The Foreign Service Journal, October 1998
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The Foreign Service Benefit Plan — meeting the needs of today’s and tomorrow’s Foreign Service Sponsored by the American Foreign Service Protective Association AMERICAN FOREIGN 1716 N Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20036-2902 S ERVICE PROTECTIVE MllTUilL'7()milHil Phone: (202) 833-4910 E-mail: [email protected] ASSOCIATION Companies Underwritten by Fax (202) 833-4918 Web site: www.afspa.org Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company CONTENTS October 1998 I Vol. 75, No. 10 COVER COLUMNS Focus ON TILE CARIBBEAN PRESIDENT’S VIEWS / 4 Preventing More Needless Deaths 18 / FROM COMMUNISM TO COCAINE Drug trafficking has replaced insurgency By Dan Geisler as Washington s major Caribbean concern. WE REMEMBER / 5 Bi/ George Gedda and Ellen James Martin Those Who Died in Nairobi and Dar Es Salaam 24 / UNMAKING CUBA POLICY — THE CLINTON YEARS SPEAKING OUT / 15 I knew Cuba was the “third rail” of Wasted Effort: Drug Testing at State U.S. foreign policy. But I had to try my hand. By David Jones By Richard A. Nuccio POSTCARD FROM ABROAD / 56 36 / POLICY PATHOLOGY IN HONDURAS A Deal Looms in Lusaka When the Reagan administration took office, By Kelly Midura Central America policy-making went haywire. This ambassador saw it all. Focus By Jack R. Binns Page 18 DEPARTMENTS LETTERS/7 FEATURE CLIPPINGS /12 42 / VIETNAM REVISITED During the Tet Offensive in the Year of the BOOKS / 47 Monkey, a young FSO faces the carnage of war. IN MEMORY / 48 By Susan Scharfman INDEX TO ADVERTISERS / 55 Cover and inside illustrations by Chet Phillips THE MAGAZINE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS FOREIGNOEIMCE Foreign Service Journal (ISSN 0015-7279), 2101 E Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20037-2990 is published _1_J oi it \ \ i monthly by the American Foreign Service Association, a private, non-profit organization. Material appearing Editor Editorial Board herein represents the opinions of the writers and does not necessarily represent the views of the Journal, the Bon GULDIN EDW ARD MARKS, Chairman Managing Editor Editorial Board or AFSA. Writer queries are invited .Journal subscription: AFSA Members - $9.50 included in ELIZABETH SPIRO CIARK KATHLEEN CURRIE annual dues; others - $40. For foreign surface mail, add $18 per year; foreign airmail. $36 per year. Periodical Assistant Editor MITCHELL A. COHN postage paid at Manchester, N.H., and at additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to Foreign EVA-LOTTA JANSSON THEODORE CRAIG Service Journal, 2101 E Street N.W.. Washington, D.C. 20037-2990. Indexed by Public Affairs Information Ad. 6 Circulation Manager AURELIUS FERNANDEZ Service (PAIS). The Journal is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts, photos or illustrations. Advertising ED MILTENBERCER KATHERINE INEZ LEE inquiries are invited. The appearance of advertisements herein does not imply the endorsement of the services AFSA NEWS Editor MARY LEWELLEN WESLEY ANN GODARD or goods offered. FAX: (202) 338-8244 or (202) 338-6820. E-MAIL: [email protected]. WEB: www.afsa.org. TELE¬ ROBERTA MAHONEY Editorial Intern PHONE: (202) 338-4045. © American Foreign Service Association, 1998. Printed in the U.S.A. Send address DERWINN GREEN MARK MATTHEWS Advertising Intern CAROLINE MEIRS changes to AFSA Membership, 2101 E Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20037-2990. A Standard A enclosure NATHAN VAN DUSEN ARNOLD SCIIIFFERDECKER is being mailed under permit 1926 at Manchester, N.H. 03103. OCTOBER 1998/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 3 PRESIDENT’S VIEWS Preventing More Needless Deaths BY DAN GEISLER At Washington area Metro sta¬ today. The administration must increase tions, they now play an airport- its planned future allocation for security. style announcement asking Our central The federal budget guidelines OMB passengers not to leave bags or parcels now has nr place make no provision for unattended, due to “recent interna¬ message is upkeep of new security' investments. If tional incidents.” It is another striking these guidelines don’t change, in a few example of how events abroad affect “Never Again. years, we will face the same painful the daily lives of Americans at home. choice we’ve had over the past several In the Foreign Service, our mission is years: Cut back on security, or cut back to shape and manage those events. We on our core diplomatic programs. cannot achieve our mission unless we America spent substantial treasure in Congress should act now to keep can work in safety. order to do good not just for us, but for America from facing drat choice again. In the aftermath of the tragic the world. In doing so, we short¬ In addition to increased out-year fund¬ embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar changed our security program. One ing, congressional leaders should erect Es Salaam, AFSA has been working to recent example: Last March, the a national security firewall around the bring this message to tire administra¬ administration took $5 million of the international affairs (Function 150) tion, tire Congress and the American $23.7 million appropriated for embassy account, which now consumes only people. Our central theme is: Never security upgrades in fiscal 1998 and one penny of every' federal tax dollar. Again. Many of us remember how shifted it to telecommunications. Within drat account, they should erect much more attention we gave security Secretary Albright announced that a budgetary firewall around security issues following the 1983 embassy tire Clinton administration will ask spending. This will protect drose funds bombings in Beirut. Those murders Congress for tire security' funds we as memories of Nairobi and Dar Es taught us ftiat you lose the struggle for should have spent, but did not, over the Salaam fade in dre coming years. peace if you can’t protect your diplo¬ past decade. Although it is too late to AFSA has one final message on matic troops. save those who needlessly perished in impending security upgrades: focus on As memories of Beirut faded, inter¬ Africa, it is not too late to prevent more people. We need to invest fir human est in security waned. So did funding. deaths. As this issue of the Foreign capital also. That means providing ade¬ Federal spending caps forced us to Service Journal goes to press, we are quate training for our employees so forgo security so we could respond to awaiting the administrations funding that drey are better prepared to deal other urgent needs. Foreign affairs dol¬ request. Congress should act immedi¬ widr security matters. Training must lars were needed to respond to world ately to approve those funds dming the include not just our professionals in events that affected Americas vital few days remaining in this legislative Diplomatic Security, but our odrer interests. The Iron Curtain fell, the session. But more important, the employees as well. Supervisors must Soviet Union collapsed, Yugoslavia administration and the Congress should factor the need for trailring into their descended into a cycle of violence, act now to ensure that we don’t fail our staffing calculations. Asian economies faltered. Mexico. diplomatic Loops again. This Congress and the Clinton Somalia. Haiti. North Korea. In these That requires more than an emer¬ administration cannot allow their and numerous other trouble spots, gency supplemental appropriation. It successors to hollow out the protec¬ also requires air assurance of long-term tion our people deserve, the protec¬ Dan Geisler is president of the funding to maintain tire investment in tion we need to carry out our mis¬ American Foreign Service Association.