation had to be han¬ Saigon, along with their families. As hopes were ended dled very carefully to avoid our being the planes landed on the nearby air¬ physically attacked by our erstwhile craft carrier USS Enterprise, the pas¬ when America allies as we left. Some Vietnamese sengers quickly got off and the heli¬ were threatening to hold Americans copters were shoved overboard, withdrew. hostage in the event of an evacuation because there was no room to park to ensure they, too, were taken out. them. The captain of the USS Lower ranking officials such as I were Denver allowed us to watch through a large pair of allowed to pack and ship our household effects during mounted binoculars on the bridge, so we had front row the final weeks, but the top embassy officers, and espe¬ seats as successive waves of boats brought out more cially the ambassador, had to avoid any move in this refugees. direction for fear of stalling a panic. In the end, all Another morning we all gathered at the rail when Americans who wanted to leave were able to do so. I someone spotted a naked Vietnamese woman swim¬ believe Ambassador M ait in was vindicated by the final ming around the stem of a nearby freighter. A small result. boat approached her, but somehow could not get her The United States became involved in Vietnam at a on board. Then a rope was dropped from the freighters time when we considered ourselves engaged in a railing, perhaps 80 feet above the water, and she man¬ worldwide competition with a monolithic communist aged to tie it around herself and was slowly pulled up. enemy seeking world domination. There were active When she reached the railing and was helped over, a communist insurgencies in all of Vietnam’s neighbors, cheer arose from our group. This was not prurient and in 1965 a communist coup attempt in Indonesia interest, but a welcome to the triumph of the human almost succeeded. The introduction of American com¬ spirit. bat troops into Vietnam that same year received wide¬ Life on the ship was uneventful. The hospitality of spread public and press support. the U.S. Navy was excellent. When the executive offi¬ As I mounted the steps to the helicopter 10 years cer of the Denver found I had the equivalent rank of a after American troops first came to Vietnam, the military officer, he offered me a stateroom on the deck United States had positive relations with both the where my peers were gathered. I thanked him but Soviet Union and China, who had serious differences declined the honor, since these staterooms were swel¬ with each other. With the obvious exceptions of tering and my bunk in the bowels of the ship was deli¬ Cambodia and Laos, Vietnam’s neighbors were set on ciously cool. non-communist paths. With these shifts in the world On the fiftii day after leaving Saigon, we set sail for strategic situation, Vietnam became of much less Subic Bay in the Philippines, arriving the next after¬ importance to the United States. But those of us who noon. We were processed in a gym, and then flown to spent years of our lives there will not forget the attrac¬ a naval air station near Manila. From there we were tiveness, intelligence and energy of die Vietnamese bused to the embassy. After a night in a hotel, I flew to people. Nor will we ever forget those Vietnamese who Bangkok the next day and was reunited with my family. believed in and worked for democracy, and whose Ambassador Martin was harshly criticized at the hopes were ended when America withdrew. ■

48 FOREIGN SERVICE J O U RN A L/AP R I L 2000 TITO’S YUGOSLAVIA: SIMMERING SIGNS OF ETHNIC TENSION

BROTHERHOOD AND UNITY WAS THE PARTY LINE IN YUGOSLAVIA, BUT AN AMERICAN DIPLOMAT FORESAW CONFLICT BETWEEN CROATS AND SERBS.

BY J. CHAPMAN CHESTER

nder Comrade Josip Broz Tito, of most government-sponsored propaganda, I think it is U president of Yugoslavia from 1953 fair to say that most accepted the unity theme as valid to 1980, the party line was “Bratsvo and in accordance with Yugoslav national aspirations. i Jedinstvo,” Brotherhood and That was less so in Zagreb — for good reason. While Unity, and any manifestations of Serbs tended to play down the ethnic differences — “we ethnic separatism or nationalism are all Slavs, speak the same language with very minor were ruthlessly suppressed. While the government in variations, and have a similar Christian heritage,” and so Belgrade, as well as the Communist Party, maintained a forth — the Croats would whisper into one’s ear that delicate balance among the various ethnic groups and they were “different” — the product of Western civiliza¬ provinces (called republics), the common goal was gen¬ tion, unlike the Eastern or Byzantine Serbs who, it was erally understood to be a united Yugoslavia. Only the strongly implied, were clearly inferior in many respects. “old generation” — those old enough to remember These sentiments were shared by Slovenes, except that World War II or the era that preceded it — favored such they considered themselves superior to both Serbs and concepts as Croatian or Slovenian nationalism. Such Croats. And, indeed, although small in number, Slovenes people were not only discredited, but their numbers were the most productive of all Southern Slavs. During diminished by attrition as they departed this earth. the early 1960s, these views were not proclaimed loudly That party line was the recognized conventional wis¬ or forcefully, but softly and subtly. Only those of us who dom. It was especially popular with Serbs, many of served in Croatia were exposed to such heresy. whose families had suffered grievously at the hands of Realistically, the Yugoslav experiment never had a lot their Croatian “brothers.” They had everything to gain going for it: Created after World War I as the Kingdom from the unity concept, since they were the dominant of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes under the Karadjordjevic group in terms of numbers. monarchy, the country underwent its first crisis in the Although American diplomats tended to be skeptical 1920s when the Croatian Peasant Party leader Stjepan Radic was shot to death in the national Skupstina (par¬ J. Chapman “Chips” Chester, a former FSO, served from liament) by a Serb who evidently did not appreciate the 1962 to 1964 as head of the consular section at the man’s remarks. Eveiy year on All Saints’ Day much of Consulate General in Zagreb, then a regional capital in Zagreb marched up to Mirogoj Cemetery to place flow¬ Tito’s Yugoslavia. His memoir, From Foggy Bottom to ers on Stjepan’s grave. Capitol Hill, from which this piece is excerpted, has just By the time World War II came along, resentments been published by Arlington Hall Press, an imprint of the had reached such a peak that the independent state of Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training. Chester Croatia was proclaimed, under Nazi sponsorship, led by also served in Munich and Blantyre, Malawi (as DCM) the Croatian Fascist leader, Ante Pave lie, the Poglavnik before pursuing a second career as a foreign affairs spe¬ (maximum leader). The Croatian leadership of that era cialist for the House Foreign Affairs Committee. — aided and abetted by a substantial element of the Copyright 2000 by J. Chapman Chester. Catholic clergy, an endless embarrassment to the Vatican

APRIL 2000/FO RE IGN SERVICE JOURNAL 49 — then proceeded to commit y ^ hideous atrocities against Serbs liv¬ you ing in Croatia, including chopping “Nasa Zastava off heads with axes and burning TttOUQttT people in churches. (Our Flag),” Indeed, the wartime excesses of Croatia’s Fascist militia, the the students WE uiuyy Ustashi, had the effect of persuad¬ ing many non-communists to sup¬ shouted, meaning EXIST port the partisans under Marshal Tito. The partisans at least were the Croatian . . . EUTWE made up of all ethnic groups and were actually fighting valiantly flag- against the German invaders. By von contrast, the Serbian Chetniks, No one does what although honorable royalists we do quite the attempting to defend their country audience chauvinistic emotion from way we do it against the Germans, spent more the depths of the Croatian soul. time trying to wipe out the Tito After one memorable perfor¬ "Mother/Daughter Communists, at times even with mance, a chant arose from the Owned & Operated" tacit German approval and assis¬ cheap seats in the gallery, occupied tance. The Chetniks, moreover, almost exclusively by students. were a strictly Serbian force repre¬ Some appeared not to have even senting primarily Serbian interests. reached university age, but clearly PIED-A-TERRE PROPERTIES, LTD. Finally, when the carnage of all were members of the postwar EXCLUSIVE INTERIM RENTALS Month to Month World War II ended, there was an generation. “Nasa Zastava (Our understandable desire to embrace Flag),” they shouted, meaning the COMMENTS FROM OUR traditional Croatian flag in lieu of SATISFIED FOREIGN the concepts of peace, brother¬ SERVICE CUSTOMERS hood, and unity — a new “all- the hammer and sickle. After much Yugoslav order,” so to speak. It was commotion, a short squat official “The furnishings, view and loca¬ a noble idea, but did not last very and member of the Zagreb People s tion are phenomenal . . . and the Committee waddled onto the stage dog loves it too!” long. like a duck and shook his forefinger “We love our little Georgetown Unflagging Nationalism at the young demonstrators, scold¬ home away from home. Beautiful A hint that perhaps Croatian ing them severely. This led to fur¬ furniture and such great service.” nationalism was not yet an anachro¬ ther shouting and booing plus a few “How unique! Such a refreshing nism — confined exclusively to the undefined objects being thrown alternative to the usual depressing “old” generation of Austrian-influ¬ onto the stage. After what appeared options.” enced citizenry — emerged at the to be a standoff, the authorities “My apartment here in Foggy Zagreb opera house, after an relented, hoisted the well-worn Bottom is fabulous. You have to evening of Zrinsky, a heroic opera Croatian flag, and everyone depart¬

advertise in the ‘FSJ.’ Everyone wit 11 stirring musical and dramatic ed after a highly emotional con¬ needs to know about you.” themes. In its last act a Croatian frontation. “I had friends from the State count, Zrinsky, after numerous Americans who witnessed this Department over last night and patriotic arias and crescendos, scene felt unanimously that they all wanted to know how I walked out of his castle to face cer¬ Croatian chauvinism was alive and had found such a wonderful West tain death at the hands of the well in the hearts of the young, End apartment.” Turkish invader, in a futile but mar¬ even if mostly just below the sur¬

2823 Q Street, NW • Washington, D.C. 20007 tyred attempt to defend the face. Our colleagues in Belgrade, (202) 338-3190 phone • (202) 965-3083 fax Croatian homeland. As the music however, did not fully appreciate E-mail: [email protected] swelled into the final climactic our reporting of this incident to scene, it brought forth from the Washington. They feared that we

50 FOREIGN SERVICE J O U RN A L/AP RIL 2000 were presenting a “parochially dis¬ SEVEN MINUTES TO STATE DEPARTMENT torted” picture of youthful fervor and suspected we were politicizing a purely antiestablishment student protest. Within a year or two after my summer 1964 departure, a Zagreb COLUMBIA PLAZA university campus rebellion of sorts APARTMENTS broke out, supported by a female Capital Living Communist Party politician of With Comfort and Convenience Croatian origin. It was summarily suppressed by Tito, who sent in SHORT TERM FURNISHED APARTMENTS AVAILABLE federal troops to quell the distur¬ bances. No further trouble arose Utilities Included 24 Hour Front Desk for some time, but discontent was Complimentary Voice Mail Garage Parking Available Courtyard Style Plaza Shopping on Site clearly simmering. Polished Hardwood Floors Cardkey Entry/Access Private Balconies River Views Resurrection at Glina Huge Walk-In Closets Minutes to Fine Dining Local ethnic tensions came to Walk to the Kennedy Center and Georgetown the fore on another occasion where Minutes to Foggy Bottom Metro I briefly became the center of attention. One of the Ustashi’s (202) 293-2000 worst wartime atrocities had taken 2400 Virginia Ave., N.W. place in the Serbian village of Washington, D.C., 20037 Glina. Although physically located try S-t-A T Cc. within Croatia, Glina, like many of its neighboring townships, or selos, was populated almost exclusively by Serbs. Glina lies in the southern border area of Croatia known as Krajina. During World War II Ustashi forces rounded up all of Glina’s Serbian residents — men, women, and children (most of the men were away, either fighting or captured by Germans), locked them in the local Orthodox church, and burned the FARA entire structure to the ground. No Foreign Affairs Recreation Association one inside the church survived. FARA Housing Division, This example of the Ustashis grisli¬ Managed by ECMC er crimes managed to capture the 610 Bashford Lane, Alexandria, VA 22314 special attention of the Serbian Ph: (703) 684-1825 Fax: (703) 739-9318 community worldwide. After the We are proud to provide the best hotel values in the Washington, DC war, Serbian emigres in Canada metropolitan area! You can choose from properties offering studios, and the United States raised funds one bedroom, 2-bedroom apartments, suites & hotel rooms. to build a new church on the origi¬ Our locations have unique proximity to FSI, State Department, the nal site. When construction was Pentagon, NFATC, National Airport, Old Town , Alexandria, completed, numerous Serbian dig¬ White House and Georgetown nitaries assembled from home and abroad lor a solemn dedication cer¬ For more information call for features and rates of participating FARA hotels. emony. Present were the ranking

APRIL 2000/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 51 Orthodox bishop of Yugoslavia; sev¬ comes to mind than a soccer case. eral high-ranking government offi¬ One day I received a call from a cials, also representing the national Despite the Tito relatively high-ranking official in League of Communists of the Executive Council of Croatia, Yugoslavia; selected leaders of the party line, ethnic requesting an urgent meeting on a Serbian emigre community from matter of “considerable sensitivity.” Canada and the United States, most differences were just The official wanted to bring along of whom were strongly anti-Tito but several of his colleagues, to which I had been permitted to enter as apparent within readily agreed. When the group Yugoslavia for 24 hours just to eventually arrived in my antecham¬ attend this ceremony; and myself, the party as in the ber, they resembled a Grade B spy representing collectively the film scenario — with raincoats American consulate general in real world outside. turned up in the back, hats pulled Zagreb and the U.S. government. down over their faces, and dark A large feast followed the dedi¬ glasses everywhere. I realized that cation in the equivalent of the vil¬ something of monumental impor¬ lage hall, as was the custom on speak but felt constrained from tance was about to happen. Serbian religious or secular occa¬ doing. I was under no such The leader of the delegation sions. Only the VIPs and village restraint. Even the party members asked me if he could speak “in confi¬ elders were allowed inside, while present had to recognize my suc¬ dence.” I responded, “By all means, the villagers lined up around the cess: an official who had been but it is my understanding that most building to catch as much as possi¬ notably solemn and unobtrusive of what is said here is recorded by ble of the long-winded speech¬ during most of the speechmaking your people. That surely would not making. As the rhetoric proceeded, smiled at me for the first time and be a problem for you!” Raucous but it occurred to me that each of the in effect conceded: “You pulled a slightly nervous laughter followed. speakers in turn was acting in a fast one on all of us here today, con¬ After a few more pleasantries and highly restrained manner, especially gratulations.” As I shook hands with some Slivovitz, the spokesman came for the normally emotional Serbian him while surrounded by well- to the point: representatives. The bishop, realiz¬ wishers, I in effect told him: “Thank “We have, Gospodin (Mr.) ing that the party was granting him you, my friend, but you see, some¬ Konsul, information from our infor¬ “absolution” on this occasion, was times ‘God’ can help you more than mants in Belgrade (read Croatian careful in his remarks to stay away the League of Communists of spies) that an international football from the subject of religion. Yugoslavia.” (soccer) exhibition tournament is to Likewise, the party officials did not Within the hall, everyone except take place in Philadelphia, Pa., next press the Communist cause. The the party officials cheered lustily, spring.” I had not known about it, emigres were especially careful not and outside I was mobbed by well- but said I hoped the Yugoslavs might to press their luck, as they still wishers all the way to my consular be invited to participate. “We have needed government permission to Jeep. Never, in my memory, have I been invited, Gospodin Konsul, but exit the country. No one, I sudden¬ been the subject of so much adula¬ those bastards (the actual word ly realized, had mentioned the word tion by so many. It was clearly a case used) in Belgrade told the “God,” even though we were all of pent-up emotion which I had Americans that the best Yugoslav involved in consecrating a church. been able to release with three brief team was the Crvena Zvezda (Red Although I must confess that I words (and banal ones at that). Star) team from Belgrade, and you am not very religious, I decided to know, Gospodin Konsul, that our make the most of this opportunity: Soccer SNAFU Croatian Dinamo team just won the when my turn came to make a few Despite the Tito party line, ethnic national championship!” I did know appropriate remarks, I ended with differences were just as apparent that important fact, as it was virtual¬ the words “Bog s vama (God be within the party as in the real world ly impossible to live in Croatia and with you).” That brought down the outside. “Brotherhood and Unity” be unaware of the republic s football house — indeed, the entire Glina was without doubt an ennobling con¬ prowess, especially when they were community. These were apparently cept, but it had little relevance to winning. I quickly reassured my the words everyone wanted to “Yugoslav” reality. No better example Croatian friends that I would rectify

52 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/APRIL 2000 While those of us who r^r I A served in Zagreb were NATIONAL TEMPORARY more aware of ethnic APARTMENTS, LLC tensions than were our Short-Term Furnished Apartment Specialists colleagues in Belgrade, Comfortable Fully furnished one, two or three bedroom apartments to your specifications. this was merely All linens, towels, kitchenware and other amenities provided. Cost Effective a matter of degree. Far less expensive than most hotels or suites. Convenient Locations all around Washington, D.C., Northern Virginia and Maryland. this misunderstanding and keep One phone call and we do all the work. them closely informed of the results. They all breathed a sigh of relief. (877) 234-5005 One phone call to Belgrade con¬ (30 day minimum stay) firmed the fact that the USIS officer in charge of “exchanges” was a book¬ 8737 Colesville Road, Suite 302, Silver Spring, MD 20910 ish sort of fellow who knew nothing about soccer. He promised to take my complaint up to the “highest level” if necessary and would defi¬ nitely not send a second-rate team Foreign Service Journal to Philadelphia. The Belgrade soc¬ on-line cer officials — caught with their brings you deep pants down, so to speak — assumed discounts on hotels in a dog-in-the-manger attitude: if the most major cities at: Red Star team could not go, no one www.afsa.org/ads/classy.html would go. And that was the final Access the AFSA homepage outcome. www.afsa.org I will not attempt to analyze the Click on reasons for Yugoslavia’s recent breakup and its lapse into civil bar¬ Click on Hotel Reservations barism. I would only conclude with Network icon two rather obvious comments: First, while those of us who served in Zagreb were more aware of eth¬ nic tensions than were our col¬ leagues in Belgrade, this was mere¬ ly a matter of degree. And, none of us, it is fair to say, ever predicted the extent of the calamity that has befallen the people of Bosnia, southern Croatia, and Kosovo. Any Western observer who claims oth¬ erwise is less than credible. ■

APRIL 2000/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 53 BOOKS

THE VIEW FROM States fulfilled its Manifest Destiny War II, which, he says, destroyed with the Alaska Purchase in 1867. Stalin’s most natural opponent. BUCHANAN’S HEAD That the U.S. somehow missed out Though Buchanan’s comments on picking up Canada is a loss we can are often trenchant, tiiey also carry a A Republic, Not An Empire: deal with, he says, and Mexico, how¬ whiff of “America Firstism.” Reclaiming America’s Destiny ever tempting as a territorial morsel, Altiiough he discusses die unhealthy Patrick J. Buchanan, Regnery was better left alone, because induence of etiinic pressure groups Publishing Co., 1999, Americas destiny was to populate on foreign policy, it is interesting that hardback, $29.95, 437 pages. empty land and not rule “alien peo¬ he doesn’t touch on Irish-Americans ples.” Obviously, Native Americans and their induence on Northern BY EDWARD MARKS do not figure in his historical analysis. Ireland policy. In his last chapter he President James K. Polk gets reviews the current world situation We’ve taken up the white man’s burden Buchanan’s nomination for most and provides capsule analyses based Of ebony and brown; under-appreciated American presi¬ on his own policy recommendations. Now will you kindly tell us, Rudyard, dent for his handling of the Mexican- It is easy to see why this book has How may we put it down P American War, because the war raised hackles. Buchanan’s approach allowed America to pursue its vital and writing style are those of a con¬ Patrick Buchanans new book is a interests abroad, while at the same trarian university lecturer out to long argument for returning United time avoiding permanent “entangling enrage his colleagues and enthrall his States foreign policy to the days of alliances.” Buchanan more or less undergraduate audience. His tone is enlightened self-interest in pursuit of approves of the attempts of breathless and spirited and his his¬ vital national causes. He argues President Herbert Hoover to moder¬ torical analysis is enough to cause vehemently that such a return would ate the naval arms race and reinte¬ many a reader to sputter. not be isolationist, because the grate Germany into the world com¬ Nevertheless, A Republic, Not An United States has always played an munity following World War I. He Empire should not be dismissed as active international role and because certainly approves of tactics the U.S. Know Nothing ranting. Many the isolationist versus internationalist used in condict with die USSR, Americans share Buchanan’s world¬ debate is a phony argument trumped because the Soviets threatened view; he is not alone in warning up by Wilsonian idealists. American existence. He gives about imperial temptations or in In support of his ideas, he pep¬ President Ronald Reagan the highest arguing that NATO expansion does pers his book with delightful quota¬ marks for “the most successful for¬ not serve real U.S. interests. tions like the above, which appeared eign policy of the 20th century.” I liked Buchanan’s basic diesis in tlie New York World following die Buchanans views of what consti¬ that American foreign policy ought Spanish-American War. Buchanan tutes U.S. national interests will to be based on this nation’s republi¬ believes that the “Splendid Little cause agitated reactions. For exam¬ can character, eschewing imperial War” combined with Wilsonian glob¬ ple, he argues that U.S. involvement ambitions. But how is 21st century al idealism to tempt the United in die two world wars produced republican America served by 19th States into an imperial role that vio¬ results that weren’t good for U.S. century interpretations of 18th cen¬ lates fundamental American princi¬ interests: destruction of bourgeois tury principles? Democratic princi¬ pals. Germany following World War I and ples and Americas unavoidable sta¬ In Buchanans view, die United leveling of Germany following World tus in the world could easily imply an

54 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/APRIL 2000 BOOKS

increasingly multilateral approach in used the “Moscow card” for domes¬ an increasingly interdependent tic political purposes and, in the world. Were Finland’s process, distorted Finland’s political If he were running for president, institutions. perhaps Buchanan could bring him- compliant relations Still, as historian John Lukacs has sell to see this point of view. On the observed, Finland emerged from the other hand, he may be a sincere with the Soviet Union Cold War with its independence and reactionary. democratic institutions intact, per¬ truly necessary haps because of the way it dealt with Edward Marks is chairman of the the Soviets. And, as a Finnish col¬ Foreign Service Journal Editorial for its league commented to me after read¬ Board. ing On the Finland Watch, survival? “Naturally, we applied different stan¬ dards to our relations with Russia and America. Russia and America, FINLAND’S COLD after all, were very different coun¬ WAR POLICY tries.” Today, thankfully, Finland, a released in Finland in 1998, it drew European Union member state, is On the Finland Watch: significant attention and made not likely to be left to its own devices An American Diplomat in Cooper a participant in tire debate again. Finland During the Cold War among Finnish historians reluctant The second component of James Ford Cooper; Regina Books, to deal with the legacy of Finnish Cooper’s book is a diplomatic mem¬ 1999, hardcover $37.50, soft cover President Urho Kekkonen, who oir. He quotes at length from reports $19.50, 389 pages. stepped down in 1982 after 26 years to Washington prepared by him and in office. Finnish historians had been the embassy staff to illustrate how BY ROBERT RINEHART reluctant to take up Kekkonen’s important informed and carefully Soviet policy until the demise of tire articulated diplomatic reporting is to In On the Finland Watch, James Soviet Union and tire end of tire Cold the formulation of foreign policy. Ford Cooper has produced both a War. Cooper takes on this “Finnish Aware of his books intended Finnish memoir of his long and eventful dilemma,” a term used to describe audience, he explains in detail the diplomatic career and a history of tire contradictions in Finland’s rela¬ American embassy’s organization postwar Finnish foreign policy and tions with its Soviet neighbor. If and the American system of political¬ U.S.-Finnish relations. Drawing on Finland was to survive as an inde¬ ly appointed ambassadors, a system research in Finnish and American pendent, democratic, Western- with which he finds fault. Cooper archives, interviews, his own recol¬ oriented countiy after World War II, also acknowledges the importance of lections and a solid grasp of Finnish it had to establish a new and compli¬ the 44 weeks of Finnish-language history, he recounts how he and ant relationship with its “hereditary and Nordic area studies training that other U.S. diplomats analyzed issues enemy,” Russia. If such a relation¬ he and his wife Magda received at and reported on developments in ship assured Finland’s indepen¬ the Foreign Service Institute. For Finnish public life during the Cold dence, it also placed restrictions on just about any diplomatic assign¬ War. The result is a very readable it. ment, a good knowledge of the lan¬ and interesting memoir, but also a Cooper points out that the U.S. guage and an awareness of the histo¬ profoundly instructive diplomatic supported Finland’s independence ry and culture of the country are history. and “credible neutrality,” but also essential, he says, a sentiment that Cooper, who served two tours in asks how much cooperation with tire most diplomats would support. Finland, first as political counselor Soviets was really necessary to main¬ from 1976 to 1979, then as deputy tain them. He argues persuasively Robert Rinehart is chairperson of the chief of mission from 1984 to 1986, that Kekkonen’s good relations with Nordic and Baltic Area Studies first wrote his book for a Finnish-lan- the Soviets came at an immense cost Programs at the Foreign Service guage publisher. When it was for his country, because Kekkonen Institute. M

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APRIL 2000/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 63 POSTCARD FROM ABROAD In Mexico, Welterweights Have Wings

BY PAUL BERG

Years of struggle in that unclean, I had developed a deep admira¬ take-no-victories daily deadlock called tion for Mexico’s refined, relentless¬ the United States government intera¬ The Nuevo Jordan ly masculine esthetic. Yet I was puz¬ gency process had made me hungry zled by the apparent effeminacy of for some honest fighting. Something is four floors of the clouds of grinning cherubim and with fists and blood. Something with seraphim floating through the winners and losers and rules. dirty, striving, murals of hundreds of Mexico’s I thought I had found it Saturday baroque churches. This mystery was nights at 7 in the Coliseo, deep in die serious much is mo. solved at the Jordan, where the unsafe heart of Mexico City’s Centro tough, young, punching lightweights Historico, in the upper tier, amid had the same faces. I began to think gamblers, sweat and curses and dirt of them as welterweights with wings, and smoke and honest catharsis when of seraphim who pack a punch. your boy lands a KO in the fourth. These baby-faced bantamweights Men — and sometimes mama, too — an eager, malleable boy peering out with iron fists left some memorable came from grimy barrios to watch at him from my too-well-fed diplo¬ bruises when we began to spar. beloved sons “El Maniaco,” “El Tigre” mat’s body. Pedro left the nick under my right or “El Guero” battle it out. Learning to box meant develop¬ eye, Jaime the almost-busted rib. Maybe it was an old mans blind ing technique through repetition. Pedro went on to win some nice lit¬ chutzpah, but I wanted to become Training reminded me of Great tle purses in minor U.S. bouts. Jaime one of those brute young men who Aunt Frieda’s piano lessons when I went back to selling fruit juice at a turn fife’s metaphorical challenges was five, a humiliating memory. street stand. into five confrontations. Then, one Both Aunt Frieda and Ojeda favored Nine months at the Jordan were moonless night, when I was robbed of the occasional use of corporal pun¬ not enough time for Ojeda to turn me $200 at knifepoint, I discovered that I ishment to prod the slow learner. into a champion, but they toughened didn’t know how to throw a punch. The main difference between boxing my body and quickened my mind. Before the welts on my face had and piano lessons, though, is that One happy Sunday I bloodied Lalo’s healed, I found myself searching for after two hours of boxing your body ugly pug nose with a series of well- a trainer at the Gimnasio Nuevo feels wonderful. aimed jabs, compensating for years of Jordan, home of Mexico’s greatest The Nuevo Jordan is four floors of abuse by high school bullies. A jubi¬ fighter, Julio Cesar Chavez. “Treat dirty, striving, serious machismo. On lant Ojeda exulted, “If you stay in me like a muchacho off the street,” I weekday nights, the old brick firetrap Mexico one more year, I’ll put you begged ex-prizefighter Jacopo is jammed with young men off the into a professional match.” For one Ojeda. A barrel-chested, 55-year- streets hoping to earn fame through brief moment, I had satisfied my old, rock-hard molder of champions, their fists. The Virgin of Guadeloupe mentor. And myself. Ojeda was dubious. He recognized smiles down on them benevolently It was not to be. In real fife my unpromising physical material. But I from a fluorescent perch. hair whitens and my paunch thick¬ like to think he also saw the eyes of I tried to imitate the way Mexican ens. In my fantasies, though, I will boxers cross themselves while casting always be one of Ojeda’s boys, a Paul Berg is an FSO serving in Hanoi. her a silent glance as they step into callow brawler from the barrio learn¬ The stamp is courtesy of the AAFSW tire ring, an attempt to divorce myself ing the discipline necessary to Bookfair “Stamp Comer.” from a stern Lutheran boyhood. become a champion. ■

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