The Foreign Service Journal, March 2015

PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE ASSOCIATION MARCH 2015

WATCHING IRAN

MOZAMBIQUE: WHEN DIPLOMACY PAID OFF

FOREIGN March 2015 SERVICE Volume 92, No. 2

FOCUS ON IRAN AFSA NEWS New AFSA Award to Recognize The Iran Watcher Program: Advancement of Democracy / 49 A Different Kind of Teleworking / 22 State VP Voice: The Foreign Service Just over a decade old, the Iran Watcher program is an organizational Labor Market / 50 model for remote diplomacy and a benchmark for success. USAID VP Voice: USAID Launches Pilot Global Entry Program / 51 BY JILLIAN BURNS Retiree VP Voice: Go Ahead—Create a Member Profile / 52 The Road Back to Tehran: AFSA Supports the U.S. Diplomacy Bugs, Ghosts and Ghostbusters / 27 Center / 53 Roundtable Addresses Practitioner- A veteran FSO and authority on Iran explains what it will take for Scholar Divide / 53 Washington to “get it right” when U.S. diplomats finally return to Tehran. AFSA on the Hill: BY JOHN W. LIMBERT Greeting the New Congress / 54 Update: AFSA Promotes Improved Security at State / 55 The 1979 Hostage Crisis: 2014-2015 Financial Aid Scholarship Down and Out in Tehran / 33 Recipients / 56 Foreign Service Political Officer Michael Metrinko spent most of his Oregon: A Tax Guide Correction / 61 14 months as a hostage in solitary confinement. Here is his story. Governing Board Hails and Farewells / 62 BY MICHAEL METRINKO Book Notes: Diplomacy in Action / 63 Roundtable Discussion on Diversity / 64 FEATURE Mozambique: When Diplomacy Paid Off / 39 COLUMNS President’s Views / 7 In the face of numerous challenges, diplomacy played a vital role A Doyenne of the Old School in post-independence Mozambique and the Southern Africa region. BY ROBERT J. SILVERMAN BY WILLARD DEPREE Letter from the Editor / 8 When There Is No Relationship BY SHAWN DORMAN

FS HERITAGE Speaking Out / 19 A Glass Half Full Our Man in Fiume: Fiorello LaGuardia’s BY DAVID T. JONES Short Diplomatic Career / 44 Reflections / 85 Rangoon: A Walk in the Rain Before serving in Congress and as a three-time mayor of New York, the colorful BY ARTHUR DYMOND Fiorello LaGuardia spent nearly five years in the U.S. Foreign Service. BY LUCIANO MANGIAFICO DEPARTMENTS Letters / 9 Talking Points / 14 In Memory / 65 Books / 74 Local Lens / 86

MARKETPLACE Classifieds / 77 Real Estate / 80 Index to Advertisers / 84

On the cover: A view of north Tehran, with the Alborz mountains in the background. Tehran has been a population center for 7,000 years and Iran’s capital since 1796. It has a population of 8.3 million. Photo courtesy of retired FSO Mark Lijek.

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2015 5 FOREIGN SERVICE

Editor Shawn Dorman: [email protected] Managing Editor www.afsa.org Susan Brady Maitra: [email protected] Associate Editor

Debra Blome: [email protected] CONTACTS Editorial/Publications Specialist AFSA Headquarters: LABOR MANAGEMENT Brittany DeLong: [email protected] (202) 338-4045; Fax (202) 338-6820 General Counsel Ad & Circulation Manager State Department AFSA Office: Sharon Papp: [email protected] Ed Miltenberger: [email protected] (202) 647-8160; Fax (202) 647-0265 Deputy General Counsel Art Director USAID AFSA Office: Zlatana Badrich: [email protected] Caryn Suko Smith (202) 712-1941; Fax (202) 216-3710 Labor Management Specialist FCS AFSA Office: James Yorke: [email protected] Editorial Intern (202) 482-9088; Fax (202) 482-9087 Senior Staff Attorney Shannon Mizzi Neera Parikh: [email protected] Advertising Interns GOVERNING BOARD Staff Attorney Allan Saunders, William Read President Raeka Safai: [email protected] Contributing Editor Robert J. Silverman: [email protected] Staff Attorney Steven Alan Honley Secretary Angela Dickey: [email protected] Andrew Large: [email protected] Treasurer Hon. Charles A. Ford: [email protected] Editorial Board Labor Management Counselor State Vice President Jim DeHart, Chairman Colleen Fallon-Lenaghan: Matthew K. Asada: [email protected] Hon. Gordon S. Brown [email protected] USAID Vice President Stephen W. Buck Labor Management Assistant Sharon Wayne: [email protected] Ruth M. Hall Jason Snyder: [email protected] FCS Vice President Maria C. Livingston Executive Assistant Steve Morrison: [email protected] Richard McKee Lindsey Botts: [email protected] FAS Vice President Beth Payne USAID Senior Labor Management Adviser David Mergen: [email protected] John G. 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Material appearing herein represents the opinions of the Elise Mellinger Coordinator, Retiree Counseling writers and does not necessarily represent the views of Homeyra Mokhtarzada and Legislation the Journal, the Editorial Board or AFSA. Writer queries Nancy Rios-Brooks Matthew Sumrak: [email protected] and submissions are invited, preferably by email. The Daniel Spokojny Administrative Assistant and Office Manager Journal is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts, photos or illustrations. Advertising inquiries are invited. USAID Representatives Ana Lopez: [email protected] All advertising is subject to the publisher’s approval. Jeri Dible AFSA reserves the right to reject advertising that is not Jeffrey Cochrane COMMUNICATIONS in keeping with its standards and objectives. The appear- FCS Representative Director of Communications ance of advertisements herein does not imply endorse- Kristen Fernekes: [email protected] ment of goods or services offered. 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6 MARCH 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL PRESIDENT’S VIEWS

A Doyenne of the Old School

BY ROBERT J. SILVERMAN

Let the public service be a proud and lively officer, she served in Italy, Honduras and ultimate challenge. Once again the visa career. And let every man and woman who Mexico. function came under intense public scru- works in any area of our national govern- From 1973 to 1975, she and a young Pat tiny. All of the 9/11 hijackers had received ment be able to say with pride and with Kennedy were rovers in the Africa Bureau, tourist visas. In congressional hearings, honor in future years: ‘I served the United covering at small posts for those on home Mary defended these issuances as straight- States Government in that hour of our leave or transfer. forward cases. The problem was that the nation’s need.’ She became assistant secretary for CIA and FBI had not shared information —President John F. Kennedy, consular affairs in 1993, after Elizabeth on these individuals. State of the Union Address, Jan. 30, 1961 Tamposi, a political appointee, left in “Every name of every one of those 19 disgrace for opening the passport files of terrorists was run through the classified aby boomers may recall a cer- then presidential candidate Bill Clinton lookout system. And we had no informa- tain leadership style prevalent (seeking nonexistent evidence that he had tion on any of them,” she later recalled. in the State Department when renounced his citizenship). Mary became the public defender for B we came in that doesn’t really Mary served the next nine years as keeping the consular function at State, as exist any longer—a brutally honest, assistant secretary for CA. Among her Congress moved customs and border pro- results-oriented approach that is also achievements was mentoring a series of tection into the new Homeland Security focused on self-sacrifice and the collec- leaders, including her three successors, Department. tive good. who together have elevated CA to the best- Mary knew her truth-telling was career- I hold no nostalgia for the “good old managed bureau in the State Department, ending. She took a beating from both days.” The Foreign Service I entered in 1989 one that truly engages in career develop- Democrats and Republicans in Congress. was reeling from the class action law suits ment and long-term strategic planning. She didn’t want her consular troops to of women and African-Americans who Her first challenge after taking over CA think she was abandoning them, so she had been systematically discriminated was the World Trade Center bombing of did not resign and, as the highest-ranking against in assignments and promotions. 1993. The person who inspired and helped Foreign Service officer, continued to advo- The Foreign Service of today, while plan this attack, Omar Abdel Rahman, had cate for them. But she realized Secretary far from perfect, is more inclusive and been issued a visa in Khartoum, though Colin L. Powell might have to ask her to meritocratic. Still, this background should information was known about him in his step down—as he did, in September 2002. not prevent us from admiring and retain- home country of Egypt. Mary led the inter- Here is the most remarkable thing ing many good features of “old school” agency to undertake two reforms. about Mary Ryan: She moved on to new leadership. Let’s recall the career of one of First, she directed visa fees to be used challenges in retirement and had no time its exemplars, Mary Ryan. to automate the worldwide lookout system for resentments, despite the scapegoat- Mary entered the Foreign Service in (replacing the cumbersome microfiche ing she endured. I never knew her, but in 1966, swept into readers). Second, she worked with the talking with her protegés I believe it was a the government intelligence and law enforcement agencies deep religious faith that sustained her and like so many of to create the Visas Viper program, to pro- pushed her to become a Foreign Service her generation vide a mechanism for sharing information hero. by the words of with consular sections. Be well, stay safe and keep in touch, President Kennedy. Eight years later, a second attack on Bob An administrative the World Trade Center gave Mary her [email protected] n

Robert J. Silverman is the president of the American Foreign Service Association.

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2015 7 LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

When There Is No Relationship

BY SHAWN DORMAN

s we went to press, we heard the current talks prove immediately fruit- The hostage crisis played a deci- the sad news of the passing of ful or not, the examples of China, Viet- sive role in the collapse of U.S.-Iranian the wonderful, retired Senior nam and, more recently, Cuba, remind us relations back in 1979. So that today’s A FSO Ted Wilkinson. During that, as Ambassador John Limbert puts it, Foreign Service members do not forget a lifetime of dedication to the Foreign “no estrangement lasts forever.” this important chapter, we bring you Service and to AFSA—as president in Jillian Burns starts us off with “The an up-close look at what it was like to 1989 and later as retiree representative Iran Watcher Program: A Different Kind be a “guest of the regime.” Michael and then FSJ Editorial Board chair for of Teleworking,” a look at the work of the Metrinko—perhaps the first (and only) six years (2005-2011)—Ted was a dear Iran watchers, those Foreign Service offi- prisoner evicted from the Iranian prison friend to many, and he will be deeply cers who work on the Iran portfolio from of Evin for bad behavior—describes his missed. Please look for an Appreciation places far from Tehran. 14 months in captivity. in the April issue. The Iran Watchers program is rela- Ambassador Willard DePree takes us This month we take a look at the For- tively new at 10 years, but may serve as back to the newly independent Mozam- eign Service and Iran—not the Foreign a benchmark for success as the State bique of the 1970s with the story of a time Service in Iran, but rather in connection Department builds a cadre of Iran when diplomacy made a difference in a with Iran. The U.S. has not had a diplo- experts, helping Washington better dicey situation. It is a case study on the matic presence in Iran since the 1979 understand Iran and all the complexities benefits of having diplomatic relations Iranian Revolution, and before that had in the relationship. (The need to build not only with friends but with those who not made Iran expertise a priority. Our Iran expertise within the Foreign Service might not be “natural allies” of the United focus is on the challenge of doing diplo- helps explain why AFSA has protested the States. macy where the United States has no selection of a non-Foreign Service State Retired FSO Luciano Mangiafico in-country representation, where there is employee for the London Iran watcher brings the little-known tale of “Our Man no relationship. position. See AFSA News, p. 53). in Fiume: Fiorello LaGuardia’s Short Eyes are on Iran today because, after The move from “watching” to Diplomatic Career.” Our Speaking Out more than three decades of animosity constructive interaction with Iran is takes a glass half-full look at the Foreign and alienation, groundbreaking diplo- addressed by Amb. John Limbert—truly Service today. AFSA President Robert matic talks have been underway between the Iran expert within the U.S. govern- Silverman remembers Mary Ryan, “A Washington and Tehran in the context ment, with 45 years of related experi- Doyenne of the Old School,” as a Foreign of the U.S.-led six-power negotiations ence. In “The Road Back to Tehran: Bugs, Service hero. with Iran on the country’s nuclear Ghosts and Ghostbusters,” Limbert As always, we welcome your feed- program. Hope for discusses the requirements for effective back on this issue and all things Foreign an agreement thrives engagement, including contending with Service. alongside calls from the ghosts that haunt both Washington Next month’s issue promises to be a Congress to instead and Tehran. He offers guidelines to help special one as we remember the fall of expand sanctions the United States “get it right” this time. Saigon 40 years ago and consider the against Iran. Whether My favorite: Don’t do or say stupid stuff. Foreign Service in Vietnam, then and now. n Shawn Dorman is the editor of The Foreign Service Journal.

8 MARCH 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL LETTERS

Honoring Local Staff from behind and shot him fatally in the One thing I learned was that such I found the President’s Views column head.” interaction can be a two-way street: in the December FSJ (“The Departed”) a Peace be upon them all. scholars gain by testing theory against timely and moving reminder of friends I know that many of my colleagues practice, and practitioners gain by seeing and colleagues killed 10 years ago during saw Mr. Silverman’s column and remem- the advantage of applying a rigorous a terrorist attack in Saudi Arabia. bered their own terrible moments under framework for testing possible policy On Dec. 6, 2004, I huddled with my siege as they served the United States. solutions to complex problems. Although colleagues beneath the visa counter at In reflecting on the events in Jeddah, neither side readily acknowledged the the U.S. consulate in Jeddah as a siren I applaud AFSA’s efforts to work with advantages, they were real—or seemed screamed overhead, and five terror- Congress to pass the Mustafa Akarsu so to me. ists planted bombs and sprayed gunfire Local Guard Force Support Act, which Mark Garrison across our compound. The day may come will provide special immigrant visas to FSO, retired when I’m ready to reflect more fully on the surviving spouses and children of U.S. Cranston, R.I. those events, but today I want only to government employees killed abroad in recall my dearest friends who lost their the line of duty. It will be a positive step Tempered Appreciation lives there (not to mention the many who toward recognizing the dedication and My appreciation for the FSJ’s January- survive with scars, both physical and service of those who work side by side February issue on diplomatic training emotional): with our diplomats overseas, every day, and the practitioner-academic paradigm Imad, who several times took me everywhere they serve. is tempered by a sense that some issues in hand on his own time to guide me Ben East that need deeper examination were over- through the complicated process of FSO looked. I have three observations. buying a truck in Saudi Arabia. Basheer, Washington, D.C. First, how can the two principal who smiled from the day he started streams in the diplomacy arena, practitio- working with us in general services, his Teaching Diplomacy ners and scholarly theorists, work better generous gift of a vase still prominently The series on teaching diplomacy with one another? An elegant monograph displayed in my family home. Romeo, in the January-February FSJ touches written in 1979, Case Studies and Theory who kept my international line work- on interaction between academics and Development in the Social Sciences by ing so I could call home and talk to the practitioners with regard to teaching, but Alexander George and Andrew Bennett woman who would later become my such interaction also offers important (MIT Press, 2005), remains relevant. wife. Ali bin Taleb, noble driver. And contributions to research. The volume Foreign ministry officials need contex- smiling Jaufar Sadik, the co-edited by Abe Lowenthal, tual information, how today’s situation Sri Lankan local guard Scholars, Policymakers and has similarities with what may have force member. International Affairs, reviewed happened in the past, and the available In a letter to Com- in the same issue of the Journal, policy options. Scholars need informa- mentary magazine, a makes that point through case tion from real-life situations; they lack a former U.S. consul gen- studies. practitioner’s felicity in tapping data via eral in Jeddah wrote of After retiring from the Foreign interviews or questionnaires. Sadik’s heroism: “With- Service following service as Prof. G.R. Berridge has shown that out protective cover, deputy chief of mission in Mos- exhaustive examination of archives can Sadik bravely returned cow, I went to Brown University produce insightful analysis, evident in his fire on three terrorists to establish a research center book British Diplomacy in Turkey, 1583 who entered the con- with the charge to bring together to the Present: A Study in the Evolution of sulate compound. It was he … who killed scholars and practitioners to search for the Resident Embassy (2009). His writing the terrorist leader and prevented further policy ideas that could reduce the risk of also shows how trawling through oral his- carnage. Moments later, Sadik himself nuclear war. That may seem quaint, but it tory records can yield insights that help to was killed by a fourth terrorist, who came was the 1980s. ground theory with practical experience.

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2015 9 Consider Diplomacy: Theory and Practice, UNITAR and others offer good models, previous chair of the FSJ Editorial Board, now about to emerge in a fifth edition, the experience of the nonprofit Diplo- I was struck by her complaint that both that is the gold standard in this field. Foundation (www.diplomacy.edu) is institutions were essentially “paying lip China’s method of assigning scholars especially relevant for working diplomats. service to diversity without making any to major embassies, to work as political (Disclaimer: I have served on DiploFoun- concrete difference.” section policy analysts, is one simple dation’s teaching faculty for 15 years.) Could that be true? I searched device that is worthy of emulation, to Kishan S. Rana my memory and my conscience permit needed connections between the Indian FSO and Ambassador, retired and decided no, the complaint was two streams. New Delhi unfounded, because she has confused Second, we of the non-Western world roles and missions. Diversity, by which need to do more to offer our experi- Award Winners and I presume she means demographic in ences, to plug the lamentable domina- Diversity the broadest sense, is the responsibil- tion by the West of diplomacy studies. A letter in the December Journal ity of the recruiting organs of the State Several good initiatives by developing called attention to the fact that the Sep- Department and the Foreign Service. country foreign ministries need wider tember issue featured the four winners They are responsible for a serious, hon- replication. of the AFSA dissent awards on the cover. est and effective effort to recruit into the In 2009, Kenya’s Foreign Service Since all four were white males, the Foreign Service a meaningful represen- Institute organized a two-day con- author wrote that this “exhibited very tation of Americans. ference in Nairobi on the country’s little demographic diversity.” The job of the Awards Committee is pioneering experiences in foreign affairs It is generally recog- to reward exemplary perfor- immediately after independence. It is nized that the Awards mance, period. Surely Ms. described in Kenya’s Early Diplomacy: Committee (on which I Schneller does not wish us 1963-1993 (MFA Nairobi, 2009). The serve) must rely entirely on to institute a quota system Singapore Foreign Ministry has captured the nominations it receives for awards? The same for the its own history in two volumes: The to select dissent winners. FSJ, which is responsible for Little Red Dot: Reflections by Singapore’s That is all there is to work publishing a magazine fea- Diplomats (2005 and 2008), recounting a with, and AFSA expends turing items of interest to our series of definitive events. considerable effort to readership; with authorship Two Indian-edited books have used advertise this fact and solicit determined by subject and a similar method: Economic Diplo- submissions. not by ethnic, racial, reli- macy: India’s Experience (2011) and The Vastly more male gious or other credentials. Ambassador’s Club: The Indian Diplo- than female nominations are usually Ms. Schneller notes herself that the Jour- mat at Large (2012). Producing oral his- received, and there were none of the lat- nal issue that spurred her letter included tory records is equally useful (underway ter in 2014. There have been female win- a serious article about diversity. in India). Such collections serve training ners; but if none have been nominated, The “role and mission” of the Awards and public diplomacy objectives, inspir- it is certainly illogical to accuse AFSA of Committee and the FSJ are to comment ing new generations of diplomats. demographic discrimination. on and celebrate our profession and our Third, given that typically more than Edward Peck life. This means to celebrate diversity half of the executive and policy staff Ambassador, retired as one element of that totality, but only of foreign ministries is posted abroad, Chevy Chase, Md. one, and only when appropriate. To do e-learning, especially of the intensive otherwise is not to obtain meaningful faculty-led variety (as distinct from mas- Lip Service to Diversity? diversity, but to enshrine separatism sive open online courses, or MOOCs), I read Ms. Rachel Schneller’s letter and division. is especially appropriate as a learning to the editor in the December FSJ with Edward Marks aid in today’s environment of continu- some confusion. As a current member Ambassador, retired ous education. While the World Bank, of the AFSA Awards Committee and a Washington, D.C.

10 MARCH 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Defining Diversity They were serious articles, worthy of a A letter in the December FSJ objects serious publication, and indeed likely to to all white males shown in an honored be of interest to people inside the govern- group on the cover of the September ment. To be sure, they presented three issue and pleads for more diversity. distinct perspectives. But when taken I recall serving with a group of white together they gave a definite feel for what males who could not have been more is really going on there. diverse in backgrounds and experience— I also appreciated the December Letter one a Mayflower family descendant, from the Editor, setting out the issue’s con- one the son of holocaust survivors and tents and significance and how the articles another who was the first in the family related to each other. I found it helpful to go to college from a remote place in in my reading of them. I hope for similar Appalachia. articles and letters in forthcoming issues. Life in the Foreign Service is a rich The Rev. Theodore L. Lewis experience because of the real diversity of FSO and FSR, retired individuals we work with and enjoy, not Germantown, Md. by photo representation of demographic or other groups. “Up or Out,” Redux The Foreign Service exists to be an In the November Journal, FSO Matt effective instrument to advance American Weiller lambasted George Lambrakis’ foreign policy interests. I have served and denunciation of “Up or Out” (Septem- negotiated in many places, from North ber Speaking Out). He said the view was Korea to South Africa. I don’t recall that “severely dated,” asserting that more, not the folks on the other side of the table less, up or out is necessary in order to ever cared if the U.S. team was composed weed out officers for “areas of conduct, of Aleut lads or the sons of Vermont hill suitability and discipline (known as CSD) farmers. Whoever we were, we were rec- and performance management issues.” ognized as representing the United States, Mr. Weiller is conflating two separate and dealt with accordingly. matters. It is one thing to be able Herbert Levin to weed out officers for FSO, retired legitimate reasons. But New York City, N.Y. it is quite another thing for the State Department Useful Focus on to eat its seed corn by Afghanistan involuntarily separating I am writing to express my perfectly good officers appreciation for the December through the promotion issue of the FSJ, focusing on panel process. Afghanistan. My only direct Employee Evaluation connection with that country Reports are inflated, and is a week I spent there a very long time promotion panels are chal- ago. But no American citizen can afford lenged to identify the true best performers to be unconcerned about its present state based on EER after EER of imaginative and its likely future. From that standpoint writing. But so much more that is unre- I found the three focus articles in your lated to performance impinges on the December issue to be truly valuable. process: limited promotion numbers for

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2015 11 budgetary reasons; gender and minor- pieces in the FSJ), little has changed since instead meet embassy personnel at hotels. ity preferences that, even if not explicitly my experience more than eight years ago. The monetary outlays, not to mention the decreed, are widely known; shifting On arrival at one embassy in Africa, visual problems, were just too much to personnel definitions and criteria; subtle my eyeglasses (which I have worn nearly bear. and not-so-subtle political influence; and my whole life) were taken from me by a Roy A. Harrell Jr. more. Marine security guard. I had a most dif- FSO, retired These are real factors. Mr. Lambrakis, ficult time doing any constructive work Ozona, Texas and I, are justified in questioning “up or without them. o u t .” When I left the embassy, my eye- Concerning Diplomatic D. Thomas Longo Jr. glasses could not readily be located. For- Security FSO, retired tunately, I had another pair at the hotel. Is the U.S. Department of State com- Lawrenceburg, Ind. About two months after returning mitted to addressing in a timely manner home, the confiscated eyeglasses were its policy and operational shortcomings We’ll Take Those Glasses, returned to me—sent in the diplomatic on diplomatic security as documented by Sir pouch and irreparably broken. the Government Accountability Office? I had long nourished the thought that Thus, my visit to the embassy turned More than six months have passed my experience with access to State facili- out to be a costly one. I have since made a from the GAO report’s issuance, and all 13 ties as a retiree was isolated, unique and point of never again going to an embassy recommendations remain open awaiting dated. But obviously (based on recent to conduct business as a retiree, but State action.

12 MARCH 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Last year the GAO, Congress’ watch- dog, undertook a comprehensive and balanced review of State’s diplomatic security policy and procedures. The findings were published on June 25: “Diplomatic Security: Overseas Facilities May Face Greater Risks Due to Gaps in Security-Related Activities, Standards and Policies.” For the full report and recommendation status, go to www.gao.gov/products/GAO-14-655. GAO found, among other shortcomings, that State has not fully developed and implemented a risk management policy for overseas facilities. Further, State’s risk management activities do not operate as a continu- ous process or continually incorporate new information. For example, in some instances updating standards took more than eight years. The report’s thirteenth recommendation dealt with this shortcoming by requiring the development of a risk management policy and procedures that include identification of the roles and responsibilities of all stakeholders. Futher, the policy and procedures are to be continually updated. This recommendation has far-reach- ing implications in that its implementation could also provide a cornerstone for the diplomatic security training programs being offered by the Foreign Service Institute. Isn’t it time that the State Department moved more swiftly to address these findings and recommendations before another six-month period passes? Move- ment on the recommendations would surely help with AFSA’s congressional relations. James (Jim) Meenan FSO, retired Fairfax, Va. n

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2015 13 TALKING POINTS

The Foreign Service the Central African Republic, Iraq, South is conducting campaigns targeted at on the Small Screen Sudan, Palestine, Syria and Ukraine suf- treating malnutrition, administering ith the CBS series “Madame fered atrocities ranging from kidnapping, polio vaccines, improving access to safe WSecretary” renewed for a second torture and rape to child slavery and drinking water, getting children back season, and a whole host of programing other crimes. into school and providing safe learning in development in which the Foreign Ser- The report, “The State of the World’s spaces. vice plays a role (see Talking Points in the Children in Numbers,” contains a number The full 2014 report can be down- November 2014 FSJ), diplomacy is a hot of dramatic statistics. For instance, of the loaded at www.unicef.org/sowc2014/ topic in Hollywood. In fact, this summer 2.2 billion children globally, “an estimated numbers. HBO will premiere a new half-hour dark 230 million children live in countries and —Brittany DeLong, Assistant Editor comedy series, “The Brink,” in which the areas affected by armed conflicts.” Foreign Service features prominently. In Gaza, 538 children were killed as SIGAR: Information on In “The Brink” a rogue general seizes a result of the 50-day Israeli-Palestinian Afghan Security Forces control of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons, conflict during the summer. There were Now Classified and it is up to three “disparate and 1.7 million Syrian children living as refu- n late January, Special Inspector desperate men” to save the planet from gees. At least 5 million children aged 3 to IGeneral for Afghanistan Reconstruc- World War III. Tim Robbins plays U.S. 17 were unable to return to school follow- tion John F. Sopko released the latest Secretary of State Walter Larson; Jack ing the Ebola outbreak. quarterly report on the status of the U.S. Black portrays Alex Talbot, who HBO In a Dec. 8 New York Times article, reconstruction effort in Afghanistan, cov- describes as “a lowly Foreign Service UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake ering October through December 2014. officer;” and Pablo Schreiber takes the commented: “Never in recent memory The report zeros in on the “still-elusive role of Zeke Tilson, “an ace Navy fighter have so many children been subjected to goal” of coordinating aid to Afghanistan pilot.” such unspeakable brutality.” as the United States and NATO scale HBO ordered the series immediately The report notes, “Data do not, of down and reorient their activity in what after viewing the pilot and will produce themselves, change the world. What mat- they have termed the “Decade of Trans- 10 episodes. With HBO doing the produc- ters most is that decision-makers use the formation” (2015-2024). ing, the quality of the show is likely to be data to make positive change.” UNICEF SIGAR has launched a project to iden- top shelf. It remains to be seen how audiences will feel about the series, of course, but Contemporary Quote the pre-season press seems to make one thing clear: in Hollywood’s opinion, the Our diplomacy is at work with respect to Iran, where, for the first Foreign Service is the CIA’s neglected time in a decade, we’ve halted the progress of its nuclear program stepchild. and reduced its stockpile of nuclear material. Between now and this spring, In USA Today Jack Black described his we have a chance to negotiate a comprehensive agreement that prevents a character—that “lowly” Foreign Service nuclear-armed Iran; secures America and our allies—including Israel; while officer—as “a wannabe CIA dude, a bit of avoiding yet another Middle East conflict. There are no guarantees that nego- a doofus, a bit of a stoner.” Ouch. tiations will succeed, and I keep all options on the table to prevent a nuclear —Debra Blome, Associate Editor Iran. But new sanctions passed by this Congress, at this moment in time, will all but guarantee that diplomacy fails—alienating America from its allies; and 2014: Not the Year ensuring that Iran starts up its nuclear program again. It doesn’t make sense. for Children That is why I will veto any new sanctions bill that threatens to undo he year 2014 was particularly this progress. The American people expect us to only go to war as a Tdevastating for many of the world’s last resort, and I intend to stay true to that wisdom. children. According to a report from UNI- —President Barack Obama, State of the Union Address, Jan. 20. CEF, those living in conflict areas such as

14 MARCH 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL tify lessons learned and best practices in $65 billion, or more than half, of the $107 “The classification of this volume aid coordination, and has also developed billion U.S. investment on the civilian of data for SIGAR’s quarterly report is a “High-Risk List”—seven program areas account since 2002. unprecedented,” the report states. “The that are vital to the reconstruction effort’s In his letter of transmittal, Mr. Sopko decision leaves SIGAR for the first time success, but are at risk of failure due calls attention to the Jan. 18 decision in six years unable to publicly report on to waste, fraud or abuse. In each area, by General John F. Campbell—com- most of the U.S.-taxpayer-funded efforts the sources of risk are detailed and the mander of the downsized and renamed to build, train, equip and sustain the degree of risk documented. NATO mission in Afghanistan, Resolute ANSF.” More significant in this latest report, Support—to classify a broad range of The list of questions for the Reso- however, is what is missing: informa- information that SIGAR has used, until lute Support Mission, whose answers tion and analysis of the status of the now, to publicly report on the progress are off-limits to the public, is included Afghan National Security Forces—whose of the ANSF, Ministry of Defense and the in Appendix E, and Campbell’s letter development and sustenance account for Ministry of the Interior. appears in Appendix F. The trend toward greater 50 Years Ago classification is not new. As Sopko notes, in the previ- The Washington-Field Relationship ous quarter the International here is in Washington a widespread tendency to Security Assistance Force Tregard the field missions as the eyes and arms of (ISAF) had classified the United States policy, but taking no part in the function executive summary of a report of the brain. It should be obvious, of course, that policy SIGAR used as a primary toward any country cannot be determined exclusively source of information on ANSF by the field mission there. The relationship between the capability. United States and any other country in today’s world is “ISAF’s classification of the not merely a bilateral matter. It must be placed within a report summary deprives the framework of regional and global policy and strategy. American people of an essential At the same time, the field mission has the great tool to measure the success or advantage over Washington of being in intimate failure of the single most costly contact with the whole spectrum of relationships— feature of the Afghanistan recon- political, economic, psychological and military; and the ambassador is better struction effort,” Sopko stated in placed than any single Washington officer to weigh together the various ele- his October report. ments in a broad country strategy. “SIGAR and Congress can, of course, It follows that the field mission should be called upon to think in strategic request classified briefings on this infor- terms, and to recommend policies actively to Washington, rather than merely mation, but its inexplicable classification serving as observer, reporter and executant. This is equally true of the com- now and its disappearance from public ponent operating units in the aid, information and military fields. At the same view does a disservice to the interest of time, in order to maintain a regional and global unity, the field mission should informed national discussion,” he added, be kept abreast of the evolution of Washington policies, with ample opportu- questioning how dissemination of nity to comment on them and to participate in their formulation. Much has aggregate national data on ANSF could been done in recent years to improve this relationship. compromise operational security. —Excerpt from Lincoln Gordon’s testimony before the Senate Earlier in the year, ISAF had stopped Subcommittee on National Security Staffing and Operations regarding publicly reporting data on Taliban relations between embassy and Washington, in “On the Front Lines of History” attacks, and SIGAR has faulted it for by Robert McClintock, FSJ, March 1965. At the time, Gordon was ambassador classifying information about the Afghan to Brazil, a political appointee. Special Mission Wing. Created by Congress in 2008, SIGAR’s

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2015 15 SITE OF THE MONTH: The Iran Primer

hen he coined the phrase “a riddle, wrapped in W a mystery, inside an enigma” in 1939, Winston Churchill was referring to the Soviet Union. But many international relations scholars believe it an apt description of present-day Iran, referring to the richness and complexity of the country’s cultural and political heritage. After 30 years of estrangement between Washing- ton and Tehran, however, most Americans know very little about the most basic facts concerning Iran and its people. Happily, The Iran Primer (http://iranprimer.usip. org), self-described as “the world’s most comprehensive website on Iran,” offers extensive information and insights, food for thought for the expert and layperson alike. Launched in 2010 as a joint project of the U.S. Insti- tute for Peace and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, The Iran Primer is an ongoing online ics of regional elections and what the recent drop in oil compendium of essays by 50 of the world’s top Iran prices means for the Iranian economy. scholars, representing 20 foreign policy think-tanks, In addition, it has archived articles from 2010 onward, eight universities and senior foreign policy officials from making it easy to trace the evolution of both American six U.S. administrations. and Iranian policy. The site is centered on the book The Iran Primer, The site brings a wide range of perspectives to the edited by journalist, author and USIP Joint Fellow Robin table, and is a great source for background information Wright and published by USIP in 2010. and a variety of analytical opinions. The site also has The book is available in hard copy, and its individual sections devoted to U.S. policy, Iranian policy, profiles of essays, as well as the new articles featured regularly on important Iranian government officials and religious -fig the website, are available for download from the site. ures, and interviews with American and Iranian scholars. A “living website,” The Iran Primer gives readers up- The Iran Primer is an excellent resource for anyone to-the-minute analysis of current events that have major looking to untangle the complicated American-Iranian implications for Iran, the United States and the world as diplomatic relationship and to understand Iran as a a whole, such as the ongoing nuclear negotiations, Iran’s country in greater depth. position on the Islamic State group, the power dynam- —Shannon Mizzi, FSJ Editorial Intern

mission is to oversee U.S. programs and Ebola Update: Grand the winners of “Fighting Ebola: A Grand operations in Afghanistan, ensuring Challenge Winners Challenge for Development.” USAID that American tax dollars are being used hough the rates of new Ebola infec- launched the “Fighting Ebola” chal- effectively. Ttions in West Africa have slowed lenge in early October—in partnership For the full report, go to the SIGAR dramatically, the U.S. Agency for Devel- with the White House Office of Science website (www.sigar.mil). opment’s work to combat the crisis is not and Technology Policy, the Centers for —Susan Brady Maitra, finished. Disease Control and Prevention and the Managing Editor In December the agency announced Department of Defense—to seek ways

16 MARCH 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL to increase the protection and comfort GEP LLC and Innovative BioDefense). of healthcare workers battling the virus. • A long-lasting, spray-on barrier that (See the January-February Talking Points kills and repels microbes with electro- for our coverage of the contest.) static fields to prevent surface con- A panel of U.S. government experts tamination and allow for more breath- and international partners chose three able PPE materials (submitted by SPR winners: Advanced Technologies, Inc.). • A redesigned personal protective These three ideas will receive financial AFSA Scholarship equipment (PPE) suit that allows for or other support, including intensive test- AFSA.org/Scholar quicker and safer doffing/removal and ing, to ensure readiness for production has integrated cooling features (submit- and field deployment. Arlington Court Suites ted by Johns Hopkins University’s Center USAID reports that as of Jan. 21 the arlingtoncourthotel.com for Bioengineering Innovation & Design U.S. government has delivered approxi- and Jhpiego, and featuring technology mately $952 million in assistance in Clements Worldwide from Johns Hopkins University). response to the Ebola epidemic. And clements.com • An antiseptic that, when applied to now, it appears, the epidemic may be Embassy Risk Management skin, provides up to six hours of pathogen subsiding. Embassyrisk.com protection and serves as an antimicrobial New Ebola cases in Liberia and Sierra barrier to viral transmission for health Leone have been decreasing dramatically The Hirshorn Company care workers (submitted by Aquarius of late, so much so, in fact, that the U.S. Hirshorn.com/USFS

Inside A U.S. Embassy Test Your Worldliness: Pristina and Washington, D.C. afsa.org/Inside The Quiz If you have a quiz to suggest, send it This month we are introducing a (questions with answers and source) to McGrath Real Estate Services new mini-feature for Talking Points— [email protected]. McGrathRealEstate.com The Quiz. Answers appear on p. 18. PROMAX Management Inc. As an amusing diversion from promaxrealtors.com pressing business, the quizzes will test CURRENCY QUIZ your knowledge of any and all things WJD Management worldly, from currencies (this month) What countries use the following wjdpm.com and languages to capital cities. See currencies? how many you can get right. Gain bragging rights by comparing answers 1. Manat ______with colleagues! 2. Lek ______Thanks to retired FSO Rob Callard 3. Dram ______for the suggestion and this currency 4. Kyat ______quiz. In the “distant past,” Callard says, 5. Nakfa ______The Foreign Service Journal included 6. Pa‘anga ______a quiz section. A consular officer, he 7. Taka ______is now working as a “when actually 8. Dirham ______employed” (WAE) in the visa office. 9. Rupiah ______During his Foreign Service career, he 10. Ariary ______served in Port-of-Spain, Lima, Welling- 11. Quetzal ______ton, Toronto, Bridgetown, Jerusalem, 12. Dalasi ______

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2015 17 National Institutes of Health is having of “near-empty” treatment centers, built difficulty conducting a clinical trial of an by what the Post called an “aggressive experimental Ebola vaccine in Liberia. American military and civilian response” Reuters reports that NIH may move some that occurred “too late” to help the bulk of testing to Sierra Leone. Liberians who were infected. The Washington Post paints a picture Major General Gary Volesky, the top U.S. military officer in Liberia, told the Post that no one was “declaring victory” in light of the dropping infection rate, however. And the treatment centers are now in place to be used if the virus resurges. In fact, the Ebloa epidemic is now in a critical and difficult new phase that global

Moving? health officials call “getting to zero.” This involves tracking the thousands of virus transmission chains, tracing all those who might have been exposed and monitoring them for several weeks to make sure they don’t get sick. To do that, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control is increasing its involvement in the region. It now has 214 staffers in West Africa—more than at any other time during the outbreak. The agency plans to open new offices in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone in the spring. As Dr. Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health Organization, said in a speech to the Executive Board on Ebola at WHO, “The volatile microbial world Take AFSA will always deliver surprises. Never again should the world be caught by surprise, With You! unprepared.” n —Debra Blome, Associate Editor Change your address online, visit us at www.afsa.org/address ANSWERS TO CURRENCY QUIZ Or 1. Turkmenistan 2. Albania Send changes to: 3. Armenia AFSA Membership 4. Burma 5. Eritrea Department 6. Tonga 7. Bangladesh 2101 E Street NW 8. U.A.E. 9. Indonesia Washington, DC 20037 10. Madagascar 11. Guatemala 12. The Gambia Jeff Lau Jeff

18 MARCH 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL SPEAKING OUT

Now the changed composition of A Glass Half Full A-100 classes is obvious. Many classes these days are 50-percent female. BY DAVID T. JONES Elimination of Open Racial Discrim- ination. While the Foreign Service wasn’t oreign Service personnel are careers, we have seen radical improve- “lily white” in 1968 (African-Americans congenital pessimists. But in ments. and other minorities had been serving for light of today’s realities, we nearly a century), racial minorities were Fshould not be. Perhaps to appre- Greater Openness modestly represented. There were six ciate the pinnacle on which we now In 1968, when I entered the Foreign black FSOs in my A-100 class, including stand, we should recall the tough slog Service, its ranks included women—but one woman; five became ambassadors. that got us here. still not married ones, because any There is still much more to be done to We have had philosophical pessimism female FSO who married had to resign ensure that equal employment oppor- imbued in our souls. The maxim might be her commission. But by the time Teresa tunity extends to all Foreign Service that while a pessimist can be pleasantly joined in 1974, regulations had changed, personnel. But as organizations like the surprised, an optimist is continually dis- creating “tandem couples.” Addition- long-standing Thursday Luncheon Group appointed. Still, there is more cause for ally, a naturalized citizen no longer had can attest, State and the other foreign optimism now than for several genera- to wait 10 years to apply for the Foreign affairs agencies have made real progress. tions. Service—another restriction that had The Closet Is Open. For most of my To be sure, there are many causes for previously excluded my wife. career, there were no openly gay diplo- legitimate complaint: the plethora of A generation ago, assignments were mats in the Foreign Service. They were political appointees, each batch worse “old boy” directed. Friends in high places well-represented in its ranks, of course, than their predecessors; the family placed their preferred candidates in the and as effective as any other officer. But challenges from “long war” terrorism and best jobs, regardless of qualifications. they had to be extremely discreet in their expeditionary diplomacy; the slow pace Entrants who started their careers in romantic lives—if, indeed, they had any. of promotions, ending with post-career backwaters rarely made the connections The idea that LGBT individuals would challenges from “up or out” regulations; that led to choice assignments and rapid eventually be accepted at the top ranks of and grim recognition that the U.S. public promotion. the Service was inconceivable. notices its diplomats only when they get The current “bid” system is killed. convoluted, and still subject to But Much Stronger But I write to praise the contemporary manipulation, but it is significantly more Security Rules Foreign Service, not to toss a shovel of transparent than its predecessor. State used to be remarkably casual despair on its casket. about security. Fifty years ago, while I was I entered the Foreign Service in June Greater Equality serving as an Army intelligence officer in 1968 and my wife, Teresa, in January In my A-100 class, there were just Seoul, the embassy passed an assortment 1974; between us, we are approaching three women, but there were five in my of SECRET material to the Eighth Army a century of FS experience, both active wife’s, all carefully positioned in the front G-2 Headquarters that arrived without and retired. And over the course of our row for the class photo. cover sheets or a chain-of-transmission responsibility list. We were appalled. David T. Jones is a retired Senior Foreign Service officer and frequent contribu- In Washington, the State Department tor to the Journal. He is the author of Alternative North Americas: What had no “double-check” system for safes Canada and the United States Can Learn from Each Other (Woodrow Wilson and office doors at the close of business Center, 2014), editor of The Reagan-Gorbachev Arms Control Breakthrough: and only casual control over who entered The Treaty Eliminating Intermediate-Range (INF) Missiles (New Academia the building or your office. Steadily over Publishing, 2012) and co-author of Uneasy Neighbo(u)rs: Canada, the USA the decades, not just after 9/11, security and the Dynamics of State, Industry and Culture (Wiley, 2007). has tightened. The amateurish photo ID

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2015 19 In Washington, the State Department a great deal of attention to assuring family support on bases, both for stateside and had no “double-check” system for safes deployed assignments. and office doors at COB and only casual State is still playing catch-up to some control over who entered the building. extent, but the Family Liaison Office, along with Community Liaison Offices at posts and youth support groups (“Around the World in a Lifetime”), that once let waggish officers substitute driven by WikiLeaks’ distribution of mas- have helped. There is also much greater their dog’s photo for their own has been sive amounts of classified material to the flexibility in terms of timing high school replaced by state-of-the-art IDs with global media and Edward Snowden’s even education to alleviate the trauma of double-coded entry systems. more disastrous revelations of NSA opera- moving a rising senior from one school After bitter experience, ranging from tions, the ramifications of which are still to another. a disappearing computer (hopefully only unfolding. The growing number of FS personnel stolen by cleaning staff, not espionage- Consequently, security today is any- on unaccompanied assignments for a connected) to a listening device in a thing but casual. Diplomatic Security offi- year or more find it much easier to keep State Department conference room (a cers are now among the largest contingent in touch with loved ones via innovations foreign diplomat was detected receiving of State Department personnel. We are like Skype—allowing the FS member to transmissions), internal security has also doubtless more secure, but “nervous in know about every physical or social mis- tightened. The ultimate embarrassment the Service” is also a reality when a secu- ery without being able to help. remains the “man in the brown tweed rity violation is no longer a trivial offense. jacket,” who entered the Secretary of The Double-Edged Sword State’s outer office and walked away with Family-Friendliness of High Tech the all-source morning briefing pouch ... Until the 1970s, the concept of making In 1968 we were not reporting on clay and was never seen again. the Foreign Service “family-friendly” tablets written in cuneiform and delivered Combined with revelations that some literally did not exist. (One recalls the old via Pony Express. Most standard reporting officers nominated for ambassadorial military maxim, “If the Army wanted you was by airgram (in effect, a memorandum appointments had a significant number to have a wife, it would have issued you sent by diplomatic pouch whose delivery of security violations, these shortcom- one.”) Particularly in developed countries, often took weeks). Telegrams, written in ings prompted a major security overhaul. support came primarily from Foreign Ser- compressed language (“telegraphese”), There are now stringent rules regard- vice colleagues, not from post manage- were reserved for high-priority commu- ing penalties for security violations that ment or Washington. As a result, arrang- nications. can be career-threatening (or at least ing housing, finding suitable schools for In the late 1970s, State got low-level promotion-delaying). one’s children, and dealing with separa- Wang computers with text editing The blistering recognition that 9/11 tions and family emergencies could all be capabilities, and high-priority embassies terrorists were in the USA with legitimate real struggles. received optical scanners for telegram visas, not “illegals” slipping across the Larger societal changes have, thank- transmission. Frenzy mounted. By work- border from Canada or Mexico, prompted fully, brought the Service into the 21st ing until midnight in Washington, you extensive rethinking of admission poli- century. Management now recognizes could send guidance to European posts cies. The largest group of new FSOs is now that spouses have careers that require that would arrive by the opening of in the consular cone; virtually every accommodation, particularly those in business. Conversely, by working until applicant from most countries is person- tandem couples. If the spouse and family midnight, European posts could send ally interviewed by a U.S. officer with are not happy, the FSO is not—and the responses that would arrive at midday computerized “lookout” lists constantly chances rise that he or she will depart. in State, thus continuing the frenzy- consulted. With the creation of the All-Volunteer response cycle. Concern for security has also been Army, the U.S. military has learned to pay Almost unnoticed, airgrams disap-

20 MARCH 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL peared, and the number of telegrams 29 clearances for a second-echelon Since then, personnel evaluations sent/received at State rose exponen- action. have become more transparent and tially. Today, of course, many if not It is even possible to work remotely, intricate—but also less meaningful. At most official communications travel via using a fob that permits coded access to times, it appears that every officer can email. Quantity isn’t necessarily qual- State Department computers and com- turn water into wine by walking on it— ity (“garbage in; garbage out”); but the munication with colleagues throughout and generate a premier cru, to boot. fact that employees can now send and the world. Technology is amazing—until The evaluation system continued to receive massive amounts of informa- it isn’t, and you find that your password evolve. State devised work requirement tion provides the opportunity for regular has expired or remote access inexplicably statements, equivalent to contracts, so sophisticated analysis. fails. employees knew specifically what they Another example: A generation ago As a result, Foreign Service members were to perform. Raters had to review an we were still using rotary phones; as late in the field are no longer without con- employee’s progress regularly; and each as 1980, I had to scream into the tele- nectivity and guidance. Secure communi- evaluation had to include an area for phone while calling our embassies in cation is the norm, so you know what you improvement (which generated some places like Ankara and Athens. Now, calls are to do and when to do it, and Washing- of the Foreign Service’s most creative almost anywhere in the world, even over ton knows what you have done—virtually writing). a secure line, are almost as clear as if you instantly. To be sure, this capability is a The Employee Evaluation Report was were speaking with someone in the next mixed blessing; reins are tight, and being also expanded to include a personal state- cubicle. “out of touch” is no longer an option. ment by the rated employee in which to The Internet. In my day, the idea of Finding a vacation spot that does not have elaborate on an area of accomplishment social networking was closer to “Dick Internet access has become an art form. or rebut a criticism. Bearing out the apt- Tracy” wrist-radio science fiction than ness of the informal term for that section, reality. Over the last 20 years, the Internet Evaluations the “suicide box,” one witless officer moved from something Al Gore just In the late 1960s, an untenured reportedly offered a 1,000-word rebuttal invented to the instant go-to resource employee faced an evaluation with a con- of the observation that he was verbose. for virtually any type of information, and fidential section. The rater and reviewer Current evaluations are still more “crackberries” taught us why opposable could each record pleasing positives in complex: rated employees now describe thumbs are really useful. the open section and insert knives in the how well they fulfilled their work require- Indeed, instead of stacks of dead- confidential material. Additionally, if the ments, an assessment balanced by rater/ tree cables delivered to your desk, employee were married, his wife was also reviewer commentary. today employees have a huge range of rated. computer-accessible material transmitted That mechanism was an astonish- Dickens Was Wrong from around the world. Unclassified and ing invasion of privacy, at least partly Today, members of the Foreign Service classified systems provide information designed to keep wives “in line” and live in neither the best of times, nor the from embassies, as well as the full range supporting husbands’ careers by per- worst of times. Virtually every improve- of global media. Once we lugged paper forming good works under the supervi- ment identified above has a commen- drafts from one office to another, collect- sion of often-imperious senior embassy surate downside. But with a “glass half ing clearances and noting “edits” to be wives. That said, it did serve me well: my full” attitude, one can conclude that incorporated in the next draft. wife was so lauded by my rating officers for individual diplomats the systemic The most sophisticated system was that my career development officer said improvements outweigh the associated the “long-distance Xerox,” or LDX, which she was “exactly the type of woman who disadvantages. could send a small selection of high- should take the FS exam.” As regulations Then again, recall the down-in-the- priority messages between State, Defense had just changed to accord her such dumps officer who heard a little voice and the National Security Council. Now an opportunity, she did just that. After saying, “Cheer up; things could be coordination can be done electronically passing, she pursued a highly successful worse.” So he cheered up—and, sure domestically and globally—but it requires career. enough, things got worse. n

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2015 21 FOCUS ON IRAN

The Iran Watcher Program: A Different Kind of Teleworking

Just over a decade old, the Iran Watcher program is an organizational model for remote diplomacy and a benchmark for success.

BY JILLIAN BURNS

here are definitely some advantages The history of our rupture of relations with Iran is well known, to working on a country with which stemming from the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the subsequent the United States has no diplomatic hostage-taking of 53 U.S. diplomats who were held for 444 days. relations. For instance, you never have Ever since then, the diplomatic model we have used in Iran is in to deliver demarches to bored second many ways the mirror image of the one we followed for 53 years in secretaries at the Ministry of Foreign Cuba. We send no official Americans to Iran, but do not obstruct Affairs, or attend tedious National the travel of unofficial Americans beyond warning them of the Day receptions. The obvious chal- potential risks. In Cuba, we have official representation (via a U.S. lenge, however, is how to make sense interests section) but restrict private travel by U.S. citizens. of a country where we have no access. Given our national security The Swiss ably represent our interests in Iran, but are no substi- Tconcerns regarding some of Iran’s domestic and external activities, tute for our own political and economic reporting officers. There is the State Department has a duty to our president and to our nation occasional talk of trying to reopen some kind of U.S. office in Teh- to help address this challenge. We owe decision-makers the most ran, but I doubt the Iranian government will allow that to happen credible assessments of political, economic and social realities in any time soon—even though it has its own sizable interests section Iran, as well as our most considered policy recommendations. in Washington and a mission at the United Nations in New York.

Jillian Burns joined the Foreign Service in 1993 and spent most of her career as a political officer working on the Middle East, particularly Iran. She served as an Iran desk officer and Iran watcher, and was the first director of the Iran Regional Presence Office in Dubai. She has also served as acting director of the Office of Iranian Affairs in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, an Iran issues staff member in the Office of Policy Planning, and the first National Intelligence Officer for Iran at the National Intelligence Council, within the- Of fice of the Director of National Intelligence. Other assignments include consul and senior civilian representative in Herat, Afghanistan, and director of the Near East Affairs Office in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. Burns retired from the Foreign Service in November 2014. The opinions and characterizations in this piece are those of the author, and do not necessarily represent official positions of the United States government.

22 MARCH 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL DOS/Courtesy of John Limbert of DOS/Courtesy The State Department’s Iran watchers at a gathering in Washington, D.C., in 2010 with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton (center) and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Iran John W. Limbert (to her right). Author Jillian Burns is to the left of Clinton.

The obvious challenge, however, is how to make sense of a country where we have no access.

The Iranian Challenge The Iran Watcher Program Is Born Tehran will continue to challenge U.S. interests at multiple The effectiveness of any policy depends on the quality of the levels and remain intertwined with our broader interests in the information on which it is based. The classic example of miscal- region. Important as it is, the country’s nuclear program is far from culation due to misinformation in our post-1979 Iran policy was our only concern. Others include: the Iran-Contra affair. Proponents of that secret deal argued that • Iranian support for terrorist groups, including Hezbollah and the United States could help empower “good guys” within the Hamas; Iranian political system, but the plan quickly fell apart because it • Iran’s economic and security support for Syrian President was based on faulty assessments of the internal political situation. Bashar al-Assad, which has helped him stay in power since Some American political careers were ruined, and public mistrust 2011 and continue the massacre of his people; of the U.S. government grew as a result, but it didn’t lead to war. • Substantial support to Iraqi Shia militias, which have attacked After 9/11, however, the risks of miscalculation grew exponentially. U.S. forces in Iraq and exacerbated Shia-Sunni tensions; The State Department had long depended on its diplomats in • Support to extremists in Afghanistan (including its former Dubai for some coverage of Iran, given the significant bilateral enemy, the Taliban), some of which has been used against U.S. trade between the two countries and the large Iranian expatriate forces there; community living there. The Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs created • Iranian manipulation of festering Sunni-Shia schisms in the first formal overseas Iran watcher position in 2002, assigning places like Yemen and Bahrain to advance its own interests; fluent Farsi-speaker Alan Eyre to the slot in the United Arab Emir- • Geostrategic risks to our security interests throughout the ates. region, including the flow of oil through the Persian Gulf; and At the time, I was one of two Iran desk officers in NEA’s North- • Violations of human rights in Iran, including the repression of ern Gulf Affairs Office, which covered both Iran and Iraq. The women, religious minorities, political activists and journalists. primary focus of that office—and the Washington policy com-

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2015 23 While Iran watchers are not directly involved in sensitive nuclear negotiations, they represent a critical feedback loop for policymakers.

munity—was Iraq. Even so, the voice of advocates outside of the Many claimed to speak for the “Iranian people,” arguing that U.S. government for regime change in Iran grew louder and louder. the Iranian population would support U.S. intervention in their Some called for an Ahmad Chalabi-like policy to promote the country and would see any engagement with the government of late shah’s son, Reza Pahlavi, or someone else as the next leader the Islamic Republic as betrayal, legitimizing an entity that was of Iran. Some advocated a U.S. embrace of the Iraq-based Iranian supposedly close to implosion. What was not clear, however, was Mujaheddin-e-Khalq, then designated as a terrorist group, with the on what basis anyone could claim to speak for public opinion in dangerous argument, “The enemy of our enemy is our friend.” Iran. Meanwhile, Tehran refused to be sidelined, as it watched the U.S. presence in its eastern and western neighbors growing. While Career Opportunities some in Iran are probably grateful that we targeted two of the country’s biggest enemies, Saddam Hussein and the Taliban, oth- Related to Iran ers, including many within the regime, view the United States as a While the lack of posts in Iran would appear to stymie a far greater threat. career as an Iran expert, there are numerous opportuni- In 2005, I replaced Alan Eyre as the sole Iran watcher in the field ties for Foreign Service personnel to develop and use and learned firsthand the challenge of trying to produce credible Iran-related expertise. In Washington, State Department reporting with such limited access to Iranians. Outside the context offices with an interest in Iran include NEA, International of negotiations and multilateral settings, U.S. officials, including Security and Nonproliferation, Economic and Business the watchers, have long had a policy of no contact with official Affairs, Energy Resources, Counterterrorism, Interna- Iranians. Given the possible repercussions of meeting with a U.S. tional Organization Affairs, Mission to the United Nations, official, private Iranians were rightly apprehensive about such Policy Planning, Educational and Cultural Affairs, Public contact. Affairs, Intelligence and Research, Consular Affairs and Still, I found that Iranians were eager to address the many mis- Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. Several former conceptions the West had about their country. Many I met were Iran watchers have served as advisers to the Deputy deeply unhappy with governance in their country, yet the bloody Secretary and under secretary for political affairs. backlash to their 1979 revolution—including internal purges—and Outside State, Foreign Service members with Iran the horrific war with Iraq in the 1980s left them afraid of any kind of experience have served in related positions at the violent or abrupt change, preferring organic evolution. Their fears National Security Council, the National Intelligence were compounded watching the declining security situation in Council, the Department of Defense and the Voice of both Iraq and Afghanistan, particularly as media speculation about America. Overseas, there are multiple opportunities as possible direct military strikes against Iran’s nuclear program watchers, including the IRPO unit in Dubai, where the spiked roughly every six months. Some thought change must be senior Iran watcher overseas is an FS-1 position. led exclusively from within Iran, while others thought the United In terms of follow-on assignments, Iran expertise is States could play a supportive role in bringing about reform. useful at many posts, including multilateral offices. And I also saw that the spectrum of political thought inside Iran was Afghanistan and Tajikistan offer opportunities to serve in much broader than I had imagined. In some ways—particularly countries with languages related to Farsi. while President Mohammad Khatami was still in office—the status —Jillian Burns of women and the media within civil society, and economic diver- sification, were farther advanced in Iran than they were in many of our allies in the region. Then, I had to bear witness as his successor,

24 MARCH 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, set back progress substantially, from which Iran has yet to recover. Throughout this time, I made clear in all my reporting to Washington that my access to Iranian society was extremely limited, so I could not document public opinion in Iran in any scientific way.

More Eyes Acknowledging that our Iran interests merited greater resources, in 2006 the State Department announced a broader Iran Watcher program. In addition to the new Iran Regional Presence Office in Dubai, Iran watcher positions were created elsewhere in the region and Europe to engage both Iranians and third-country nationals, including host governments, on Iran. Besides improving our understanding of the country, there was a second goal: to develop a new cadre of Iran experts and Farsi speakers to prepare for the day when we would reopen our embassy in Tehran. There are few U.S. diplomats left in the Foreign Service who have ever visited Iran, let alone served there. In that regard, Iran has an advantage over us; its United Nations mission in New York serves as a de facto embassy and gives some Iranian officials direct U.S. experience, even if they are limited in their ability to travel outside of the New York City area. Over time, the Near East Bureau's Office of Iranian Affairs has moved some Iran watcher positions from post to post, in search of the places with the maximum benefit. Administratively, these positions are challenging for State’s bureaucracy, as many require cross-regional bureau coordination, with officers sometimes having two chains of command. NEA oversees the program; IRPO does not manage watchers in locations outside Dubai. While there are many challenges, including dealing with host- country sensitivities to Iran-related work, overall, the program should be considered a success. While it is difficult to prove, I believe that over time, Iran watcher assessments have successfully challenged the faulty conventional wisdom about Iran that had been circulating in Washington since the 9/11 attacks. The watchers were also able to compile more accurate assessments of economic and human rights conditions, compensating for the unreliable data put out by the Iranian government. As a result, our policies came to demonstrate a more sophisticated understanding of Iran, including where our two nations’ interests intersect and where they diverge.

More Than Reporters Just like diplomats at any post, Iran watchers do not just report on developments and trends. They also advocate U.S. policy. Although they do not directly communicate with Iranian officials,

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2015 25 There are few U.S. diplomats left in the Foreign Service who have ever visited Iran, let alone served there.

Iran watchers address misunderstandings and challenge the is adapting to new challenges like Syria and Libya. But the Iran regime’s deliberate mischaracterizations of our policies. Watcher program is a possible model for conducting remote diplo- This was generally done on an interpersonal basis until 2013, macy, despite some drawbacks. when the department approved a long-standing request to create an official Farsi-language spokesperson position. That official, A Viable Model, Despite Drawbacks currently based in London, has authorization to engage, in close One disadvantage is the lack of an ambassador-level voice from coordination with Washington, the Iranian media and to post in the field in policy deliberations in Washington. Second, the limited Farsi on social media. career options for Iran experts make it more difficult to institu- While Iran watchers are not directly involved in sensitive tionalize expertise. While it is possible to follow Iranian develop- nuclear negotiations, they represent a critical feedback loop for ments from a variety of angles (see sidebar, p. 24), including at policymakers. They inform Washington of reactions, both by Irani- the National Security Council and on the seventh floor of State, ans and others, to our public positions; and they track and assess the lack of an embassy and consulates diminishes somewhat the the impact of Iran-focused sanctions imposed by the United States, attractiveness of specializing in Iran issues. Moreover, serving as a European Union and United Nations. watcher in non-Farsi language posts with only limited opportuni- In an effort to expand mutual understanding, the department ties to speak Farsi makes language retention difficult. also tasked IRPO in 2006 to launch a reinvigoration of our official Clearly, then, this kind of nontraditional diplomatic work exchange programs with Iran, particularly the International Visi- requires case-specific adaptation and training. Toward that end, tors Leadership Program. Iran reacted predictably, demonstrating the Foreign Service Institute is beginning to study the logistics of its deeply ingrained paranoia that everything the United States conducting diplomacy in countries where we lack a presence, with does masks an intent of regime change. In 2008, it arrested several the aim of teaching this tradecraft to our diplomats. people connected with exchanges, despite the clear intent of the Some of this training can also be useful for diplomats serving in program to provide a platform for exchange of best practices in countries where we maintain an embassy but have reduced mobil- areas of mutual interest, such as health. Nonetheless, we have ity because of security concerns. After the fact, I realized that I had managed to continue some cultural exchange programs, to the applied lessons learned during my stint as an Iran watcher while benefit of both countries. serving in western Afghanistan from 2012 to 2013, as we sought to Prior to the Iranian Revolution, Iran was one of the top-ranked cope with a shrinking diplomatic presence in the country. Admit- countries of origin for foreign students in the United States. That tedly, it helped that we had a fairly systematic glide path of military number plummeted through the 1980s and 1990s; but after U.S. base closures around which we could plan, rather than having to efforts to eliminate roadblocks, many of which were identified by draw down rapidly in a crisis, with little warning, as is more often Iran watchers, Iran now ranks 22nd among countries of origin for the case. foreign students. When I joined the Foreign Service in 1993, the State Depart- In addition to setting up a Farsi-language online advising pro- ment had recently opened posts throughout the former Soviet gram, in 2011 the State Department unilaterally extended the valid- Union, where we had never had a presence before—I didn’t know ity of student visas for Iranians from three months/one entry, to two where half of the posts on my first bid list were. Meanwhile, we years/multiple entry. This occurred after years of reporting by Iran were closing posts for budgetary reasons around the world. watchers that the limited visa was actually eroding students’ ties Our diplomatic map will continue to shift due to security and with their home country, because students were afraid to go home budgetary conditions, but we must always be prepared to cover over the course of their study and risk not getting another visa. areas where we have no direct access; the quality of U.S. policy Iran, of course, is not the only place where we do not have a decisions depends on it. The Iran Watcher program can serve as diplomatic presence. The department has used a different diplo- both an organizational model for remote diplomacy and a bench- matic model for North Korea, led by a special representative, and mark for success. n

26 MARCH 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL FOCUS ON IRAN

The Road Back to Tehran: Bugs, Ghosts and Ghostbusters

A veteran FSO and authority on Iran explains what it will take for Washington to “get it right” when U.S. diplomats finally return to Tehran.

BY JOHN W. LIMBERT

NPR: Is there any scenario under which you can envision, in your The (Incurable) Iran Bug final two years, opening a U.S. embassy in Tehran? The Iran watchers have encountered conflicting realities that I never say never; but I think these things have to go in steps. both puzzle and attract them. Many of the Iranians they have met — President Barack Obama, in an interview with are highly educated and creative people, who produce brilliant National Public Radio, December 2014. films, paintings and poetry, and who sometimes turn their creativ- ity to concocting the most bizarre conspiracy theories. The result was sometimes shock, but more often fascination. The watch- n 2010, I asked the State Department’s Iran watchers, ers are like people who create a Jerusalem, Mecca or Karbala in then gathered in Washington, D.C., which of them their imaginations long before there is any chance of making a would volunteer to serve at a reopened diplomatic post pilgrimage. They have never been to Iran, but the idea of Iran has in Tehran if the opportunity arose. All said they would. captured them. None of them had ever set foot in Iran; but they had I recognized this virus, because I had caught it 45 years earlier, looked into a new world through windows of language, during Peace Corps training in Iran in the summer of 1964. At first, film, policy argument and, most important, Iranians the beauties, subtleties and mysteries of the Persian language— they had met in Dubai, Istanbul, Baku, Berlin and despite endless drills—were a revelation. I realized that we were in elsewhere. They had obviously caught the antibiotic- for something unexpected one evening when playing Monopoly resistant “Iran bug,” and a fascination with the intricacies and Icontradictions of that country and its civilization had taken root in John W. Limbert served as the first-ever deputy assistant secretary of their systems. State for Iran from 2009 to 2010. He is a veteran U.S. diplomat and a Sooner or later, our Foreign Service colleagues will return former official at the U.S. embassy in Tehran, where he was held captive to Tehran. But while essential for effective service in Iran, their during the Iran hostage crisis. He was ambassador to Mauritania from brains and enthusiasm cannot by themselves carry a renewed 2000 to 2003 and AFSA president from 2003 to 2005, among many other diplomatic tie. They will need support from the State Department assignments. He is the author of Iran: At War with History (Westview in the form of a serious “Iranist” career track and an ability to deal Press, 1987), Shiraz in the Age of Hafez (University of Washington Press, with the potent ghosts that haunt both sides in the American- 2004) and Negotiating with Iran: Wrestling the Ghosts of History (U.S. Iranian relationship. Institute of Peace Press, 2009).

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2015 27 were unaware of the realities of their own society. To paraphrase Winston Churchill: “Never have so many known so few who knew so little for so long.”

Getting It Right (and Wrong) When our colleagues finally go back to serve in Iran, will we get it better? We will, if we can combine the enthusiasm and brains of the Iran watchers with a support system that supports. Such a system will need a cultural shift in the department in which our “Iranists,” wherever they are serving, can look forward to a reward- ing career track. Getting it right will require still another cultural shift, in which people with insight into Iran and into Washington policy issues read their colleagues’ reporting and respond to it.

Courtesy of Mark Lijek of Courtesy Two personal anecdotes illustrate the problem of support. In Top: Downtown Tehran. Middle: Tochal telecabin, the world’s longest gondola at Tochal Complex the early 2000s, while serving in Mauritania, I could read in my recreation center north of Tehran. Bottom: One of email unclassified reports on Iran from the consulate general in the city’s numerous café restaurants. Dubai thanks to our embassy’s being on some collective address list. (Nouakchott had no classified email in those days.) The with our Iranian language teachers. I had never witnessed reports were full of exceptional insights, and I would send notes monopoly played this way: the rules became matters of mood and to the author praising his work and suggesting further questions nuance. There were discussions about what number came up on to pursue. I later learned that my notes, from the remote West the dice. Money and property would change hands mysteriously. African coast, were almost the only response he received to his A stodgy game became, in Iranians’ creative hands, unpredictable, excellent messages. and I began to suspect we were headed for unfamiliar territory A decade later, when serving as deputy assistant secretary for that carried the promise of surprises. Iran in the State Department’s Near Eastern Affairs Bureau, I was Our watchers may not have been aware that they have many reprimanded for sharing notes from National Security Council predecessors who caught the same incurable infection: the British meetings on Iran with the watchers. I was told: “We must keep scholar E.G. Browne and the American scholar Richard Frye; the them [our colleagues] in the dark, lest we ourselves be excluded translator Dick Davis; the American political scientist Richard from the meetings.” Cottam; the British writer Christopher de Bellaigue; the French For now, the question “What happens when we send American geographer Bernard Hourcade; and the American writer Terrence diplomatic personnel O’Donnell. to Tehran?” remains Before the Islamic Revolution of 1979, the American Foreign hypothetical. But at Service had sought to immunize itself from the Iran virus. The some point, our people Service never produced Iran specialists. By accident or design, will go back to an young officers such as Arnie Raphel learned Persian, served two interests section or a or three years in Iran and, driven by their own intelligence and reopened embassy in curiosity, picked up basic knowledge of Iranian history, culture Tehran, and diplomats from the Islamic and politics. After Iran, however, they were sent elsewhere, never Commons Wikimedia to serve in the country again. Republic will return to Under the Turkmanchai Treaty, ending the Russo-Persian War of 1826-1828, The result, well-documented in studies such as Professor Jim Washington. As we are Russia reasserted its dominance Bill’s The Eagle and the Lion, was that the State Department had now seeing with Cuba, in Persia. In addition to significant trained no cadre of Iran experts to fill senior positions either in no estrangement lasts territorial concessions, Iran was Washington or Tehran. Bill has traced how many Tehran embassy forever. And when for- forced to accept commercial treaties with Russia as Russia specified and officers based their reporting on what they heard from a narrow mer enemies do begin lost rights to navigate the Caspian circle of English-speaking, upper-class Iranians, most of whom to talk, they will soon Sea and its coasts.

28 MARCH 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Before the Islamic Revolution of 1979, the State Department had trained no cadre of Iran experts to fill senior positions either in Washington or Tehran.

ask themselves: “What were those decades of enmity about? Why did we waste so much energy annoying each other?”

Ghosts in the Way Our colleagues’ return, however, still faces an enormous obstacle: the presence of potent ghosts that haunt both sides in the American-Iranian relationship. See them or not, acknowledge them or not, the ghosts are there and will make their presence known. If we ignore them, they will still haunt us and work their spells. Perhaps Secretary of State Cyrus Vance did not see the ghosts in October 1979 when, despite the explicit advice of his chief of mission in Tehran, he urged President Jimmy Carter to admit the ailing, deposed Mohammad Reza Shah to the United States. Asked by Carter why he was ignoring the views of the embassy, Vance said that we would tell the Iranians that the shah was in the United States “only for medical treatment”—there was “no political purpose” behind the decision. Did Cyrus Vance and his colleagues think that anyone in Iran would accept this explanation? Did they believe that the ghosts of August 1953, when the CIA helped stage a coup that removed the nationalist prime minister, Mohammad Mosaddegh, had been exorcised and had lost their power to work mischief? Were they even aware of those events and their place in the Iranian political canon? Combined with these simmering resentments of history was an explosive present. The revolutionary movement that tri- Images Archive/Stringer/Getty Hulton An Anglo-Iranian Oil Co. oil well in Iran, 1909. Exploitation umphed in February 1979 had not brought Iranians the promised of Iranian oil began in earnest in 1901 with the D’Arcy oil paradise. It had not even brought them peace. There was ongoing concession, backed by Great Britain as a way to push back strife in universities, on the streets and in those provinces domi- against Czarist Russia’s influence in Persia. nated by ethnic minorities. Nationalists and liberal intellectuals were complaining about With the revolution in such trouble, the hunt was on for scape- the new authoritarianism; leftists were beating the anti-American goats. Since the new rulers were not about to admit their own drum and clamoring for more confiscations and executions; with failings, the difficulties had to be the work of foreigners and their backing from powerful clerics, right-wing thugs called hezbollahi agents. Americans became the most obvious target, and assassi- (God’s partisans) were beating up journalists, women and anyone nations, explosions and disturbances were described as the work who questioned their slogan: “Rahbar, faqat Rouhollah; Hezb, of “American mercenaries.” faqat Hezbollah” (The only leader is Rouhollah [Khomeini]; the Yet, in a case study of obliviousness, the administration only party is the Hezbollah). ignored these realities of both past and present and decided in

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2015 29 ments more than a year earlier provide some insight into how some Iranians deal—or do not deal—with the ghosts. At a private discussion with American academics in September 2012, during his visit to the United Nations General Assembly, Ahma- dinejad spoke about the need to end the “negative mentality” infecting the U.S.-Iranian relationship that frustrated all efforts at change. At the meeting I asked him: “Why not do as your predecessor (President Mohammad Khatami) did, and address the running sore of the 1979 embassy seizure and hostage holding? For example, you could end or limit the annual demonstrations on Nov. 4, which pretend that ugly action was a positive thing. Such an act would be a powerful first step toward eliminating that Courtesy of Mark Lijek of Courtesy negative mentality you have deplored.” Top: Downtown Tehran at night. Middle: Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport. Bottom: Ahmadinejad appeared puzzled by the question. He seemed to Valiasr Street, a main shopping area that separates be thinking: “Where did all that come from? What do those events Tehran’s eastern and western sectors. of 33 years ago have to do with anything today?” His response, which completely missed the point, was: “Well, you were treated October 1979 that it would be a good idea to pour gasoline on the all right, weren’t you?” glowing embers of Iranian politics by admitting the shah to the The problem is obliviousness. In this way of thinking, whatever United States. happened then has nothing to do with today. The events of 1979 And just as U.S. Chief of Mission Bruce Laingen had predicted happened “a long time ago in a galaxy far away.” The far savvier three months earlier, the results were: (1) collapse of the relatively Rouhani, Ahmadinejad’s successor, could be just as unaware of moderate provisional government of Iran; (2) end of any contact realities past and present and could nominate Abutalebi, a step between the U.S. government and the new rulers of Iran; and, (3) which turned into a fiasco for the Iranians. end of the American diplomatic mission in Tehran. Of course the Iranians are not the only oblivious ones. In 1973, President Richard Nixon also set a standard for thoughtlessness The Curse of Obliviousness when he nominated the former CIA chief, Richard Helms, to Americans have no monopoly on ignoring ghosts in the room. be ambassador to Tehran. Did Nixon understand (or even care In early 2014, despite quiet warnings from Washington, the Islamic about) the symbolism of his action and the fact that this appoint- Republic, under its new president, Hassan Rouhani, nominated ment would be seen in Iran as a gratuitous humiliation? The mes- Hamid Abutalebi to be its ambassador to the United Nations. It sage was: “You Iranians may think you’re a sovereign country. But turned out that Abutalebi had been one of the “Moslem Student I am sending you a reminder that you are not. Now I will show you Followers of the Imam’s Line” who had seized the U.S. embassy in who is really the boss.” November 1979 and, with the support of the Iranian authorities, held its staff members hostage for more than 14 months. The (Right) Road Back: Bring the Ghostbusters The appointment reopened a wound that had been festering No enmity is forever. It took decades, but the U.S. established for 35 years, provoking a firestorm of reaction in the United States diplomatic relations with the USSR and China after their revo- that seemed to catch the Iranian side unaware. One can only ask: lutions when it was in both sides’ interest to do so. Cuba is the Were those who nominated Abutalebi aware of his past? If they latest case, although in Havana there has long been a large U.S. were, why did they ignore the ghosts of that time and misread the diplomatic presence in the form of an interests section. In the damaging effects of their choice, even on those Americans who case of Iran, the reasons for the 35-year estrangement are some- were willing to give Rouhani and his new team the benefit of the times difficult to understand when balanced against the need to doubt? What were they thinking when they made such a nomina- engage—not as friends, but as countries with matters to discuss— tion? Were they thinking at all? on subjects such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Sunni extremism. Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s com- When we do send our people back, and when Iranian diplo-

30 MARCH 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL WATCH FOR

The problem is Education Supplement obliviousness. In this way Coming in June! of thinking, whatever happened then has nothing to do with today.

matic personnel appear in Wash- ington, teams of “ghostbusters” who know how to deal with the Offering You a World of Ideas phantoms of the About Your Child’s Education past should be Online at: www.afsa.org/schools_supplement.aspx present. On our side, here are Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia some guidelines An Iranian soldier guarding against chemical weapons during the Iran-Iraq War that will help us (1980-1988). get it right this time. ■ Move carefully. We should not be in any hurry. As much as possible, we need the assurance that the events of 1979 will not be repeated, and that the Iranian authorities will fulfill their responsibilities under international law and practice. The Iranian domestic political scene remains an arena of competing groups, which are looking for opportunities to embarrass their rivals. We need to be sure that at the first setback (and there will be setbacks) one group or another will not be able to act out “Hostages II,” as some groups did when they seized the British embassy in Tehran in November 2011. ■ Listen to those who know. In Washington there are many competing voices on Iran, and the views run from “It’s all our fault” to “They are evil people.” Our diplomats in Iran will not know everything, but at least they can provide a measure of firsthand reality useful in evaluating the ideas peddled in op-eds and think-tanks inside the Washington Beltway. ■ Be serious about supporting our people. Create what the department has never had: a cadre of Iranists. Six or nine months of Persian study at FSI and a two-year posting does not an Iran expert make. That is a useful beginning, but if there is no coherent follow-through, the time and money spent will be wasted. Officers need serious language and area studies train-

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2015 31 Courtesy of Mark Lijek of Courtesy Top: A luxury shopping center at Sheikh Bahaei Square in the Vanak area of Tehran. Middle: One of the city’s many parks. Bottom: A panoramic view of Tehran in winter. ing, both inside and outside the government. Beyond a posting

in Iran, they should have related postings in the Persian Gulf, Images AFP/Getty Afghanistan, Central Asia, the Caucasus and elsewhere. Their Former Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh (front Washington assignments should also be relevant. There should right). The democratically elected prime minister was removed from power on Aug. 19, 1953, in a coup d’etat supported and be cross-training in other Middle Eastern cultures and in Arabic funded by the British and U.S. governments. He was imprisoned and the Turkic languages. Such a program is not for everyone. for three years and then put under house arrest until his death in We are going to need serious and committed people, not just 1 9 57. anyone who shows up or seeks to rescue a career. ■ Don’t do or say stupid stuff. We must be aware of the That move happened with the nuclear negotiations in 2013. effects of our words and actions in an Iranian political culture We waited out the rhetoric, remained professional and eventu- that sees itself as the humiliated victim of powerful outsiders— ally found ourselves in “productive” discussions with Iranian British, Russian and American. We should avoid talking about officials for the first time in 34 years. The change has not led to “Iranian paranoia” or “Iranian DNA.” We will need lots of empa- a quick resolution of problems, but on the symbolic level it has thy to understand Iranian views of events and understand what been an enormous shift from more than three decades of trading lies behind sometimes extreme rhetoric. We should acknowl- insults, threats and slogans. edge the symbolic power of the ghosts of the Iran-Iraq War, the Sooner or later, our Foreign Service colleagues will return to 1964 status of forces agreement controversy, the coup of 1953, Tehran. They may even reoccupy the “[Loy] Henderson High” the D’Arcy oil concession of 1901 and even the Turkmanchai complex on Taleghani (formerly Takht-e-Jamshid) Avenue, Treaty of 1828, in which the Qajar rulers of Persia gave up their although exorcising the ghosts that haunt those buildings may sovereignty to Czarist Russia. take even more time. ■ Listen and be very patient. Since 1979, Iranian political When they do return, both sides should have learned their discourse has too often consisted of reciting lists of complaints lessons: that a host government, even if it calls itself “revolution- against the United States. Such recitation is both frustrating and ary,” is responsible for the safety and security of foreign diplo- unproductive. Yet a patient American listener needs to acknowl- mats; and that behind Iran’s positions and policies lies a real and edge, “Yes, I understand that you have grievances.” For a time, imagined history of defeat, exploitation and humiliation. repeating these sterile lists can make dialogue very difficult. As All candidates for an embassy post in Tehran should be long as we stay in the room and listen, however, sooner or later it asked: “What is the importance of Turkmanchai?” If they don’t will be possible to move into something more productive. know, they don’t go. n

32 MARCH 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL FOCUS ON IRAN

The 1979 Hostage Crisis: Down and Out in Tehran

Foreign Service Political Officer Michael Metrinko spent most of his 14 months as a hostage in solitary confinement. Here is his story.

BY MICHAEL METRINKO

hat happened on Novem- ber 4, 1979? I generally got into the embassy late because I would go out every night. I would not get home until midnight or 1 a.m. I was one of the few people who was going out, but I was also seeing a whole wide range of people who were useful to Wthe embassy, for reporting and to get things done. On Nov. 3, I had been contacted by two of Ayatollah Taleghani’s sons, saying they wanted to meet me the next morning at the embassy. I told them that I wouldn’t be able to get there until around 11 a.m. or so. They were insistent it had to be earlier, because they were leaving to see Yasser Arafat and they wanted to talk to me before they went. This was logical, knowing these two people, so I agreed to be there early. I was in my office waiting for my friends to call. I noticed that there was a tremendous amount of activity around the embassy. The noise level had just picked up considerably, and when we looked out we could see lots of heads. Suddenly the heads were coming over the walls. And that was that. When I got to the main floor, people were at the doors. Then it was a matter of battening down the hatches. I was part of the group in the ambassador’s office—a large group with some discipline, not a tremendous amount. The chargé, his deputy and the regional security officer were gone, so there was some confusion over who was in charge. There was Michael Metrinko addressing a huge crowd in Scranton, Pa., the more noise outside. The phone lines were still working. We were first stop en route to his hometown from Iran in January 1981.

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2015 33 And That Was That Then one of our regional security officers went outside, despite recommendations that he not do so—and shortly thereafter wanted us to open the Michael Metrinko, a Peace Corps Volunteer, doors and let them in because they said at the door to his house in Songhor in 1971 and, in Kurdish costume, visiting Kurdish they were going to kill him if we didn’t. friends in Mahabad in 1972. He had gone out thinking he could talk to the mob, using mid-American English on the phone with Chargé Bruce Laingen, and with no sense at all of Iran, Iranians who was trying to give orders from the or anything that was happening. He was Foreign Minister’s office, saying Ayatollah going to go out there and say, “I am the Ruhollah Khomeini had ordered that the American diplomat. You are breaking the protest be broken up immediately and Geneva Convention...” that there were people on the way to help “Oh, shit!” was our group’s collective us, just to hang tight. reaction. I dialed the number of my revolution- Still, the general feeling was that we'd ary friend who had asked me to be at the meeting, and got be taken, but that the situation would be his security guard, whom I also knew quite well. I told him I just managed because the government was going to come back in wanted to speak to Mehdi; he was silent for a moment, and then and break this up. And in fact, the captors, the “students” that had said, “Michael, Mehdi won’t come to the telephone.” arranged all this, also believed it was going to be a one-day event. “You know what’s happening here at the embassy, where I’ve They told us that at the time, some of the more pleasant ones. been waiting for Mehdi to come?” I asked. “Don’t worry,” they said. “You’ll be in your own home by midnight “Yes, we know,” he said. I realized then that they had set me up. tonight.” So I just said, “Okay, I guess this is goodbye.” And he said, Even in later years, as they talked about it, giving interviews “Michael, I’m really sorry.” And that was that. about it, they still said they had planned that this was going to be

Michael Metrinko was a Foreign Service political officer in Iran when the U.S. embassy was overrun on Nov. 4, 1979, by some 3,000 radical Iranian students. Before joining the Foreign Service in 1974, he had been a Peace Corps Volunteer for five years, two in Turkey and three in Iran. His first State -De partment assignment was back to Turkey, followed by six months on temporary duty. After only a few months in the Tehran visa unit, he was assigned as principal officer to Tabriz, where his Turkish and Persian fluency, and the large network of friends from his Peace Corps days, gave him access to a wide spectrum of Iranian society. He served in Tabriz as the revolution began to build up, returning to Tehran in February 1979, after his consulate in Tabriz had been overrun by revolutionary militia and he had been briefly jailed. In 1981 he received two Medals of Valor for his time in Iran, the first for saving American lives in Tabriz and the second for his 14 months in captivity. Embassy Tehran had been taken over earlier in 1979, but the problem was resolved quickly and most believed Nov. 4, 1979, would be similar. Ira- nians were angry over President Jimmy Carter’s decision to allow the shah of Iran, who had been forced out of the country earlier amidst widespread discontent over his reign, into the United States for medical treatment. What was expected to be a short demonstration turned into a 444-day hostage crisis. Now retired, Michael Metrinko’s lifelong interest in the Islamic world led to post-9/11 assignments in Yemen, Iraq and more than five years in Afghanistan, places he continues to follow from his home in central Pennsylvania. He remains in touch with a number of old and new Iranian friends. As the third generation of his family to live in Iran, he hopes that someone from his younger generation of relatives will also have that opportunity someday. Metrinko’s account of his experience has been adapted from the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training’s “Moments in U.S. Diplomatic History,” excerpted from Metrinko’s oral history with permission from ADST and Michael Metrinko. The oral history was recorded in interviews with Charles Stuart Kennedy beginning in August 1999. All photos are courtesy of Michael Metrinko.

34 MARCH 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL idiot, necessarily. They purposely tried to separate the ones who spoke Persian and also the ones who were the heads of offices in the embassy. I went to solitary on Nov. 6 and came out sometime in May 1980 for the first time, briefly.

A Lot of Interrogation For the first month or two there was a lot of interrogation. Who do you know? What did you do? Who did you talk to? I had to give them information about figures who were public revolutionary Metrinko’s return to his hometown, Olyphant, Pa., in January 1981 received national TV coverage. figures. They went on repeating and repeat- a quickie, just to show the world that they could do it. Instead, so ing and repeating the same questions. They weren’t very profes- much solidarity cropped up for them—and Ayatollah Rouholla sional. Khomeini suddenly supported them—that they stayed, and that First, they ordered me to open up the safe in my office, and was that. I did that. If someone’s pointing a gun at you and telling you to We were taken to the ambassador’s residence first, held for a open up an office safe, it encourages you. Besides, the break-in while there, kept tied up. Well, I got singled out fairly quickly. I did time for one of these safes is approximately three minutes anyway, not tell anyone in the group, and they had no reason to know, at so I just saved them the trouble. By chance I had very little in my least initially, that I could speak Persian. I had learned my lesson safe. They had my list of phone numbers from the office; but, luck- in Tabriz. You do not tell captors your entire life story and what ily, the ones in the office were standard professional contacts. And languages you speak as soon as you meet them. In fact, you hope the ones in the house they had not gotten. you never have to tell them. (I found out much later that a friend of mine, hearing over the By the second day, I was taken over to the cafeteria area, where radio the news about what was happening at the embassy, had they had mattresses spread out on the floor. We were placed on immediately rushed to my house, gone inside and removed every the mattresses, which we were sort of forced to sit and sleep on. piece of paper to be found in my apartment. All the paper that was At one point a new group walked in, went up to somebody and in the house, including telephone numbers of friends, things like started speaking to him in Persian. that, was removed from my house and destroyed. And that prob- They were going from bed to bed. One of my embassy col- ably saved a number of people’s lives. It certainly saved them a fair leagues blurted out, “I don’t speak Farsi. Ask Metrinko. He speaks amount of discomfort.) Farsi really well.” And they came over and hauled me away, and My impression of my interrogators was that they were very I never saw an American again for many months. The fact that idealistic, and not too bright in the sense of having had practical you’re a Foreign Service officer doesn’t stop you from being an experience—just sort of know-it-all students, people who were

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2015 35 Flags set up as a memorial to the Iran hostages in Hermitage, Pa. The photo was taken after the hostages returned.

sure that their point of view was the only point of view in the only bread and tea. I never saw anybody else all that time. I would world, and that everything you may have done was wrong. But by read, exercise, read for an hour, stand up, run in place for an hour. this point I was used to that attitude. I had already gone through a I never blamed the U.S. government. The U.S. government was year and a half of listening to similar people. us. I could blame myself for lack of prescience. But, you know, They were not trying to indoctrinate me. They knew I was a lost a revolution is an act of nature. In fact, it would be the “perfect cause. They were trying to extract information, especially about storm.” A revolution is natural; it occurs in politics—not all the revolutionary officials who they thought might have been collabo- time, but as a cataclysmic event which, when you’re involved in it, rating with us in the embassy. So I think I must have mentioned you cannot deflect. You can lay back and enjoy it; you can go with the name of every revolutionary official I could think of. “Oh, yes, it, hope to survive it; but you can’t stop it, and you can’t sit back he was educated in the United States. Ha, ha.” I was throwing them and say, “Gee, if only I had done this” or “Why doesn’t my govern- as many bones from their own ranks as I possibly could. ment do that?” I knew my government. And I also knew all the various Survival Techniques conflicting trends of thought in Washington about how to deal I ended up spending quite a bit of time in a small, semi-closet with the revolution that we were going through. I remembered area in the basement of the embassy. I got by by doing a tremen- very, very clearly from junior officer training, we had been told dous amount of physical exercise. When I say that, I mean a really that if we were taken hostage, the government would not deal tremendous amount of physical exercise. I was doing many hun- with hostage takers. I was in that situation. I did not expect the dreds of situps a day. I’d run in place for two or three hours. And government to do anything. I would do this all day long every day because I had to get tired May 1980 was when the incident in Tabas occurred, when enough to fall asleep. Otherwise you don’t sleep. Americans were killed trying to rescue us in one of the most Food was no problem. They always fed us, even when it was stupidly planned, botched-up military-political escapades of the

36 MARCH 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL season—it was unworkable, unwinnable and if they had succeeded, we would have been dead. It could not have gotten us out. Guards came into my cell one day and said, “Pack your things, you’re being moved.” I packed my things into a tiny bag. I think I had an extra shirt, an extra pair of under- pants. They came back to my room a while later, blindfolded me, put these heavy plas- tic restraints on my hands, led me out and put me in the back of a van, lying on the floor. There were other people lying there next to me. We were not allowed to talk. And we started to move. I was on the floor of the van, bouncing around for a couple of hours. Large crowds lined the streets to honor the former hostages as they made their way to We got to a different place, and they led the White House in January 1981. me out, blindfolded, from the van and into a building. Various doors slammed and shut and opened and closed. You’d hear voices. Eventually, they sat me down, took off my blindfold, took off my restraints. I looked You do not tell captors around, and I was with two other people (Americans) in the room. your entire life story and We were, as it turned out, in a former SAVAK (Iranian secret police) prison in the city of Qom. I had no idea who the others what languages you speak were at first, and it was the first time I had talked to an American as soon as you meet them. since November. So it took a while to start speaking English, which I hadn’t spoken since November. We lived together for the next month or two. apertures and no windows. You could hear screaming and things like that at night where people were being tortured, because there A Real Prison were lots of Iranians in prison with us at the same time. I had a I’m not sure how long I stayed in Qom. I knew it was Qom. cellmate there. They didn’t want to tell us where we were, but I figured it out Then I was taken to Evin Prison, and went back into solitary. because I could hear a train in the distance the first evening, It was winter. Evin is in the northern part of the city of Tehran. My and I knew that Qom was on a railroad track. And when I tasted cell was excruciatingly cold. It was below freezing, especially at the water, I knew that we weren’t in Tehran any more. Water in night. We had no heat. This was already after the Iran-Iraq War Iran has very distinct tastes depending on the city you’re in. The had started. But one day I was really, really cold. I had been told water of Qom is infamous because it tastes like salt water. It’s that the guards also had no heat, that they didn’t have any way to very brackish. Tea and coffee made there are almost undrink- stay warm either, and there was nothing that anybody could do able. When I had some water, I knew immediately that we had to about this. Conditions were harsh all over the country. be in Qom or somewhere near there. Fine, I could accept that, except one day when I was going We were then taken away from Qom—this was the time the hos- out to the bathroom—they were leading me out blindfolded—I tages were spread out all across the country—and brought back to brushed up against a stove that was on, a heater. I immediately Tehran to what was called the Ghasr Prison, also known as Komiteh knew it was a heater, and I just started to go on and on about what Prison, that had been built by Germans in the reign of Shah Reza. bastards they were. It was the first time I was in a real prison, with cells and little They threw me back in my cell, and a little while later a

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2015 37 couple of the leaders of the group came in—they were called in from the outside—and they said the guards were refusing to deal with me anymore because of my attitude, and they took me back down to Komiteh Prison at night in a car, blindfolded, and put me in a cell, just on a concrete floor with nothing else, for about two weeks. I was on bread and water for about two weeks. It was quite interesting. I may have been the first prisoner evicted from Evin because of bad behavior! Then they brought me back later to Evin.

Beginning of the End It ended when the United States, I guess, finally got its act together. We had an election in the United States, which allowed the Iranians an out. Do I believe that our release was delayed on purpose, so that the election would take place? Yes, I do. Do I also believe that some Americans conspired in this? Yes, I do. I was removed from Evin, taken to a building that (I found out later) was the former guest house of the prime minister. I was there with Dave Roeder, the Air Force attaché who had been my cellmate off and on. Dave’s a good guy. We started getting vis- its—Algerian diplomats, for example, and others. They weren’t supposed to talk to us very much, other than to inquire about our health. The guards were becoming “friendlier,” as in, “Gee, hasn’t this been swell?” and “You’ll be going home very shortly.” One of the guards even gave me a copy of Time magazine, and that’s when I discovered that Ronald Reagan had been elected president. I immediately assumed it was Soviet disinformation; I did not believe it. And then it was almost over. When we were being put on the bus, I was led back to my seat (blindfolded), and I was trying very hard to be correct because it was an important time. The bus was filling up. Two of the Americans behind me started to whisper to each other. One of them said, “Where do you think they’re taking us? Are we really going?” Something like that. When the other started to reply, one of the guards yelled out, “American, shut up!” Then, in Persian, he made an insulting reference to Americans. So, in Persian, I simply replied in a loud voice, “Shut up yourself, you son of a Persian prostitute!” They pulled me off the bus, and the bus left. They beat me up a little bit, and that was fine, except then they realized that they still had me, and I realized the bus had gone, too. It had been stupid of me. I had just been pushed. I reacted. Eventually they sent me out to the airport in a Mercedes-Benz, which is actually the only way to leave Iran. n

38 MARCH 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL FEATURE MOZAMBIQUE: WHEN DIPLOMACY PAID OFF

In the face of numerous challenges, diplomacy played a vital role in post-independence Mozambique and the Southern Africa region.

BY WILLARD DE PREE

ell before I presented my arms to prevent FRELIMO’s close ally, the Marxist Movement for letter of credence as U.S. the Liberation of Angola, from coming to power. Others feared ambassador to Samora the CIA might use the embassy as a springboard from which to Machel, president of create problems for Mozambique. the People’s Republic of They were not the only critics of the diplomatic overture, Mozambique, on April either. Some members of Congress rallied behind the efforts of 16, 1976, it was already Senator Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) to block the opening of an embassy clear that my assignment in Mozambique. Their argument could be summed up as: “Why would be a challenging should we spend U.S. taxpayer money opening an embassy in an one. Nine months earlier, on July 25, 1975, the State Department unfriendly, Marxist country? What cooperation can we expect Whad informed Machel’s government that we wished to send an from a government that refers to the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, ambassador to Maputo—yet it took more than three months for Vietnam and North Korea as ‘our natural allies’ and is so sharply him to approve the request. critical of U.S. Africa policies?” The delay reflected stark divisions within the ruling party, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s determination to proceed the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique. Many officials were unhappy with the U.S. government’s past support of the Por- Willard DePree is a retired member of the Senior For- tuguese during FRELIMO’s struggle for independence. Others eign Service and a former ambassador to Mozambique resented Washington’s refusal to take a more active role in press- (1976-1980) and Bangladesh (1987-1990). He joined ing for black-majority rule in Rhodesia and South Africa. the State Department Foreign Service in 1956, serving Some, including President Machel himself, were also angry overseas in Cairo, Nicosia, Accra and Freetown, in ad- about our support of ethnic groups in Angola who had taken up dition to assignments in Washington, D.C.

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2015 39 Those first 12 to 18 months at post were indeed frustrating. My staff of eight and I seemed to encounter obstacles whatever we tried to do.

was rooted in his concern that after the U.S. withdrawal of its Efforts to acquire rental property for our personnel proved last troops from Vietnam the previous year, the Soviets might difficult, as well. With the departure of the Portuguese, there was conclude that Washington would be less diligent in resisting the a lot of real estate on the market; but when we sought to sign our spread of communist influence in Africa, especially in the former first lease, the government told us it was holding the property Portuguese possessions. He chose Angola as the place to signal for one of their “natural allies,” who had expressed a “possible” this was not the case, by furnishing arms to Bacongo tribal leader interest in it. Holden Roberto and his followers. Our repeated requests to see four American missionaries who Helms and his allies were unable to block the opening of had been held for months without charges were always turned Embassy Maputo. But they were able to insert language into the down. Appointment requests for visiting U.S. officials were usu- State Department and USAID authorization bills proscribing the ally put on hold until they arrived in Mozambique, and then we expenditure of any development aid money in Mozambique. were occasionally told that no appointment could be arranged. (Ethiopia and Uganda were also singled out.) A major disappointment was when the government said that For its part, the Mozambique government instructed a visit from Secretary of State Henry Kissinger would be “inop- American personnel at our consulate in Maputo not to fly the portune,” even though we offered two dates for such a visit. That American flag before my arrival. It also stipulated that when our turndown made me ask myself if those opposed to opening an embassy opened, there were to be no uniformed U.S. military embassy in Mozambique may have been right after all. personnel on the staff, precluding the use of Marine security Meanwhile, the entire embassy staff was being closely guards. watched. This was brought home to me three months or so after I had been at post. I had occasion to call on Pres. Machel to make The Diplomatic Deep Freeze Gradually Thaws another pitch for release of the American missionaries, or at Fortunately, the Department of State assigned Johnnie Car- least to be told why they were being held. I spoke in Portuguese, son, an exceptionally able officer, as my first deputy chief of -mis of course. After I had finished, Machel complimented me on my sion. The political officers who were assigned to Maputo were progress, which made me feel good—until he added, “But your some of the best with whom I have ever served. All three DCMs wife is better.” during my five years as ambassador in Mozambique went on to I had no problem with this, for my wife was indeed better. But serve as ambassadors elsewhere in Africa: Johnnie Carson, who then he added, “There are five wives of ambassadors who have retired as assistant secretary of State for African affairs, in Kenya; taken the trouble to learn and speak our language. The Bulgar- Roger McGuire in Guinea-Bissau; and Bill Twadell in Liberia and ian ambassador’s wife is best; your wife is second-best, and the Nigeria. (Two of my three junior political officers also eventually Tanzanian ambassador’s wife is third.” became chiefs of mission: Jimmy Kolker in Burkina Faso and Wow! If the president of the country knows this much about Uganda, and Howard Jeter in Nigeria). the wives of ambassadors, you can imagine how closely you are Those first 12 to 18 months at post were indeed frustrating. being watched. Of course, it is possible that Pres. Machel may My staff of eight and I seemed to encounter obstacles what- also have wanted to put me and my staff on notice not to be ever we tried to do. Rarely did ministers or senior government doing something we didn’t want the government to know about. officials accept invitations to embassy functions. To travel almost But after that first difficult year, the chill began to thaw. When anywhere outside Maputo required Mozambican government our paths crossed at receptions and cocktail parties, Mozambi- approval, which was not always forthcoming and took time even can officials seemed more ready to engage in meaningful discus- when it was granted. sions. Ministers and senior government officials also began to

40 MARCH 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Courtesy of Willard DePree Willard of Courtesy People’s Republic of Mozambique President Samora Machel meeting with U.S. Ambassador Willard DePree in July 1980.

Through these meetings, I was able to establish a close working relationship with Machel.

show up at embassy receptions and accept invitations to lunch The regime simply did not have enough food to feed its own at my residence. And while the government never did permit us people, much less the thousands of refugees from Rhodesia who to see the four American missionaries they held for more than a had sought shelter in Mozambique. Since the ban on develop- year, they finally released them. ment aid to Mozambique did not apply to humanitarian aid, the United States was quick to offer assistance. We did not ask for a Getting Our Feet in the Door quid pro quo, but our prompt shipments of food, tents and other Three developments help explain why the Mozambicans began supplies were very welcome. to have second thoughts about their standoffish relationship with Second, the Mozambique government was becoming disil- the embassy. First, the U.S. government was quick to respond to lusioned with its “natural allies.” I came to understand this late two humanitarian crises that struck Mozambique during its first in my second year as ambassador, when I received a call from two years of independence. A drought ravaged a wide swath of the Pres. Machel asking me to come in and discuss development most agriculturally productive provinces, and then major flooding aid. When political officer Jimmy Kolker and I arrived, we were hit many of those same provinces the next year. welcomed not only by Pres. Machel, but by the minister of agri-

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2015 41 With no prospect of military victory in sight, Pres. Machel began to explore other ways to bring about a change of government in Rhodesia.

culture and other senior government officials, as well. Smith began carrying out retaliatory bombings. It also stirred “You Americans know how to produce food,” Machel unrest inside Mozambique by supporting dissidents from the stressed. “Nobody is as good at this as you are. The Bulgarians former Portuguese forces, a small number of whom had already are trying to help us grow food, but they have little to show for organized and taken up arms in opposition to the government in their work. In fact, we’re losing money supporting their efforts. Maputo. Why don’t you come here and help us?” With no prospect of military victory in sight, Pres. Machel He then asked his agriculture minister: “How many hectares began to explore other ways to bring about a change of govern- of land in the Incomati River Valley can we let the Americans ment in Rhodesia. He knew the British, with the encourage- have?” The minister mentioned some astonishingly high figure, ment of the Carter administration, were seeking to persuade to which Machel interjected, “If that isn’t enough, we’ll double it. the government of Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith to Prove that you can do it better than the Bulgarians.” agree to a ceasefire and free and fair supervised elections, with This was an enticing challenge, but one Machel obviously the British agreeing to turn over power to whoever won the knew we couldn’t accept, given the ban on development assis- election. Pres. Machel decided to explore this option; but to do tance. Accordingly, I suspect he arranged the meeting to signal so, he needed to elicit U.S. cooperation. that his government was not so committed to Marxism as earlier Fortuitously, on June 7, 1977, President Jimmy Carter rhetoric might have led us to believe. Whatever he may have had announced that the United States would not lift its sanctions in mind, the meeting did highlight that disillusionment with against the Rhodesian government. Soon thereafter, Pres. their allies was beginning to set in. Machel let me know that his government was prepared to work We had already been hearing from other officials, for closely with us and the British to bring about a ceasefire and example, how disappointed the Mozambicans were with Soviet free and fair elections in Rhodesia. He said he hoped we would shrimp fishing off the coast. The Soviets did not appear to be agree to keep what we were doing out of the public eye. Toward sharing their take with the Mozambicans as they had promised, that end, the foreign ministry would not be involved; instead, he and their trawling methods were destroying some of the best designated two of his aides, Sergio Viera and Fernando Hon- shrimp-growing areas in the country. All this suggested that the wana, to work with us on any actions we might jointly decide to Mozambicans might be more receptive to redressing the imbal- undertake. ance in their foreign policy posture. The embassy was eager to Machel took these negotiations seriously. He met with the test this possibility. two individuals chosen by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Pres. Carter to brief the interested parties on the progress of The Rhodesian Opening the negotiations (Ambassador Stephen Low for the State Depart- But the development that probably did more than anything ment). Pres. Machel suggested people they might wish to see in else to spur FRELIMO to look for ways to improve its relations support of their negotiations. He also met frequently with my with the U.S. was the fact that the war in Rhodesia, which shares British counterpart in Mozambique, Ambassador John Lewen, an 800-mile border with Mozambique, was not going the way the and me to offer further suggestions and be brought up-to-date Machel government had hoped. They had thought that once they on the state of play. became independent and could offer sanctuary and military Through these meetings I was able to establish a close work- support to the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army ing relationship with Machel. At one point, the president called forces engaged in the fighting inside Rhodesia, the war would me in, closed the door and asked if I knew of any American who soon be over. Instead, the white Rhodesian government of Ian was a friend of Abel Muzorewa, a highly regarded bishop of the

42 MARCH 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was so appreciative that she invited Mozambique to become a member of the Commonwealth.

United Methodist Church who was serving as president of the out agreement; some delegations were already booking tickets to African National Council, an organization of Rhodesians seeking return home. a political settlement to the fighting in Rhodesia. Machel wanted It was at this point that I received a night action cable from to send a personal message to the bishop, but did not want to the State Department, with instructions from Pres. Carter to ask put what he was requesting in writing. He also made clear that if Pres. Machel if he would intervene and pressure Mugabe to sign his overture became public, he would deny it. onto the negotiated Lancaster House accord. Time was of the Pres. Machel said he hoped he could dissuade the bishop essence, since once the delegations departed, it would be dif- from joining forces with Joshua Nkomo and other tribal leaders ficult to ever reach agreement on a ceasefire and elections. who, Machel thought, would work against what he and we were I called Machel’s office at once to request a sit-down, but seeking to accomplish. I knew a few American academics who was told the president was in a Cabinet meeting and a face-to- had become friends of the bishop when he had studied in the face would be arranged as soon as he was free. Rather than wait United States. One of them came to Maputo and, after hearing for a return call, I asked if I could go to where he was meeting what Machel was seeking from Bishop Muzorewa, agreed to so I could catch him when he came out. This was granted and, deliver the message and to report back to Machel. Though he as soon as he spotted me, Machel came over to ask what I was was disappointed in Muzorewa’s response, Machel’s readiness doing there. to turn to us for help on such a sensitive issue is a good indica- Once he realized the urgency of my instructions, he didn’t tion of how dramatically Mozambican reservations about having hesitate, but got in touch with Mugabe at once. Pres. Machel anything to do with the United States had changed. wanted a settlement as much as we or the British did. He couldn’t understand why Mugabe was refusing to sign. “He’s Bringing the Parties to the Table won!” exclaimed Machel. “He is Shona, the major tribal group- In the summer of 1979, the British government concluded ing in Rhodesia. ZANLA will win the election.” I immediately that it was time to concentrate on getting all the interested par- returned to the embassy, reporting that Pres. Machel had agreed ties—Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith; the insurgents, led by to do what Pres. Carter had asked him to do. Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo; the South African govern- Shortly thereafter, I received a message from Assistant Secre- ment; the United Nations and all the states neighboring on Rho- tary for African Affairs Dick Moose notifying me that agreement desia—to commit to a ceasefire. The parties to the agreement had been reached at Lancaster House, and that the British were would then be responsible for maintaining law and order during crediting Machel with having made the difference. I learned later a six-month transition to elections, including the demobilization that the British had listened in on Machel’s call to Mugabe, hear- and disarming of the Rhodesian forces and the insurgents. ing the Mozambican president stress even more forcefully the Prime Minister Thatcher invited all the interested parties to arguments that he used with me that same day for why Mugabe a meeting at Lancaster House in London in September. Pres. should sign. Machel sent Fernando Honwana as his personal representative. Prime Minister Thatcher was so appreciative that she invited After several days of negotiations, the British called for a vote. Mozambique to become a member of the Commonwealth, the All those attending were prepared to sign on. But there was one first time membership had been offered to a country that was delegate who refused to sign—Robert Mugabe, leader of the not a former British colony or possession. And, much to the Mozambique-based ZANLA. Mugabe’s concurrence was crucial, surprise of many, Mozambique agreed to become a member and for it was his forces that were doing most of the fighting inside has been one ever since. Rhodesia. It appeared that the conference would break up with- Sometimes diplomacy pays big dividends! n

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2015 43 FS HERITAGE

OUR MAN IN FIUME: Fiorello LaGuardia’s Short Diplomatic Career

Before serving in Congress and auntering down the main street of Rijeka, as a three-time mayor of New York, Croatia—the Corso—the tourist comes across a building sporting a plaque in the colorful Fiorello LaGuardia two languages, Croatian and English. spent nearly five years in the The English version reads: Fiorello U.S. Foreign Service. LaGuardia, Member of Congress and Mayor of New York City, worked and BY LUCIANO MANGIAFICO lived in this building from 1904 to 1906 in the capacity of Consular Agent of the United States to Rijeka. SYes, before serving in Congress and as a three-time mayor of New York, the colorful LaGuardia spent nearly five years in the U.S. Foreign Service. He was consular clerk and assistant to the U.S. consul general in Budapest from 1900 to 1903, then the consular agent in Fiume (now Rijeka) from 1903 to 1906. Both cities were then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Fiorello LaGuardia was born in New York City on Dec. 11, 1882. His father, Achille LaGuardia, an Italian musician and composer, hailed from southern Italy while his mother, Irene

Luciano Mangiafico, an FSO from 1970 to 1991, is the author of two books, Contemporary American Immigrants (Praeger, 1988) and Italy’s Most Wanted (Potomac Books, 2007). He has also contributed articles to The Foreign Service Journal and the literary journal Open Letters Monthly, among other periodicals.

44 MARCH 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Luzzato Coen, was the descendant of a promi- nent Jewish-Italian family based in Trieste. Fiorello was named for his maternal grand- mother, Fiorina Luzzato Coen. The LaGuardias immigrated to the United States in 1880. Five years later, Achille enlisted in the U.S. Army as a band conductor, serving in the Dakota Territory; Watertown, New York; and at two frontier forts in Arizona. In 1898, at the beginning of the Spanish-American War, he was transferred to Tampa, Florida, where he became seriously ill and was discharged from the Army. He then took his family back to Trieste, where he managed a hotel before dying in 1904. At loose ends in Trieste, the 18-year-old Fiorello did not want to work in his father’s hotel. An acquaintance of his father, Raymond Willey, who was the U.S. consular agent in Fiume, told him about a clerical opening at the U.S. consulate general in Budapest and gave him a recommendation. Fiorello trav- elled there for an interview and was hired. The job did not pay much, but it afforded young Fiorello a modicum of freedom, and

was an interesting learning experience. Collection Congress/Bain of Library Fiorello LaGuardia, shown here in his office on Ellis Island. He worked there The Chester Connection from 1907 to 1910, following his Foreign Service career, as a language interpreter for Italian, German, Yiddish and Croatian immigrants. Frank Dyer Chester, the consul (later consul general) there, was an honor graduate of Har- vard University (Class of 1891), an Arabist and classical scholar. Duncan and Loie Fuller, both famous across Europe. But he may have owed his appointment to being a member of Chester, who was a bachelor, warned Fiorello about the a distinguished Boston Brahmin family that socialized with the peril of personal involvement with glamorous women and the powerful Senator Henry Cabot Lodge (R-Mass.). Even so, Ches- potential of blackmail, but the impetuous young man was not ter was a thoroughly competent diplomat. Most of his reporting deterred. Once he took a blonde beauty against whom Chester covered commercial matters, trade opportunities and public had specifically warned him to the theater. Chester, who was health issues, but included the occasional political item. attending the same performance, saw LaGuardia and fired him The younger Fiorello must have impressed Chester, since he on the spot. However, the order was soon rescinded through referred to him in reports as his “amanuensis,” a word whose the good offices of Vice Consul Louis Gerster. meaning the young clerk had to look up in a dictionary. Since Chester advised Fiorello that one way he could render the office had no typewriters, it was Fiorello’s task to interpret himself useful in the Foreign Service, despite his lack of proper and draft his boss’s notes for reports. His work also included academic credentials, was to learn languages. He even sent collecting and organizing statistics, accepting applications for him to Croatia for four months to learn Croatian. By the time visas and for U.S. passports, keeping track of consular fees and he returned to the United States in late 1906, LaGuardia spoke rendering assistance to Americans passing through Budapest. fluent Yiddish and Italian, and had also learned German, The most high-profile visitors he met were dancers Isadora French, Croatian and Hungarian. This linguistic ability allowed

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2015 45 One official reportedly labeled drafted a note of protest to the highest local official, called on him, and made a demarche on behalf of the unlucky citizen. LaGuardia “the worst headache Basing his arguments on the clauses of the 1870 treaty then in in the history of the [State] force between the United States and Austria-Hungary, LaGuar- Department.” dia eventually secured the young man’s discharge from the Austro-Hungarian Army. Making his report on the affair to Budapest, he expected to be commended. Instead, Fiorello received a strongly worded reprimand for having acted without consulting his superiors him to pass a Civil Service exam and become an interpreter at and securing prior guidance and approval. Ellis Island, while concomitantly attending law school in New In his free time in Fiume, LaGuardia studied the local York. political situation. In an effort to keep their multiethnic subjects cowed, he observed, the authorities practiced a policy Moving on to Fiume of “divide and rule,” encouraging ethnic, racial, national and In the fall of 1903, when Raymond Willey, who had helped religious discord. LaGuardia secure the clerkship in Budapest, resigned to return Once he was even challenged to a duel after a brawl with a to private business in the United States, he recommended Fio- Hungarian Army reserve officer over a girl. Fortunately, on the rello to replace him as consular agent in Fiume. Frank Chester day of the duel, the affair was resolved. secured approval from Washington; however, because LaGuar- dia was still a minor, he could not be commissioned until he The Consular Agent Shows Initiative turned 21. In the interim, he served as acting consular agent One of LaGuardia’s major tasks in Fiume was dealing with until February 1904, when he received a commission from ships and immigrants bound for the United States. The British Secretary of State John Hay. Cunard Lines had just instituted a bimonthly service from Fiume was then a thriving city of about 30,000 and the Fiume to New York, catering to prospective immigrants from second-largest port, after Trieste, in the Austro-Hungarian the Balkans and Eastern Europe. The only guidance he could Empire. Because Croatia was administratively part of the find in the meager references he had in the office was that he Hungarian portion of the dual monarchy, the incumbent in had to “certify to the health of all passengers and crews and Fiume reported to the consul general in Budapest—in this case give the ship a certificate that it had cleared from a port free Chester, Fiorello’s old boss. from contagious diseases or illnesses subject to quarantine The consular agent’s office-cum-residence consisted of two regulations and that bedding and other household goods had rooms, one of which was used as an office and the other as a been properly fumigated.” If generally satisfied that these con- private bedroom. The small apartment had no kitchen or bath- ditions had been met, he was then obligated to issue a consular room; the incumbent had to use a communal bathroom down certificate to that effect. the corridor and take his cooked meals in restaurants and LaGuardia believed that performing a medical examina- tavernas. The apartment, however, was conveniently located on tion of each prospective immigrant before they arrived at Ellis the Corso, the city’s main street. Island would better fulfill the purpose of the quarantine regula- LaGuardia received a guaranteed salary of $800 a year, tions, while also saving money and effort for both the United more than $20,000 in today’s dollars. This was paid out of the States and the prospective immigrants, who could otherwise consular fees he collected for various services; but if the collec- be found inadmissible on arrival in the United States. After tions exceeded $1,000, the balance had to be turned over to the obtaining authorization from the consul general in Budapest, Treasury Department. LaGuardia assured Washington that he LaGuardia selected a reputable local doctor to conduct such could manage well on his salary. examinations at embarkation. A few months after his arrival, in June 1904, LaGuardia When he advised Cunard Lines of the new procedures he assisted an American citizen from Scranton, Pennsylvania. was instituting, its officials were incensed and would not let While in Croatia to visit his parents, the immigrant had been the doctor “look at an emigrant.” However, when LaGuardia conscripted into the Austro-Hungarian Army. LaGuardia then declined to issue the sanitation certificate, they were

46 MARCH 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL obliged to comply, at least in part. Cunard paid the $5 fee for the certificate but refused to pay the doctor’s fee, and filed a protest with the British consul. That protest eventually found its way to Washington, but the department never ruled on whether LaGuardia’s actions were proper or he had exceeded his authority. Some time later, Cunard Lines also agreed to pay the doctor’s fees, including the arrears, to induce LaGuardia to issue the required consular certificates. For its part, the United States eventually adopted the system Fiorello had initiated, of medical examination of immigrants prior to embarkation, worldwide—though not for several more decades.

Onward and Upward LaGuardia’s stand on the processing of immigrants also got him into trouble with local officials. Once, while Archduchess Maria Josepha (the sister-in-law of Archduke Franz Ferdi- nand, who was assassinated at Sarajevo in 1914) was visiting Fiume, the city’s governor arranged for her to view an immigrant embarkation procedure staged entirely for her benefit. To protest the sham, LaGuardia refused to participate or even meet her for tea aboard ship. The British consul, who did take tea with the archduchess and the governor, warned him that the authorities would not take such an affront lightly. There is no record that Austria-Hungary lodged a formal diplomatic complaint against the young whippersnapper, but his behavior must have troubled many back in Washington. One official reportedly labeled LaGuardia “the worst headache in the history of the [State] Department.” That comment suggests the real reason for the brevity of LaGuardia’s diplomatic career: he simply did not fit into the pre-Rogers Act Foreign Service. He had only a high school education, a fact not conducive to promotion in an institution dominated by Ivy League graduates. Nor did his Italian-Jewish background, his short and pudgy physique, and rumpled attire match the WASPish, tall and impeccably dressed tradi- tional figure of a U.S. diplomat. In addition, LaGuardia’s restless intelligence; his brash, argumentative and stubborn character; his disregard for rules he considered silly; his compassion for the uprooted and the dispossessed; and his inclination to contrariness and wave- making did not win him many friends among his colleagues. Whatever the reason, Fiorello LaGuardia resigned from the Service in 1906. Back in New York, he was soon on his way to a bright future in the political arena—and the history books. n

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2015 47

AFSA NEWS THE OFFICIAL RECORD OF THE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE ASSOCIATION

AFSA Launches New Award to Recognize CALENDAR the Advancement of Democracy

The American Foreign Service a member of the board of the March 1-5 AFSA Road Scholar Program Association is pleased to Johns Hopkins School for announce the creation of the Advanced International Stud- March 4 Mark Palmer Award for the ies. He was also co-founder of 12-2 p.m. Advancement of Democracy. the National Endowment for AFSA Governing Proposed by Ambassador Democracy and the Council Board Meeting Palmer’s family to honor the for a Community of Democra- March 6 late FSO’s character and spirit, cies. He died on Jan. 28, 2013, 5 p.m. (EST) the award will be bestowed at the age of 71. Deadline: AFSA Financial Aid for the first time at the AFSA The Palmer Award is open Scholarship Applications

Awards Ceremony on June FAMILY THE PALMER OF COURTESY to Foreign Service members Ambassador Mark Palmer in Berlin, March 15 9 in the Benjamin Franklin from any of the foreign affairs 1992. 11:59 p.m. (EST) Diplomatic Reception Room at agencies, serving domesti- Deadline: AFSA National the Department of State. of the British Parliament cally or overseas, especially High School Essay Contest Ambassador Mark Palmer that predicted the eventual early to mid-career rank, who was passionately committed downfall of communism. He promoted American policies March 20 11:59 p.m. (EST) to democracy promotion. He organized the 1985 Geneva focused on democracy, free- Deadline: Mark Palmer Award served as deputy assistant summit between Pres. Rea- dom and governance through for the Advancement of secretary of State for the gan and Soviet leader Mikhail bold, exemplary, imaginative Democracy Soviet Union and Eastern Gorbachev, a diplomatic and effective efforts during Europe and was one of the breakthrough that led to a one or more assignments. April 1 12-2 p.m. State Department’s top thawing of relations with the The award offers a $2,500 AFSA Governing Soviet experts. He was the Soviet Union. prize and a travel stipend to Board Meeting U.S. ambassador to Hungary He also served in New attend the ceremony. from 1986 to 1990, during Delhi, Moscow and the former We invite you to nominate April 12-16 AFSA Road Scholar Program that country’s transition from Yugoslavia during his 26-year a colleague or yourself for communism to democracy. career. this new award by March 20. May 1 Amb. Palmer served as Following his Foreign Details can be found at www. Foreign Affairs Day a speechwriter for three Service career, Amb. Palmer afsa.org/performance. For and the AFSA Memorial presidents and six Secretar- was a member of the Ameri- more information, contact Plaque Ceremony ies of State, and was the chief can Academy of Diplomacy Perri Green, AFSA’s coordina- May 6 author of President Ronald and the Committee on the tor for special awards and 12-2 p.m. Reagan’s historic 1982 West- Present Danger, vice chair- outreach, at [email protected] AFSA Governing minster speech to members man of Freedom House and or (202) 719-9700. n Board Meeting

May 17-21 VOTE FOR THE NEW AFSA GOVERNING BOARD! AFSA Road Scholar Program

Please visit the AFSA website at www.afsa.org/elections to learn more about the cur- May 25 rent AFSA Governing Board elections and to find the list of candidates. Memorial Day: All members in good standing as of March 16 are eligible to participate in the elec- AFSA Offices Closed tions. Ballots will be mailed to retiree members on or about April 15 and will provide the option of voting online. Active-duty members will be sent an email to vote online with the option of receiving a printed ballot upon request. NEWS BRIEF If you do not receive either a printed ballot or an email to vote online by April 30, please contact [email protected]. n

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2015 49 STATE VP VOICE | BY MATTHEW ASADA AFSA NEWS

Views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the AFSA State VP. Contact: [email protected] | (202) 647-8160 | @matthewasada

The Foreign Service Labor Market

Previous columns have and the department needs overhead allocation) borne has been looking at applica- discussed the rise of the Dip- to begin considering how to by central Human Resources. tions of game and matching lomatic Readiness Initiative use the position drawdown Requiring bureaus to account theories to the entry-level and Diplomacy 3.0 generation in Iraq and Afghanistan to fill for and, ultimately, bear the assignments process. Such and their “Pig in the Python” frozen positions and create costs of the decisions would research has already identi- impact on promotions: i.e., new detail assignments and result in a more efficient use fied process and technological more time at grade, slowing training opportunities. of existing employee skills, solutions that will save the promotion rates and more The challenge of manag- save real money, unlock addi- employee and the depart- limited upward mobility. This ing this closed-market labor tional employee productivity ment time (read money) month, I suggest procedural system is that the bidders and make the assignments and result in better matches and substantive reforms to are free agents, regional and process more transparent. for the department and the address supply and demand functional bureaus control the Employees would still have employee. in the crowded labor market. jobs, and the market’s regula- opportunities to acquire new Last year’s AFSA survey The 2015 summer assign- tor—Human Resources—has languages, but bureaus would confirmed that assignment ments cycle is one of the few intervention tools on have to prioritize where and system reform was member- tightest ever as the first hand. Individual bidders and how to spend their language ship’s highest career and cohort of DRI officers is now Human Resources end up dollars. Bureaus could no lon- professional development being promoted to FS-1, and bearing the costs of the mar- ger afford to be cost-agnostic priority. AFSA has accordingly the Diplomacy 3.0 cohorts are ket’s inefficiencies. as in the current system. Such proposed that the depart- at the cusp of FS-2 eligibil- Language-Designated a reform would ensure that ment take a serious look at ity. AFSA’s concerns were Positions: In the past, the Service is making maxi- the assignments process to acknowledged by pre-season Congress has criticized the mum use of existing employee see how the system can be department forecasts predict- department’s management of language skills and limited made more efficient, trans- ing position deficits in several employees’ language abilities, training dollars. parent and user-friendly. skill codes, particularly at paying particular attention to An Economist’s Take: The Such a review would entail the FS-2 and FS-3 levels. In the percentage of language- State Department is not the additional resources—people December 2014, the depart- designated positions encum- only organization confronted and money—to consider key ment acknowledged the bered by qualified language by matching problems. New workforce development issues tight labor market (14 STATE speakers (see GAO Report York City public schools face that have been the subject of 146948), noting that bidders #09-955 at www.bit.ly/GAO- similar challenges when they several Office of the Inspec- should explore out-of-cone 09-955). While part of the match students and enroll- tor General and Government assignments and domestic Y challenge resides in the lack of ment spaces. Policymakers Accounting Office reports. tours. a properly sized training float, in New York eventually turned The current open assign- In order to make last year’s another explanation can be to economists specializing in ment process was established bidding market work, the found in the selection process game theory and matching 40 years ago in response department had to reclassify for language-designated posi- for solutions. The New York to a directive issued by the dozens of positions from FS-4 tions. Times explained the use of Secretary of State calling for a to FS-3 and transfer their The current system results game theory in the public more open, centrally directed ownership from entry-level in sub-optimal matching of school matching process in an assignment process. Today, to mid-level. At this time it is employees and positions, article on Dec. 5 (www.bit.ly/ the strains of a larger work- unclear how many positions because those selecting NYT_gametheory). force are showing, and it’s will need to be reclassified or individuals for positions, i.e., The department’s assign- time to revisit that call—but injected into the system to regional bureaus, are not ments system is also ripe for this time with technology, meet the Director General’s forced to consider the real outside analysis and improve- game theory and a couple of promise of “No Bidder Left costs of employee language ment. For the past several economists on our side. n Behind.” The market is only training (travel and transpor- years an economist from The Next Month: Open-Plan going to get tighter, though, tation, per diem, tuition, FSI George Washington University Offices: Boon or Bane

50 MARCH 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL USAID VP VOICE | BY SHARON WAYNE AFSA NEWS

Views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the AFSA USAID VP. Contact: [email protected] or (202) 712-1631

frequent international travel- USAID Launches Pilot Global Entry Program ers, there is no minimum number of trips necessary to By the nature of our agen- States. Participants in the ship fees, which is statutorily qualify for the program. cy’s mission, many USAID Global Entry program are prohibited by 5 U.S.C. §5946. Participants may enter employees are frequent flyers automatically eligible for TSA As the arena of security the United States by using and many have top-secret Pre-Check at no additional evolves, AFSA continues to automated kiosks at select clearances. Institutional- cost. engage GSA on the legisla- airports. There, they scan a izing a reliable system with a Global Entry costs $100 tion and understands that machine-readable passport, trusted traveler program that for a five-year membership; GSA is preparing to come out place their fingertips on the improves the efficiency of our TSA Pre-Check, $85. This, with a statement to clarify scanner for fingerprint veri- mission therefore makes a lot and the understanding that the immediate way forward. fication, and make any cus- of sense. the State Department uses Hopefully, this will be in favor toms declaration. The kiosk Last year, AFSA’s annual specific software to partici- of allowing agencies to pay issues the traveler a transac- survey of USAID members pate in TSA Pre-Check, which the associated fees for the tion receipt and directs the showed that inequitable USAID does not currently Global Entry program. traveler to baggage claim benefits among foreign use, led to the decision to If the news is favorable and the exit. Completing the affairs agencies was a major draft a three-month pilot of and the pilot is run, feedback paper customs declaration concern. In response, USAID the Global Entry program as from the three-month trial form before arrival will no has investigated two different the preferred first step. will be analyzed by USAID’s longer be required. The TSA versions of expedited airport The current challenge to Travel and Transportation Pre-Check program allows clearance: Global Entry and launching the pilot is that the Division. The findings will qualified travelers access to the Transportation Security General Service Administra- be shared with AFSA and an expedited TSA security Administration’s TSA Pre- tion Office of Government- the Management Bureau to line, where they don’t have Check. The latter is already wide Policy has consulted review the practical benefit to remove their shoes, belts, available to State Depart- with the GSA Office of of these programs to USAID coats and laptops. ment employees. General Counsel about the travelers and develop appro- More information on the Global Entry is a U.S. use of Global Entry or any priate next steps. Global Entry program can be Customs and Border Protec- other airport security fast All feedback I’ve heard found at: www.global tion program that allows pass programs. The current to date regarding Global entry.gov. AFSA applauds expedited clearance for determination is that there is Entry from outside users has USAID’s commitment to sup- pre-approved, low-risk travel- no appropriation for the use been that it is well worth the porting our Foreign Service ers on arrival in the United of funds for these member- money. Though intended for members. n

AFSA MEETS NEW DEPUTY SECRETARY

On Jan. 23, AFSA officials and professional staff met with Antony Blinken, who was recently sworn in as Deputy Secretary of State. In the hour-long meeting they discussed the need to achieve full Overseas Comparability Pay for all members of the Foreign Service serving overseas as well as other issues. Both AFSA and Deputy Secretary Blinken expressed a strong desire to work closely on a full range of issues. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE/JAMES C. PAN C. STATE/JAMES OF DEPARTMENT U.S.

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2015 51

RETIREE VP VOICE | BY LARRY COHEN AFSA NEWS

Views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the AFSA Retiree VP. Contact: [email protected] or (703) 437-7881

Go Ahead: Create a Member Profile

Last year, AFSA’s member household incomes over services department created $100,000 use it. a new social media tool for Of course, the AFSA online AFSA members: a member profile pages and community profile page. These pages are network will not compete located within the “members with the dominant social only” portion of the AFSA media outlets. But they do website and are viewable only help bind together a very by AFSA members. specific, like-minded interest Is setting up a profile nec- group. For retirees who do not essary? No; as a retired AFSA have access to Uncle Sam’s member, you are already intranet, having a searchable, listed in the directory, along online profile is particularly with your contact informa- useful. tion. However, in our Web- Would you like to know based world, online profiles what became of your former are increasingly prevalent and FS colleagues? If they are useful, helping others find out AFSA members, you can next logical step by launching Foreign Service community! what you’ve been up to over rediscover old friendships. an online social community. If you’re interested in serv- the years and what you are Your profile shows that you To operate our chatroom, ing as a moderator or if you doing currently. are still alive and kicking and we’ll need volunteers to serve have questions about the pro- How many AFSA mem- remain engaged. I invite you as online moderators—a great file mechanism, contact AFSA bers are on Facebook, for to view my online profile as an way to remain active in the at [email protected]. n example? Probably quite a example. few; according to the Face- To set up your AFSA pro- book Demographic Report, file, do the following: AFSA WELCOMES NEW STAFF more than 150 million people First, paste this link into in the United States are part your browser: ams.afsa.org/ AFSA welcomes Natalie Cheung, of that network, with large eweb; or, go to the AFSA who is the new member services growth among adults older homepage and click on representative. Natalie comes than 55. Since 2011, Face- “login.” to AFSA with a background in book reports adding 12.4 mil- Enter your primary email arts management and donor lion new users from this age address and password (if you cultivation, as well as experience range, a massive 80-percent have not logged in before, NEWS BRIEF in association membership. Prior to joining AFSA, increase. your password is your last Natalie worked in membership at the Association For job searches, LinkedIn name in lower case). for Prevention Teaching and Research, and as an art and other sites are invaluable You may be directed to consultant specializing in corporate projects and tools. LinkedIn profiles work update your password, or collections. like online resumés. More click on the “forgot your pass- An artist herself, Natalie is active in the D.C. arts than 300 million people glob- word” link. community. She teaches at The George Washing- ally are active on LinkedIn. Once logged in, update ton University and serves on the Phillips Collection Think social media is just your contact information. You Contemporaries steering committee. A Virginia for young people? Think can also submit a brief bio native, Natalie graduated with a BFA from the again! More than 100 million and photo by clicking on the Corcoran College of Art and Design, and received LinkedIn users are over age pencil icon on the My Profile an MFA from the Tyler School of Art at Temple 50. And almost a third of page. University. n American adults with annual In 2015 AFSA will take the

52 MARCH 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL

AFSA NEWS

We believe this sort of AFSA Supports the U.S. Diplomacy Center outreach is critical to ensur- BY IAN HOUSTON, AFSA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ing a strong connection between American citizens and those who represent In July 2014, the American Since 1924, AFSA has The USDC, which will be them abroad. Foreign Service Association played a central role in open to the general public, AFSA’s effective steward- Governing Board decided to preserving and promoting aims to illustrate the impor- ship of member resources make a financial contribu- the history of the U.S. Foreign tance of American diplomacy has allowed us to make a tion of $50,000 to the United Service, and we look forward in our nation, the role it plays strategic investment in this States Diplomacy Center to being a partner in the in advancing peace and how historic initiative while still project through the Diplo- USDC project. it affects our daily concerns. advancing other priorities. It macy Center Foundation. On Sept. 3, five former Through exhibitions at the is precisely with such goals in The museum will highlight Secretaries of State joined museum and educational mind that AFSA has worked the critical role of diplomacy Secretary of State John center, a detailed website and to develop its financial capac- and development in our coun- Kerry to break ground for the a strong outreach program, ities, and we are excited to try’s national security and construction of the USDC at the center will help visitors be able to use our resources economic prosperity. Addi- the 21st Street entrance of understand why diplomacy to further the goal of improv- tional AFSA support is linked the State Department (see and those who conduct it— ing public understanding of to exhibit progress and further the October 2014 FSJ for cov- particularly members of the the essential role played by development of the museum’s erage of the groundbreaking Foreign Service—matter to the professionals of the U.S. governance structure. ceremony). national security. Foreign Service. n

AFSA Roundtable Addresses Divide Between Department) to the need for career education, not just Foreign Policy Practitioners and Scholars training, and ways to prioritize interaction between academ- AFSA President Robert J. discussion. Ambassador for long-range thinking (which ics and practitioners. n Silverman hosted a round- Thomas Shannon, the current leads to “the inbox and the —Debra Blome, table luncheon at AFSA counselor of the State Depart- urgent” running the State Associate Editor headquarters on Dec. 2 to ment and a contributor to the discuss ways to narrow the book, was a special guest. considerable gap between Despite what he called “tre- UPDATE: LONDON IRAN scholars and practitioners of mendous problems of mutual WATCHER POSITION foreign policy. misunderstanding,” Lowenthal AFSA supports the Iran Watcher program as a two- The event was held in cited opportunities for “fruit- pronged tool to improve the government’s under- connection with the recent ful connections” between the standing of Iran’s regional presence and outreach, publication of Scholars, academic and practical world and to develop a cadre of Persian speakers within Policymakers and Interna- in foreign policy. the Foreign Service. AFSA filed an implementation tional Affairs: Finding Com- The book’s final chapter, NEWS BRIEF dispute regarding a breach of contract with the State mon Cause (Johns Hopkins titled “Scholars, Policymak- Department on the removal from the Foreign Service University Press, 2014). The ers and International Affairs: bidding pool of the London Iran Watcher position and book was reviewed in the Toward More Fruitful Connec- its inclusion in the Overseas Development Program Jan-Feb 2015 issue of FSJ. tions,” lists several concrete (see “AFSA Acts to Protect Integrity of FS Assign- Abraham Lowenthal, a steps to bridge the gap. ments System,” in the December 2014 FSJ). As of professor at the University The Foreign Service press time, AFSA and the department were involved of Southern California who members and other guests in in settlement talks regarding the London position edited the book along with attendance touched on issues and criteria for approving future ODP positions.n Mariano E. Bertucci, led the ranging from the lack of time

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2015 53 AFSA NEWS

AFSA ON THE HILL AFSA Greets the New Congress

When the U.S. Senate and State Vice President Matthew setting the stage the U.S. House of Represen- Asada and AFSA professional for what we expect tatives convened on Jan. 6 staff headed to Capitol Hill to to be a very suc- for the first day of the 114th personally welcome many of cessful year. AFSA/JANICE WEINER AFSA/JANICE Congress, AFSA was there. the newly elected members of From left: Housing and Urban Development Despite the snow that fell Congress in the festive atmo- About the 114th Secretary Julian Castro, AFSA President persistently all morning— sphere that is Congressional Congress Robert Silverman and House Committee on Foreign Affairs member Rep. Joaquin Castro causing area schools to close, Swearing-In Day. Both chambers (D-Texas). the Metro to slow and roads The AFSA delegation of Congress are to clog—AFSA President visited 31 Senate and House now controlled by Robert J. Silverman, AFSA offices throughout the day, the Republican Party, which in the House) and two are has its largest House major- Native Americans. One mem- ity (246) since 1929 and a ber, Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), comfortable Senate majority is a former ambassador and (54-46). an AFSA member. The 114th The 114th Congress has Congress also has the largest 74 new members (13 in the number of female lawmakers Senate, 61 in the House). ever: 104. Of these new members, 46 Congress no longer has are African-American (three any World War II veterans in Republicans and 43 demo- its ranks, although 25 law- crats); 33 are Hispanic (three makers served in the military in the Senate, 30 in the during the Iraq and Afghani- House); 12 are Asian-Amer- stan conflicts. n icans (one in the Senate, 11 AFSA/DAVID MURIMI AFSA/DAVID AFSA State Vice President Matthew Asada (left) and Senator Gary Peters (D-Mich.), the only newly elected Democratic senator in the 114th Congress. AFSA/DAVID MURIMI AFSA/DAVID

AFSA/JAVIER CUEBAS AFSA/JAVIER State VP Asada (left) greets Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), the chair of the Senate Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) and AFSA President Silverman. The Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Tourism, Competitiveness former Virginia delegate represents a district with one of the largest and Innovation, with oversight jurisdiction over the U.S. Department of concentrations of Foreign Service members in the United States. Commerce.

54 MARCH 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL AFSA NEWS AFSA/DAVID MURIMI AFSA/DAVID

AFSA/JAVIER CUEBAS AFSA/JAVIER From left: AFSA Retiree Counselor Matt Sumrak and State VP Asada greet AFSA President Silverman (left) shares a laugh with Senator Al Franken Stoney Burke, the chief of staff for Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas). Hurd is a (D-Minn.) during the swearing-in reception for Senator Brian Schatz former Central Intelligence Agency employee and a cybersecurity expert. (D-Hawaii). Having served abroad alongside Foreign Service members, he has a unique understanding of the challenges facing American diplomats and the need for resources.

Update: AFSA Promotes Improved Security at State Employee security continues AFSA believes that this would Presence Validation Process, strongly believes that autho- to be one of AFSA’s top priori- be of particular value at high- which it will use to determine rized and ordered departures ties, as shown by its inclusion threat, high-risk posts, where whether U.S. government afford management sufficient in the 2013-2015 Governing multiple positions and skill presence in foreign countries flexibility to reevaluate staff- Board’s Strategic Plan (see codes have traditionally been engenders more policy ben- ing decisions and ensure that www.bit.ly/1nFz7tl). without language designation efits than risks to its employ- employees receive adequate AFSA works closely with and language training. ees. AFSA strongly supports protections and allowances. the State Department and AFSA provided feedback to the establishment of such a In June 2014, AFSA wrote other foreign affairs agencies developers of a pilot “Diplo- process and believes it would to Acting Director General to address security challenges macy at High-Threat Posts” be enhanced by AFSA’s formal of the Foreign Service Hans and ensure that employees course (RS 251) at the Foreign participation overseas at the Klemm detailing these con- are safely and effectively able Service Institute which is Emergency Action Committee cerns. to engage overseas. Toward being offered eight times in level and here in Washington. AFSA consistently high- that end, AFSA has focused 2015. In a January 2014 letter to lights security concerns when on the need for enhanced lan- AFSA also worked with the Secretary of State John Kerry, meeting with members of guage and security-awareness department on the creation AFSA declared its desire to Congress, and has particu- training. of a new work requirement for be involved. AFSA continues larly focused on the impor- AFSA fully supports the Employee Evaluation Reports to work with the department tance of training. AFSA was State Department’s recent that emphasizes the employ- and our congressional allies in instrumental in the successful revision of criteria allowing ee’s personal responsibility this area. advocacy for the establish- posts to designate a position for security, while at the AFSA is concerned by ment of a Foreign Affairs to receive language train- same time addressing AFSA’s the department’s recent use Security Training Center in Ft. ing for reasons of “personal concerns about potential of “temporary relocation,” Pickett, Virginia. n security” that might not overly broad application in the for instance, with Embassy —Shannon Mizzi, qualify for such instruction disciplinary process. Baghdad, rather than the tra- Editorial Intern under the more restrictive The State Department ditional authorized or ordered “official capacity” category. recently instituted a new Vital departures from post. AFSA

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2015 55 AFSA NEWS

The 2014-2015 AFSA Financial Aid Scholarship Recipients

The AFSA Financial Aid AFSA has given AFSA has given scholarship. It’s not too late for Scholarship Program scholarships to 82 ships to 82 students totaling students of AFSA members awarded a total of $199,300 students totaling $247,800 over the course to apply for a financial aid in need-based financial aid of the current school year. scholarship for the 2015- scholarships during the $247,800 over These two programs are run 2016 school year. Applica- 2014-2015 school year to 54 the course of the with the oversight of the tions will be accepted until children of AFSA members. current school year. AFSA Scholarship Com- March 6. The deadline for These scholarships, avail- mittee, which is comprised merit awards is Feb. 6 each able to current undergradu- of volunteers from the year. Please go to www.afsa. ate students, range from Award Program, which is Department of State, the org/scholar for program $3,000 to $5,000 each. open to the children of AFSA U.S. Agency for Interna- details and applications. The 2014-2015 financial members who are graduat- tional Development, Foreign If you have any questions aid scholarship recipients are ing high school seniors. In Agricultural Service and the on applying or would like listed alphabetically. Each May 2014, this program Foreign Commercial Service. information on how to estab- entry includes the names of awarded scholarships of up In addition, the merit lish a scholarship or serve as the recipient’s parents, AFSA to $2,500 to 28 students, awards program relies on a merit awards judge, please scholarship(s) the student totaling $48,500. The list volunteers from constituent contact Lori Dec, at dec@afsa. received and the college he of 2014-2015 winners was agencies to serve as award org or (202) 944-5504. n or she is attending. published in the July-August judges. The AFSA Financial —Lori Dec, AFSA AFSA also sponsors an 2014 issue of The Foreign Aid Scholarship Program is Scholarship Director Academic and Art Merit Service Journal. administered by the AFSA Scholarship Committee and staff. Spotlight on Scholarship Donors These awards (both 2014-2015 AFSA financial aid and merit) are SCHOLARSHIP AFSA offered 115 different scholarships in its 2014-2015 not funded by membership PROGRAM FINANCIAL academic year Financial Aid Scholarship Program. Some of dues. They are funded by AID SCHOLARS these are highlighted on the following pages. donations from individuals Najee Agu and organizations, Com- Son of Edward and Wanda The Norton W. Bell bined Federal Campaign Agu. Recipient of Heyward G. Perpetual Financial Aid pledges, contributions Hill Memorial/DACOR Bacon Scholarship from the scholarship fund’s House Foundation Financial Aid Norton W. Bell estab- annual appeal and a 5-per- Scholarship. Currently attending lished this sholarship in cent annual withdrawal from University of Tennessee, 2007 after attending an the program’s endowment Knoxville. AFSA Elderhostel (now (currently valued at approxi- Road Scholar) program mately $6 million). Sarajin Ali on diplomacy. Though Two sister organiza- Daughter of Karl and Nahid he was never a Foreign tions—DACOR Bacon House Fritz. Recipient of Anthony G. Service employee, he has Foundation and Associates of Freeman Memorial Financial Aid Scholarship, George and Mattie always been fascinated the American Foreign Service Newman Memorial Financial Aid by international relations. Bell has attended more than 40 Worldwide—sponsor finan- Scholarship and Marc Grossman Elderhostel programs and found AFSA’s program to be cial aid scholarships in their and Mildred Patterson Financial one of the best. He retired in 1986 from Hewlett Packard, names under AFSA’s Financial Aid Scholarship. Currently where he was an engineer. After retirement, he became a Aid Scholarship Program. attending Virginia Tech transcontinental cyclist. These programs are a University. benefit of AFSA member-

56 MARCH 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL AFSA NEWS

Anandan Niccolo Bluhm I’m very thankful for the AFSA Son of Christina and Nathan Amirthanayagam money I received to pursue my Son of Indran and Ruthann Bluhm. Recipient of Charles C. Amirthanayagam. Recipient and Janet K. Stelle Memorial dreams. I plan on taking full of Elbert G. and Naomi M. Financial Aid Scholarship and advantage of this gift I have been Mathews Memorial Financial Elizabeth M. and William E. Aid Scholarship and Gertrude Cole Memorial Financial Aid given. —Claire Gilbert Stewart Memorial Financial Aid Scholarship. Currently attending Scholarship. Currently attending University of Colorado, Colorado Brown University. Springs.

Katherine Arriola James Chambers Katherine Cooke- Kristina Cummings Daughter of Jacinta and Son of Hyong and James Caraway Daughter of Constance and Roinel Arriola. Recipient Chambers. Recipient of Harriet Daughter of Robin Cooke. David Cummings. Recipient of Elbert G. and Naomi M. C. Thurgood Memorial/DACOR Recipient of Adolph Dubs of Norton W. Bell Financial Aid Mathews Memorial Financial Bacon House Foundation Memorial Financial Aid Scholarship, Colonel Richard Aid Scholarship and George Financial Aid Scholarship. Scholarship, Martin G. R. Hallock Memorial Financial and Mattie Newman Memorial Currently attending University Patterson Memorial Financial Aid Scholarship and George Financial Aid Scholarship. of Tulsa. Aid Scholarship and Omar and Mattie Newman Memorial Currently attending SUNY Sykes Memorial Financial Aid Financial Aid Scholarship. Buffalo State College. Caleb Childers Scholarship. Currently attending Currently attending Colorado Son of Julie and William Wesley College. State University, Global Childers. Recipient of Albert Helena Ball Campus. Daughter of David Ball and Mara E. Carter Memorial Financial Erika Cummings Teckach. Recipient of Louis C. Aid Scholarship, Brockman Daughter of Constance and Christopher DiCarlo Boochever Memorial Financial M. Moore Memorial Financial David Cummings. Recipient Son of John and Mary DiCarlo. Aid Scholarship and Naomi Aid Scholarship and Naomi of Edith K. and Wilbur J. Recipient of Heyward G. Hill Pekmezian Memorial Financial Pekmezian Memorial Financial Carr Memorial Financial Aid Memorial/DACOR Bacon Aid Scholarship. Currently Aid Scholarship. Currently Scholarship, Elbert G. and Naomi House Foundation Financial attending CUNY Hunter College. attending Liberty University. M. Mathews Memorial Financial Aid Scholarship. Currently Aid Scholarship and Susan Lowe attending Dominican University Joseph Bills Dylan Childers Modi Memorial Financial Aid of California. Son of Rebecca and Thomas Son of Julie and William Scholarship. Currently attending Bills. Recipient of Evelyn K. and Childers. Recipient of George University of Oklahoma. Horace J. Nickels Memorial and Mattie Newman Memorial Financial Aid Scholarship and Financial Aid Scholarship and James Bolard More Memorial John Campbell White Financial Financial Aid Scholarship. Aid Scholarship. Currently Currently attending Brigham attending Liberty University. Young University. Kirsten Christensen Alexandra Bliss Daughter of Casey and Margie Having some of my financial Daughter of Mark Bliss and Christensen. Recipient of Jacq burden lifted by an AFSA Kristin Rummel-Bliss. Recipient Bachman Siracusa Financial of Associates of the American Aid Scholarship and C. Montagu scholarship is a great blessing. Foreign Service Worldwide and Frances M. Pigott Memorial I switched schools eight times Financial Aid Scholarship, Financial Aid Scholarship. Louise Holscher Memorial Currently attending Florida growing up. But traveling around Financial Aid Scholarship State University. the globe gave me an incredible and Lawsuit Over the Movie “Missing” Scholarship. Currently understanding of different cultures, languages attending Florida State College and ideas, and for that I am grateful. at Jacksonville. —Niccolo Bluhm

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2015 57 AFSA NEWS

I plan to make the most of Ryan Hull Allison LaReau all the opportunities at my Son of Robert and Sandra Daughter of Cindy and Jeff Hull. Recipient of William LaReau. Recipient of Elizabeth university, both academic Benton Memorial Financial Aid N. Landeau Memorial Financial and extracurricular, and this Scholarship and Barbara Bell Aid Scholarship and Elbert Black Memorial Financial Aid G. and Naomi M. Mathews scholarship is a great help in Scholarship. Currently attending Memorial Financial Aid allowing me to do that. University of Florida. Scholarship. Currently attending Colorado Christian University. —Ryan Hull Serina Hull Daughter of Robert and Sandra Michael May Hull. Recipient of Heyward G. Son of Gregory May and Li-hung Hill Memorial/DACOR Bacon Ma. Recipient of Harriet C. House Foundation Financial Aid Thurgood Memorial/DACOR Alexandra Garcia Charles Holtrop Scholarship. Currently attending Bacon House Foundation Florida State University. Financial Aid Scholarship. Daughter of Kathleen and Son of Daniel and Julie Holtrop. Currently attending University Rudolph Garcia. Recipient of Recipient of Suzanne Marie of Mary Washington. Brockman M. Moore Memorial Collins Memorial Financial Kaleb Johnson Financial Aid Scholarship. Aid Memorial Scholarship and Son of Brian and Tiffney Currently attending University Brockman M. Moore Memorial Johnson. Recipient of AAFSW Esubalew McCarthy of Colorado, Colorado Springs. Financial Aid Scholarship. Financial Aid Scholarship, Son of Patricia McCarthy. Currently attending Calvin Marcia Martin Moore Memorial Recipient of Elbert G. and Naomi Claire Gilbert College. Financial Aid Scholarship and M. Mathews Memorial Financial Gertrude Stewart Memorial Aid Scholarship, Brockman Daughter of Jeffrey and Terri Financial Aid Scholarship. M. Moore Memorial Financial Gilbert. Recipient of AAFSW Luke Howlett Currently attending Yavapai Aid Scholarship and Sheldon Financial Aid Scholarship. Son of Patricia Howlett. College. Whitehouse Memorial Financial Currently attending Tallahassee Recipient of Brockman M. Aid Scholarship. Currently Community College. Moore Memorial Financial attending Prince George’s Aid Scholarship and Dorothy James Julian Community College. Morgan Groth Osborne and Theodore Son of Karen and Mark Julian. Recipient of Betty Son of Gregory Groth and Xanthaky Memorial Financial Aid Carp Memorial Financial Christina McGuire Wendy Medhurst. Recipient Scholarship. Currently attending Aid Scholarship, Harriet P. Daughter of John and Suzanne of Terence Flannery Annual St. Lawrence University. Culley Memorial Financial Aid McGuire. Recipient of AAFSW Memorial Financial Aid Scholarship and George and Financial Aid Scholarship and Scholarship. Currently attending Adriana Huff Mattie Newman Memorial William P. and Adele Langston Chandler-Gilbert Community Daughter of Curtis Huff Financial Aid Scholarship. Rogers Memorial Financial Aid College. Jr. and Deborah Paolini. Currently attending Utah Valley Scholarship. Currently attending Recipient of Robert and Evelyn University. Oregon State University. Raina Haynes-Klaver Curtis Memorial Financial Aid Scholarship, William Daughter of Karen Klaver. Liam Kierans Connor McKinney Recipient of Heyward G. Hill Leonhart Memorial Financial Son of Lisa Bucher and Thomas Son of Christopher and Tracy Memorial/DACOR Bacon Aid Scholarship and Dorothy Kierans. Recipient of Heyward McKinney. Recipient of Harriet House Foundation Financial Aid Osborne and Theodore G. Hill Memorial/DACOR Bacon C. Thurgood Memorial/DACOR Scholarship. Currently attending Xanthaky Memorial Financial House Foundation Financial Aid Bacon House Foundation San Jose State University. Aid Scholarship. Currently Scholarship. Currently attending attending Delaware County Financial Aid Scholarship. College of William & Mary. Community College. Currently attending University of California, Berkeley.

58 MARCH 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL AFSA NEWS

Jordan Palmer Tatiana Ravelomanana This scholarship will be a great Son of Susan Baker and Paul Daughter of Nadia help in meeting my financial Palmer. Recipient of Brockman Ravelomanana. Recipient M. Moore Memorial Financial of Elbert G. and Naomi M. needs at my university. I hope to Aid Scholarship and Lowell C. Mathews Memorial Financial make AFSA proud. Pinkerton Memorial Financial Aid Scholarship, David D. Aid Scholarship. Currently Newsom Memorial Financial —Luke Howlett attending Texas Tech University. Aid Scholarship and Ernest V. Siracusa Memorial Financial Aid Paul Palmer Scholarship. Currently attending Liberty University. Son of Susan Baker and Paul Ryan Sandor Amelia Smith Palmer. Recipient of Philip Son of Yvonne Sandor and Daughter of Matthew and C. Habib Memorial Financial Connor Rhodes Edwin Sellers. Recipient of Harry Susan Smith. Recipient of Aid Scholarship and Walter K. Son of Nancy Rhodes. A. Havens Memorial Financial Fallen U.S. Diplomats in Libya Schwinn Memorial Financial Aid Recipient of Terence Flannery Aid Scholarship and Dalton V. Financial Aid Scholarship, Scholarship. Graduated from Annual Memorial Financial Aid Killion Memorial Financial Aid Prabhi G. Kavaler Memorial University of Texas, Austin. Scholarship and Francesca Scholarship. Currently attending Financial Aid Scholarship and Bufano Lapinski Memorial Cuyamaca College. George and Mattie Newman Financial Aid Scholarship. Aidan Pazan Memorial Financial Aid Currently attending Virginia Son of Michele Castagna and Kathleen Saunders Scholarship. Currently attending Stephen Pazan. Recipient of Commonwealth University. Daughter of Robert and Wendy Massachusetts Institute of Anna B. and John M. Steeves Saunders. Recipient of Heyward Technology. Memorial Financial Aid Andrea Salazar G. Hill Memorial/DACOR Bacon Scholarship and Gertrude Daughter of Jose and Wendy House Foundation Financial Aid Avery Smith Stewart Memorial Financial Aid Salazar. Recipient of Edith K. Scholarship. Currently attending Son of Matthew and Susan Scholarship. Currently attending and Wilbur J. Carr Memorial University of New Mexico. Smith. Recipient of John and Ohio University. Financial Aid Scholarship, Hope Rogers Bastek Memorial George and Mattie Newman Financial Aid Scholarship, Kiang Memorial Financial Aid Alana Perera Fund for Excellence Financial Aid Scholarship and Dorothy Daughter of Michele Balthazaar. Scholarship and Christopher Osborne and Theodore Recipient of Rose Marie Asch and Eliza Van Hollen Memorial Xanhaky Memorial Financial Aid Financial Aid Scholarship and Financial Aid Scholarship. Scholarship. Currently attending Oliver Bishop Harriman Memorial Currently attending Oberlin George Mason University. Financial Aid Scholarship. College. Currently attending California State University, Northridge. Madeline Strandemo Daughter of Guy and Kimberly Strandemo. Recipient of Spotlight on Scholarship Donors Heyward G. Hill Memorial/ DACOR Bacon House Alice and John Hubler Annual Financial Aid Foundation Financial Aid Scholarship. Currently attending Scholarship University of Minnesota. FSO Stephen Hubler, who was an AFSA scholarship recipient himself from 1979 to 1983 while attending Thomas Strandemo the University of Southern California, established this Son of Guy and Kimberly scholarship to honor his parents. “My mother and my Strandemo. Recipient of father set the example for me and my three brothers Heyward G. Hill Memorial/ to serve others less fortunate than we were,” he says. DACOR Bacon House Foundation Financial Aid Scholarship. Currently attending University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2015 59 AFSA NEWS

The award will definitely assist me in covering my college Spotlight on Scholarship Donors expenses. I hope to make my scholarship donor proud by taking full advantage of my education. –Alana Perera

David Sydney Hannah Wolff Son of Dawn Lewis-Johnson and Daughter of Eric and Kathleen Roger Sydney. Recipient of John Wolff. Recipient of Alice and Foster Dulles Memorial Financial John Hubler Annual Financial Aid Scholarship, Harriet Winsar Aid Scholarship and Gertrude Isom Financial Aid Scholarship Stewart Memorial Financial Aid and George and Mattie Scholarship. Currently attending Newman Memorial Financial Aid Hillsdale College. Scholarship. Currently attending The University of Texas at Dallas. Jonathan Wolff DEC AFSA/LORI Son of Eric and Kathleen Christopher and Eliza Van Hollen Memorial Antigone Valen Wolff. Recipient of Turner C. Financial Aid Scholarship Daughter of Kelly and Stephen Cameron Jr. Memorial Financial Avery Smith, the recipient of the Christopher and Eliza Valen. Recipient of Rozanne Aid Scholarship and Arthur B. Van Hollen Memorial Financial Aid Scholarship, met with L. Ridgway Financial Aid Emmons Memorial Financial Aid Representative Christopher Van Hollen (D-Md.) on Jan. Scholarship and Gertrude Scholarship. Currently attending 27, 2015, at his office on Capitol Hill. Stewart Memorial Financial Aid Hillsdale College. Christopher Van Hollen Sr., the congressman’s father, Scholarship. Currently attending retired from his 28-year Foreign Service career in 1979. Princeton University. Timothy Wolff He was an authority on Southeast Asian affairs, and Son of Eric and Kathleen Wolff. served as U.S. ambassador to Sri Lanka in 1972. After his Alyssa VanGoethem Recipient of Clara C. and Everett death in 2013, his family (with contributions from many Daughter of Kathy Rivard. K. Melby Memorial Financial Aid friends) established a perpetual AFSA scholarship in his Recipient of Elbert G. and Naomi Scholarship, George and Mattie M. Mathews Memorial Financial Newman Memorial Financial Aid name. Aid Scholarship, Ruth Nay Skiles Scholarship and George Schultz Rep. Van Hollen and his sisters take an active interest and Victor H. Skiles Memorial Financial Aid Scholarship. in the AFSA Scholarship Program, and he hopes to meet Financial Aid Scholarship and Currently attending Columbia with the recipients of his parents’ scholarship each year. John C. Whitehead Memorial International University. Avery Smith is the second recipient of the AFSA Van Hol- Financial Aid Scholarship. len Scholarship, which provides need-based college aid Currently attending Northern Christian Zehr to children of Foreign Service employees. Michigan University. Son of Dora and Wilbur Zehr. Recipient of Edith K. and Wilbur Christopher Volciak J. Carr Memorial Financial Aid Son of Christopher and Sabrina Scholarship and Brockman Volciak. Recipient of Brockman M. Moore Memorial Financial It is people like my AFSA M. Moore Memorial Financial Aid Scholarship and Gertrude scholarship donors who Aid Scholarship and George Stewart Memorial Financial Aid and Mattie Newman Memorial Scholarship. Currently attending inspire younger men and Financial Aid Scholarship. Abilene Christian University. n women to reach their goals. Currently attending Lehigh University. –Antigone “Tiggy” Valen

60 MARCH 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL AFSA NEWS

2014 AFSA Tax Guide Correction: Oregon

The following corrects inadver- 2014 tent errors in the entry for Oregon. AFSA We regret the TAX oversight. GUIDE ISTOCK.COM/RETROROCKET

OREGON residents are generally taxed on their entire income, However, if you are domiciled in Oregon, you will be taxed as a nonresident and only Oregon-sourced income will be subject to Oregon taxes if you meet all of the following requirements: a) You do not maintain a permanent residence in Oregon for yourself or your family during any part of the year, and b) You maintain a permanent residence outside Oregon during the entire year, and c) You spend less than 31 days of the year in Oregon. For 2014, Oregon’s tax rate rises from 5 percent on taxable income over $3,300 for single filers and over $6,600 for married filing jointly, in three steps to 9.9 percent on taxable income over $125,000 for single filers and $250,000 for joint filers. Oregon has no sales tax. Write: Oregon Department of Revenue, 955 Center St. NE, Salem OR 97301-2555. Phone: (503) 378-4988. Email: [email protected] Website: www.oregon.gov/DOR n

AFSA Annual Report 2014 Coming Soon The AFSA Annual Report is and describes the work being published as the FSJ AFSA’s does on members’ goes to press. It will be avail- behalf and the goals of the able online at www.afsa.org/ association. AFSA President annualreport. A hard copy will Robert Silverman writes be sent to all retirees. Cop- the introductory passage, ies will also be available on followed by contributions request by emailing from all constituency vice [email protected]. presidents, as well as AFSA’s The report details AFSA’s professional staff. 2014 activities, ranging from We hope you find it a use- strategic planning to events, ful publication. n

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2015 61 AFSA NEWS

AFSA Governing Board Hails and Farewells

Two members joined AFSA’s Governing Board to serve out terms vacated by departing board members. The current Governing Board will finish its term of office in July, when the newly elected board takes office to serve from 2015 to 2017. AFSA would like to thank outgoing State Representatives Clayton Bond and Sue Saarnio and USAID representative Andrew Levin for their outstanding service to AFSA.

Jeff Cochrane, a Foreign Service officer at USAID since 2005, has directed economic growth offices in West Africa and Iraq, was ICT Division chief in the Office of Infrastructure, and now serves as USAID desk officer for Bosnia, Serbia, Kosovo and most non-presence (no USAID Mission) countries in Europe. A strong believer in collective bargaining, Cochrane has been a member of the Wisconsin Teaching Assistants Asso- ciation (AFL-CIO and AFT) and the American Federation of Government Employees. He has a doctorate from the Univer- sity of Wisconsin, Madison, in the economics of institutions and a bachelor’s degree from Brown University. He lives in Georgetown with his husband, Robert, a television critic for USA Today.

Daniel E. Spokojny joined the Depart- ment of State in May 2009 as a Foreign Service officer. He has served overseas in Karachi and Vilnius, as well as in the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations and the office of the Special Representative for Afghani- stan and Pakistan in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining State, Dan worked in the U.S. House of Representatives. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan. Dan is committed to supporting an innovative and agile Foreign Service capable of meeting tomorrow’s challenges. n

62 MARCH 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL AFSA NEWS

AFSA BOOK NOTES Ambassador’s Memoir Illustrates Diplomacy in Action

On Jan. 8 the American (2004-2005); ambassador to of the most difficult issues Foreign Service Association Poland (2000-2004); ambas- for the Foreign Service,” hosted Ambassador Chris- sador to Macedonia (1996- Hill noted that “the State topher Hill at AFSA head- 1999) and special envoy to Department put itself in the quarters for a Book Notes Kosovo (1998-1999), among position where we were seen discussion of his new memoir, many other assignments. as the organization that Outpost: Life on the Frontlines Over the course of his would somehow provide the of American Diplomacy. Foreign Service career, Hill continuity once the military Currently dean of the Josef received many State Depart- was gone: war by other Korbel School of International ment awards, including the means.” However, he noted, Studies at the University of Secretary of State’s Distin- “we should not be sending

Denver, Amb. Hill is a retired BLOME AFSA/DEBRA guished Service Award and soldiers to do a diplomat’s career diplomat and four- Ambassador Christopher Hill. the Robert A. Frasure Award job, and to some extent I think time ambassador, whose last for Peace Negotiations. that’s what happened in Iraq.” post was Baghdad (2009- State for East Asian and AFSA President Robert J. Hill added that he does not 2010). Prior to that, he served Pacific affairs (2005-2009); Silverman introduced Hill by call Iraq a “big mistake” in his as assistant secretary of ambassador to South Korea observing that reading Hill’s book, but “we need to think memoir reminded him of things through a little better “how cool it is to be a Foreign before we find ourselves in Service officer.” circumstances of that kind.” Hill opened with a light- Before taking enthusiastic hearted jab at his writing questions from the capacity experience. “I never thought audience, Hill declared that I’d write a book,” he said. “In the Foreign Service profession the Foreign Service, I don’t is in “good shape.” He also think I ever wrote anything pointed out that he dedicated longer than two pages, and his book not just to his own no one ever read page two,” family, but to all the men and he continued. “It was kind of women of the Foreign Service weird to get to page three and and their families. realize I was in terra incog- “Anyone who has been nita.” to the outposts knows that Though diplomacy is “not you don’t always have the the oldest profession in the option of waiting for guid- world,” Hill observed that it ance,” he said. “You have to has “been around for a long make decisions; you have to time.” He emphasized the take a chance; you have to importance of building rela- make these tough calls. And tionships in the practice of the men and women of our diplomacy, citing their value Foreign Service have done that very, very well over the

AFSA/DEBRA BLOME AFSA/DEBRA when he served as special Secretary of State John Kerry swears in FSO Ted Osius as U.S. envoy to Kosovo, negotiated decades.” n ambassador to Vietnam on Dec. 10. His spouse, former AFSA Governing with the North Koreans and —Debra Blome, Board member Clayton Bond, their son, TABO, and Osius’ mother, Nancy Zimmerman, look on. Amb. Osius is the first openly gay officer to led Embassy Baghdad. Associate Editor serve as a U.S. ambassador in Southeast Asia. Describing Iraq as “one

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2015 63 AFSA NEWS

AFSA Convenes Roundtable Discussion on Diversity

As part of its efforts to includes an partner with other groups explicit diver- to enhance diversity in the sity goal for Foreign Service, AFSA and the first time representatives from 21 (see http://bit. federal employee organiza- ly/1nFz7tl), and tions and affinity groups from that AFSA’s State and USAID met for a professional roundtable discussion on staff and Gov- Jan. 15. erning Board Hosted by AFSA President is the most Robert J. Silverman, State diverse ever. Vice President Matthew Participants Asada and Executive Direc- discussed tor Ian Houston, the meeting ideas for build- took place at AFSA heading coalitions quarters over lunch. and AFSA professional and Opportunity Commission’s Affairs Agencies (known Asada opened the meet- committee staff provided an demographic data reporting as HECFAA), the South ing by reviewing AFSA’s overview of AFSA’s awards requirement for the federal Asian American Employee ongoing initiatives to pro- and scholarship programs. government. Participants Association, the Council for mote diversity. He noted that Asada described Man- discussed how agencies Career Entry Professionals, the AFSA Governing Board’s agement Directive 715, the could do a better job of mak- the Disability Action Group, 2013-2015 Strategic Plan U.S. Equal Employment ing the data collected more Employees with Disabilities, meaningful. Veterans at State, Returned In this regard, several Peace Corps Volunteers, A F S A affinity group representa- the Asian-Pacific Ameri- ATTENDS tives raised concerns about can Employee Committee, SOCIAL the difficulty in getting good American Indians and Alaska STUDIES human resources data from Native Employees, Gays and CONFERENCE the agencies. There was Lesbians in Foreign Affairs

AFSA’s Coordinator agreement that good data is Agencies (known as GLI- for Special Awards and much needed, along with the FAA), the Jewish Employee Outreach Perri Green (right) ability to “unpack” that data, Resource Group, the USAID and Publications Specialist Brittany DeLong attended i.e., more data granularity at Muslim Employees Resource the 2014 National Council the bureau and post level, to Group, Presidential Manage- for the Social Studies discern meaningful insights ment Fellows, Women@AID, Conference in Boston Nov. 13-15. NCSS is the United about trends and challenges. and Young Professionals at States’ largest association Attending the discus- USAID. devoted to social studies sion were representatives For additional information education. Green and DeLong were there to meet from Arab-Americans in on AFSA’s diversity initiatives, social studies educators Foreign Affairs Agencies, see AFSA News in the Sep- and promote AFSA’s 2015 the Asian-American Foreign tember and November 2014 National High School Essay n Contest and best-selling Affairs Association, Blacks in issues of the FSJ. book, Inside a U.S. Embassy: Government, the Thursday —Debra Blome, Diplomacy at Work. AFSA Luncheon Group, Executive Associate Editor was one of more than 150 exhibitors at the conference, which attracted more than 4,000 attendees, the Women at State, the Hispanic largest turnout for NCSS since 2006. n Employees Council of Foreign

64 MARCH 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL IN MEMORY

n Marianne Collins Ahlgren, 77, the NZSL was recognized, along with Maori, and commissioned as an FSO. wife of retired FSO Charles Ahlgren, died as an official language of New Zealand. Detailed to the Foreign Service Insti- on Oct. 8 in Providence, R.I., after a long She authored numerous articles in sci- tute Field School in Taichung in 1963 to struggle with the rare disease amyloido- entific journals and wrote sign language study Chinese, he was then assigned to sis. versions of children’s books such as The Taipei as a commercial officer. In 1968 Mrs. Ahlgren was born in Oak Park, Ugly Duckling. Mr. Bellocchi returned to Hong Kong as a Ill., on Oct. 3, 1937. After graduating from After the couple retired to Rhode commercial affairs officer. Siena High School in Chicago, she joined Island in 1999, Mrs. Ahlgren worked at He was then detailed to the U.S. the Sisters of Mercy and attended St. Xavier the Rhode Island School for the Deaf and Agency for International Development College, earning her B.S. in education and was an active volunteer in many charita- and sent to Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh speech. She went on to teach at several ble organizations, including the Scandi- City), where he worked for 18 months, parochial schools in the Chicago area. navian Home and the Great Strides Cystic before being assigned to Tokyo as, suc- During her summers, Mrs. Ahlgren Fibrosis Foundation. cessively, commercial officer and coun- completed a master’s degree in audiol- Mrs. Ahlgren was predeceased by her selor for commercial affairs. ogy from the University of Illinois. She parents, Timothy and Lucille Collins of In 1974 Mr. Bellocchi was selected for went on to teach at St. Xavier’s, where Chicago, Ill. She is survived by her hus- the Senior Seminar. A year later he was she started a clinic for deaf children in band, Charles; daughter, Ingrid of New detailed to the Treasury Department to the wake of a rubella epidemic that swept York, N.Y.; son, Theodore of Hamden, focus on developments in Asia. Postings the Chicago area. She later worked as an Conn.; and granddaughter, Annika Liu. followed in New Delhi as an economic audiologist at Michael Reese Hospital in The family requests that any memo- counselor and Hong Kong as a deputy Chicago, Riverside Hospital in California rial contributions be made to the Senior principal officer. and Gallaudet University in Washington, Living Foundation at 1716 N Street NW, He returned to Washington, D.C., in D.C. Washington DC 20036-2902. 1981 to serve as deputy assistant secre- After marrying, she accompanied her tary in the Bureau of Intelligence and husband to the U.S. embassy in Singa- n Natale H. Bellocchi, 88, a Research. In 1985, President Ronald Rea- pore, where she taught at the American retired FSO and former ambassador to gan appointed Mr. Bellocchi ambassador School and gave birth to the couple’s two Botswana, died on Nov. 17 at his home in to Botswana, where he served until 1988. children, Ingrid and Theodore. She joined Bethesda, Md., of heart disease. Five years later, President George H.W. her husband in subsequent postings to Mr. Bellocchi was born in Little Falls, Bush appointed Amb. Bellocchi to chair South Africa, New Zealand, Thailand and N.Y. He earned a bachelor’s degree in the Board of the American Institute in Venezuela. engineering from the Georgia Institute Taiwan. During what he described as “the Wherever she lived abroad, Mrs. of Technology in 1948. He worked as an most difficult and historic journey” of his Ahlgren actively worked with the poor; industrial engineer at the Burlington life, he accompanied Taiwan President she helped women in the teeming camps Mills Corporation for two years before Lee Teng-hui to the United States. outside Cape Town and victims of sexual serving as a U.S. Army infantry officer in Pres. Lee was denied permission to trafficking in Chiang Mai. Her greatest Korea from 1950 to 1953. meet with the Chinese-American com- love, however, was for the deaf. She was In 1954, he received a master’s degree munity in Honolulu and allowed to visit a leader in deaf education and linguistics from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Cornell University, his alma mater, only research. Foreign Service at Georgetown Univer- after members of Congress pressed the While in New Zealand, Mrs. Ahlgren sity. He began his Foreign Service career administration. Beijing responded to the received a Ph.D. in applied linguistics in 1955 as a diplomatic courier, with visit by firing missiles to ratchet up ten- from Victoria University in Wellington. postings to Frankfurt and Manila from sions in the Taiwan Strait. Her dissertation discussed New Zealand 1955 to 1959. After retiring in 1995, Amb. Bellocchi Sign Language as a full-fledged language, He was posted to Hong Kong as a gen- continued to follow Taiwan develop- with a large vocabulary of signs and a eral services assistant in 1960, and two ments closely and advocated increased consistent grammar. As a consequence, years later was transferred to Vientiane international agency and U.S. govern-

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2015 65 ment support for the newly democratic and served as mayor of Middletown for a Donations in his memory may be state. day. He graduated from Wesleyan Univer- made to the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund at 34 Amb. Bellocchi is survived by his wife, sity in 1956. Washington Street, Suite 200, Wellesley Lilan, whom he met in Taiwan, and their He then joined the U.S. Army, where Hills MA 02481. children, Luke and Jacqualine. he served for three years in counterintel- ligence in Germany. He went on to work n Ruth Eloise Day, 88, the wife of n Edward Anthon Berg, 85, a retired as a reporter for The Washington Star in retired Foreign Service Officer Robert W. FSO, died on Sept. 12 in Venice, Fla. Washington, D.C., covering events such Day, died on Oct. 4 in Tallahassee, Fla. Mr. Berg served in the U.S. Air Force as the inauguration of President John F. Mrs. Day was born on Aug. 18, 1926, from 1949 to 1955. His original assign- Kennedy. and raised in Andrew County, Miss. She ment with the 10th Mountain Division in Mr. Clew joined the Foreign Service in graduated from Fillmore High School in Colorado helped prepare him for his later 1962 and was posted to the United King- 1943, attended Missouri State Teachers career in the Foreign Service. In the Air dom, Lebanon, Nigeria, Belize and South College in Maryville, Mo., and taught Force he trained to speak and interpret Africa during his 30-year career. He met elementary school during World War II. Russian, adding that to a list of languages his wife of 43 years, Joy (Lee) Clew, on an She worked for several corporations as an which included German, French and ocean liner en route to his first diplomatic executive secretary from 1946 to 1988. Danish. He later trained to speak Flemish, posting in Cape Town in 1963. Mrs. Day married Alfred N. Hurst in Afrikaans, Swedish, Farsi and Spanish. Following his retirement, the couple 1946, and the couple had three children. After an honorable discharge from the settled in Haddam, Conn., where Mr. Job transfers took the family to Omaha, Air Force, Mr. Berg continued his service Clew served as a second selectman, as a Neb.; Endicott, N.Y.; Rochester, Minn.; in the Refugee Relief Program in the member of the Region 17 School Board Barrington, Ill.; Stamford, Conn.; and Netherlands during the 1950s. He then and as president of the Haddam Histori- Atlanta, Ga. transferred to the Foreign Service, where cal Society. He also served on the Mid- In 1988, Mrs. Day married Robert W. he focused on consular work in France, State Regional Planning Association and Day, a retired FSO, and they made their Nigeria, Israel, Germany, Switzerland, was president of Foreign Affairs Retirees home in Tallahassee. During their 26-year Belgium, South Africa, Sweden, Mexico of New England. marriage, the couple enjoyed traveling and Bermuda. Mr. Clew was an environmentalist extensively throughout the United States, Tracking international affairs, fishing, who worked diligently to protect open Europe and South America. gardening and playing chess were among spaces in Connecticut. Recently, he Mrs. Day was a member of the Trinity Mr. Berg’s lifelong hobbies and interests. helped successfully fight to preserve land United Methodist Church in Tallahassee He is survived by his wife, Loan, four for a state wildlife refuge along the Con- and a volunteer at Tallahassee Memo- children and five grandchildren. necticut River across from the Goodspeed rial Hospital for many years. As a harpist, Opera House. she was active in the Tallahassee Music n Harvey Taylor Clew, 80, a retired Mr. Clew is survived by his wife, Joy of Guild, the Tallahassee Symphony Society, FSO, died on Nov. 19 of a cerebral hemor- Haddam, Conn.; son, Timothy W. Clew the Killearn Ladies Club and the Golden rhage at Hartford Hospital in Hartford, of Warren, Conn.; daughter, Carole Clew Eagle Ladies Club. Conn. Elms of New York, N.Y.; their spouses and Mrs. Day instilled her deeply held Mr. Clew was the son of William J. five grandchildren; his twin sister, Carole values of honesty and integrity in all of Clew, former managing editor of The Clew Hoey of Middletown and Haddam, her children, who remember her with Hartford Courant, and Mona (Gallivan) Conn.; his brother, William T. Clew (a great love. Mrs. Day was predeceased by Clew, a former junior high school teacher former managing editor of the Sunday her former husband, Alfred N. Hurst; her in the Middletown, Conn., school district. Telegram) of Webster and Worcester, parents, Mr. and Mrs. Earl Lambright; her Mr. Clew attended St. John’s Elemen- Mass.; his sister, Elizabeth (Betsy) Clew brother, Eldon L. Lambright; and sister, tary School and graduated from Middle- Kampmeinert of Pittsburgh, Pa.; two Elaine Skelton. town High School in 1952. In high school brothers-in-law, three nieces and one She is survived by her husband, he was on the swim and football teams nephew. Robert; two sons: Byron N. Hurst (and

66 MARCH 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL his wife, Karen) of Wausau, Wis., and joining the Foreign Service. Gary S. Hurst (and his wife, Lauren Mr. Griffiths served with the U.S. Moll) of San Diego, Calif.; one daughter, Information Agency throughout Latin Linda C. Hurst of Redmond, Wash.; two America. He guided political, humanitar- stepdaughters: Mrs. Betsey Leonard ian and educational missions in Gua- of Westminster, Md., and Mrs. Shaula temala, Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico, Noonan of Old Town, Fla.; three grand- Honduras, El Salvador, Argentina and children, all members of the U.S. Navy: Brazil, concluding his career with several Commander Christopher N. Hurst, Com- assignments in Washington, D.C. mander Nicole D. Hurst and Lieutenant In 1972, Mr. Griffiths was recognized Andrew J. Hurst; one step-grandson, Jack for his work with USIA’s Meritorious D. Leonard III; two great granddaughters; Honor Award. In 1975, he was honored one great grandson; and one sister, Mrs. with the Order of the Morazin by the gov- Lucille Jones of St. Joseph, Mo. ernment of Honduras for his humanitar- Memorial gifts may be made to the ian service, and in 1976 the state of Loui- Tallahassee Trinity United Methodist siana named him an honorary colonel. Church (120 West Park Avenue, Tallahas- During retirement in Albuquerque, see FL 32301) or to the American Cancer N.M., and, later, Los Angeles, Calif., he Society. worked as an international programs adviser for the University of Southern n John Liebig Griffiths, 85, a retired California and relished teaching Eng- FSO, died on Nov. 29 in Dana Point, Calif., lish to students from across the globe at of pulmonary fibrosis. Berlitz Beverly Hills. He was also involved Mr. Griffiths was born on Nov. 10, with Rotary International, Sister Cit- 1929, in Los Angeles, Calif., to Jane Eliza- ies International, the American Foreign beth Liebig and John Francis Griffiths, Service Association and Sigma Chi Fra- both educators. His father was a member ternity. Before his death, he was thrilled of the Foreign Service who achieved to give his vintage fraternity ring to a some national notoriety in 1948 during student who couldn’t afford his own. service as a cultural attaché in Buenos Mr. Griffiths and his third wife, Mar- Aires when then-President Juan Peron guerite (Peggy), traveled to Latin America accused him of plotting his assassination. and Europe. At home in Los Angeles, the Mr. Griffiths attended schools in couple joined the Brentwood Presbyte- Madrid and Buenos Aires, as well as in rian Church, where they remained active California and Indiana, before graduat- until their final move to Dana Point, Calif. ing from Los Angeles High School. He Family members and friends remem- earned a B.A. in political science from ber Mr. Griffiths for his supportiveness, the University of California, Los Angeles, kindness, intelligence, extraordinary and was pursuing graduate studies at the work ethic, philanthropic nature, humor University of Southern California when (even his puns!) and perseverance, quali- he enlisted as an officer in the U.S. Navy ties that he extended with pride to his and went on to serve in the Philippines. grandchildren. On return to Los Angeles, Mr. Griffiths Mr. Griffiths is survived by his first worked for the Office of Naval Intel- wife, Claudette D. Bakewell of Newport ligence and graduated from the Armed Beach, Calif., and their son, John D. Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Va., before Griffiths (and his wife, Mollie) of Los

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2015 67 Angeles, Calif.; his second wife, Graciela served as U.S. ambassador to Zimbabwe traumatic period of 1974-1975. Griffiths of Albuquerque, N.M., and their (1980-1984) and Greece (1985-1989). After retiring from the Foreign Service children: Alessandra Holowesko (and her Ambassador Keeley was elected in 1989, Amb. Keeley served as president husband, Stephen) of Nassau, Bahamas, president of AFSA in 1985, but his term of the Middle East Institute (1990-1995) and Glenn Griffiths of Albuquerque, was cut short by the appointment as U.S. and as board chairman of the Council N.M.; and his wife, Marguerite (Peggy) ambassador to Greece, his last posting. for the National Interest Foundation, a of Dana Point, Calif.; and five grandchil- As noted in his obituary in The Wash- group that tries to balance what it consid- dren: William, Maria Gabriella, Siena and ington Post, “In the countries to which he ers a pro-Israeli tilt in U.S. policy toward John Theodore Holowesko, and Gavin was sent, governments fell, coups were the Middle East. Amb. Keeley’s strong, Griffiths. plotted and attempted, strongmen seized lifelong hope was that a just solution to The family requests that, in honor of power, the Cold War played out, and he the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would be his exemplary caregivers, donations in dealt personally with international figures found. Mr. Griffiths’ memory be made to the of prominence. Among these was the Amb. Keeley was an articulate Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation at www. notorious and dangerously erratic strong- advocate for a greater role for diplomacy pulmonaryfibrosis.org or (888) 733-6741. man who ruled Uganda, Idi Amin.” in defusing conflict and protecting the Amb. Keeley was also closely involved nation, and contributed his expertise to n Robert V. Keeley, 85, a retired FSO with the evacuation of the U.S. embassies the American Academy of Diplomacy and three-time ambassador who attained in both Uganda and Cambodia. collection, First Line of Defense—Ambas- the rank of Career Minister, died of a Known for his willingness to ques- sadors, Embassies and American Inter- stroke on Jan. 9 in Washington, D.C. tion the status quo in foreign policy and ests Abroad (2000). He is the author of Mr. Keeley was born on Sept. 4, 1929, speak out against injustice, Amb. Keeley The Colonels’ Coup and the American in Beirut, where his father, James, was the won AFSA’s 1989 Christian Herter Award, Embassy: A Diplomat’s View of the Break- American consul. As the family moved given to a member of the Senior Foreign down of Democracy in Cold War Greece from post to post, Mr. Keeley attended Service who demonstrates “extraordi- (2010). schools in Canada, Greece and Belgium, nary accomplishment involving initia- An avid sailor throughout his life, and he became fluent in French and tive, integrity, intellectual courage and Amb. Keeley celebrated his 70th birth- Greek. creative dissent.” day by renting a yacht and treating his Majoring in English, he graduated His citation pointed to Amb. Keeley’s extended family to a sailing trip through summa cum laude from Princeton consistent intellectual courage and Greece’s Cyclades Islands. University in 1951, and then served in creative dissent in policy recommenda- Amb. Keeley is survived by his wife of the U.S. Coast Guard as commander of tions while serving in Greece, Uganda 64 years, Louise Schoonmaker Keeley of an 83-foot patrol boat during the Korean and Cambodia. His service as a political Washington, D.C.; two children: Michal War (1953-1955). officer and, later, as U.S. ambassador in Keeley of Fleischmanns, N.Y., and Chris- Mr. Keeley joined the Foreign Service Athens was characterized by forthright topher Keeley of Washington, D.C.; his in 1956. During a distinguished 34-year honesty in dealing with a challenging brother; and four grandchildren. career, he served as political officer in relationship. In 1967, when a military Jordan, Mali and Greece; as deputy chief coup overthrew Greece’s democratic n Micheline Lamirault Kemper, of mission in Uganda (1971-1973) and government, he vigorously contended 86 the wife of retired USAID FSO Joseph Cambodia (1974-1975); and as deputy that the United States should make clear Kemper, died on Nov. 22 at her home in director of the Interagency Task Force on its opposition to the junta. Alexandria, Va. Indochina Refugees (1975-1976). In Uganda, he urged that the United Born in Paris, France, on July 21, 1928, He was appointed U.S. ambassador to States take strong action to demonstrate Mrs. Kemper was the only child of Robert Mauritius in 1976, and was then named its disapproval of a deplorable regime. and Lucie Lamirault. In 1947 she became deputy assistant secretary of State for And in Cambodia, he distinguished a civilian English translator for the French African affairs, in charge of southern himself with constructive criticism of army in Germany, where she met her and eastern Africa (1978-1980). He then some aspects of U.S. policy during the future husband.

68 march 2015 | the foreign Service journal Mrs. Kemper accompanied her in the early 1970s, the couple moved husband during his 1957-1961 posting to Salisbury, Conn., where Mrs. Kuhn with USAID to Seoul, where she taught became active in the Millbrook Garden French to Korean students. Their sub- Club and the National Society of the sequent postings included Mogadishu, Colonial Dames. For many years she also Tunis, Dakar and Kinshasa, in addition to presided over the fall festival at St. John’s assignments in Washington, D.C. Episcopal Church in Salisbury. In 1980, Mrs. Kemper’s husband In her later years, Mrs. Kuhn returned retired as an administrative counselor in to her love of the outdoors and was an Abidjan, and in 1989 the couple settled at avid hiker with her many beloved dogs. the Watergate at Landmark in West Alex- In 2014 she moved to Noble Horizons andria, where they have lived ever since. Retirement Community, where she Family and friends remember Mrs. quickly became an integral member of Kemper as the consummate diplomatic the community. wife and a wonderful mother. She always Mrs. Kuhn was predeceased by her knew how to laugh, they recall, noting the husband, John; her son, William Speer family stories of her mischievous youth. Kuhn III, a former FSO; and three sisters: Mrs. Kemper is survived by her Letitia Crosby of Franconia, N.H., Eleanor husband of 65 years, Joseph, and their Morris of Pottstown, Pa., and Elise Felton daughters, Chantal and Caroline. of Southwest Harbor, Maine. She is survived by her three daughters: n Anita C. Kuhn, 93, wife of the late Marian Browning of Salisbury, Conn.; retired FSO John L. Kuhn, died on Sept. Eleanore Boyse, who with her Foreign 17 in Sharon, Conn. Service officer husband, Matt, lives in Mrs. Kuhn was born in Philadelphia, Wiesbaden, Germany; and Jacqueline Pa., in 1921. She graduated from the Kuhn of Salisbury, Conn.; and grand- Shipley School in Bryn Mawr, Pa., in 1939 children: Anya and Slava Browning and and shortly thereafter participated in the Fentress, Natalie and Derek Boyse. newly established Experiment in Inter- Donations in her memory may be national Living study abroad program, made to Noble Horizons, 17 Cobble which took her to Austria and Germany Road, Salisbury CT 06038. on the eve of World War II. Mrs. Kuhn enlisted in the U.S. Marine n John J. LaMazza, 80, a retired Corps in 1943, ending her service as a Foreign Service officer, died on Oct. 4 in sergeant in 1945. She then moved to Chandler, Ariz. Baltimore, Md., where she worked at the Mr. LaMazza grew up in New York Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins City, the son of Italian immigrants: his University. father was a carpenter and his mother In 1948, she married John L. Kuhn, a seamstress. After graduation from the a Foreign Service officer with the U.S. seminary (Cathedral College), he enlisted Department of State. As a diplomatic in the U.S. Army. wife and mother—the couple had four Mr. LaMazza joined the Foreign Ser- children—she spent more than 20 years vice in 1957, spurred by his passion for at five different overseas posts in South history, culture and, most importantly, Africa, France and Italy. peace. His first overseas posting was Following her husband’s retirement Italy. He subsequently served in Libya,

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2015 69 Jordan, El Salvador, South Korea, Spain Wendy, who was also working there. The Katherine, Kevin, Derek, Eileen, Reed and Argentina, in addition to Washing- couple went on to serve in Brazil, the and Helen. ton, D.C. Mr. LaMazza held a variety of Dominican Republic and Guatemala. positions, including eight assignments as In the early 1970s, Mr. McLean was n Leonard C. Meeker, 98, a former labor attaché. enjoying his assignment in Central U.S. ambassador to Romania, died on His work required him to travel exten- America when he received a call from Nov. 29 at his home in Ocracoke, N.C., of sively throughout South America, Europe, an old family friend, a board member at congestive heart failure. Asia and the Middle East. Mr. LaMazza’s Northland College in Ashland, Wis., who Mr. Meeker was born in Montclair, diplomatic career culminated with post- told him that he should consider applying N.J., in 1916. He was a graduate of Deer- ings to the Organization for Economic to become president of the school. field Academy (1933), Amherst College Cooperation and Development and That year, Mr. McLean made a com- (1937) and Harvard School of Law (1940). three of the United States’ major trading plete career change, moving his family He began his legal career in the General partners, Canada, Italy and Japan. In July from Guatemala to northern Wisconsin. Counsel’s Office of the U.S. Department 1998, on retiring, he received the Secre- There, from 1971 to 1987, he helped of the Treasury and in the Office of the tary’s Career Achievement Award. shape Northland into a liberal arts school Solicitor General, which handles the Mr. LaMazza settled in Philadelphia, with a strong environmental studies cur- federal government’s litigation at the Pa., where he managed the Meals on riculum. Supreme Court. He enlisted in the U.S. Wheels program. He then moved to Friends and colleagues at Northland Army in 1942, and served in the Office of Chandler, Ariz., in 2008 to be closer to remember Mr. McLean as an inspired, Strategic Services. family. He maintained his interest in positive leader who was good at connect- In 1946, Mr. Meeker joined the State public and foreign policy, read the morning with students, faculty and staff and a Department’s Office of the Legal Adviser. ing papers in Arabic, translated Japanese wonderful friend. He was named assistant legal adviser for haikus and monitored the trajectory of After serving at Northland, Mr. United Nations Affairs in 1951, deputy the New York Yankees. McLean moved to St. Paul, Minn., where legal adviser in 1961 and legal adviser of Family and friends remember Mr. he was president of the United Arts Coun- the State Department under President LaMazza for his fine sense of balance, cil, and then worked for several years Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965. justice and values, as well as his quick with Compatible Technology Interna- Mr. Meeker played a significant role wit, sense of humor, diplomacy and tional. during the Cuban Missile Crisis on 1962 humility. Committed to service and education, by developing the concept of a “quaran- He is survived by his daughters, and enjoying working with children, tine” of the island instead of a blockade, Michelle Winter and Bernadette both Mr. and Mrs. McLean volunteered which could have been considered an act LaMazza; his son, John Dominic as teaching assistants at Paul and of war. His top-secret memo (now declas- LaMazza; his brother, Father Carmen Sheila Wellstone Elementary School. sified), “On Legal Aspects of Declaring a LaMazza; and four grandchildren. Mr. McLean also read to the blind, was Blockade of Cuba,” helped defuse one of involved with the arts and with the the most serious international crises of n Malcolm McLean, 87, a former United Theological Seminary of the Twin the modern era. Foreign Service officer, died peacefully at Cities. His children remember him as In 1969, Mr. Meeker was appointed his home in St. Paul, Minn., on Nov. 19. their hero. ambassador to Romania, where he served Mr. McLean was born on April 23, Mr. McLean was predeceased by his until 1973. 1927, in Duluth, Minn., to Charles Rus- brothers, Russell and John, and a sister, After leaving government service, he sell McLean and Mildred Washburn. He Carol. He is survived by his beloved wife, was for many years both a lawyer and attended boarding school in North Caro- Wendy; their three sons, Ian (and his director of the International Project at lina and graduated from Yale University. wife, Margaret) of Lincoln, Neb., Hugh the Center for Law and Social Policy in Mr. McLean joined the Foreign Service (and his wife, Mary Beth) of Elmhurst, Ill., Washington, D.C. He traveled to coun- in 1955. His first overseas post was South and Christopher (and his wife, Nancy) of tries in Africa and Latin America to assist Korea, where he met his wife of 58 years, Berkeley, Calif.; and six grandchildren: local lawyers in promoting and protecting

70 MARCH 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL human rights. He served as a board mem- les, Calif. His three children with Beverly Syracuse University School of Journal- ber of the Union of Concerned Scientists are: Eliza Ann Hunt Meeker of Paris, ism and received his M.S. from Columbia and was also a member of the American France; Dr. James Edward Weeks Meeker University. Foreign Service Association. of Portland, Ore.; and Benjamin Chester Mr. Muir began his newspaper career In 2002, Amb. Meeker moved to Gilman Meeker of Bloomfield Hills, Mich. at the New York World-Telegram and Sun Ocracoke, N.C. Active in the commu- The family suggests donations in in 1955. When the paper folded in 1966, nity, he chaired the Ocracoke Planning Amb. Meeker’s memory be made to the he relocated to Vienna, Va., where he Advisory Board for many years. He also Ocracoke Preservation Society at info@ worked briefly on the news copy desk of believed in physical fitness and, as long ocracokepreservation.org or (252) 928- The Washington Post before joining the as his health allowed, swam in the ocean 7375. Foreign Service. every day he could. After two years in Washington, D.C., Amb. Meeker was predeceased by his n Hugh Orville Muir, 82, a retired he was posted to London as an informa- first wife, Christine Halliday, who died in FSO with the U.S. Information Agency, tion officer. He returned to Washington 1958. He is survived by his wife, Beverly died of complications from a stroke on to become chief of the Africa regional Joan Meeker, and six children. From his Nov. 4 at Fairfax Hospital in Fairfax, Va. desk at Voice of America. In 1981, he was first wife, Christine, they are: Richard Hal- Mr. Muir was born on Aug. 20, 1932, posted to Nairobi as East Africa Bureau liday Meeker of Portland, Ore.; Charles in Washington, D.C. He grew up in Chevy chief. There, he and his wife of 61 years, Carpenter Meeker of Raleigh, N.C.; and Chase, Md., where he attended Woodrow Phyllis, enjoyed many exhilarating safari Sarah Louise Meeker Jensen of Los Ange- Wilson High School. He graduated from trips.

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2015 71 Retiring in 1991, Mr. Muir returned to 1931, in Dallas, Texas, and grew up in ing deadly terrorist attacks on the U.S. his first love, newspapers. He worked as a Shreveport, La., where his father was an Marine barracks in Beirut. reporter and editor for The Poughkeepsie electrical engineer for a utility company. In August 1988, President Ronald Journal, which was near the cedar and He graduated from South Kent School, Reagan appointed him ambassador to glass home he designed and built in Cold a boarding school in Connecticut, and Pakistan, succeeding Arnold Raphel, who Spring, N.Y. received a degree in philosophy and his- was killed in an Aug. 17 plane crash along Ten years later, Mr. and Mrs. Muir tory from Princeton University in 1952. with Pakistan President Muhammad Zia moved back to Washington, D.C., and He joined the U.S. Navy after gradu- ul-Haq. then, in 2005, to Fredericksburg, Va., ation and served in naval intelligence Amb. Oakley retired from the Foreign where he wrote features for The Free in Japan for three years, an experience Service in 1991. But President Bill Clinton Lance-Star and indulged his passion for which kindled his passion for interna- called him back to diplomatic service history by giving tours of the many battle- tional affairs. in 1993 after the Battle of Mogadishu, fields and sights in the area. After a year of graduate work at in which 18 Americans were killed and Family and friends remember Mr. Tulane University, Mr. Oakley entered the the bodies of U.S. soldiers were dragged Muir fondly for his charm, the stories of Foreign Service in the summer of 1957. through the streets. Amb. Oakley negoti- his travels and exploits, his delight in his He met his future wife, the former Phyl- ated the release of Michael Durant, pilot Scottish heritage and his fantastic mem- lis Elliot, in Sudan, where he had been of a downed Black Hawk helicopter ory for dates and historical detail. As assigned and where she was a Foreign taken captive by loyalists of the warlord they recall, he loved his books, traveling Service officer. They married in Cairo in Mohamed Farah Aidid. around the world and watching old mov- 1958. She resigned from the Foreign Ser- Amb. Oakley then retired from the ies and British mysteries on TV. Family vice, as required at the time, but returned Foreign Service for good. He went on to members point also to his legendary love in 1974, when the rules changed. The pair work as a distinguished research fellow of feasting on crab, oysters and lobster. had postings in the Ivory Coast, Vietnam, at the Institute for National Strategic Mr. Muir is survived by his wife, Phyl- France, the United States Mission to the Studies Research Directorate at National lis O. Muir; their three children: Linda United Nations in New York and Leba- Defense University until 2010, often writ- M. Odell (and her husband, Craig) of non, in addition to Washington, D.C. ing and commenting on international Richmond, Va., Susan M. Trombley (and Mr. Oakley specialized in Africa, the matters. her husband, Larry) of Swanton, Vt., and Middle East and South Asia, and his Amb. Oakley is survived by his wife Hugh Gordon Muir (and his wife, Betsy) perspective was profoundly shaped by of 56 years, Phyllis; two children: Mary of Naples, Fla.; his grandchildren: Erin his 1965-1967 tour in Vietnam, where he Oakley Kress of Falls Church, Va., and Odell Cook (and her husband, Dan), Lee helped draft a Western-style constitution. Thomas Elliott Oakley of McLean, Va.; M. Trombley (and his wife, Tiffany), Ryan He served as ambassador to Zaire and five grandchildren: Robert Kress, C. Odell, Justine L. Trombley, Kirsten E. (now Congo) from 1979 to 1982 and to Andrew Kress, Peter Kress, Graham Oak- Muir and Elyse M. Muir; and one great- Somalia from 1982 to 1984. For the next ley and Josephine Oakley. grandchild, Cambria Trombley. two years, which saw a rise in hostage Memorial donations in his honor Memorial donations may be made to crises and state-sponsored terrorism in may be made to the International Rescue The Presbyterian Church of Fredericks- the Middle East and Libya, he headed the Committee, Development Office (122 burg Building Fund, 810 Princess Anne State Department’s Office of Counterter- East 42nd Street, New York NY 10168- Street, Fredericksburg VA 22401. rorism. 1289) or to American Near East Aid (1111 In 1987, Ambassador Oakley headed 14th Street NW, #400, Washington DC n Robert B. Oakley, 83, a retired FSO Near East and South Asian affairs on the 20005). and three-time ambassador who attained National Security Council. In that role, the rank of Career Minister, died of com- he helped revive an “activist” policy in n Robert White, 88, a retired FSO plications from Parkinson’s disease on the Middle East after the embarrassment and two-time ambassador, died of cancer Dec. 10 in McLean, Va. of Iran-Contra and the earlier Ameri- on Jan. 14 in Arlington, Va. Mr. Oakley was born on March 12, can withdrawal from Lebanon follow- Mr. White was born on Sept. 21, 1926,

72 MARCH 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL in Melrose, Mass. He served in the U.S. congressional testimony. That outspoken Navy as a radio operator in the Pacific posture drew praise from human rights during World War II. He attended St. groups but death threats in El Salvador. Michael’s College in Vermont on the G.I. In 1981, less than two weeks after Bill, graduating in 1952, and completed President Ronald Reagan took office, a master’s degree in 1954 at The Fletcher Amb. White was removed from his post School at Tufts University in Medford, after coming into conflict with Secretary Mass. of State Alexander M. Haig Jr. He soon Mr. White joined the Foreign Service retired from the Foreign Service after a in 1955 and served in a variety of posi- 25-year career, asserting that he had been tions related to Latin America. He was forced out for political reasons. posted in Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras Once free of the constraints of diplo- and Nicaragua; served as regional direc- macy, Amb. White spent much of the tor of the Peace Corps; and was a U.S. next three decades speaking his mind on Moving? representative to the Organization of U.S. policy and official abuses in Latin American States. He was ambassador to America. During this time he held a Paraguay from 1977 to 1980, when he was series of jobs, including a professorship transferred to El Salvador. at Simmons College in Massachusetts In 1980, when El Salvador was erupt- and a senior associate position at the ing in guerrilla war and military violence, Carnegie Endowment for International the Carter administration sent Mr. White Peace in Washington, D.C. into the maelstrom as its new ambas- In 1989, Amb. White was named sador, hoping he could help the U.S.- president of the Center for International backed government there find a reformist Policy, a think-tank that advocates coop- middle ground and prevent a full-scale eration, transparency and accountability revolution. in global relations. It was a position he Instead, Ambassador White became held until the time of his death. He also a controversial and outspoken critic visited numerous countries, from Haiti to of assassinations and massacres being Afghanistan, with delegations to monitor carried out by American-trained military elections and human rights. units and private death squads. His Amb. White was given the Colonel Take AFSA views cost him his diplomatic career, but Donald Cook Award, bestowed on those earned him the respect of many Salva- who unselfishly give of themselves in ser- With You! dorans. vice to others, and an honorary doctor of Amb. White, who once said he was political science degree from Providence Change your address online, inspired to join the Foreign Service College in Providence, R.I. by a “quotient of idealism,” worked to He was predeceased by his son, Kevin visit us at www.afsa.org/ promote human rights, economic reform White, and daughter Laura White. address and political negotiations between leftist Survivors include his wife of 59 Or rebels and El Salvador’s civil-military years, Maryanne Cahill White of Alexan- Send changes to: junta. dria, Va.; three children: Chris White AFSA Membership Unable to keep silent as security of Manassas, Va.; Claire White of Cam- abuses mounted, Amb. White began bridge, Mass.; and Mary Lou White Department denouncing the rightist military and of Evanston, Ill.; a brother, David White 2101 E Street NW land-owning establishments in diplo- of Alexandria, Va.; and three grandchil- Washington, DC 20037 matic cables, then in interviews and dren. n

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2015 73 BOOKS

Reading Pakistan world combines the ways in which Pakistan is existentially dangerously with hard-wired to act in a regionally destabi- Fighting to the End: the characteris- lizing manner, both against India and in The Pakistan Army’s Way of War tics of a “greedy pursuit of “strategic depth” in Afghani- C. Christine Fair, Oxford University state” that is stan. Press, 2014, $34.95/hardcover, $14.39/ implacably If you have worked on the Pakistan Kindle, 368 pages. driven to initi- portfolio in the past 20 years, Fighting to Reviewed by Kapil Gupta ate hostilities the End will either confirm your wisdom against its per- of folding early, or carry the humiliation Sometime in 2005 a Pentagon briefer ceived existen- of losing to a low-card pair. The history made a reference to Pakistan, and was tial rival, India. Fair recounts is unforgiving on the facts promptly cut off—“What Pakistan are you referring to? There is no Pakistan! There is the army, the ISI (Directorate for Inter- The history Fair recounts is unforgiving on the facts of how Services Intelligence), the politicians, Pakistan’s strategic culture has led to outcomes antithetical to the industrialists, the tribal areas…” The U.S. national security goals. moment was hallmark Donald Rumsfeld, and the staffer had no reply. With the publication of C. Christine Ironically, as Fair notes, pursuit of this of how Pakistan’s strategic culture has led Fair’s Fighting to the End: The Pakistan rivalry is ultimately self-defeating: “Paki- to outcomes antithetical to U.S. national Army’s Way of War there is no longer stan has doggedly attempted to revise security goals. There is no shortage of an excuse for any U.S. national security the geographical status quo and roll back evidence suggesting that Pakistani offi- policy professional to be unprepared for India’s ascendancy, and the very instru- cials have acted as sponsors of terrorism, such a question. ments it has used to attain these policies proliferators of nuclear weapons and In writing this book, Fair has person- have undermined Pakistan’s standing providers of a safe haven for Osama Bin ally upped the ante for scholarship on within the international community and Laden. Pakistan. Like a mathematically gifted even its own long-term viability.” According to Fair, it is unlikely that card-counter banned from the casino, The army’s maladjustment to battle- Washington will call Islamabad’s bluff: she is now persona non grata in Paki- field defeats (to India) and the territo- “Doing so would require American diplo- stan. Someone there even felt compelled rial loss of East Pakistan (present-day mats who are as thoroughly knowledge- to produce at least two YouTube video Bangladesh) have contributed signifi- able as their Pakistani counterparts. Even rebuttals to this book, complete with ad cantly to narratives of existential external if more American negotiators were able hominem attacks. threats. According to its own self-serving to counter the narrative presented by Although she is a controversial figure criteria, which differ from objective their Pakistani counterparts and prevent for Pakistan’s military-intelligence com- measures of national defense, Pakistan’s them from employing their preferred munity, Fair’s work is firmly grounded in mission across the various conflicts it has strategy of playing on American desire to political science, empirical analysis and precipitated is simply to avoid defeat. For make restitutions for past failures, it is not a detailed reading of the Pakistan Army’s Islamabad, winning is simply preserv- obvious that they would do so. American defense literature. ing the ability to inflict security costs on policymaking—toward Pakistan gener- Dissecting Pakistan’s praetorianism India; loss is any constraint on offensive, ally and the army in particular—is always is not new territory, but in this book Fair low-intensity capabilities. aimed at quickly completing transactions exposes the full extent to which Paki- Thus, win or lose, the Pakistan to meet short-term needs.” stan’s political character is defined by its military has been able to rationalize the Cumulatively, since the 9/11 attacks, military’s strategic culture. She details core tenets of its strategic culture that, Pakistan’s winnings from the U.S. tax- how Pakistan’s “unreasonable revision- unfortunately, play out in a manner that payer are at least $27 billion and count- ism” regarding its history and role in the is regionally destabilizing. Fair explains ing. (For detailed documentation of U.S.

74 MARCH 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL assistance to Pakistan, see the Center for technical; nor is it laden with jargon. In Congress, lawmakers passed five bills Global Development’s “Aid to Pakistan short, it is a resource to equip readers for that critics say amount to very little.) by the Numbers” and the Congressional today’s challenges. Why the delay on serious cybersecurity Research Service’s July 1, 2013, report, From personal privacy to global poli- legislation? “Pakistan: U.S. Foreign Assistance.”) tics, cyberassaults are a daily affair in the Lawmakers lack understanding of Poker players know that if you can’t 21st century. The Defense Department the issue, the authors argue. Conflicting spot the sucker during the first few hands has reportedly budgeted $5 billion for policy recommendations and priorities of the game, then it is most likely you. cyberdefense. The burden on U.S. busi- by agencies may also be confusing law- Christine Fair’s scholarship is a gift to U.S. nesses is growing annually, as witnessed makers. But the risk from inaction on a policymakers playing at the South Asia recently in online assaults on everything national cyberdefense policy is not in the table; the savvy among them will use this from NATO to Sony Pictures. In Decem- best interest of the nation. book to be prepared to read Pakistan’s ber, President Barack Obama compared Several themes recur throughout the tells—and know when the deck is cold. cyberspace to the “Wild West.” book. The first is knowledge: Whether it is Arguably, cybersecurity is one of the cyberspace or foreign policy, demystify- Prior to becoming a Foreign Service officer, most important diplomatic and defense ing something requires knowledge and Kapil Gupta served as country director for issues of our era. As one U.S. general told knowledge-sharing. Afghanistan at the Office of the Secretary of Defense. All of his poker losses from Dhaka, Accra, Navy Hill and Mumbai have been Arguably, cybersecurity is one of the most important diplomatic paid in full. He currently serves as the Eco- and defense issues of our era. nomic Bureau’s detailee to the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review office. The opinions expressed in this review are the authors, “Understand- Another is person- those of the author and not the U.S. Depart- ing cyber is now a command nel: “The people behind ment of State. responsibility.” If not at pres- the machines are inher- ent a diplomatic responsibil- ently inside any problem Addressing the ity, it is certainly a real factor or needed solution,” Cyberknowledge Gap in the international relations the authors write. Think landscape, and cooperation WikiLeaker Pfc. Chelsea Cybersecurity and Cyberwar: with other agencies is criti- Manning and National What Everyone Needs to Know cal to quickly identify and Security Agency contractor P.W. Singer and Allan Friedman, Oxford address threats. and international fugitive University Press, 2014, $16.95, paperback, In the authors’ view, Edward Snowden. Man- 320 pages. however, the public and agement message: Think Reviewed by Jim Patterson policymakers are woefully unin- caution when giving clear- formed when it comes to such matters. ances, and closely monitor personnel to In Cybersecurity and Cyberwar: What The late Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) prevent classified disclosures by future Everyone Needs to Know, P.W. Singer once described cyberspace as “a series Chelsea and Edward types. and Allan Friedman quickly summarize of tubes.” And, as they report, a Pentagon Finally, the different views of states current cyber issues, as of early 2014, in a committee spent a year writing a 28-word about cybersecurity are critical to global highly readable style definition of the term that would perplex politics, the authors advise. Each country The book works well as a source on most readers. practices “intelligence” gathering, but for current cyberdisputes and as a back- Disturbingly, Singer and Friedman different national security purposes. grounder for offering practical policy note that Congress has not passed any For instance, cybersecurity has com- guidance on an increasingly complex and substantive legislation on cybersecurity plicated diplomacy between the United rapidly changing subject. It is not overly since 2002. (In the final days of the 113th States and China. China’s definition of

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2015 75 “intelligence” extends to cyberespionage and theft of proprietary business and industrial information. A sizable portion of the book covers current U.S.-China relations in the cybersecurity area, but with only general direction for a bilateral resolution. Cybersecurity and Cyberwarfare was published last year, before the U.S. Justice Department brought cyberespionage charges against five members of the Chinese military. Beijing retaliated to the Justice move by suspending cybersecurity talks with Washington and, reportedly, by increasing its cyberespionage in the United States. Recent U.S.-China meetings seem to have produced nothing on cyber. Cybersecurity also affects international organizations like NATO, which in 2007 found cyberdefense of Estonia (from Russia) to be outside its Article 5 duty of “collective defense” of a NATO member. Whether this policy prevails may depend on future cyberaggression against NATO members. The authors suggest NATO may soon be forced into cyberdefense. Cloud computing, big data and increasingly small, cheap and accurate handheld devices will pose additional challenges for future cybersecurity. This book is a great resource, when combined with other reading and training, as diplomacy becomes more technology-based. It will serve FSOs well as they grapple with these challenges. n

Jim Patterson, a retired FSO and AFSA life member, writes on technology from his San Francisco office. He is a member of DACOR and the Society of Historians of American Foreign Relations. He blogs at www.JEPDiplomacy.blogspot.com.

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84 MARCH 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL REFLECTIONS

My Burmese lessons left me unprepared, Rangoon: A Walk in the Rain however, for what happened next. Turning to find the source of the voice, BY ARTHUR DYMOND I looked up to the third floor to see a warm smile on an old man leaning over he other day I left work at 5 p.m. Across from the courthouse was a nar- a balcony. In his outstretched arms was a to do some exploring in down- row alley lined with tall, colonial-era apart- red umbrella ... for me. He motioned that town Rangoon before sunset ment buildings. Their walls were green I should catch it. I declined repeatedly, Twith my wife, Stefanie. We gave with moss, grass and even a few small but in the end relented. He gently let go of instructions to our nanny, who had agreed shrubs growing horizontally from between the umbrella, and it fell perfectly into my to stay late, then departed. bricks. The colors of the walls, already hands. By the time we arrived at Sule Pagoda, faded by decades of tropical weather and I thanked him, and we continued on in the heart of downtown opposite the vehicle pollution, took on an even gentler our way down the narrow alley. But the former U.S. chancery, dark clouds had hue as the sun began its descent. attractions hidden along the street and collected in the near distance. Their steel around the next corner faded. I glanced gray color made a beautiful backdrop to with only passing interest at the dirty tables the golden pagoda, but seemed less than The torrential with their perfect rows of fish waiting to inviting for an early evening walk. be sold; at the whole chickens, naked Nevertheless, we jumped out of the taxi rain gave way to and headless; at the neat stacks of fruits in the direction of the beautifully mani- and vegetables; at the tired women and cured, bright green lawn called Maha Ban- something more children who had been selling their goods dula Garden. It’s named for General Maha “normal,” and we all day while trying to fight off the tropical Bandula, who commanded the Burmese heat. I hardly even noticed the rats gather- army against the British in the First Anglo- ventured out—one ing scraps of discarded food from beneath Burmese War (1824-1826). small umbrella the tables. Then, as if in an attempt to wash I felt completely overwhelmed by the the city of a day’s worth of sweat, muck between us. genuine kindness and hospitality this and filth, the heavens opened up sud- stranger had shown me. At the same time, denly. With a throng of pedestrians, we Fluorescent lights had begun to paint I felt shame for having cynically misread squeezed ourselves under what was left light semicircles around the entrances to the situation. of an awning that had once been a grand a few of the ground-floor shops. A couple As we retraced our steps back to the entrance to the colonial high court. After of street dogs followed us with their eyes, narrow market alley, I carried the umbrella about 15 minutes, the torrential rain gave apparently not interested enough to with a certain pride. It made me feel way to something more “normal,” and we expend the energy to turn their heads. welcome and familiar, as if I somehow ventured out—with one small umbrella Ahead was a small neighborhood street belonged in this place that was so different between us. market that was preparing to close down from my posh diplomatic neighborhood. for the evening. We wondered if the generous man From behind us, I heard a man’s voice would still be there. As it turned out, he Arthur Dymond is a first-tour management- calling out, “Hello... Hey, you... You... was. And he welcomed us into his foyer, coned officer posted to Rangoon as an Hello.” I did not want to buy anything, and and we chatted for about 10 minutes assistant GSO. Before joining the State had already lost valuable daylight that was before heading back home to get the chil- Department, he spent five years as an analyst helpful in exploring this quarter of the city. dren ready for bed. at the Pentagon. Earlier he worked in the But he continued shouting, and I finally Though our excursion was cut short by private sector in Europe, Africa and Asia. organized my thoughts into the limited the weather, I feel fortunate to have dis- Arthur and his wife, Stefanie, have a 3-year- Burmese phrases I had learned, to say covered so much about Burma during that old son and a 16-month-old daughter. politely that I had no time and no money. brief evening walk in the rain. n

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2015 85 LOCAL LENS

BY BRIAN M. GIBEL n GILGIT-BALTISTAN, PAKISTAN

oung boys from Shigar, in the far northern Gilgit-Baltistan province of Pakistan, play Please submit your favorite, recent photograph to be considered for Local polo on two legs instead of four. This is a common scene here, where locals claim polo Lens. Images must be high resolution (at originated. Iran might dispute that, but there is no denying strong local interest in the least 300 dpi at 8 x 10”) and must not be sport. Gilgit-Baltistan is home to the oldest royal polo square and holds annual con- in print elsewhere. Please submit a short Y description of the scene/event, as well as tests with the neighboring province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which is home to the highest polo your name, brief biodata and the type of ground in the world. n camera used, to [email protected].

Brian M. Gibel is the cultural attaché at Embassy Islamabad. Previous assignments include Embassy Seoul, where he was cultural attaché; Consulate General Shenyang, where he was political-economic chief; Consulate General Shanghai, where he was assistant public affairs officer; and two additional tours at Embassy Seoul, where he was a consular officer and deputy spokesperson. A native of Oceanside, New York, Brian wrestled competitively for 15 years before joining the Foreign Service. He is married to Dr. Hyun Hee Kim, a professor and academic coordinator of Hanyang Univer- sity’s Graduate TESOL Program in Seoul. Their daughter Maya was born in 2008.

86 MARCH 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL