The Foreign Service Journal, May 2010

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GETTING UP TO SPEED ■ BEFORE USAID ■ A CASE OF WANDERLUST

$3.50 / MAY 2010 OREIGN ERVICE FJ O U R N A L STHE MAGAZINE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS

BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD? The Future of the Foreign Service C1-C4_FSJ_0510_COV:proof 4/15/10 8:55 PM Page C2 01-16_FSJ_0510_FRO:first 4/15/10 5:29 PM Page 1 01-16_FSJ_0510_FRO:first 4/15/10 5:29 PM Page 2 01-16_FSJ_0510_FRO:first 4/15/10 5:30 PM Page 3

OREIGN ERVICE FJ O U R N A L S CONTENTS May 2010 Volume 87, No. 5

F OCUS ON

The Future of the Foreign Service

THE CHALLENGE OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT / 17 It is time for the Foreign Service to pull together recent advances in training into a comprehensive plan. By Ronald E. Neumann

DIPLOMACY 3.0: A PROGRESS REPORT / 24 Unlike the Diplomatic Readiness Initiative, Diplomacy 3.0 is envisioned as a long-term approach to FS hiring needs. Cover and inside illustration By Bob Guldin by Gary Kempston THE NEXT-GENERATION DEPARTMENT OF STATE PROJECT / 29 We must empower the Secretary of State to coordinate the entire PRESIDENT’S VIEWS / 5 U.S. international relations mechanism. Seeing Diplomacy As a Profession By Edward Marks By Susan R. Johnson THE “REFORM” OF FOREIGN SERVICE REFORM / 35 SPEAKING OUT / 14 The constant need to redefine the diplomatic mission and organize Time for State to Get Up to Speed accordingly continues to drive a debate that began in the late 1940s. By Tom Casey By Thomas D. Boyatt

REFLECTIONS / 80 S/CRS: SMART POWER IN ACTION / 40 The Yukon Jack Manifesto An interview with Ambassador John Herbst, the Coordinator By Jonathan Mines for Reconstruction and Stabilization since 2006. By Steven Alan Honley LETTERS / 7 MARKETPLACE / 8 FS HERITAGE CYBERNOTES / 10 A LONG-TERM PERSPECTIVE ON BOOKS / 63 U.S. FOREIGN DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION / 45 IN MEMORY / 68 Building on time-tested models is the best way to create development INDEX TO cooperation institutions that can meet future challenges. ADVERTISERS / 78 By Glenn Rogers

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OREIGN ERVICE CONTENTS FJ O U R N A L S

EWS Editor AFSA N STEVEN ALAN HONLEY Senior Editor STATE SURVEY RESULTS: STRONG OPINIONS / 51 SUSAN B. MAITRA OUTREACH & TEAMWORK: AFSA’S EXPLORITAS PROGRAMS / 51 Associate Editor SHAWN DORMAN RIEFS GGELER B , A / 52 AFSA News Editor VP USAID: FSOS ARE NOT RAMBOS / 54 FRANCESCA KELLY Ad & Circulation Manager VP FAS: UP OR OUT, PART II / 55 ED MILTENBERGER GRANTING STUDENTS’ WISHES: LORI DEC / 59 Art Director CARYN SUKO SMITH CLASSIFIEDS / 60 Editorial Intern JENNIFER THOMPSON Advertising Intern JOSERELDA BOON

EDITORIAL BOARD TED WILKINSON Chairman MAY G. BAPTISTA JOSEPH BRUNS STEPHEN W. B UCK JULIE GIANELLONI CONNOR JEFF GIAUQUE MARY E. GLANTZ D. IAN HOPPER GEORGE JONES LYNN W. R OCHE RIMA J. VYDMANTAS

THE MAGAZINE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS Foreign Service Journal (ISSN 0146-3543), 2101 E Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20037-2990 is published monthly with a combined July-August issue by the American Foreign Service Associa- tion (AFSA), a private, nonprofit organization. Material appearing herein represents the opinions of the writers and does not necessarily represent the views of the Journal, the Editorial Board or AFSA. Writer queries and submissions are invited, preferably by e-mail. Journal sub- scription: AFSA members – $13 included in annual dues; others – $40. For foreign surface mail, add $18 per year; foreign airmail, $36 per year. Periodical postage paid at Washington, D.C., and at additional mailing offices. Indexed by Public Affairs Information Services (PAIS). The Journal is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts, photos or illustrations. Advertising inquiries are invited. The appearance of advertisements herein does not imply the endorsement of the services or goods offered. TELEPHONE: (202) 338-4045 FAX: (202) 338-8244 or (202) 338-6820 E-MAIL: [email protected] WEB: www.afsa.org; www.fsjournal.org © American Foreign Service Association, 2010. Printed in the U.S.A. Send address changes to: AFSA Attn: Address Change 2101 E Street N.W. Washington DC 20037-2990 Printed on 50-percent recycled paper, of which 10 percent is post-consumer waste.

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PRESIDENT’S VIEWS Seeing Diplomacy As a Profession BY SUSAN R. JOHNSON

Do you consider the For- derfunding and understaffing fessional responsibility to carry out the eign Service to be a diplomatic of America’s civilian foreign “management of violence.” service? Is it a profession, or affairs institutions. Huntington acknowledged diplo- just a job that anyone inter- But are we clear about matic service as a profession possessing ested in travel and international what foundational profes- “a high degree of specialization of labor affairs can dabble in for a few sional education and what and responsibilities ... which renders a years before moving on — or sort of short-term traning are collective service to society as a whole.” back — to business, nonprofits, needed to build the skills, ex- But he left the definition of the profes- teaching or politics? And if you do think pertise and sense of “corporateness” sion, and its professional education and it is a profession, is it one you and the America’s diplomats and development certification requirements, up to the public can define, believe in and be diplomats to determine. proud of? The first step is to AFSA believes that it is time to take Our military and intelligence serv- 3 up this task. We need to put forward a ices long ago recognized the need for define our profession. definition of our profession for scrutiny high-quality professional education (as and debate, as a first step toward devis- opposed to short-term training) to pro- professionals require? Would being ing an effective approach to in-service duce skilled practitioners and leaders, certified and perceived as professionals training. and have invested heavily in providing — like doctors, lawyers or teachers — Toward that end, the American it. With that history in mind, Secretary make a difference? Academy of Diplomacy has launched a of Defense Robert Gates and Admiral Former Deputy Secretary of State comprehensive study to address profes- Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint John Negroponte, the first speaker in sional education, training, and develop- Chiefs of Staff, among others, have spo- AFSA’s new lecture series, “Promoting mental assignments needed to produce ken out repeatedly about the need for Excellence in Diplomacy,” emphasized a high-value cadre of diplomatic service our nation to invest more resources in the critical need for foreign-language professionals with the knowledge and civilian foreign affairs agencies, such as proficiency and the ability to under- skills needed to meet present needs and the State Department and U.S. Agency stand and operate in other cultures. Ac- future evolving requirements. for International Development. cordingly, the greatest challenge for the AFSA, along with the Cox and Dela- Recently, 50 senior retired military Foreign Service is “recruiting, training, van Foundations, is funding this study leaders signed a letter to members of deploying, retaining and retraining offi- and will participate in the work of the Congress in which they supported Pres- cers” with the skills needed to carry out AAD Advisory Group that will provide ident Barack Obama’s FY 2011 Inter- America’s foreign policy. overall guidance and policy direction. national Affairs Budget request. In A little more than 50 years ago, AFSA wants to provide a channel for particular, they endorsed its commit- Samuel Huntington made the case for active-duty perspectives and input to ment to begin reversing the chronic un- military “officership” as a profession in this project, and we are exploring a va- his book, The Soldier and the State. He riety of ways to do this. If you are inter- Susan R. Johnson is the president of the defined a military professional as some- ested in these issues, please be in touch American Foreign Service Association. one with the intellectual skills and pro- with us at [email protected]. ■

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LETTERS

Now That’s Funny similar Foreign Service jobs to mine, eration of Multiple Sclerosis Societies, The cartoon in the January FSJ, Richard became president of Anatolia and sole fundraiser for Passports for “The Three-Martini Country Team College in Greece — the first job I was Pets, part of the successful campaign Meeting,” is the funniest thing I’ve offered on retirement 25 years ago, that ended the six-month quarantine seen in the magazine in 50 years. In only to have it whisked away at the last for dogs and cats entering the U.K. fact, I think it’s the only funny thing minute when the incumbent changed The work can be very rewarding I’ve seen in the FSJ in the same period! his mind about leaving. when you believe in the nonprofit or Harrison Sherwood I now teach and direct international charity that you represent — and the Senior Foreign Service, relations at a private American univer- remuneration is better than in most retired sity in London (and simultaneously di- teaching jobs. Considering all the Longstanton, U.K. rected an American graduate school in think-tanks and similar organizations Paris a few years ago). Jobs in acade- that need to raise money, this is a wide- Getting It Wrong mia, especially abroad, can be long- open field for FS alumni with their so- Chas Freeman’s article in your lasting and rewarding even when cial and communication skills. March issue, “The Middle East: Forks part-time. But an earned Ph.D., which There are any number of other re- in the Way Forward,” is abhorrent, I began part-time while still at State tirees who moved into interesting jobs, outrageous and reprehensible. The (but did not complete until five years with or without further training. On- Arab and Muslim political objectives of later), helps. ward to new horizons, my Foreign genocide and terror are incompatible One field not discussed in the Feb- Service colleagues, in the knowledge with democracy, human rights and the ruary issue is fundraising — particu- that your skills are in demand when rule of law that Americans cherish. larly in the international arena, in properly presented. The FS retiree It is unfortunate that the Foreign which an FS career provides an edge. network is very much alive and kicking. Service Journal has provided Freeman I learned that when Brown University George B. Lambrakis a platform to peddle his agenda. picked me out of 250 experienced ap- FSO, retired Patrick Syring plicants as its first-ever international London, U.K. FSO, retired fundraiser in 1985 (and perhaps the Arlington, Va. first full-time one in U.S. academia). Tips on Job-Hunting I owed that lead to the FS retiree The February issue of the Journal A Nod to International network, which was already repre- was exceptionally thoughtful and help- Fundraising sented at Brown. The next such job, at ful to those foreign affairs employees Thanks for the February issue on the International Institute for Strate- involved in career change. Bill Har- life and work after the Foreign Serv- gic Studies in London, also came rop’s careful review of moving to senior ice. Bill Harrop’s study of senior living through an FS friend. After that, I living is must reading for older retirees. facilities was useful even to an ancient coasted along for several more years as And Robert Pace’s contribution to the retiree like me. Richard Jackson’s ac- chief fundraiser of the Princess Royal closing compilation (p. 51) is indispen- count of academia abroad also caught Fund for Carers (working with Her sible advice for those in transition from my eye. Royal Highness Princess Anne), secre- the Foreign Service. A graduate of my college with very tary general of the International Fed- However, I would add to his vital

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L ETTERS

WWW.FSJOURNAL.ORG four points on job-hunting a fifth one: in the embassy files. On it, someone Click on the Marketplace tab on the marquee Don’t sit at home waiting for the had written “Let her teach school.” phone to ring! Take a graduate course Years later, when State changed its AFSA Legacy in an area of interest — I took two in policy regarding assignments abroad www.afsa.org management finance at George Wash- for married female FSOs, Pamela was ington University — and find a way to invited to return to the Foreign Serv- AKA www.stay-aka.com serve as a volunteer at a nonprofit. In ice. But by that time she had em- addition to learning about the “outside barked on another career, in educa- Arlington Court Suites Hotel world,” you will be ready when the in- tion, tutoring and Teaching English as www.arlingtoncourthotel.com terviewer asks what you’re doing now. a Second Language instruction before Clements International (Hint: “Looking for a job” is not the becoming a professional counselor. It www.clements.com right answer!) was another loss for State. Ted Curran Yale Richmond Cort Furniture www.cort1.com FSO, retired FSO, retired Frankfort, Mich. Washington, D.C. Diplomatic Auto. Sales www.diplosales.com Spousal Employment: The New USAID Fox Hill More to Be Done More than 40 years ago during the www.foxhillseniorcondominium.com The February Speaking Out col- Nigerian civil war, the American am- Georgetown Suites umn, “Starting the New ‘Gender bassador decided to call in a U.S. [email protected] Agenda’ at Home,” by Amanda Fer- Agency for International Develop- nandez reminded me how much has ment contractor and tell the chief of Hirshorn Company, The www.hirshorn.com changed regarding spousal employ- party that his group of agricultural ad- ment in embassies, and how much still visers should not be taking sides. The Kendal Corporation needs to change. university was running an agricultural www.kendal.org In 1958, I married Pamela Cheat- program to improve the Nigerian Leelanau School, The ham, an FSO working at State who, ac- poultry business, but the academics www.leelanau.org cording to regulations in effect then, thought their brief also encompassed had to resign when I was transferred to diplomacy. Lockheed Martin www.lockheedmartin.com Warsaw later that year. At that time, USAID programs Pamela was smart and very gifted in worldwide were technical assistance ProMax languages. Already fluent in Spanish programs, grants of money or capital www.promaxrealtors.com and French, she studied Polish in projects operated with low-interest SDFCU Washington with a private tutor at her loans or funded by outright grants. www.sdfcu.org own expense, and after six months in The programs were run in the field Strategic Studies Quarterly Warsaw was reasonably fluent. In my by Americans who were technical ex- www.au.af.mil/au/ssq later assignments in Vienna and Mos- perts but not diplomats. It was cow, she also became a competent thought natural that the U.S. ambas- Tetra Tech www.tetratech.com speaker of German and Russian. sador be the paramount conduit for Before leaving Washington for War- all USAID activities in his country. WJD saw for a three-year assignment, I Each embassy had its own separate www.wjdpm.com wrote to our Warsaw embassy and goals and functions, which pivoted asked if they had a job for Pamela — around the political officers. Military who, I pointed out, had a security attachés and station chiefs had impor- clearance and was gifted in learning tant ancillary functions. From the When contacting an advertiser, kindly languages. I never received a reply, USAID FSOs’ perspective, their pro- mention the Foreign Service Journal. but a year or so later, I found my letter grams grew out of treaties and mutual

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L ETTERS A time of service…a time of need Help for Seniors May agreements negotiated between the host government and the U.S. govern- Be Just a Phone Call Away— ment in Washington, D.C., and the local American embassy. The Senior Living Foundation may be Today, it is safe to surmise that fu- able to help you or someone you know. ture USAID activities will include Some examples of assistance are: fewer poultry or crop rotation pro- N Home Health Care grams, and probably will not include low-interest loans as a funding source. N Adult Day Care & Respite Care Funding may even be reimbursable or N Prescription Drug Copayments based partly on grants. Programs will N Transportation to Medical Appointments be directed more at mid-level institu- N Durable Medical Equipment tional and urban objectives. Political vectors will be different, For more information, please contact the as well, in keeping with a major SENIOR LIVING FOUNDATION OF THE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE change in American foreign policy ob- 1716 N Street, NW N Washington, DC 20036-2902 jectives. USAID programs will be less Phone: (202) 887-8170 N Fax: (202) 872-9320 heartwarming or technical and di- E-Mail: [email protected] N Web Site: www.SLFoundation.org

rected more to the growth of civil SPONSORED BY THE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION functions. As a result, the skills required of USAID personnel will be completely changed from those of 30 years ago. But no matter how U.S. government organization planners rearrange the personnel charts and lines of command, USAID programs and efforts will be much more effective and better received if they are seen by host governments as run by, and coming from, non-military or diplomatic mono- liths. Accordingly, USAID should be re- constituted as a separate agency with a dedicated career field of international development advisers. (The Depart- ment of State could provide administrative support.) And all programs should be under the aegis of the perti- nent American ambassador. International development advisers should not be competing with, or supervised by, political officers, spooks or military officers. ■ John Wellington Macdonald USAID FSO, retired Austin, Texas

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CYBERNOTES

AFSA Inaugurates Series on FS Challenges he idea of political engagement with those who would directly or indi- Former Deputy Secretary of State Trectly attack our troops is difficult. But dialogue is not appeasement, John D. Negroponte was the featured and political space is not the same as veto power or domination. Now is speaker at the first lecture in AFSA’s the time for the Afghans to pursue a political settlement with as much vigor new series, “Promoting Excellence in and energy as we are pursuing the military and civilian effort. Diplomacy.” Co-sponsored with Lock- — British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, in a speech at the Massachusetts heed Martin, the series is aimed at ad- Institute of Technology, March 10, www.fco.gov.uk/en/news/latest-news/? vancing innovative ideas about the view=Speech&id=21865587 education, skills and tools the Foreign Service needs to achieve excellence and deepen its impact. www.afsa.org/video.cfm. and Russian President Dmitry Med- The April 7 talk, conducted in the The series, titled “Promoting Ex- vedev both endorsed in a joint state- form of a conversation with former As- cellence and Deepening Impact: Re- ment one year ago. sistant Secretary for Near Eastern Af- sources and Skills for Diplomacy and The new treaty was signed on April fairs Edward W. “Skip” Gnehm Jr., Development in the Age of Smart 8 in Prague, where a year ago Pres. focused on the challenges facing the Power,” is the product of a partnership Obama set forth his objectives for arms Foreign Service today. between AFSA and Lockheed Martin. control and nuclear nonproliferation. The greatest of these, according to The next discussion, scheduled for The treaty limits each side to no more Ambassador Negroponte, is the need Wed., May 12 at 11 a.m., will feature than 700 deployed strategic nuclear for officers who can speak the lan- Alec Ross, senior adviser for innovation delivery vehicles and 1,550 deployed guages of the world: “There is no sub- to the Secretary of State. strategic warheads, which is 30 percent stitute for recruiting, training, deploy- If you are unable to join us in per- below the existing warhead limit. Just ing, retaining and retraining” officers son, please participate online at www. as importantly, New START would re- in languages and geography so that afsa.org. place the 1991 START verification they “develop the contacts, the knowl- regime, which expired last December, edge, the insight, the local and area ex- Is the Stage Set for Gains in with a more effective and up-to-date pertise” needed to help develop Ameri- Nuclear Security? system to monitor compliance for the ca’s foreign policy. Agreement on the terms of the 10-year life of the new pact. Held at AFSA headquarters, the “New START Treaty,” the most com- The START success bookends a se- event was attended by more than 100 prehensive arms control agreement in ries of events and meetings through individuals. In a new departure for the 20 years, is not only a milestone in the the end of May devoted to the problem association, it was also videostreamed U.S.-Russia effort to “reset” a working of nuclear proliferation. The adminis- to a broader audience. Remote partic- relationship. It also adds momentum tration issued its “Nuclear Posture Re- ipants were able to join the discussion to the effort to move toward a world view,” a legislatively mandated review by submitting their questions online. that is free of nuclear weapons — a that establishes U.S. nuclear policy, To view the discussion, please go to goal that U.S. President Barack Obama strategy, capabilities and force posture

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C YBERNOTES

for the next five to 10 years, shortly be- been active around the world. On Jan. Nuclear Issues at the Center for Secu- fore this issue went to press. The re- 20-22, the Middle Powers Initiative rity and International Studies (www. view, which requires presidential (www.middlepowers.org) convened csis.org) in Washington, D.C. As we approval of its findings and recom- representatives from 20 middle-power go to press, PONI convened its spring mendations, will govern the adminis- governments, along with the U.S., the conference in Washington, D.C., bring- tration’s approach to nuclear security. U.K., and representatives from the ing together young nuclear experts. On the heels of the New START U.N. and the Comprehensive Test Ban Formally involving Washington, Treaty signing, the April 12-13 “Global Treaty Office and the president-elect of London and Paris, the project has two Nuclear Security Summit” in Washing- the 2010 NPT Review Conference, primary goals: build and sustain a net- ton, D.C., drew more than 40 world Ambassador Libran Cabactulan of the worked community of young nuclear leaders to discussions focused on meas- Philippines, at the Carter Center in At- experts from across the nuclear enter- ures to prevent nuclear terrorism with, lanta for “Atlanta Consultation III: prise; and mobilize the wide-ranging in particular, a goal to secure all “loose” Fulfilling the NPT.” nuclear expertise within its ranks to nuclear materials within the next four The MPI works with “middle generate new ideas and further the years. power” governments to encourage and public debate on all issues concerning Partnership for Global Security educate the nuclear-weapons states to nuclear weapons strategy, policy, infra- President Kenneth N. Luongo’s article take immediate practical steps that re- structure and related topics. in the January/February issue of Arms duce nuclear dangers and commence Control magazine outlining the issues negotiations to eliminate nuclear wea- Key Successes in U.S. before the summit is a useful reference pons. The campaign is guided by the Health Investments for evaluating the meeting’s outcome. Initiative’s chairman, Ambassador Promising findings from the Global In early May, the Nuclear Non-Pro- Henrik Salander of Sweden. Fund’s 2010 Results Report show that liferation Treaty review conference is On Feb. 2-4, the two-year-old Glo- American investments in combating slated to open at the United Nations. bal Zero organization (www.global health epidemics such as HIV/AIDS, Whether the momentum of the New zero.org) held a summit in Paris that child mortality, tuberculosis and malar- START Treaty and the embrace of opened with powerful messages from ia have led to saving roughly 3,600 lives nonproliferation goals by Pres. Obama Pres. Medvedev and Pres. Obama. In daily (www.theglobalfund.org/en/). will help the assembled parties to make his keynote to the 200 eminent inter- The report suggests that other significant progress remains to be seen. national political, military, business, achievements are possible in the future, The 2005 review conference, it may be civic, faith and student leaders present, among them essentially eliminating recalled, was described by the Swedish former Secretary of State George mother-to-child HIV transmission, Weapons of Mass Destruction Com- Shultz declared that the growing polit- ending malaria-related deaths and mission as “the biggest failure in the ical support for the goal of a nuclear halving cases of tuberculosis by 2015. history of this treaty.” weapons-free world means that we are The findings were highlighted by At this writing, an agenda for the “entitled to hope and believe that this ONE, a grassroots campaign and ad- meeting has been agreed upon, but is an idea whose time has come.” vocacy organization aimed at eliminat- there is no agreement on specific rec- The group released its “Global Zero ing poverty and preventable disease ommendations to address the agenda Action Plan” outlining a step-by-step (www.one.org). ONE Executive Di- items. However, as the Arms Control strategy to eliminate nuclear weapons, rector Sheila Nix spoke of the “direct Association’s (www.armscontrol.org) developed over the past year by a com- relationship” between key investments resource guide on the many proposals mission of 23 international leaders. and saving countless lives from world- for strengthening the NPT shows, U.S. participants include Ambassadors wide diseases, noting the responsibil- there would seem to be ample poten- Thomas Pickering and Richard Burt, ity of the United States in continuing tial for agreement on the way forward. former Senator Chuck Hagel and Clin- to invest and fund the Global Fund, Meanwhile, grassroots campaigns ton national security adviser Anthony the President’s Emergency Plan for aimed at building a dynamic popular Lake from the U.S. AIDS Relief and other programs. consensus for nonproliferation have Also active has been the Project on The Global Fund, a public/private

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C YBERNOTES

ety appear to be the priority for the 50 Years Ago... U.S. He cites State Department Pol- I don’t always approve of what the American do, but your icy Planning Director Anne-Marie effort at Agadir [Morocco] was magnificent. You flipped open “ Slaughter’s promotion of the U.S. as the book to the page marked ‘Disaster,’ went in and worked your “the favored hub of a global network of bloody heads off.” people, institutions and relationships.” — A British correspondent in Casablanca, cited in “Earth- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s Jan. quake at Agadir” by Robert Sherwood, FSJ, May 1960. 21 speech on Internet freedom made the same point, as has Senior Adviser partnership striving to prevent and 21st-Century Statecraft: for Innovation Alec Ross. treat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and mal- The Jury’s Still Out But we must take care not to con- aria has already saved approximately It has become fashionable in many fuse the means and ends of policy, 4.9 million lives since its creation eight quarters to assume that the traditional Weisbrode observes. Better and faster years ago. system of government-to-government communication is only a means to an relations is obsolete. Once the postwar end for diplomats. Building consensus A “Creative, Inexpensive” bipolar world came to an end, a shift- among constituencies, promoting so- Security Paradigm ing panoply of state and nonstate ac- cial networking and connecting groups The Defense Department’s Quad- tors emerged on the world stage, behind policy have always been the rennial Defense Review, released in presenting new opportunities and new meat of their work and the stuff of February, constitutes another step in dangers and challenges. In this en- their expertise, and it remains so today. institutionalizing the reform and re- vironment, the effort to define a new For the “global network enthusi- shaping of America’s military begun a “diplomacy for the 21st century” has asts,” Weisbrode suggests, “old diplo- decade ago (www.defense.gov/qdr). proceeded apace. macy” may be a straw man. As commentators note, however, its In a March 28 commentary in The real significance will be determined Guardian, Kenneth Weisbrode ob- Zimbabwe Struggles with only by the final FY 2011 budget. serves that regionalism is moving to the Transition, Prepares for And on March 23, the National fore in global politics — except in the 2011 Elections Strategy Information Center released U.S. The European Union recently Despite intensive efforts by South a study titled “Adapting America’s Se- established a new foreign policy appa- African President Jacob Zuma, talks in curity Paradigm and Security Agenda.” ratus called the European External Ac- Harare aimed at removing the stum- Highlighting trends that point to a tion Service, meant to represent the bling blocks to full implementation of highly complex security environment common interest of all 27 member- the power-sharing agreement between with new technological means to instill states. However, the lines of authority President Robert Mugabe and Prime terror and disorder, the study proposes between the new Euro-diplomats and Minister Morgan Tsvangirai appeared a “creative, relatively inexpensive 21st- existing national foreign ministries are to have come to a standstill at the end century security agenda” that is based still unclear. of March. more on “dedicated units of civilian Members of organizations such as The two had agreed to share power and military professionals with certain the Association of Southeast Asian Na- after elections in 2008 in which Tsvan- skill sets” than on “super-enhanced tions, the African Union and the Shang- girai’s Movement for Democratic technology and more divisions and hai Cooperation Organization are also Change defeated the 30-year, one- firepower.” talking seriously of increased harmo- party rule of Robert Mugabe and his The National Strategy Information nization of policies, but their plans re- Zimbabwe African National Union- Center (www.strategycenter.org) is main largely on the drawing boards, as Patriotic Front, but ZANU-PF re- a nonpartisan, nongovernmental or- well. fused to yield power. ganization that seeks to assess and en- By contrast, Weisbrode observes, So far, however, little progress has hance the security of the United States efforts to improve communications been made as the country battles eco- and democratic institutions abroad. across borders and at all levels of soci- nomic disarray, the continent’s worst

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C YBERNOTES

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cholera epidemic in 15 years and ram- ment with the view that more pressure pant poverty. As many as three million was required, was unsuccessful in hav- citizens have fled across the border ing the Western sanctions relaxed dur- into South Africa to find work and ing his recent visit to London. refuge from the political instability. Many believe that a new election, In 2009, the Southern African De- providing it is free and fair, is the only velopment Council, a 15-member re- way to enable the country to move for- gional grouping, appointed Pres. Zuma ward. And Pres. Mugabe himself has as its chief mediator in Harare. A wave suggested that a fresh poll could be of optimism had developed when, fol- held early next year. But the Zim- lowing his mid-March visit to Zim- babwe Election Support Network has babwe, Zuma announced that the warned that calls for fresh elections in parties had agreed to a package of the country are premature in the ab- measures to be implemented “concur- sence of an overhaul of the discredited rently.” It was also agreed the negoti- voters’ roll and a review of electoral, se- ating teams would attend to all out- curity and media laws. standing matters during their delibera- In a detailed analysis of the power- tions before reporting back to Zuma by sharing agreement, the International March 31. Crisis Group (www.crisisgroup.org) But, on March 24, ZANU-PF argues that the country’s democratic spokesman Rugare Gumbo indicated transition is still at risk, “especially from that there would be no movement on hardline security officials.” outstanding issues until international For background and to follow de- sanctions on the country are lifted. velopments in Zimbabwe, see http:// Whether this is party policy or reflects allafrica.com/zimbabwe/ and http:// a faction fight within the party remains news.bbc.co.uk. ■ to be seen. Pres. Mugabe has accused Prime Minister Tsvangirai of not doing This edition of Cybernotes was com- enough on the sanctions problem. But piled by Senior Editor Susan Brady according to the BBC, even Pres. Maitra and Editorial Intern Jennifer Zuma, who has stated his disagree- Thompson.

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SPEAKING OUT Time for State to Get Up to Speed

BY TOM CASEY

n my initial overseas assign- But making technology the first ment in the late 1980s, I was To take full item to be dropped or deferred when Osurprised to see that my boss advantage of budgets get tight and people look at used a manual typewriter. When I technology, State ways to save money contributes to a vi- asked him why, he insisted that com- cious cycle of perennial obsolescence at puters were unreliable and likely just a needs to adopt a an agency whose missions are among passing fad. And I’ve never heard a new attitude toward the most complex and communica- more self-satisfied “I told you so” than innovation. tions-intensive of any in government. when there was any kind of problem While State will never have the re- with that early Wang system. To him, sources of the Pentagon or the intelli- technology was something real Foreign gence community, it should at least Service officers could do without. have some of the technology they use While I’d like to think that he was an are critical. Former Secretary of State to become more effective players on anomaly, I saw many instances of this Colin Powell deserves special recogni- the world stage. And the good news is sort of aversion to technology — from tion for getting everyone at State mod- that much of it is available at a fraction the assistant secretary whose office ern computers and desktop access to of the cost it took to develop. management specialist printed out his the Internet. The department has also The problem is not only budgetary, e-mails for handwritten responses be- made a sustained effort to increase the however. To take full advantage of cause he’d never learned to use his availability of both secure and non-se- technology, State needs to adopt a new computer, to a colleague at an overseas cure video teleconferencing equip- attitude toward innovation and a real mission who refused to let her staff ment, expand employee remote access willingness to experiment that it has compile media reviews from online to Opennet, and increase the number lacked to date. sources because “they might be differ- of government-provided laptops and ent” than the hard-copy print versions. mobile devices. Secretary of State A Priority Issue (At the other end of the spectrum, Hillary Rodham Clinton’s appointment Perhaps you think I’m overstating there are those who view the use of of a senior adviser for innovation, Alec the potential gains? If so, take a look at technology as a sort of badge of rank, Ross, was another welcome step. the many studies that have been done turning the distribution of Blackberry Regrettably, however, State has for over the last few years, both by in- devices into the equivalent of the key many years been the most reluctant of house groups and concerned outsiders, to the executive washroom, rather “late adopters.” Some of that reluc- all of which underscore the importance than seeing it as an essential tool for tance is due to the historic shortchang- of adapting new technologies to make getting people out of their offices and ing of foreign affairs activities in the the Foreign Service stronger and more engaged with counterparts and con- federal budget — something that is capable. tacts.) going to be a factor again as the impact The Center for Strategic and Inter- Certainly many State Department of the current recession and the grow- national Studies’ landmark 2000 “Em- and USAID officers recognize that ing national debt start to crowd out dis- bassy of the Future” report identifies new, or at least updated, technologies cretionary spending of all kinds. technology as the second priority for

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action, right after investing in people. the U.S. development agency deepens Another feature provides the officer It states: “Senior department leader- its technical expertise, it should estab- with a window into the party leader’s ship need to raise the profile of tech- lish more systematic links and funding personal and professional network of nology within the State Department relationships with domestic research associates and advisers, revealing that and place technology more effectively institutions that are pioneering new one is the head of a company that does in the service of business practices. technologies for the developing world.” a lot of business with the U.S. and is The department must fund technology well known to the embassy. The polit- more consistently across its bureaus.” Some Scenarios to Consider ical and economic sections schedule It continues: “The department So what can technology do for diplo- meetings with the individual, and work should also establish a Technology mats and development professionals together to help shape the party lead- Center at the National Foreign Affairs that they can’t already do? Here are a er’s reaction. Training Center that would serve as a few examples. • A consular officer makes a trip out demonstration and instruction facility • A Provincial Reconstruction Team to a remote city in her district. Using for technology and new business prac- leader visiting a village consults a secure a secure encrypted laptop and mobile tices; partner the center with embassies handheld device that brings her reports biometric scanners, she is able to ac- as testbeds for technology innovation; from previous visits by other officials, cept visa applications from several and establish a special fund for tech- biographical information about local local contacts, verify the citizenship of nology innovation at posts.” leaders, and critical real-time informa- an American citizen who has lost his The 2007 report of Secretary of State tion about local security conditions. identification and issue him a travel Condoleezza Rice’s Advisory Commis- When confronted with complaints letter, and access both the U.S. and sion on Transformational Diplomacy from officials about a promised project, host-country records of a citizen im- lists “Harness 21st-century technology” she instantly taps into a database that prisoned in the local jail before mak- as one of its key recommendations: pinpoints the exact location of key ing a visit. “Technology is the key to transforma- items being delivered. She can then • USAID workers arriving to set up tion. The Department of State is a initiate a purchase of additional materi- disaster assistance put up a solar-pow- knowledge-based organization, but it als or put new information into the sys- ered, portable generator that obviates has lagged behind in adopting and in- tem, getting a response from military or the immediate need to tap into stressed tegrating information technology into other officials before the meeting ends. local power and fuel supplies. To its processes and culture. The ultimate • A new political officer about to quickly establish communications with success of transformational diplomacy meet with the head of a regional party various U.S. agencies, local government will in large measure depend on the must deliver an unwelcome message. officials and nongovernmental organi- aggressive deployment of IT and the Because his predecessor left post sev- zations, they link all the players into effectiveness with which the depart- eral weeks ago, the new officer taps into their portable universal communica- ment can acquire, analyze and respond the embassy wiki. This contains bio- tions platform. to the global flow of information. Seri- graphic material from both State and They then get real-time imagery ous IT transformation and consolida- other sources, links to news articles from satellites and unmanned aerial ve- tion is an urgent priority that will about the contact, and notes from pre- hicles to help pinpoint roads that are require a multiyear effort.” vious meetings with the individual that passable and validate routes to trans- The same issues apply when look- provide a detailed picture of the con- port relief supplies. This information is ing at our development assistance. In tact and how to engage him. shared over the multiactor network May 2009, the Brookings Institution’s It turns out that the contact has had they have just established. report “Strengthening America’s Glo- a difficult relationship with the em- The common thread in all these sce- bal Development Partnerships” said: bassy, so the officer’s preparation in- narios is freedom. Freedom from hav- “The U.S. government could establish cludes time in an internal online ing to reinvent the wheel with each a global development equivalent to community discussion to get advice Foreign Service rotation. Freedom to the U.S. Defense Advanced Research from more seasoned officers on how to escape the chains that often keep offi- Projects Agency. … At a minimum, as best manage the situation. cers at their desk in fortified embassy

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Moving? compounds instead of out doing the do pursue some of these possibilities, a contact and connection work that is the lot depends on participation by State lifeblood of diplomacy. Freedom from Department employees at all levels, having to guess what is around the next both in the Foreign Service and Civil Take AFSA corner in the increasingly challenging Service. An unwillingness to simply ac- and hostile environments that Foreign cept the status quo has to become the Service members now face. norm if State is to develop a real cul- With You! ture of innovation. Smart Tools Of course, no matter how sophisti- Achieving this kind of freedom is cated, technology will never be a sub- Change your address easier than you may think. For exam- stitute for the experience, judgment online at: ple, last July the U.S. Institute of Peace and energy of seasoned diplomatic and www.afsa.org/comment.cfm held a unique conference called “Smart development professionals. And not Tools for Smart Power.” The event every gizmo or system used by other brought together public and private departments is appropriate for State or Or sector groups to showcase state-of-the- the other foreign affairs agencies. But art simulation and serious gaming tools strengthening diplomacy and develop- Send change of address to: that USIP described as having the “ex- ment will require both expanding the AFSA Membership pertise to transform the way that use of existing technologies and devel- Department peacebuilding organizations train, plan oping a culture of innovation that con- 2101 E Street NW and collaborate.” tinually looks for new tools and new Washington, DC 20037 White House Deputy Chief Tech- ways to apply them. nology Officer Beth Noveck chal- As for my former boss’s typewriter, I lenged participants to help the Obama hope he donated it to the new Diplo- administration use these tools to ad- macy Center, where it can be viewed vance policy goals. That call was taken along with other artifacts of American up by many of the presenters — from diplomatic history. After all, we keep the Army War College to Second Life James Madison’s desk and Paul Re- to eBay to Lockheed Martin — who vere’s silver on the 8th floor of Main stated their willingness to partner with State. We just don’t expect our officers government to do just that. to use them! ■ Whether through USIP or some other organization, State ought to take Tom Casey, a Foreign Service officer up these offers and get those develop- with the Department of State and the ing new technologies engaged on be- United States Information Agency from half of Foreign Service officers every- 1988 to 2008, served as director of where. In recent years, public-private State’s Office of Press Relations from partnerships have helped State pursue 2003 to 2006, and as deputy spokesman policy objectives ranging from assisting and deputy assistant secretary for pub- Lebanon’s recovery from war to foster- lic affairs from 2006 to 2008. His over- ing deeper and more sustained en- seas assignments included Caracas, gagement with the Muslim world. Lagos, Lima, Brussels, Baghdad and Why not use a similar approach to help Tirana. After retiring as a Senior For- our diplomats and development offi- eign Service officer in 2008, Casey be- cials do their jobs more safely and ef- came director of communications for fectively? Lockheed Martin Readiness & Stabil- Even if Sec. Clinton and her team ity Operations.

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THE CHALLENGE OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Gary Kempston

IT IS TIME FOR THE FOREIGN SERVICE TO PULL TOGETHER RECENT ADVANCES IN TRAINING INTO A COMPREHENSIVE PLAN.

BY RONALD E. NEUMANN

he zeal with which the Foreign Service constantly re-examines its structure and missions and reappraises its training needs honors our passion for our profession, but also makes it difficult to reach conclusions about how effective such changes have been over the years. For instance, the need for a more “expeditionary” (or “program directive”)T Foreign Service has been discovered repeatedly for more than 60 years, with the proponents of each iteration acting as though they had discovered a new truth. Yet for just as long, opponents have questioned the

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need to move away from “traditional” diplomacy — how- With the Department of State’s cooperation, the Amer- ever one defines that. ican Academy of Diplomacy (which I head) is conducting Throughout these debates, institutional change came a study to assist in meeting the need for new strategic plan- about incrementally. This led to changes in professional ning. This study, which the American Academy of Diplo- training as resources and demand allowed, one recent ex- macy hopes to conclude by December, is being funded by ample being the expanded, improved training for those the Una Chapman Cox Foundation with additional assis- deploying to Provincial Reconstruction Teams in Iraq and tance from AFSA, the Delevan Foundation and the Acad- Afghanistan. Yet the most widespread method within the emy’s own funds. Foreign Service for imparting wisdom about how to do the job and pursue a career continues to be mentoring, whether The Breakdown of Old Models conducted formally or simply through the example set by There were many reasons the Foreign Service histori- more senior officers. cally provided its members with little training, chief among This is famously illustrated by the story of Secretary of them a lack of financial and personnel resources. But be- State Colin Powell, who spent more than 20 percent of his ginning in 2001 with Sec. Powell’s emphasis on careerlong military career undergoing professional development that professional training, starting with the institution of a lead- he found useful. When he asked his under secretary for ership development continuum spanning the FS-3 level to political affairs, Marc Grossman, how much time he had the senior ranks, there has been significant progress. Lan- spent in professional training over the course of his For- guage training — a key element for diplomats — is being eign Service career, Grossman replied: “Two weeks, aside massively expanded. Tradecraft courses have grown in from language instruction.” length and frequency, as have cone-specific and mid-level While considerably more training has been added since curricula. And there are more slots for Foreign Service this exchange, mentoring remains the core of our profes- personnel to attend the National War College. sional development. But that model has already begun to Yet we still lack the resources to institutionalize the break down in the face of rapid personnel increases, and is changes, add critical topics and stop jamming training into manifestly inadequate for future needs. Fortunately, we transfer summers to the detriment of staff and posts. now have new opportunities to rethink the role of profes- Broad professional development, away from high-pressure sional development, pull together recent advances in train- jobs, remains limited to a few officers. Meanwhile, many ing into a comprehensive plan, and create a strategy that Foreign Service personnel still view training as a diversion can win congressional support for the resources needed to from career advancement or even detrimental to it. make it a reality. Others assume we are good enough as we are, although Yet even as that opportunity presents itself, State man- the lack of training, accreditation and specialized diplomas agement is beleaguered with the demands of allocating the has always made it difficult to explain why we should be new, critically needed influx of officers and planning the treated as a profession when we lack the symbols that mark support needed for a 25-percent increase in Foreign Serv- other guilds and professions and are directed primarily by ice personnel. As a result, it lacks the time — though not amateurs. But in view of the long line of successful career the will or understanding — to craft the needed strategy. diplomats who contributed to the forging of the postwar This auspicious moment is unlikely to last. A depart- institutions, advanced the nation’s interests and managed ment that cannot think and plan strategically will not be the multifaceted business of diplomacy through countless honored with more resources as the political clamor to re- negotiations and wars, there was evidence that we some- trench mounts. how did learn what we needed to know. That model is now breaking down. As retirements con- Ronald E. Neumann, a retired Senior Foreign Service of- tinue and the influx of desperately needed new officers ex- ficer, served as ambassador to Algeria, Bahrain and pands, we are at the point where almost two-thirds of Afghanistan among many other assignments, including Foreign Service officers have spent fewer than 10 years in Iraq. Now president of the American Academy of Diplo- the Service; 28 percent have spent fewer than five. We macy, he is the author of The Other War: Winning and simply no longer have sufficient experienced officers to Losing in Afghanistan (Potomac Press, 2009). serve as mentors and trainers. And this reality will not be

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changed by mandates that each With the Department of State’s Finally, “A Foreign Affairs deputy chief of mission find time Budget for the Future,” put to- to mentor all entry-level officers at cooperation, the American gether in 2008 by AAD, docu- his or her post — an approach that mented training gaps in many increasingly resembles King Can- Academy of Diplomacy is functions, including multilateral ute’s orders that the sea withdraw. diplomacy and work with NGOs. Three recent studies, all fund- conducting a study to help Devoting greater resources to ed by the Una Chapman Cox training the huge influx of new of- Foundation, document the skills meet the need for new ficers is critically important, but we lack as a Service. CSIS’s “The does not address the need for ex- Embassy of the Future” paid par- strategic planning. perience at the middle and senior ticular attention to missing skills. ranks, where many of the gaps are And the “Foreign Service Gener- most acute. alist Competency Modeling” project, conducted in 2008 No comprehensive plan now exists to train those being by State’s Human Resources Bureau using a U.S. Army rapidly promoted so that they can learn the skills they need model, projected the skills that FSOs should attain by other than by trial and error, although those involved in 2017. The findings identified a 30-percent change in the the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review categories of skills the Foreign Service would need to have now under way reportedly recognize the problem. Some mastered by the end of that period, primarily in program of the needed expertise might be hired from outside — direction, economics and transnational issues. the strongly debated mid-level entry approach. Yet when

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we had such a program in the past, It is ridiculous that most One of the most current is how “ex- my experience was that the Service peditionary” the Service should be. failed to train such officers in the FSOs have had no formal That term has caused some defini- basic skills of the institution that tional problems but, as it is being most of us had acquired as junior of- training in conducting used by the Office of the Coordinator ficers. for Reconstruction and Stabilization As a result, we ended up with negotiations, either with and the United States Institute for mid-level officers who could do Peace, it means that civilians need to some things brilliantly but, to the foreigners or within the be available for rapid deployment frustration of their DCMs and am- with skills in program management, bassadors, couldn’t manage such interagency community. contracting, and working productively mundane tasks as organizing a mo- with USAID and other agencies. torcade for a high-level visit or draft- They also require training in how ing a press release. Of course, these gaps could be short-term relief and stabilization measures should relate alleviated with training. But the point is that because we to long-term economic and governance development. It didn’t train them, careers suffered, as well as nerves. It is is in this sense that former Ambassadors Ryan Crocker but one of the many pitfalls of not taking in-service train- and Marc Grossman have called explicitly for more expe- ing seriously. ditionary training. Another example stems from our current focus on test- Others have responded that there is more to the For- ing for general characteristics without requiring any de- eign Service than deploying as junior partners to the mil- tailed knowledge of diplomatic history or practice for entry itary, and that we ought to get back to “traditional” into the Foreign Service. The notion that bright folk will diplomacy. Or as the Journal’s editor wrote when re- learn what they need to know on the job is debatable. questing this article, “Are we going to go on serving in- What is far less debatable is that they will have a harder creasingly … as ‘expeditionary’ diplomats, or revert to time if there are few experts to teach them and no struc- more traditional roles as we phase down (eventually) in ture to help. Iraq and Afghanistan?” There is now substantial evidence Furthermore, because the limited physical capacity of that the answer is “both.” the Foreign Service Institute has forced the reduction of Too much of the current debate treats the question of entry-level orientation from seven weeks to five, we are the expeditionary diplomat as though it were either an ex- sending greater numbers of less-prepared personnel into citing new discovery or a temporary aberration. It is nei- the field to be supervised by fewer experienced ones. ther. A recent FSJ article (Bob Rackmales, “Lucius Battle: Whether one looks at the breakdown of old ways of Shaper of the Postwar Foreign Service,” July-August training, the need for new skills in a new century, or the 2009) reminds us that in 1963, Special Assistant to the fact that others, from the U.S. military to private business, President Ralph Dungan spoke to AFSA of the “need to invest billions in staff development while the Foreign expand the traditional concept of foreign policy.” Dungan Service devotes pennies, the need for enhanced profes- called for a “new emphasis on operations and manage- sional development stands out. That need raises three ment of programs.” questions: What is to be taught? Who is to be trained? Two great names from the postwar era subsequently How are the resources to be obtained? addressed the issue. Loy Henderson offered a rebuttal, and Luke Battle responded in an address that recalled What to Teach? “the struggles of 1946, when … ‘a small elite corps’ had Ask any Foreign Service generalist with a few years in failed to recognize the need for change. By not training… the Service to describe what is needed in training, and the not broadening … not bringing in economists … the For- response is apt to be eloquent, long and frequently pas- eign Service was dominated by others … and that was the sionate. By the time one gets to my generation, you can be beginning of its decline.” pretty sure of at least the last two elements. Battle’s pessimistic analysis has been borne out. The The other thing one can count on is disagreements. Foreign Service has ceded a growing number of functions

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to other departments and agencies. Most recently, the De- routinely shortchanged in language training and professional partment of Defense became by default the dominant pol- development. But they have plenty of company, alas. icymaker in the early phases of U.S. involvement in Iraq Neither the Foreign Commercial Service nor the For- and Afghanistan. Its resources still dictate much of the ac- eign Agricultural Service provide much language instruction today, and it is increasingly training its personnel for tion or area studies education to their officers, even though the tasks State and USAID lack the bodies to perform. they confront many of the same cultural and political issues After decades of calls to develop the professional skills as their State Department counterparts. And many new we have chronically lacked, it is time for State to stop vali- hires at the U.S. Agency for International Development are dating Battle’s conclusions about what will happen to us if not even getting basic training in the languages spoken in we don’t. The relatively new Office of the Coordinator for their countries of assignment. The fact that more of them Reconstruction and Stabilization is a good start, but it is still receive instruction in world languages is commendable as small and its training lies largely outside the normal skill far as it goes, but the failure to meet both sets of needs il- sets of State officers. In addition, it is ridiculous that most lustrates the nefarious way in which resource-driven deci- FSOs have had no formal training in conducting negotia- sions limit field effectiveness. tions, either with foreigners or within the interagency com- In addition, the world of foreign assistance has munity. changed greatly in recent decades, moving away from government-to-government partnerships. Yet USAID Whom to Train still has few resources to devote to leveraging and build- State Department Foreign Service specialists, as well as ing partnerships with nongovernmental organizations and their consular and management-cone colleagues, are still the private sector.

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Back at State, the number of po- Specialists, as well as their State’s current resources are so litical advisers to the various military stretched that the long-promised commands has burgeoned since the consular and management- examination of broader training 9/11 attacks, yet FSOs assigned to needs has been deferred. If the those positions receive little special- cone colleagues, are still flow of personnel at current rates ized training to prepare them to were guaranteed, such a decision work effectively with the military. routinely shortchanged in might be justifiable, if regrettable. This is true even though POLADs But no such guarantee exists. are increasingly less senior and less language training and Concern about growing deficits experienced in interagency work. is striking the Obama administra- Beyond specific technical and professional development. tion and Congress. The adminis- professional skills, we need to de- tration has proposed a continued, if velop our staff’s capabilities over the slower, increase in international af- course of their careers. The military spends liberally, and fairs spending in the Fiscal Year 2011 budget, but con- usefully, on this, providing opportunities for broadening gressional approval is far from certain. Pressures to thinking at service schools and outside academic training economize even further will only grow in FY 2012. and advanced degrees. While military entrance require- The danger is real: We may lose the greatest opportu- ments are less rigorous than ours, their development of nity in years to establish a proper “float” of training posi- their personnel over the course of a career is better. tions and the concepts and resources to professionally Private industry also recognizes the need for careerlong develop our personnel. If we forfeit the opportunity to in- training. We have not. Consequently, as the list of training stitutionalize proper personnel development, we may not deficiencies grows, the ratio of senior to lower-ranking For- recapture it for a long time. eign Service officers continues to tilt in the wrong direction. Building a Strategy A strategy that prioritizes our real, long-term needs — The Opportunity and the Danger not just coping with today’s challenges — is essential. Until now, we have lacked the resources to respond to Such a strategy should look to the future and draw from the challenge. That is changing. By the end of the current the best practices of military and civilian institutions to fiscal year, State will have brought on approximately 1,300 develop guidelines on how many class hours are re- generalists (828 over attrition) and 1,000 specialists. quired, in what subjects and where taught. Only with USAID has brought on just over 400 new junior officers such specifics can we calculate and seek the required dol- over the last three years and plans to hire an additional 100 lars and personnel. to 150 more during 2010. These cadres are filling vacant Congress is already pressing for strategic responses on positions, meeting long-deferred critical needs and help- how we will meet the challenges documented by recent ing to meet the burgeoning workload in Iraq and Government Accountability Office reports to the Sub- Afghanistan. committee on Oversight of Government Management of In response, there has been a major expansion of lan- the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Gov- guage-training positions, with 300 already added and 700 ernmental Affairs: “Comprehensive Plan Needed to Ad- more to come. This is an appropriate initial response to the dress Persistent Foreign Language Shortfalls” (September influx, but does not meet the equally critical need for ex- 2009) and “Diplomatic Security’s Recent Growth Warrants perienced mid-level officers. Other types of professional Strategic Review” (November 2009). training have seen little expansion beyond area studies and For example, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Chair- preparation for service on Provincial Reconstruction man of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Michael Mullen, and other Teams. I do not mean this as a criticism of badly over- high-ranking administration officials support transferring worked personnel in the Bureau of Human Resources and to State some of the resources and authorities that DOD the Foreign Service Institute, but as a call for additional has acquired in recent years. Yet this will not happen if we resources to implement essential thinking. lack the trained personnel to manage the increase in au-

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thorities. While Congress may be sympathetic to a well- lenges of conducting the Quadrennial Diplomacy and De- conceived strategy for training and professional develop- velopment Review, the American Academy of Diplomacy ment of Foreign Service personnel, it will not allocate the proposes to use its resource of former senior officers to necessary resources in the absence of clear indications of study and propose a comprehensive strategy that meets how they will be used. the needs described above. With the funding noted ear- Right now, while we still have new personnel coming lier, we intend to work with State, AFSA and outside ex- on board with existing budget authority, is the time to perts to propose solutions drawn from the best practices begin setting aside some of these positions to build the of others, as well as the unique needs of foreign affairs training float (beyond language training) for the Service as work. a whole. Specifically, “A Foreign Affairs Budget for the The State Department’s promised cooperation will be Future,” referenced earlier, recommends establishing essential to assure that the study is grounded in reality and 1,287 new positions for training, professional development, capable of being accepted and implemented. We plan to transitions and temporary needs at an annual cost of draw attention, as well, to key training needs in State’s sis- $309.8 million. ter foreign affairs agencies (USAID, FAS, FCS and IBB). That is an ambitious goal, to be sure. Yet even if the No doubt even the best plan will have deficiencies and flow of resources for new positions shrinks in coming years, raise some criticisms. Over time a strategy can and a detailed strategy will furnish a template to build on over should be modified in the light of experience and chang- time. ing needs. Without a strategy, however, the discussion Recognizing the current strains on the State Depart- will remain as theoretical as it has been for half a century ment as it deals with new officers, two wars and the chal- — and just as useless. ■

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DIPLOMACY 3.0: A PROGRESS REPORT

UNLIKE THE DIPLOMATIC READINESS INITIATIVE, DIPLOMACY 3.0 IS ENVISIONED AS A LONG-TERM APPROACH TO FS HIRING NEEDS.

BY BOB GULDIN

iplomacy 3.0 is not like Initiative ended in 2004. Word 7.0 — it’s not the third iteration of the American Says Lussier, “We tried to meet all those demands from diplomatic program. As Cathy Hurst in State’s Bureau of within, 10 positions here, 20 positions there. Basically, we HumanD Resources explains, “It’s not that we tried it twice were robbing Peter to pay Paul. At the end of 2008, we before and it didn’t work.” Rather, the name comes from had a 16-percent vacancy rate. We were not able to keep a speech in which Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clin- up with mission demands — that’s the bottom line.” ton called for a major hiring initiative. (Hurst is one of sev- Margaret Dean, of HR’s Office of Recruitment, Exam- eral State Department officers who helped the FSJ get a ination and Employment, points out that this latest push sense of how the hiring push is going.) for more people started under Secretary of State Con- “We needed a name for it,” Hurst continues. “People doleezza Rice, in the last year of the George W. Bush ad- were calling it ‘the surge.’ What we wanted to convey was ministration. that it was a well-thought-out plan for building the For- In addition, says Katelyn Choe, a senior adviser in the eign Service of the future. The Secretary said in her HR Office of Career Development and Assignments, speech that diplomacy, development and defense were the Diplomacy 3.0 is coordinated with the new Quadrennial three pillars she wanted to focus on.” Hence, Diplomacy Diplomacy and Development Review, a major planning 3.0, though officials in HR usually refer to it as “D 3.0” or exercise Sec. Clinton also initiated last year. simply “3.0.” The QDDR, modeled on the Defense Department’s The reason the initiative was necessary, recalls Philippe better-known Quadrennial Defense Review, is still under Lussier, head of the Resource Management and Analysis way. Its goal is to develop long-term strategies and plans Division within HR, was that by 2008 State was facing a for the conduct of U.S. foreign affairs, including, of course, large staffing gap. Despite demand for diplomatic expert- the work-force component. ise in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, the department had not increased its hiring since the Diplomatic Readiness Some Adjustments Necessary The startup of Diplomacy 3.0 required State’s HR divi- Bob Guldin, a Washington writer, was editor of the For- sion to quickly shift gears. “Before it,” says Dean, “we were eign Service Journal from 1998 to 2001. processing people to keep the register [hiring list] low be-

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cause we didn’t want to clear all State decided to boost a severe hiring drought during the these people and have them ‘die’ on 1990s. the register.” When the program Foreign Service recruitment At the beginning of the DRI, re- started, HR adjusted its scoring and calls FSO Neils Marquardt — a now has over 1,000 people on the at an opportune moment. special coordinator for diplomatic list. readiness at the time, now ambas- Moreover, when the hiring surge sador to Madagascar — “We started began, HR extended the maximum out with numerous bottlenecks: se- time candidates can spend on the register from the normal curity, medical, training. But there was a strong sense of 18 months to 24 months, so it wouldn’t lose qualified indi- leadership from the top, from Sec. Powell, so some of viduals. those problems yielded to pressure.” Ever since then, the hiring process has been going full So why is another big hiring push needed so soon? Be- throttle. In FY 2009, despite a late start, 766 Foreign Serv- cause the United States began military action in Afghan- ice generalists and 589 specialists were hired, meeting the istan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003, and new staffing demands department’s goal. Says Lussier, “We’re now hiring against ballooned before the initative could alleviate the previous a target of 1,368 (878 generalists and 490 specialists) in personnel shortages. 2010,” though he cautions that “these numbers change on “We didn’t compete too well for resources, so we’ve had a weekly basis.” a return to the problems we experienced,” Amb. Mar- It was originally expected that 500 of those hires would quardt observes. He notes that HR “didn’t abolish any po- be to replace attrition. However, attrition has slowed to sitions in my embassy, even as they created new ones in about 400, probably due to the recession. That means hir- Iraq and Afghanistan.” Because positions were simply left ing 1,425 people this year will probably yield net growth of vacant, he says, “there’s been a hollowing out [of the Serv- at least 1,000. It’s likely, Lussier says, that combined hir- ice].” ing for Fiscal Years 2009 and 2010 will be 1,800 positions During DRI, says Marquardt, “Our thought was, never above attrition. again would we hire below attrition. But that’s not how it The hiring surge is expected to continue into FY 2011, turned out. We’ve got to get out of this business of doing albeit at a slower pace. The tentative goal is hiring 522 it cyclically. It’s like the bulge in the python. It’s no way to FSOs and 308 specialists — 830 in all. Whether that goal run a railway.” is achieved depends in large part on congressional funding Says one career development officer about the 2004- decisions. 2008 period, “When it came to the bidding cycles, we had many more positions than people to bid on them.” In one It’s All in the Timing cycle, “we had 600 jobs and only 300 bidders,” so that HR State decided to boost recruitment at an opportune mo- felt a need to direct FSOs to the places where need was ment. An experienced Foreign Service recruiter who the greatest. asked not to be identified says, “The interest [in State De- In those years, Lussier explains, “we staffed Iraq at 100 partment jobs] is incredible. They are signing up in percent, [so] there weren’t enough bodies to staff all the droves. The biggest reason is that there are no jobs in the other positions.” In response, HR levied what came to be private sector. People are also looking for second careers.” known as “the Iraq tax” on bureaus, forcing them to iden- However, the FSO adds, “Civil Service recruiting is very tify positions that could be eliminated or left vacant. difficult. Most don’t even get a response when they apply.” It also came up with a system it called “rolling gaps,” For those who’ve been around State for more than six which meant that when an entry-level officer left post, years, the story of Diplomacy 3.0 may inspire a sense of there was often a gap of three to six months before they déjà vu. Between 2001 and 2004, Secretary of State Colin could place another ELO in the job. Powell put in place the Diplomatic Readiness Initiative, which brought in 1,069 Foreign Service specialists and Taking the Long View generalists above attrition, as well as about 60 Civil Serv- Unlike DRI, Diplomacy 3.0 is envisioned as a more ice staffers. That surge was intended to fill the gap left by comprehensive, long-term solution to State Department

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and Foreign Service hiring cycles. HR appears certain that the as Arabic and Mandarin Chinese. As Hurst notes, “The difference be- If candidates are given extra points tween this and DRI is those were quality of incoming Foreign toward hiring for their knowledge one-time fills [which] disappeared of an in-demand language, they once they moved up to the mid- Service members remains also must agree to serve two tours level. We’ve asked the posts to look using that language. at these positions as more long- unchanged despite the The QEP was instituted in term.” 2007, in time for the current hiring One CDO tells the Journal, “The higher numbers being surge. Says HR officer Margaret perception of 3.0 is that it’s about Dean, “Because of the QEP part, the entry level” — but it’s also about added to the register. you knock out a lot of people who strengthening the mid-level. “We’ve would never have passed the oral asked the bureaus to look at their ex- anyway. You have a better batch of isting positions to see if the language proficiency required candidates going through the oral, so you have a better for those positions could be higher. pass rate and you’re able to deal with them quicker. You “The objective is to build the training float, so there are get a higher yield and produce candidates for the register now going to be more opportunities for mid-level officers a lot faster.” The new process also produced more candi- to get more language training.” Another HR officer says dates who met the criteria the service was looking for. that “We’ve tried to look strategically about where the need The oral exam is unchanged, and HR appears certain will be over the next 10 years, and put officers in the right that the quality of incoming Foreign Service members re- places.” mains intact despite the higher numbers of candidates Adds Margaret Dean, “We have been looking at deficit being added to the register. areas, which were essentially management and economic, and then secondarily consular recruitment. We have been Quality, Not Just Quantity very constrained on the management side; that’s the area As a consequence of the increased hiring, the Foreign we have focused on the most.” Service Institute is extraordinarily busy. A few years ago, And a recruiting officer tells the Journal, “When it the A-100 orientation class for generalists was given five comes to specialists, there are lots of gaps in the ranks, es- times a year, with about 60 people in each class. Now it’s pecially IT specialists, security and construction engineers, held every six weeks, with 95 people in each class. And on management specialists and librarians.” the specialist side, FSI has increased both the frequency In order to implement 3.0, the State Department’s re- and size of entering classes. cruiting and examination methods have been shifted into The accelerated recruiting, testing and training should a higher gear. The Foreign Service Officer Test (previ- yield a much larger State Department by 2013. The pro- ously called the written exam) is now given online. And jected size of the department’s total Foreign Service con- while it used to be given once a year, it is now offered three tingent (generalists and specialists) is 14,633, an increase of times each year and in a greater number of physical loca- 2,861 (24 percent) over 2008. State’s Civil Service em- tions. In 2010, the number of available seats for each ses- ployment is projected to rise 14 percent, from 10,274 to sion of the exam (held over an eight-day period) has nearly 11,743. That comes to a projected cumulative increase of doubled, from 5,000 to 9,000. 20 percent in State’s overall employment by three years In addition, the introduction of a new step in the ex- from now. amination process, the Qualifications Evaluation Panel, The Diplomacy 3.0 surge is having a big effect on has helped to make the process faster and more efficient. USAID, as well. State expects that agency’s Foreign Serv- The QEP looks at aspects of the candidates’ backgrounds ice work force to double between 2008 and 2013, from ap- that were previously excluded from consideration until late proximately 1,100 to 2,200. in the process, such as education, career, overseas experi- Along with increasing the numbers of federal employ- ence and foreign-language proficiency. ees, HR is also taking a careful look at the department’s Special emphasis is given to in-demand languages such use of contractors. For many years, State, like many federal

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agencies, increasingly outsourced a State has one of the employees are black. For that sec- range of positions. Now it is experi- tor, though, the trend is reversed: menting with “insourcing” jobs, es- lowest attrition rates among Only 15.5 percent of new Civil Serv- pecially those seen as “inherently ice hires are African-American. governmental,” such as supervising federal agencies, about Among State Foreign Service or hiring federal workers. generalists, 42 percent of 2009 hires Says Lussier, “We’re taking a ho- 4.5 percent per year. were women, versus 39 percent of listic and strategic look at it, to make the current work force. sure we haven’t become over-reliant on contractors.” The Other End of the Pipeline In addition, the Obama administration is placing greater Recognizing that strong recruitment can be offset by emphasis on certain strategic priorities, such as global too many departures, department leaders and HR also health, climate change, food security and energy. While the keep an eye on attrition. A key ingredient for family Office of Recruitment, Examination and Employment has morale is employment of Foreign Service spouses. The not emphasized recruiting candidates with experience in department is enlarging its Expanded Professional Associ- those fields, the department is finding that its priorities are ates Program, which provides professional work opportu- very much in line with the interests of new ELOs. nities for eligible family members. According to HR, over Says Hurst, who specializes in working with entry-level the past year State has increased the number of EPAP po- generalists, “We’re getting graduates in their 20s and 30s, sitions by 55, to around 160 worldwide. and because these areas are exciting, they are coming in The department also uses its student loan repayment with a lot of experience in environmental issues, food se- program to keep resignations to a minimum. Says an HR curity and health. officer, “We use it very strategically.” For example, those “When we put a job on the list, saying you’re going to in hard-to-fill posts may get more generous repayment of- work in a bureau on this kind of issue, we’ve got five or six fers. people who already have written dissertations on it. It’s not Overall, State has one of the lowest attrition rates hard to find them.” among federal agencies, about 4.5 percent per year. In In addition, in specialized areas such as science, “we hire 2009, with the sagging economy, the rate was even lower expertise where we need it.” That may be through limited- — about 3 percent. The rate in the federal government as term Civil Service appointments, science fellows or Sched- a whole is 8 to 10 percent. And according to a survey by the ule D employment. nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, State came out At the same time, State is working to improve diversity among the top five in employee satisfaction among 32 gov- and minority representation in its work force. But progress ernment agencies. has been slow and uneven. One HR officer tells the Jour- Still, current trends in Foreign Service deployment do nal, “On gender diversity and Asian-American hiring, the give cause for concern about retention. As Amb. Mar- statistics are very positive. When it comes to African-Amer- quardt notes, “the main reason that people leave is con- icans and Hispanics, it continues to be a challenge. [But] flict over spousal lifestyle and employment. And in the it’s not for lack of effort.” last decade, with Iraq and Afghanistan, we’ve seen a pro- According to State Department statistics, hiring of liferation of unaccompanied posts that have put more African-American and Hispanic Foreign Service candidates pressure on this aspect. Nonetheless, I have personally in 2009 was only slightly higher than the proportions of observed a surprising number of young officers — even those ethnic groups already in the department. For exam- some with families — who expect, seem to accept, and ple, 5.5 percent of newly hired FSOs were African-Amer- often seek out assignments in high-profile unaccompa- ican, versus 4.8 percent of the current work force. For nied posts, because they are drawn to the importance of Hispanics, the parallel figures are 5.0 percent and 4.1 per- these missions or see them as career-enhancing.” cent. Senior work-force planner Philippe Lussier confirms The one notable exception to this pattern is in the Civil that the number of unaccompanied positions has gone Service contingent, where almost 30 percent of current from 200 before Sept. 11, 2001, to more than 900 today.

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But he says that “there’s no statistical There is some concern that next few years is that [those who evidence that this change has had an entered during] the last hiring effect on retention. Of course, that new hires may not be getting surge, with DRI, are now moving could reflect the recession, as well.” into junior mid-levels, the FS-3 In addition, Lussier says, new For- the supervision and range,” he observes. “So we’ll now eign Service recruits expect this to have some fairly junior mid-level be a way of life. mentoring they need. people who can start to become Beyond that, some HR staff do mentors for the second hiring wonder whether new officers are wave.” likely to follow traditional career tracks. Says Cathy Hurst, Overall, though, the Service finds itself with a shortage an experienced FSO, “Most of them don’t have the same of experienced officers. At this point, 25 to 30 percent of ideas a lot of us did, that we would do this until we retired. the active-duty Foreign Service corps has less than five Younger people who think about quitting come to us and years experience, and 50 percent of them have been in say, ‘I’ve got this great idea to start a company.’” for less than 10 years. As one HR officer says, “That’s not the ideal configuration. If we could wave a magic wand, D 3.0 — The Good and the Bad we’d have a lot more people in their 30s and 40s with ex- The Diplomacy 3.0 program plays out in interesting tensive experience in conflict management or civil re- and complicated ways for those entry-level officers who construction, with lots of technical skills.” are experiencing the hiring surge. In addition to being Or as FSO Cathy Hurst puts it, “Mid-level officers are brought more swiftly than normal through the hiring not only stretched numerically, but also in their experi- process, they face some unusual situations in their first ence. They’ve become mid-level a little too quickly.” tours. For instance, a number of them are filling jobs For the new officers, there is one bright side to the that would normally go to far more experienced officers, Foreign Service’s imbalance: the likelihood of quick pro- simply because there’s a surplus of new entrants and a motion. Amb. Marquardt has an analogy for the current shortage of mid-level officers. ELO career track: “It’s more like an elevator shaft than a It is also increasingly common for ELOs to serve their cone.” But for now, Erin Robertson, who came through first tour in Washington, something that used to be a rar- the 145th A-100 class last spring, is dealing with another ity. One FS-5 officer fresh out of A-100 was assigned to concern: Like 15 of her 94 classmates, she’s spending her a position that is supposed to be filled by an FS-2. Says first tour in the department, something that disappointed the young man, “I wasn’t thrilled about it, but I think it her at first. will be beneficial for my career. I’m in a position that “During A-100 all of the training was oriented to what normally requires seven to 10 years’ experience. life was like in an embassy, and how to deal with living “It can seem daunting at first, but I do have the sup- abroad. [Then] we show up at State, and it’s nothing like port I need from my supervisors. They were just very our training. You feel like such a small fish in a massive, glad to have someone come in and fill those portfolios.” crazy pond.” In all, there are about 50 to 70 ELOs at At the same time, he acknowledges, “The best way to Main State, Robertson estimates. train an officer is on-the-job. I’m not sure it’s the best Beyond that, she says, “I don’t think they’ve developed way to conduct foreign policy.” a way to welcome” those of us in this situation to Main Another concern is that new FSOs may not be getting State, “though my boss has worked with me to make my the supervision and mentoring they need to learn the job more fulfilling.” Robertson adds, “My colleagues and ropes. Phil Lussier of HR says the current crop of ELOs my boss have really made a difference for me.” “has put some strain on our top management. They’re Clearly, it is far too soon to draw any definitive con- really in charge of a huge amount of mentoring.” clusions about whether Diplomacy 3.0 is working as en- Mindful of this, Lussier notes that the Office of Ca- visioned — much less its long-term effects. But at a reer Development and Assignments is working to in- minimum, it is safe to expect that the Foreign Service of crease mid-level mentoring, despite the deficit in the future will be significantly different from today’s in- mid-level officers. “One thing that will help us over the stitution. ■

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THE NEXT-GENERATION DEPARTMENT OF STATE PROJECT

WE MUST EMPOWER THE SECRETARY OF STATE TO COORDINATE THE ENTIRE U.S. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS MECHANISM.

BY EDWARD MARKS

veryone agrees that longer are they alone. diplomacy and international affairs have changed dra- This situation poses a major challenge to traditionally matically in the past half-century, and the changes are con- organized governments, and certainly to the United tinuingE to unfold. Increasingly, government-to-government States. How to deal with it is a popular think-tank topic relations affect education, the environment, human rights these days, and reform proposals are abundant. This and the Internet, to name but a few areas of concern. As a paper proposes replacing the present State Department result, ministries of foreign affairs have great difficulty in with a new agency organized on different principles and holding on to even a minimal gatekeeper role. consolidating a large share of the various civilian foreign The second big change has been the expansion of the affairs activities. players’ roster, as international organizations, multina- We may keep the name “Department of State” for sen- tional companies, nongovernmental organizations, crimi- timental and historical reasons, but the “Next-Generation nal syndicates, transnational terrorist groups and many Department of State” I propose is a very different crea- others have become more active. National governments ture. The analogy is removing the hood ornament from may remain the biggest gorillas on the scene, but no an automobile and moving a whole new vehicle in under it. Think of the original Volkswagen Beetle — and the Edward Marks spent 40 years in the Foreign Service, in- current VW Passat. cluding an assignment as ambassador to Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde. After retiring in 1995, he did consulting In Search of Unity work with the United Nations, private companies and the Early in the Obama administration, Secretary of State Department of Defense, and continues as a senior mentor Hillary Rodham Clinton articulated her mantra of the at various military institutions. Ambassador Marks is a “Three Ds”: diplomacy, development and defense. To member of the American Diplomacy board and a Distin- emphasize the importance of this approach, she an- guished Senior Fellow at George Mason University. nounced that State and USAID would conduct the first- This article is adapted from a paper published at Amer- ever Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, ican Diplomacy. For the full text, visit www.unc.edu/ “to get ahead of emerging threats and opportunities and depts/diplomat/item/2010/0103/oped/op_marks.html. to make the case effectively for the Office of Management

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and Budget, Congress and the The most obvious A thorough assessment of this prob- [American] public for the resources lem of the absence of effective cross- we need.” and pressing area for department executive authority was Complicating matters is the fact conducted in 2007-2008 by the Proj- that dozens of other federal agencies consolidation is overseas ect on National Security Reform, a have an overseas presence. Only in congressionally mandated effort that the White House and in the individ- economic development. involved a broad coalition of organi- ual country teams are these diverse zations and individuals. programs considered as a total pack- The PNSR concluded that effec- age. Even then, limitations on presidential attention tive integration requires us to “elevate and integrate the make any oversight sporadic and incomplete, and the de unique dimensions of development, diplomacy and pub- facto authority of the chief of mission within U.S. em- lic diplomacy into a unified whole.” The organizational bassies is too limited even to ensure tactical integration. objective of this unified whole would be to empower the As a result, programs ranging from crisis response to Secretary of State to coordinate the entire international economic relations, development assistance, humanitarian relations mechanism abroad, putting him or her in a bet- relief, public broadcasting, migration, human rights, polit- ter position to implement presidential policy. Bundling ical-military engagement, arms control, educational ex- together related authorities and resources would also im- changes, science and technology, and many others are prove implementation of related programs. fractured and spread across many agencies and bureaus. There are numerous precedents for this approach. To put it bluntly, the Department of State was not de- The Department of Defense is the oldest and most suc- signed, nor is it equipped, to manage the nation’s in- cessful model, while the Department of Homeland Se- creasingly diverse responsibilities in a globalized world. curity and the Office of the Director of National Intelli- While State continues to occupy the center of the organi- gence are more recent creations (both still works in pro- zational chart, it does not exercise sufficient authority or gress). As with the concept of “jointness” that revolution- possess sufficient resources to manage the full range of ized American defense capabilities through the Goldwa- global affairs effectively. Nor does the Secretary of State ter-Nichols Act of 1986, the reinvented Department of have the kind of robust management and personnel struc- State would draw upon a combination of directive author- ture that would enable him or her to effectively provide ity and procedural, human capital and cultural changes. strategic leadership, oversight and coordination over the Creating a “Next-Generation” Department of State conduct of foreign affairs. with this new character would not in itself lead to an increase in the overall budget for foreign relations activities. A Next-Generation State Department It would, however, provide the means to use resources In theory, Sec. Clinton’s vision fits the currently popu- more effectively and efficiently. lar “whole of government” concept. In practice, however, Finally, this move would help correct the imbalance State is incapable of managing both routine operations between the military and civilian elements of national and responding to crises. I therefore propose consolidat- power — a situation due as much to a disparity in au- ing most international programs within a “Next-Genera- thority as a disparity in resources. tion State Department,” which would be structured as a comprehensive, mission-oriented organization, have an Guidelines for Consolidation effective executive management structure and process, In essence, I propose deconstructing State, then bring- and develop a new institutional culture based on a single ing in bureaucratic units from other agencies with related system-wide personnel system combined with a compre- missions to the various bureaus and offices in the current hensive, professional educational system. flow chart. Each of these new entities — functional bu- The rationale for this proposal is twofold. First, the reaus on steroids — would be organized around a major federal government has little capacity for making trade- foreign relations theme: economic and trade relations, offs at the strategic or regional levels; secondly, programs economic development, crisis response, public diplomacy promoting soft power lack integration and coordination. and information, political-military engagement, migration

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and immigration, and the nexus of The objective is an post-conflict reconstruction. There transnational threats (terrorism, nar- is an obvious operational continuum cotics, international crime). omnibus, big-tent type ranging from classic foreign aid proj- Most of these units would be ects to contemporary crisis response headed by assistant secretaries, al- of department — and post-conflict reconstruction. So though some, such as economic de- it makes sense to consolidate USAID velopment, might report to an under one with a greater range with State’s Office of the Coordina- secretary or even a Deputy Secretary tor for Reconstruction and Stabiliza- of State. They would function as of substantive programs. tion and with the Millennium Chall- substantive, mission-focused “agen- enge Corporation, forming a “Devel- cies” responsible for policy develop- opment and Crisis Response Organ- ment in their areas of competence, as well as capability ization.” providers to the operational chain of command. Other departments and agencies would participate in The objective is an omnibus, big-tent type of depart- the new department various means. A formal and exten- ment — one with a greater range of substantive programs sive personnel exchange system, modeled on the present than, for instance, the Department of Defense but less State-DOD exchange agreement, should be concluded than the Department of Homeland Security. Construct- with a wide range of departments and agencies. (Strong ing this department will require thoughtful analysis and on-site representation from the U.S. Special Operations lengthy negotiations about whom to include and leave Command and the Director of National Intelligence will out. be particularly desirable.) Recruitment for all positions, The most obvious and pressing area for consolidation, including the most senior, would be across the entire fed- currently under active consideration in Washington, is eral government. that of overseas economic development. At the moment, five institutions — the Department of Defense, State The New Organizational Structure Department, U.S. Agency for International Develop- Consolidation of the Next-Generation Department of ment, Millennium Challenge Corporation and Presi- State would focus on four primary elements: dent’s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief — manage • An “Office of the Secretary” with department-wide the bulk of foreign assistance, but without the benefit of authority, designated functions and sufficient staff. a clear division of labor based on comparative advantage. • A family of subordinate units ranging in status from In a 2007 report, the Helping to Enhance the Liveli- bureaus to sub-Cabinet agencies, each responsible for a hood of People around the Globe (HELP) Commission distinct subject such as development assistance. endorsed an integrated approach to U.S. government-run • A coherent operational chain of command from the development assistance programs, to replace piecemeal Secretary through regional assistant secretaries to chiefs of fixes administered by multiple agencies. It also argued mission to provide integrated management of all field op- that development should be elevated to equal status with erations. Each level would operate under authority anal- defense and diplomacy, which would require dramatic ogous to what chiefs of mission currently enjoy, but changes to the existing U.S. foreign affairs structure. Al- leading a networked, interbureau, interagency team. though the commission took varying views on what form • An expanded “foreign affairs” culture fostered by a that structure should take, the majority of commissioners three-pronged approach: expanding the current Foreign opted for the merger of all development agencies into the Service of the United States to cover all personnel who Department of State, so that the Secretary of State could pursue international careers in the new State Department manage all aspects of U.S foreign policy and foreign as- regardless of substantive discipline; a comprehensive pro- sistance. fessional educational program; and an extensive program Another aspect of this question is the need for a more of cross-functional and interagency assignments. effective structure for State to partner with DOD in man- The Secretary of State would be the primary executive aging our crisis response capability, given the relationship official responsible for managing the full range of pro- between economic development and crisis response or grams assigned to the department. This is, in fact, a tra-

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ditional responsibility of Secretaries The Department of State retary of State, regional assistant of State, the “CEO” function, but secretaries (functioning as re- one often shortchanged or ignored was not designed, nor is it gional managers), existing chiefs by a preoccupation with the roles of of mission (ambassadors), and spe- presidential adviser and chief diplo- equipped, to manage the cially designated chiefs of mission mat. for crises and special challenges. To cope with this expanded ex- nation’s increasingly diverse The Secretary of State will con- ecutive role, the Secretary would be tinue to function as the chief exec- supported by a principal Deputy responsibilities in a utive officer of the nation’s diplo- Secretary of State (who would re- matic system. However, as appro- place the two current deputy secre- globalized world. priate, he or she will delegate man- tary slots). Both will need a greatly agement responsibility for certain expanded, formalized and ade- specific issues to a group of re- quately staffed “Office of the Secretary” to provide over- gional directors and then down to chiefs of mission. all policy supervision, oversight and coordination of A new, expanded role is envisioned for ambassadors implementation programs and budgets of the substantive assigned overseas, the only officials with standing intera- units, and integration with national policy. gency executive authority, based on statute as well as spe- This formally established office would include, at a cific presidential designation. They are also generally the minimum: most senior officials occupied full-time on the portfolio of • Policy Planning Staff problems and programs associated with their country of • Strategic Budget Staff assignment. However, they are also viewed, and operate, • General Counsel/Legal Adviser essentially as field managers and operatives. • Comptroller and Central Budget Office Modern communication technology can diminish, if • Bureau of Intelligence & Research not eliminate, the organizational and geographic distinc- • Central Personnel Department (including profes- tions between headquarters and the field. With that in sional training and education). mind, ambassadors serving as chiefs of mission should Thought might also be given to creating a senior-level serve as their own country directors, participating in advisory board (much like the military Joint Chiefs of Washington, D.C., decision-making along the lines that Staff), responsible to the Secretary and comprised of the Indian Ambassador Kishan S. Rana sets forth in The 21st- heads of major substantive units or sub-departments. Century Ambassador (Mediterranean Academy of Diplo- matic Studies, 2004). This approach has often been Using Chief-of-Mission Authority practiced in the past, at least informally, and no doubt is The new Department of State, like the existing organ- followed by some U.S. ambassadors today. It should be ization, must somehow square the circle of apparently made the standard operational mode of the new Depart- conflicting substantive perspectives: the geographic bu- ment of State. reaus represent the fundamental nation-state organiza- In addition to the standing executive structure of re- tion of the international community, while the functional gional assistant secretaries and country-specific chiefs of bureaus embody the global character of many substantive mission, the authority to appoint COMs should be ex- subjects. To manage this matrix, I propose organizing the tended to include specific appointments in the case of nat- new department according to the principles already found ural disasters, crises or countries where no U.S. mission in embassy country teams: a relatively flat organization exists. (This authority currently exists but is not used in composed of substantive bureaucratic units, each re- such situations.) sponsible for a relevant range of disciplines (e.g., politi- A formal delegation of authority similar to that COMs cal, economic, administrative, security, etc.). already receive should be extended to the relevant re- Central to this approach is adaptation of existing gional assistant secretaries. Through this central “com- chief-of-mission authority to the proposed responsibili- mand” structure, State could integrate policies and ties of four levels of officials in the new State; the Sec- resources for embassy country teams to draw on —

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thereby alleviating or even elimi- The reinvented ensure close coordination between nating stovepiping. peacetime military engagement Department of State would and political, economic and devel- The Time Has Come opmental policies in each region. The regional assistant secretaries draw upon a combination Like the 3-D approach articu- would not exercise authority (or lated by Sec. Clinton, the support- command) over combatant com- of directive authority and ing thesis of a consolidated Depart- manders or their assigned forces in ment of State is the culmination of combat operations or other Title 10 procedural, human capital a great deal of study and discussion. missions assigned by the National Nearly two decades after the Cold Command Authority — the same and cultural changes. War ended, a major restructuring limitation that already applies to of the organization and operating chiefs of mission with respect to processes of the United States gov- their country of assignment. However, the relevant re- ernment in the national security arena is long overdue. gional assistant secretary would help the combatant com- The traditional organization of freestanding departments manders develop their war plans and theater security and agencies of the federal government cannot effectively cooperation plans. respond to a world that long ago burst out of stovepiped This arrangement would fulfill the long-expressed de- perspectives. sire of the Department of Defense for an effective coun- The old question thus poses itself once again: If not terpart to their geographic commanders. It would also now, then when? ■

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THE “REFORM” OF FOREIGN SERVICE REFORM

THE CONSTANT NEED TO REDEFINE THE DIPLOMATIC MISSION AND ORGANIZE ACCORDINGLY CONTINUES TO DRIVE A DEBATE THAT BEGAN IN THE LATE 1940S.

BY THOMAS D. BOYATT

ince the end of World War II, and let us get on with it?” Well, there is one very good rea- “reform” — which is to say, change, for better or worse — son why “they” won’t leave us alone. Contexts change over has been a permanent feature of the Foreign Service land- time, so all institutions, public or private, must reinvent scape. S About every decade a major reform has been pro- themselves to deal with new realities — or perish. In the posed and implemented. commercial sector the list of iconic companies (think RCA) Between those initiatives, a plethora of committees, that have disappeared is long. The list of corporations suc- commissions and study groups have kept the State De- cessfully reinventing themselves (IBM) is much shorter. partment and the other foreign affairs agencies under The Foreign Service and State Department face the scrutiny, with the threat of further change ever present. same imperative: adapt or disappear. The reality of the As the great Foreign Service director general, Nathaniel continuing need for reform is directly linked to the rapidly Davis, once noted, “It’s hard to tend the tree when every changing world of the 20th and 21st centuries. couple of years someone pulls it out of the ground to see if the roots are growing.” The Substance of the Debate Ambassador Davis makes a cogent point. Who among The need to redefine the diplomatic mission and or- us has not thought, “Why don’t ‘they’ just leave us alone ganize accordingly has driven a debate that began in the late 1940s and continues today. The first phase of that Thomas D. Boyatt, an FSO from 1959 until 1985, served process revolved around managing the bipolar world of the as ambassador to Colombia and Upper Volta (now Burkino Cold War and endured from 1946 until 1991. The current Faso) and chargé d’affaires in Chile, among many other iteration of the debate centers on managing a multipolar, postings. Currently the treasurer of AFSA’s political ac- globalized set of state and non-state actors (from the Lit- tion committee, AFSA-PAC, he has in the past been AFSA’s tle Sisters of the Poor to al-Qaida) and coping with insidi- president, vice president and treasurer, as well as serving ous threats ranging from pandemics to nuclear terrorism. as a retiree representative. He is currently president of the In both phases of the debate, participants within the Foreign Affairs Council, chairs the Academy of American State Department and the Foreign Service, including Sec- Diplomacy’s “Foreign Affairs Budget for the Future” proj- retaries of State and their political teams, and outside ob- ect, and lectures, teaches and consults. servers have confronted the challenges of defining roles

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and missions and shaping institu- With the advent of the been the first war to witness large- tions to meet them. Heroically sim- scale civilian involvement while plified, the argument has always Cold War, a bevy of new combat was in progress. The Civil been between those who support a Operations and Revolutionary De- Foreign Service designed to execute government-sponsored velopment Support nationbuilding the classic diplomatic functions of effort there employed hundreds of reporting, representing and negoti- international missions arose. Foreign Service officers from State ating (the traditionalists); and those and USAID in programs designed who espouse institutions designed to deal, as well, with the to defeat communist insurgency politically and economi- broader missions of economic development, public diplo- cally, as well as militarily. Nor were these efforts confined macy, stabilization and reconstruction, and so on (the ex- to Vietnam. Over time a strong plurality, if not a majority, peditionaries). of Foreign Service personnel shared similar experiences The evolution of the debate between the traditionalists all over the Third World. and the expeditionaries, and the linkage of that debate to The second factor was the need, well understood by the reform efforts, merit a brief summary. drafters of the 1980 act, to strengthen the hand of ambas- With the advent of the Cold War, a bevy of new gov- sadors endeavoring to forge unity of policy, purpose and ernment-sponsored international missions arose: eco- message among foreign affairs agencies at each post in the nomic development, public diplomacy, arms control, face of policy fragmentation in Washington. Since 1961 permanent trade negotiations and many others. From the every chief of mission had received a letter from the pres- passage of the Foreign Service Act of 1946 until its suc- ident instructing him or her to direct and coordinate all cessor, the Foreign Service Act of 1980, the traditionalists U.S. civilian and military personnel in the country of as- won the debate. The State Department and the Foreign signment. Service continued to perform the ongoing diplomatic func- The Foreign Service Act of 1980 established a clear tions while the new missions were ceded or spun off to statutory foundation for ambassadorial authority. Section other agencies of government. 207 of Public Law 96-465 (Oct. 17, 1980) states that “the “Reform” consisted of the creation of new U.S. inter- chief of mission to a foreign country shall have full re- national agencies such as the United States Information sponsibility for the direction, coordination, and supervi- Agency, the Agency for International Development (and sion of all government employees in that country …” The its predecessors) and the Arms Control and Disarmament operative word is direction. Agency. In addition, existing agencies (e.g., Agriculture, Ambassadors and, by extension, deputy chiefs of mis- Commerce, Treasury and Justice) established or acquired sion are required by law to direct all government employ- their own micro-Foreign Service cadres, each supported ees, including those involved in the expeditionary activities by home offices in the respective agencies. of nationbuilding. That, in turn, means that the leaders of This left the foreign affairs activities of the United the Foreign Service and State Department need to acquire States government fragmented, at least in Washington, knowledge of, and preferably experience in, the expedi- among several competing, frequently quarrelsome agen- tionary dimensions of modern diplomacy. cies, each with their own agendas and congressional sup- The current phase of the debate began with the col- porters. The “purity” of the diplomatic effort was main- lapse of the Soviet Union at the beginning of the 1990s. tained, but at a cost. During the ensuing decade budgets for diplomacy, defense and development shrank by 30 percent. Defense Two New Realities and foreign affairs agencies paid for the “peace dividend” The terms and tenor of the traditionalist vs. expedi- as the U.S. Information Agency and the Arms Control & tionary debate were changed dramatically and perma- Disarmament Agency were re-integrated into the State nently by the Foreign Service Act of 1980. The authors of Department in 1999, and the U.S. Agency for Interna- that legislation were, in turn, much influenced by two ex- tional Development withered. ogenous and new realities. The remaining foreign affairs agencies did not have The first was the Vietnam War. That conflict may have enough personnel to perform either traditional or expedi-

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tionary roles at maximum effective- The terms and tenor of Co-Opting the ness. The collapse during the early Structure of Reform 1990s of Yugoslavia into warring reli- the traditionalist vs. It is also important to recognize gious and ethnic groups was a clear that the debate over the substance signal that the “end of history” was expeditionary debate were of reform has taken place in the con- not at hand. text of a changing structure. The foreign attacks on the Ameri- changed dramatically and From 1946 until 1980 the pro- can homeland on Sept. 11, 2001, her- cess was top-down. Our political alded yet another new foreign policy permanently by the Foreign masters closely supervised the pro- era, to which the Foreign Service and cess. A few senior career persons State Department would have to Service Act of 1980. might be consulted, or they might adapt to remain relevant. not. Often, an eminent outsider was called in to manage things. The Debate Is Over The “poster boy” for this type of reform was Dr. Henry That process of adaptation has been under way for Wriston, president of Brown University, who led a serious the last decade. As in Vietnam, we are once again in- State Department reform effort in the mid-1950s. Wris- volved in nationbuilding in the midst of war in Iraq and ton’s major recommendation was that State’s civil servants Afghanistan. The State Department has been desig- be merged into the Foreign Service, so that those con- nated as the lead agency and the coordinator for stabi- ducting foreign affairs overseas and those supporting those lization and reconstruction in both pre- and post-conflict operations in Washington would be part of the same or- situations. Both nationbuilding and democracy promo- ganization and share the same culture. tion continue to have overarching policy relevance. At a distance of more than half a century, that concept Consequently, I believe that the traditionalist vs. ex- does not seem so unreasonable. At the time, however, peditionary debate of the last half-century is over. The “Wristonization” was strongly condemned on all sides. fact is that virtually every current Foreign Service em- FSOs resented the entrance of hundreds of new officers ployee at State and USAID has had at least one as- — many at the senior ranks — into the Service who had signment involving nationbuilding — whether in the not paid the “dues” of discomfort and danger in overseas 21 new states that emerged from the collapsed Soviet postings. For their part, many Civil Service employees felt and Yugoslav empires, in the new democracies of East- they were being dragooned into a life for which they had ern Europe, as members of Provincial Reconstruction not signed up. As a result, even though the merger was Teams in Iraq and Afghanistan, or in the failing states not fully achieved, the turmoil surrounding Wristonization of Africa. did not fade for many years. The last three Secretaries of State have all made their Meanwhile, during the mid-1960s the relationship be- views on this clear. Colin Powell’s emphasis on leader- tween reform and the people of the Foreign Service began ship and management, Condoleezza Rice’s call for “trans- a process of change that has since accelerated. A group of formational diplomacy” and Hillary Rodham Clinton’s junior and mid-level officers, frustrated by the manage- focus on “elevating development” are all statements that ment of the State Department and reform efforts from the they want a State Department — and Foreign Service — outside, began to meet and discuss how to reshape the sys- that can perform with excellence in both the traditional- tem from the bottom up. ist and expeditionary areas. Their first operational step was to contest every officer As a corollary, all three believe that most Foreign and board position in the 1967 election of the American Service generalists should be able to both “field and hit,” Foreign Service Association Governing Board. After their performing both as traditional diplomats and managers of AFSA victory the group was quickly dubbed the “Young complex multiagency programs to achieve foreign policy Turks” by their colleagues. objectives. Secretaries of State deserve to have the in- The Young Turks began informally lobbying State’s stitutional capabilities they need in today’s world. That is management for an internal reform effort. The initiative the goal of current reform efforts, as it should be. bore fruit when the department organized scores of offi-

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cers into various committees that It is important to recognize the Business Council for Interna- eventually produced “Toward a tional Understanding and the Pub- Modern Diplomacy,” a compend- that the debate over the lic Members Association. ium of recommendations on how to In 1995 these organizations improve the department and the substance of reform has joined with AFSA to form an um- policy process. brella group called the Foreign Af- This internal reform effort was taken place in the context fairs Council. Secretary Powell still a top-down exercise under the called us his force multiplier; oth- leadership of State’s senior manage- of a changing structure. ers see the FAC as the network. In ment officers. However, it was rev- my romantic moments I refer to it olutionary in the degree of partici- as “Cosa Nostra.” pation by members of the Foreign Service, and was certainly a harbinger of future developments. Where We Are Now There won’t be any latter-day “Wristons” imposing re- The Breakthrough form from the top down. AFSA, with the support of the The next reform was the game changer. Between 1969 Foreign Affairs Council, has the capability to prevent such and 1972 white-collar unions were established throughout moves by using its bargaining rights and public and con- the federal service by executive order. The story of how gressional influence. Future reformers, of course, have the Young Turks helped draft the order for the State De- the opportunity (call it a requirement) to work with AFSA partment, how they won for AFSA exclusive representa- and the Council to develop reforms. tion of Foreign Service employees of all foreign affairs I would go one step further. I think the evidence is ac- agencies, and how they began negotiating personnel poli- cumulating that the people of the foreign affairs agencies cies and procedures is thoroughly covered in the June 2003 have themselves become the locus of reform. The most issue of the Foreign Service Journal (available at www.afsa. important and successful reform effort, as measured by re- org/fsj/2003.cfm). I won’t repeat it here. Suffice it to say sults, has been the ongoing “Foreign Affairs Budget for that this reform changed forever the relationship between the Future” project. This process was conceived and exe- the employees of those agencies, their managements, and cuted by the American Academy of Diplomacy (and sup- how reform could happen. It was no longer possible to ported by the Stimson Center). Major contributions were impose reform from the top without consulting AFSA — made by the other members of the FAC, particularly the and negotiating the detailed implementation of any reform Cox Foundation, which supplied $500,000 in funding, and with the association. AFSA, whose public and congressional outreach were crit- This reality was reflected in the next reform, the For- ical. eign Service Act of 1980. The Department of State and The FAB was, in effect, a zero-based budget exercise AFSA worked in concert to draft the act and obtain con- that calculated human and financial resources required by gressional approval of it. the missions of the foreign affairs agencies and then built Over the next three decades, AFSA broadened and a budget thereon. The report recommended 4,735 above- strengthened its public outreach and congressional oper- attrition new positions for traditional diplomacy, public ations. Of equal importance, several other organizations diplomacy, training, economic assistance, stabilization and were founded dedicated to furthering the processes of reconstruction, and security assistance. (We did not ad- diplomacy and the interests of the personnel of the For- dress specialist positions needed for administrative sup- eign Service: the American Academy of Diplomacy, the port.) Council of American Ambassadors, the Association for As soon as the report was published, the FAB team Diplomatic Studies and Training, the Association of Black mounted a major lobbying effort with the relevant com- American Ambassadors, and the Cox and Delevan Foun- mittees on the Hill and both presidential campaigns. As dations. They were joined by such longstanding organiza- you might imagine, skeptics as to our chances of success tions as Diplomats and Consular Officers, Retired; the were legion. In October 2008, members of the State De- Association of the American Foreign Service Worldwide; partment transition team for the Obama administration

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asked to meet on the budget issues. In that meeting, we cessful beyond our wildest hopes. Through their respec- made the strongest possible case for the recommenda- tive Foreign Service cadres, State and USAID will soon tions in the FAB calling for dramatically increased per- have the manpower to accomplish both the missions of sonnel and financial resources. We also urged our traditional diplomacy and expeditionary nationbuilding in interlocutors to support outgoing Secretary of State Con- the 21st century. doleezza Rice’s robust 2009 budget request and not to set- Having the bodies is not enough, of course. They must tle for a continuing resolution — advice that they be appropriately trained, integrated, deployed and kept followed. trained throughout their careers, both as diplomats and Recent legislation, including the Fiscal Year 2008 sup- program managers. The management side of the house plemental, the 2009 budget and supplemental, and the has made a brilliant start on these heroic challenges, but FY 2010 budget, have collectively authorized and appro- there is much more work to do. priated funds for about 4,500 new Foreign Service posi- Today’s reform efforts are asking the right questions tions at State and USAID, as well as substantial resources and answering them with action. In that spirit, the peo- for the Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and ple of the Foreign Service are reforming themselves. Stabilization. (About 1,000 of these positions are for spe- After all, who knows more about the realities and chal- cialists and should not be counted against the target of lenges they face? 4,700 mission-specific positions.) Such increases over A few decades from now a future Foreign Service such a short timeframe are unprecedented. member will analyze the reform efforts of the early 21st Building on this momentum, Sec. Clinton’s Fiscal Year century. I hope and expect that he or she will report that 2011 budget request seeks 400 more Foreign Service po- today’s efforts were successful. If not, dear colleagues, sitions for State and 200 for USAID. FAB has been suc- “The fault lies not in our stars, but in ourselves.” ■

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SMART POWER IN ACTION: S/CRS

AN INTERVIEW WITH AMBASSADOR JOHN HERBST, THE COORDINATOR FOR RECONSTRUCTION AND STABILIZATION SINCE 2006.

BY STEVEN ALAN HONLEY

f any one part of the State Depart- For a more complete picture of the office’s activities, ment could be said to represent the future of the For- Foreign Service Journal Editor Steven Alan Honley in- eign Service, the Office of the Coordinator for Recon- terviewed Ambassador Herbst on Feb. 19. structionI and Stabilization, established in 2004, fits the bill. FSJ: Thanks for the opportunity to speak with you Though it started with just a handful of staff and did not today, Ambassador Herbst. Let me begin by asking you receive dedicated funding until 2008, S/CRS is becoming to describe your office’s mission in terms of the larger in- the embodiment of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham stitution. Clinton’s concept of “smart power,” which she defines as JH: As you know, the Office of the Coordinator for “the full range of tools at our disposal — diplomatic, eco- Reconstruction and Stabilization is charged with build- nomic, military, political, legal and cultural — picking the ing and maintaining an interagency civilian capability to right tool or combination of tools for each situation.” plan, manage and conduct conflict prevention and stabi- As the planning, analytical and operational component lization operations on behalf of the Secretary of State and of the State Department’s formalized reconstruction and chiefs of mission overseas. This is a new role for the State stabilization activities, S/CRS draws from all corners of Department, and we believe we are making real progress the Foreign Service and the U.S. government to address on many fronts. During our first five years, S/CRS has a wide range of conflicts and related challenges around developed an effective and proven cadre with tools, the world. equipment and expertise; created the Civilian Response Career Senior FSO John E. Herbst has been the Co- Corps; and deployed these experts all over the world to ordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization since May address and prevent conflict. 2006. Prior to assuming that position, he served as ambassador to Uzbekistan (2000-2003) and Ukraine (2003- FSJ: The dire situation in Haiti following the Jan. 12 2006) among many other assignments since joining the earthquake would seem to be a textbook example of the Foreign Service in 1979. need for a central office to assemble and coordinate federal resources for reconstruction and stabilization. What Steven Alan Honley is the editor of the Journal. can you tell us about your office’s work there?

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JH: The key thing to keep in “There was some skepticism Component (CRC-S), with a goal mind here is that because Haiti has of increasing that to 1,000 people been designated as a humanitarian about our office when it by the end of this fiscal year. Like crisis, the U.S. Agency for Interna- their active-duty colleagues, these tional Development has been as- first started up a couple are all full-time employees of vari- signed the lead role for organizing ous U.S. government departments, the U.S. response. As part of that of years ago, but I think with specialized expertise useful in effort, within 24 hours of the task- reconstruction and stabilization ing we sent personnel from eight there’s less today.” operations. They are available to different agencies to the State and deploy within 30 days in the event USAID task forces responding to — Ambassador John Herbst, Coordinator of a reconstruction or stabilization the crisis. These personnel were for Reconstruction and Stabilization operation. drawn not just from State and Finally, the Reserve Compo- USAID, but from Commerce, Trea- nent (CRC-R) has not yet been sury, Health and Human Services, Justice, Agriculture and funded, but will consist of up to 2,000 U.S. citizens, each Homeland Security. of whom commits to be available within 45 to 60 days of Moreover, immediately after the earthquake, we had call-up to serve as U.S. government temporary employ- 10 Civilian Response Corps members ready to deploy to ees in support of overseas reconstruction and stabiliza- Haiti for planning beyond the humanitarian assistance tion operations. These individuals, to be drawn from the phase, if called upon by the State Department. We also private sector as well as state and local governments identified a few dozen Civilian Response Corps mem- across the country, would have expertise in such fields as bers with relevant skill sets who could be available for fu- policing and the rule of law, infrastructure development, ture deployments. economic stabilization, state and local governance, agriculture and provision of basic services. These services, FSJ: What is the concept behind the Civilian Response critical to efforts to bring “normalcy” to countries, require Corps? capabilities career federal employees simply cannot JH: Because no single U.S. government entity has all match in expertise or in number. of the relevant expertise to deal with these threats, the Civilian Response Corps is a partnership of eight de- FSJ: Has the Civilian Response Corps been able to partments and agencies: the Department of State, U.S. make effective use of retired FSOs? Agency for International Development, and the depart- JH: I would say so. There are many examples I could ments of Agriculture, Commerce, Health and Human cite, but let me talk about Afghanistan. We’ve been in- Services, Homeland Security, Justice and Treasury. The volved there for over two years now in a variety of roles, Civilian Response Corps consists of three complemen- with something like 20 to 24 CRC members in country tary components: active, standby and reserve. at any given time. They have supported the Special Rep- The Active Component (CRC-A), has more than resentative for Afghanistan & Pakistan, the U.S. embassy 100 full-time members as of now, but our goal is to in- in Kabul, and the International Security Assistance crease that number to 264 by the end of the current fis- Force in Kabul to help implement the president’s strat- cal year. These are full-time federal employees, from the egy for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Foreign Service and elsewhere, whose specific job is to As part of that mission, we went out to all 12 U.S. train for, prepare and staff reconstruction, stabilization Provincial Reconstruction Teams around the country and conflict prevention efforts. They can deploy any- and helped them write plans for civilian operations. where in the world within 48 hours of an emergency to We’ve also established a civilian group in Embassy focus on critical interagency functions such as assess- Kabul. In addition, at the Afghan government’s request, ments, planning, management, administration, coordi- we rendered technical assistance in preparation for their nation, logistics and resource mobilization. presidential elections last summer, dealing with issues We currently have 619 individuals in the Standby like communications and planning.

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FSJ: Conflict prevention and “Because no single summer of 2006 following the mitigation are obviously key Israeli-Hezbollah War, but we parts of your office’s mission. U.S. government entity has all have used it many times since How are you pursuing those then, in Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, goals? of the relevant expertise to deal Georgia, Morocco and many JH: With USAID, we have other countries. put together a product we call with these threats, the Civilian Now that we have dedicated the Interagency Conflict As- funding and are in a better posi- sessment Framework. The Response Corps is a partnership tion to respond to requests, ICAF process helps people from people are coming to us more different U.S. government agen- of eight departments and than ever. One recent example cies work together to understand is the Democratic Republic of a given country’s conflict dynam- agencies.” the Congo. You may recall that ics and reach consensus on ways last August, Sec. Clinton visited the U.S. can assist efforts to head Congolese President Joseph Ka- off potential conflicts. bila and broached the idea of our conducting assessments To do that, we put together teams that visit the U.S. in five different issue areas. embassy in a particular country to act as facilitators. They We work closely with Assistant Secretary of State for draw out the people there who have policy expertise and African Affairs Johnnie Carson when sending teams out, substantive knowledge to come up with a comprehensive and we are always mindful that AF and the other regional understanding of the situation on the ground. ICAF bureaus have the policy lead. We just stand ready to offer teams are often co-led by representatives from the Con- expertise and resources. flict Prevention division of S/CRS and USAID’s Office of Conflict Management and Mitigation, but that’s not a re- FSJ: How would you characterize the working rela- quirement. tionship between S/CRS and USAID? Last year we conducted ICAFs in Panama, Colombia, JH: Very good. At my request, for the last two years Pakistan, Cambodia and Ecuador. We also provided plan- one of my deputy coordinators has come from USAID. ning assistance in Bangladesh — where, I’m pleased to We’ve also had many detailees from that agency working say, our yearlong partnership with Embassy Dhaka in our office. (timed to coincide with the country’s transition to democracy after a two-year caretaker government) resulted in FSJ: Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and other sen- the State Department recognizing its Mission Strategic ior officials at the Pentagon have endorsed calls for the Plan as “MSP of the Year.” State Department and USAID to assume more responsibility for reconstruction work. Have you found that at- FSJ: What happens once the framework is drafted? titude to be reflected at the working level of the military JH: It’s important to realize that the team does not in places like Afghanistan? make any recommendations for program design. That is JH: In fact, I would say that the military has been the the role of the Sectoral Assessment which follows. largest institutional supporter of S/CRS and our work Once our office has identified specific ways in which the across the board. Many of the projects we’ve carried out, United States can help, we draw on what are known as such as working with the PRTs in Afghanistan, came at Section 1207 funds to implement the projects. their request. Section 1207 of H.R. 1815 authorizes the Secretary of For our part, in July 2007 we set up a Civil-Military Defense to transfer funds to the Department of State — Team to work with the Bureau of Political-Military Af- $350 million to date — to provide assistance in recon- fairs and the Office of the Coordinator for Counterter- struction, security or stabilization. The Secretary of State rorism, both within State, as well as the Office of the has delegated authority over those funds to S/CRS. Our Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, the uniformed mil- very first use of this authority was in Lebanon during the itary services, combatant commands and other defense

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agencies. The team also supports “We’ve been involved in levels within State as to where and interagency bodies established how to use that capacity. under National Security Presi- Afghanistan for over two years dential Directive 44, sharing in- FSJ: Let me just end with a formation, developing objectives now in a variety of roles, with few nuts-and-bolts questions. Do and coordinating the participation you compile a database of indi- of members of the civilian intera- something like 20 to 24 viduals within the Foreign Serv- gency community with respect to ice and other government agencies civilian-military exercises and Civilian Response Corps with the skills you’re looking for? other partnership activities re- JH: Yes, State and USAID and lated to reconstruction and stabi- members in country at any the other participating agencies lization. feed us the names of the people given time.” they hire. FSJ: How does your office see its role in failed and failing states FSJ: And who pays? such as Yemen and Somalia? JH: At present, both USAID and State are receiving JH: We are involved in ongoing conversations, both appropriations for the Civilian Response Corps, so in Washington and in the field, relating to those chal- USAID has been providing for their own members and lenges. We are still developing a capacity for such situa- also paying for the Civilian Deployment Center that all tions, but in any case, the decisions will be made at senior members pass through upon being called up to deploy.

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The State Department covers “Our yearlong partnership JH: There was some skepticism the costs for all the other agencies. about our office when it first started In the FY 2010 budget, the prepon- with Embassy Dhaka up a couple of years ago, but I think derance of funding for the Corps there’s less today. And the princi- came to the State Department, so resulted in the State pal reason is that we’ve had a num- we may pick up some of USAID’s ber of engagements, most of them expenses in the future. Department recognizing its successful, and through them have made friends and established a FSJ: What advice would you Mission Strategic Plan as presence. give to a Foreign Service member, S/CRS sits in the State Depart- retiree or active-duty, who reads ‘MSP of the Year.’” ment and reports to the Secretary this article and is interested in ap- of State, but the Civilian Response plying for the Civilian Response Corps comprises eight agencies, Corps? which forces us to think in intera- JH: Readers can visit our Web site, www.crs.state.gov, gency terms — to really work closely with our friends and to find out more about opportunities to join both S/CRS partners throughout the State Department and the wider and the Civilian Response Corps. U.S. government.

FSJ: Any final comments? FSJ: Thank you very much, Ambassador Herbst. ■

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FS HERITAGE A LONG-TERM PERSPECTIVE ON U.S. FOREIGN DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION

BUILDING ON TIME-TESTED MODELS IS THE BEST WAY TO CREATE DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION INSTITUTIONS THAT CAN MEET FUTURE CHALLENGES.

BY GLENN ROGERS

early all readers of this magazine know sources allocated to foreign humanitarian relief, gradually that the Marshall Plan was a four-year, increasing the focus on long-term development cooperation. $12.5 billion effort to accelerate Euro- For 150 years, U.S. foreign humanitarian relief and devel- pean recovery from World War II. Put opment cooperation evolved under primarily private-sector in terms of 2008 dollars (as all expen- leadership. However, the public sector has experimented with ditures in this article are), this comes to coordinating private efforts since the Monroe Doctrine, and $120 billion, or $30 billion per year. has often innovated by helping scale up ideas developed by Announced in June 1947, the program is often viewed as the private sector. Important legal and regulatory reforms in- Nthe start of U.S. foreign development cooperation. But a clude those that enabled the formation of private associations 1794 appropriation of $304,000 for the welfare of several and national franchises in the early 1800s, the creation of gen- thousand refugees fleeing from Saint-Domingue, Haiti, ac- eral purpose foundations in the early 1900s (such as Carnegie tually set the precedent for a federal role in assistance. and Rockefeller) and subsequent systemic U.S. government America’s current foreign assistance and cooperation ef- engagement through tax policy and funding. forts have evolved through a long struggle for coordination, institutionalization and capacity-building. Waves of innova- The Roots of U.S. Private Overseas Assistance tion have been especially pronounced during times of con- American humanitarian disaster relief and development flict and social adjustment to globalization. In many of these cooperation grew out of the Elizabethan poor laws and our periods, the private sector innovated and expanded re- Bill of Rights, which in effect mandated a voluntary system of private-sector religious and charitable giving. The U.S. tra- Glenn Rogers, a USAID Foreign Service officer, served in Kin- dition of local religious organizations and businesses joining shasa and Abidjan supporting field missions across West and together for relief efforts and development cooperation over- Central Africa (1987-1997) and in Cairo (1997-2004). A seas built on this foundation. member of the AFSA Governing Board, he currently works in There are numerous examples of citizen-led foreign assis- USAID’s Europe and Eurasia Bureau guiding social sector tance throughout our nation’s history. Famine relief was the and governance programming. His grandparents served with most common, although concern for victims of war, political the Rockefeller Foundation from 1919 to 1924 in China, violence and urban fires also stimulated American relief ef- which helped lead him to join the Foreign Service. The views forts. In 1816 and 1825, merchants, churches and synagogues expressed in this article are those of the author and do not in Boston and New York aided victims of fires in Canada. necessarily reflect those of USAID or the U.S. government. While Congress declined to authorize assistance to Greek vic-

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tims of violence in 1824, individuals, for trade development. Two years churches and other organizations later, leaders of the Missouri Territory raised funds and purchased clothes and For 150 years, U.S. petitioned Congress for aid following other supplies. In 1827 and 1828 the territory’s own earthquake, suc- alone, Americans sent $3.8 million foreign humanitarian cessfully citing the Venezuelan relief worth of goods to Greece, including as- effort as a precedent. sistance for agricultural development. relief and development Congress allocated funds to support During this same period private aid was the founding of Liberia in 1847, yet at sent to flood victims in France and cooperation evolved the same time it turned down as un- famine victims in Cape Verde. constitutional a proposal to give $14 Support for basic education was the primarily under private- million for famine relief in Scotland primary form of development coopera- and Ireland. (The Creek Indians, from tion. But it was not the only one. In sector leadership. their reservation in Oklahoma, donated 1830, Peter Parker opened a health a hundred thousand bushels of food center in Canton, China, the first re- grains to the Irish.) Washington’s role ported instance of foreign health assis- in that crisis was limited to using mili- tance by U.S. based private groups. As Board under the Rockefeller Founda- tary ships to transport private U.S. as- this sector approach evolved, commu- tion started to expand and modernize a sistance for local distribution by British nity development increasingly became small Protestant missionary medical officials, the Catholic Church and the a formal objective of work abroad. center in Peking, turning it into a full- Central Relief Committee of the Partnerships among private groups fledged teaching hospital modeled on Dublin Society of Friends (Quakers). and the growing scale of private organ- the Johns Hopkins University School Promotion of U.S. food exports, an izations enabled more than 10,000 new of Medicine. (This is where my grand- initiative launched by the private sec- missionaries to be sent overseas by parents served and my mother was tor in the 19th century, was later World War I. On average, they contin- born in 1923.) adopted by the federal government. ued their studies for six years beyond As the first century of private hu- Charles J. Murphy became known as high school; their ranks included a large manitarian relief and development co- the “Corn Missionary” because of his number of professionally trained med- operation came to a close, there was a efforts to popularize corn in Europe, ical specialists, agriculturalists and notable increase in the number of pri- both to help American farmers market teachers. vate industrial foundations, integration their surpluses and feed hungry Euro- The sheer scale and value of these fi- of national philanthropic organizations, peans. With the endorsement of the nancial and volunteer efforts is notable. and experimentation with new public- New York Produce Exchange, he By 1890, annual private contributions private partnerships, such as the Amer- toured the U.S. to raise money for a vast by Americans for overseas missions to- ican Red Cross. In contrast to earlier exhibit of corn and corn products at the taled $339 million, adding up to billions eras of private initiatives designed in- Paris Exhibition of 1889. Not long of dollars over the decades. dependently of government, these in- thereafter, President Benjamin Harri- dustrial foundations appear to have son’s Secretary of Agriculture, Jeremiah The Rise of Foundations been partly oriented to working closely Rusk, named Murphy a USDA agent. Globalization and various social dis- with government, providing research Murphy’s initiative was a precursor locations during the late 1800s fostered and acting as venture capitalists for to the 1933 Agricultural Adjustment the creation of new institutions, includ- public programs. Act, operated through the Commodity ing “general purpose foundations,” Credit Corporation as a mechanism for “community foundations” and “donor- U.S. Government Foreign systematic shipment of food outside of advised funds.” John Rockefeller es- Assistance and Cooperation emergency situations. Following in tablished the International Health In 1812, Congress passed an “Act that tradition, a quarter of the Marshall Commission in 1913, which soon for Relief of the Citizens of Venezuela” Plan’s resources were dedicated to the launched the Rockefeller Foundation that funded the purchase and shipping provision of food, feed and fertilizer. into international public health reform of $799,000 in food aid. This was in re- After that program ended, U.S. farm- and capacity-building activities. In sponse to an intense earthquake that ers lobbied for continuation of food 1915 it launched a 30-year campaign killed 10,000 people in Caracas and aid, resulting in the 1954 Agricultural against yellow fever. destroyed 90 percent of the city. The Trade Development and Assistance That same year, the China Medical motivation was both humanitarian and Act (P.L. 480).

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Agriculture accounted for a large China Famine Relief Committee and meanwhile, these efforts began to be share of early U.S. government-related the American Red Cross. This cooper- dwarfed by U.S. commercial invest- technical missions abroad. By the first ation not only provided foodstuffs and ment overseas, which quadrupled decade of the 20th century, the United distributed seed, but also promoted from the late 1800s, reaching $77 bil- States had already sent such missions to public works. Increasingly, concerns lion in 1914. Manchuria (now China), Siam (now about the poverty and vulnerability of After southern Italy suffered a de- Thailand), East and South Africa, the Chinese population led to a focus structive earthquake and tidal wave in Panama, Argentina, Brazil and India. on long-term development. 1908, private Americans provided over While most of these missions were Dismayed that famine relief efforts $24 million in relief. In addition, be- commercial or oriented toward scien- were required again and again in cause so many Italians were left home- tific research, not humanitarian, some China, and confident that American less, Congress appropriated funds for foreign governments were so eager for engineering could find a solution to the the construction of housing for the dis- U.S. help that they offered to cover the underlying problems, the ARC initi- placed. costs. In 1846 the Ottoman sultan re- ated flood control schemes, a major Once again, the Red Cross experi- quested scientific agriculturalists to in- departure from its customary practice. mented with assistance that went be- troduce cotton culture and livestock The Chinese government paid for U.S. yond the scope of combating hunger or and fertilizer improvements, while Chi- engineers retained by the Red Cross to sickness, combining its private re- nese leaders requested assistance to es- complete a proposal in 1914 for a $667 sources with this federal funding. tablish an agricultural school in the million flood control project to be pri- For example, ARC personnel worked 1890s. Examples such as these set clear vately financed. alongside U.S. naval personnel and precedents for later development co- The ARC spent over $22 million in Italians to construct prefabricated operation models. China before World War I and con- homes using partially constructed cot- An early example of larger-scale co- tinued to provide relief afterward, but tages shipped from the United States. operation is that between the Central later narrowed its role. Globally, The Mexican Revolution of 1910-

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1920 posed a special challenge for ministration of Technical Assistance, relations was to work on the problems American humanitarian relief efforts ports that most of the projects were in that most concerned these countries. because Washington occasionally inter- agriculture and student exchanges. The decision to establish the Office of vened militarily in the conflict. The Geological investigations, civil aviation, the Coordinator for IIAA as an inde- American Red Cross was presumably child welfare and the improvement of pendent agency had been molded by neutral, but matters were confused by statistical services were also priorities. FDR’s belief that a new agency would the fact that President Woodrow Wil- To administer these early programs, show greater initiative and energy in son was also the president of the ARC. President Roosevelt established the this new field of technical cooperation In 1914, Herbert Hoover helped Interdepartmental Committee on Sci- than could be expected from the De- form the Commission for Relief in Bel- entific and Cultural Cooperation in partment of State. This approach was gium, funded by the U.S., U.K. and 1939. More than 25 bureaus from 18 built on Rockefeller Foundation and France to organize relief to more than departments and agencies were mem- earlier private-sector experience dat- 10 million people in Belgium and bers, and the assistant secretary of ing back over a century, and it grew to northern France. In 1917 Hoover was State for public affairs was its chair- be structured around long-term, in- made head of the U.S. Food Adminis- man. country technical cooperation teams tration, which in 1919 alone spent $40 Through its chairmanship, the De- called “servicios.” billion in relief funds, dispatched 18.5 partment of State presided over the Understandably, career personnel at million tons of food to Europe, and dis- deliberations and activities of the com- State feared that an independent tributed 23 million tons of clothing and mittee, and was responsible for pro- agency would create diplomatic prob- medicine to help rehabilitate wartorn viding general coordination of all lems. While relations between the countries. activities. But it was given neither au- IIAA and the Interdepartmental Com- During the 1920s, enormous official thority nor responsibility for operating mittee on Scientific and Cultural Co- lending helped rebuild Germany and or directing the program. Indeed, no operation were reportedly smooth other countries, alongside the efforts of single entity was responsible for im- enough in the field, in Washington they American religious organizations. Aid plementing the new legislation; each viewed each other as competitors. By worth more than $241 million was sent agency represented on the committee 1944 the tension had become so great to Russian famine victims in 1921 was responsible only for the projects that the director of the IIAA’s Food alone. But the U.S. loans stopped dur- assigned to it. Supply Division resigned because ca- ing the Great Depression and were not reer State Department officers were repaid. Campaigning in 1932, Franklin Scaling Up obstructing its new program. Delano Roosevelt promised that the Sector Development Over the next decade the State De- U.S. would no longer make similar for- In an April 1940 executive order, partment initiated multiple reviews, all eign investments. Pres. Roosevelt established the Office of which recommended that the inde- of the Coordinator of Inter-American pendent IIAA be continued. James U.S. Government Scientific Affairs and appointed Nelson Rocke- Maddox’s 1956 book, Technical Assis- and Cultural Cooperation feller as coordinator. Rockefeller initi- tance by Religious Agencies in Latin On May 3, 1939, Congress adopted ated a broad set of joint bilateral pro- America, provides much-needed per- Public Law 63 authorizing the presi- grams to deal with the basic problems spective by reporting that in the 1950s, dent to detail any U.S. government of Latin American economies. U.S. government funding was twice employee to give advice and assistance In 1942, he secured a charter that devoted to missionary develop- on request to the government of any under the laws of Delaware for a gov- ment — even though religious agen- American (Western Hemisphere) na- ernment-owned corporation called cies had three times as many develop- tion. In August 1939, P.L. 355 author- the Institute of Inter-American Af- ment staff in Latin America. ized the president to use any U.S. fairs. This entity was authorized to department to carry into effect “the re- conduct cooperative programs with Lessons for Today ciprocal undertakings and cooperative Latin American governments in the Shortly after the Marshall Plan got purposes enunciated in the treaties, promotion of public health and agri- under way, President Harry Truman resolutions, declarations and recom- cultural development. It later ex- used his Jan. 20, 1949, inaugural ad- mendations signed by all of the 21 panded to include elementary and dress to articulate his Point Four pro- American republics” at conferences in vocational education. gram. Subsequently enacted as the 1936 and 1938. This focus grew out of a conviction International Development Act, this Philip Glick’s 1957 book, The Ad- that the best way to foster friendly re- evolved into our current federally

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funded development cooperation in- similar resistance, because it was diffi- overlooked, and previous mistakes stitutions. cult to convince others of their altru- were repeated, Point Four would turn This long history of experimenta- ism in the short term. out to be one more grand scheme that tion in organizing the administration of Proper administration was a key failed. Fortunately, many of those les- foreign assistance and development factor, though even the best-run mis- sons were learned and incorporated cooperation reflects many of the issues sions showed a mixture of accomplish- into the design of subsequent U.S. for- still being debated today. In their 1954 ments and failures. A good many eign cooperation institutions. book, Prelude to Point Four — Ameri- clearly aided large parts of the popula- It is not surprising that today our can Technical Missions Overseas 1838- tion. Most, however, improved the po- country is once again engaged in an 1938, Merle Curti and Kendall Birr sition of relatively small groups. overhaul of its foreign development conclude that the origins of these early The complex relationship between cooperation. This continues our his- technical missions had much to do agricultural and health conditions was tory of increasing coordination, institu- with their eventual success or failure. highlighted in the 1930s when James tional development and capacity-build- They found that technical cooperation Thorp, the Department of Agricul- ing for ever-larger scales of effort. The motivated by scientific curiosity had an ture’s senior soil technologist in China, institutional innovations that enabled excellent chance of success, while mis- pleaded unsuccessfully for the dissem- billions of dollars of private-sector sup- sions initiated by foreign governments ination of birth-control information as port during the 1800s, World War I re- had better chances, at least when they the only method of keeping the popu- lief efforts and the Marshall Plan are started. lation within the bounds of soil pro- all prime examples. In contrast, activities designed pri- ductivity. As has always been true, building marily to serve U.S. interests were For Curti and Birr, it was clear as on the foundation of previous reforms viewed with suspicion or resistance by early as 1954 that if the previous cen- and innovations is the best way to cre- foreigners. Even altruistic activities tury of American experience with for- ate institutions to meet future chal- designed to benefit other societies met eign cooperation was neglected or lenges. ■

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AFSAAmerican ForeignNEWS Service Association • May 2010

STATE ANNUAL SURVEY RESULTS Strong Opinions on Dissent, OCP and Specialist Issues BY DANIEL HIRSCH, STATE VP

his year, AFSA’s annual survey of active-duty State mem- ity of training) and challenged others (for example, respondents bers was longer than past ones, and touched on areas that are happier with support for separated families than we thought TAFSA has not asked about before. Specifically, we wanted they would be). Many of the comments informed us about is- to get a better idea of the composition of our membership and sues of which we were previously unaware. The survey results to shift the focus a bit from policy issues to questions of satis- will be shared with department management and individual faction with department processes and realities. bureaus. The picture that emerged reinforced some things we had For reasons of space, this article contains only the highlights. anecdotally understood (e.g., dissatisfaction with the availabil- Continued on page 53

MARCH SEMINARS FOCUS ON GLOBAL TERRORISM, ASIA Outreach and Teamwork: AFSA’s Exploritas Programs BY FRANCESCA KELLY

very day, Foreign Service officers file reports from the field, macy in Action: The Middle East, South Asia and Global Ter- while others back in Washington work to get bureau issues rorism,” featured such distinguished speakers as Ambassadors Enoticed by agency management. Meanwhile, much of the Philip Wilcox Jr. and Edward “Skip” Gnehm. The five-day learn- general public has no idea what the Foreign Service does. AFSA ing experience also included visits to the embassy of Pakistan, addresses this by offering programs that reach out to people the Foreign Service Institute and DACOR-Bacon House. Par- across the country. One of the most effective — and popular — ticipants delved into such topics as “Saudi Arabia and the Gulf” is Exploritas, formerly known as Elderhostel. and “Global Terrorism,” as well as more specific examinations On a Sunday evening in early March, AFSA’s Exploritas proof terrorist groups such as al-Qaida, the Taliban and the Revo- gram administrator, retired FSO Bernie Alter, along with AFSA lutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Marketing and Outreach Manager Asgeir Sigfusson, greeted a group of about 45 people at the Savoy Suites Hotel in Washing- A Sampling of Programs ton, D.C. Another Washington-based Exploritas program followed two weeks later. This one, called “The United States, A Week of Learning China, and Other Challenges and Opportunities Sigfusson warmed up the crowd, encouraging in Asia,” ran from March 21 to 25. It offered lec- stand-up introductions. Then Alter kicked off the tures and discussions on topics such as human program with an overview of diplomatic history rights in China, as well as a lecture by David Stein- in preparation for a week of intensive learning. berg called “Burma: The Asian Pariah.” Former Both men have conducted dozens of AFSA Ex- AFSA staff member and author Dr. Alicia Campi ploritas programs; some of the participants were gave a lively talk on Mongolia. also “repeat offenders” who warmly greeted our March’s offerings were just a sampling of the staffers from past programs on diplomacy and the KELLY FRANCESCA AFSA Exploritas programs that take place regularly Program Administrator Bernie Foreign Service. Alter speaks to Exploritas partici- throughout the country. For more information, The March 7-11 program, “American Diplo- pants, March 7. please e-mail Bernie Alter at [email protected]. ❏

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A F S A AFSANEWSBRIEFS N E ADST TRIBUTE TO EXCELLENCE half of Mr. Turner, who transformed television through the cre- W The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training ation of Cable News Network. He created the U.N. Foundation S honored former Senator Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., media pioneer with his historic $1 billion pledge, and launched the Nuclear and philanthropist Ted Turner, and broadcast journalist Ted Kop- Threat Initiative. pel at its biennial “Tribute to Excellence” dinner on Feb. 25. Mr. Koppel, senior news analyst for National Public Radio, re- Ambassador Ronald Neumann, president of the American ceived the Cyrus R. Vance Award for Advancing Knowledge of Academy of Diplomacy, presented the Ralph J. Bunche Award for Diplomacy. In presenting the award, former AFSA President Diplomatic Excellence to Sen. Hagel, who serves on several policy John Limbert noted Koppel’s important role in keeping the plight advisory boards and teaches at Georgetown University and the of the hostages at Embassy Tehran before the American public University of Nebraska. through “Nightline.” ADST’s International Business Leadership Award was ac- ADST supports training at the Foreign Service Institute and cepted by United Nations Foundation CEO Kathy Calvin on be- promotes understanding of U.S. diplomacy.

Life in the Foreign Service Amb. Chuck Ford Tells All ■ BY BRIAN AGGELER to Texas Ambassador Charles A. “Chuck” Ford spoke at a series of programs in central Texas in early March, including a talk on “Perspectives on State, U.S. Diplomacy and the Foreign Service” hosted by the Central Texas Retiree Group in Austin. University of Texas Diplomat-in-Residence William Stewart reports that Ford delivered two “outstanding” programs on March 4 — an overview of U.S. diplomacy and a lecture on Foreign Service careers — to undergradu- ate classes and selected faculty. Ford also spoke to six classes and a group of business leaders at Angelo State University in San Angelo, on the topics of U.S.-Latin Ameri- can relations and FS careers. Ford served as ambassador to Honduras from 2005 to 2008, and is a former AFSA FCS VP. AFSA is grateful for Amb. Ford’s exceptional and tireless efforts to explain the critical importance of the Foreign Service and U.S. diplomacy to university audiences, retirees and opinion leaders.

AFSA HEADQUARTERS: Staff: Governing Board: Executive Director Ian Houston: [email protected] (202) 338-4045; Fax: (202) 338-6820 PRESIDENT: Susan R. Johnson Business Department STATE DEPARTMENT AFSA OFFICE: Controller Kalpna Srimal: [email protected] STATE VP: Daniel Hirsch (202) 647-8160; Fax: (202) 647-0265 Assistant Controller Cory Nishi: [email protected] USAID VP: Francisco Zamora Labor Management USAID AFSA OFFICE: FAS VP: Henry Schmick (202) 712-1941; Fax: (202) 216-3710 General Counsel Sharon Papp: [email protected] FCS VP: Keith Curtis FCS AFSA OFFICE: Deputy General Counsel Zlatana Badrich: [email protected] Labor Management Specialist James Yorke: [email protected] RETIREE VP: Robert Houdek (202) 482-9088; Fax: (202) 482-9087 Senior Staff Attorney Neera Parikh: [email protected] SECRETARY: F.A. “Tex” Harris AFSA WEB SITE: www.afsa.org Staff Attorney Michael Willats: [email protected] FSJ: [email protected] Office Manager Christine Warren: [email protected] TREASURER: Andrew Winter PRESIDENT: [email protected] USAID Senior Labor Management Adviser Douglas Broome: [email protected] STATE REPS: Carleton Bulkin, Jorge Delfin, STATE VP: [email protected] USAID Staff Assistant Patrick Bradley: [email protected] Mary Glantz, Les Hickman, Joyce Namde, RETIREE VP: [email protected] Member Services USAID VP: [email protected] Member Services Director Janet Hedrick: [email protected] Julia Stewart, Mike Unglesbee, Sharon White, FAS VP: [email protected] Member Services Representative Michael Laiacona: [email protected] Teresa Yata FCS VP: [email protected] Administrative Assistant and Office Manager Ana Lopez: [email protected] USAID REPS: Michael Henning, Glenn Rogers Communications, Marketing and Outreach Retiree Counseling & Legislation Coordinator Bonnie Brown: [email protected] FCS REP: Rebecca Balogh AFSA News Director of Communications Thomas Switzer: [email protected] FAS REP: Melinda Sallyards Legislative Director Casey Frary: [email protected] IBB REP: Al Pessin Editor Francesca Kelly: [email protected] Executive Assistant to the President Austin Tracy: [email protected] (202) 338-4045, ext. 516; Scholarship Director Lori Dec: [email protected] RETIREE REPS: Fax: (202) 338-8244 Scholarship Program Assistant Jonathan Crawford: [email protected] Janice Bay, Robert (Bill) Farrand, On the Web: Exploritas Administrator Bernard Alter: [email protected] David Passage, Molly Williamson Marketing & Outreach Manager Asgeir Sigfusson: [email protected] How to Contact Us: to Contact How www.afsa.org/fsj and www.fsjournal.org Special Awards & Outreach Coordinator Perri Green: [email protected]

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A F Survey • Continued from page 51 available. Twenty-two percent have are satisfied with the fairness of the as- S For full results and charts, please visit medical limitations on themselves or a signments process, but far fewer (26 per- A www.afsa.org/state/. Thanks to all who household member; 4 percent have cent) are satisfied with its transparency. participated. children with special needs; and 1 per- For a breakdown of specialists’ and gen- N The survey was not limited to multi- cent identified themselves as having a eralists’ responses, please refer to the ple-choice questions. Respondents pro- disability. AFSA Web site. E vided 1,212 freeform comments con- Most respondents (nearly 80 per- W cerning ways that training-related func- cent) have served in a hardship-dif- AFSA should explore how to restruc- S tions or processes could be improved (a ferental post (see chart below). ture the bidding and assignments process question asked at the request of the Gov- into a more transparently competitive ernment Accountability Office) and Bidding Decisions: Regional process (i.e., some sort of point system that 1,058 comments detailing additional Interest, Post Management is somewhat similar to the career devel- problems or concerns they believe AFSA and Family Considerations opment checklist), with less reliance on should be addressing, as well as several Are Most Important Factors personal relationships and “corridor rep- hundred additional comments. Repre- By far, the most important consid- utation,” a term that automatically trans- sentative comments are shown in italics erations affecting respondents’ bidding lates into “cronyism” and “the Good Ol’ below. decisions are: the inherent interest of a Boy” system. position or region (95 percent); the When it comes to assignment sup- Overall Response: quality of post management (94 per- port from career development officers, Good Representation of cent); the importance of the position in generalists are the most satisfied (69 State’s Demographics a post or office (84 percent); and the percent), but results vary depending on Altogether, AFSA received 2,725 re- post/position’s value for career en- specialist area. sponses by the cutoff date of March 1. hancement (83 percent). These consid- We heard from members of every skill erations are closely followed by financial Professional Training: group and in numbers matching the issues, danger, social/recreational con- Most (But Not All) Are Satisfied overall composition of the State De- siderations, housing options and degree More than two-thirds of generalists partment Foreign Service, with gener- of hardship. and a little more than half of specialists alists, especially at the middle ranks, For married respondents the results are satisfied with the availability of pro- making up 63 percent of the respon- were similar, except that the ability to fessional training. However, there is a dents. More than three-quarters of re- bring family to post ranked as the high- dip in satisfaction levels among office spondents are serving overseas. est consideration, tied with the inherent management specialists (only 36 per- Sixty-three percent are married, 3 interest of a position or region. Quality cent). Most respondents are also satis- percent reside with an unmarried part- and availability of educational facilities fied with the quality of professional ner, 29 percent have a household that are also important factors for families. training. includes children, 16 percent have a for- For both generalist and specialist re- eign-born spouse or partner, and 10 Assignments: Fairness OK, But sults, see Chart 11 at www.afsa.org/state/. percent are part of a tandem couple. Transparency Needs Improvement Continued on page 56 Eighty-eight percent are worldwide Overall, 60 percent of respondents

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A F S V.P. VOICE: USAID ■ BY FRANCISCO ZAMORA AFSANEWSBRIEFS A N FSOs Are Not Rambos Great Negotiations E Book Event, May 24 W AFSA’s new book discussion series, S “Book Notes,” is off with a bang! Our first event featured Ambassador John Limbert speaking on his book, Negotiating with Iran: Wrestling the Ghosts of History, to a ithout question, service in such Critical Priority Countries as capacity crowd (see April AFSA News). Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq demands a great deal from Foreign On May 24, we welcome author Fredrik Service personnel. It is taken for granted that the hours will be long W Stanton, who will discuss his new book, and, to a large extent, uncompensated. FSOs make these sacrifices willingly for Great Negotiations: Agreements that reasons of patriotism and loyalty. However, at a certain point, the demands can Changed the Modern World, recently re- become pathologically stressful and counterproductive. That is the conclusion of a recent State Department Office of the Inspector General report on leased through Westholme Publishing. Afghanistan, “Stretched to the Limit.” Stanton has written for the Boston Herald The OIG found that members and the United Nations’ A Global Agenda. of the civilian surge were beset by He served as an election monitor in Arme- low morale due to “the stresses of nia, the Republic of Georgia, Bosnia, an almost 100-percent personnel Kosovo and Azerbaijan. FSOs have accepted the unusual turnover, a massive civilian buildup The book focuses on the most important circumstances of their work. at a frenetic pace, the redesign of diplomatic negotiations in American his- development assistance programs tory, including the Louisiana Purchase, the But they — and all of us — and the continuing high volume of Congress of Vienna, the Paris Peace Con- must take care that abusive official visitors.” ference and the Reykjavik Summit. The report observes that it is All AFSA members, as well as the gen- working conditions are not “not uncommon for staff to put in eral public, are welcome to attend this allowed to develop. 80-hour work weeks, with no days special event on Mon., May 24, at off.” OIG even reported that “video 11 a.m. at AFSA headquarters teleconferences with senior admin- (2101 E St. NW). istration officials in Washington can keep FSOs awake until 4:30 a.m., reducing productivity.” In response to concerns from USAID FSOs, AFSA released a general notice in February outlining the legal obligations of federal employers to pay overtime and compensatory time off to untenured employees who do not receive the 20- percent special differential that tenured FSOs get. While untenured FSOs are allowed up to 24 hours per pay period of premium pay (overtime, holiday worked or compensatory time), the reality is that a great number of untenured FSOs AFSA Scholarship regularly exceed this limit and go uncompensated. At this point, let me be clear. FSOs are not complaining to AFSA about los- Fund Appeal ing money in the process. They have accepted the unusual circumstances of AFSA would like to thank those of you their work. But they — and all of us — must take care that abusive working who have already made a donation to the conditions are not allowed to develop. AFSA Scholarship Fund, and to remind The “Rambo” mentality is unhealthy and counterproductive. FSOs, tenured others that you still can make a contribu- and untenured, need time off to decompress and maintain their effectiveness, tion to support college scholarships for as well as avoid burnout — as evidenced by the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder children of Foreign Service employees. experienced by many of our staff returning from CPCs. Since 1932, AFSA has been assisting fami- Severe understaffing has exacerbated this problem, preventing FSOs from lies to help keep college affordable. This scheduling downtime over the course of their grueling workweek. Management year we expect to aid 100 students by must ensure adequate staffing at CPC posts and remember that USAID FSOs providing Academic and Art Merit Awards are civilians trying their best to serve their country. Routinely pushing them to and need-based Financial Aid Scholarships the breaking point is not smart power. ❏ totaling $190,000.

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A F AFSANEWSBRIEFS V.P. VOICE: FAS ■ BY HENRY SCHMICK S A Hungary and Poland Up or Out — Part II — N Recognize American E Diplomats’ Service The Theory W Hungarian Prime Minister Gordon n Part I (see April AFSA News), we briefly reviewed the S Bajnai, in Washington for high-level involvement of three five-star generals — John Persh- meetings last December, presented the Iing, George Marshall and Dwight Eisenhower — in firmly establishing the “up Order of Merit, Commander’s Cross of or out” system across the U.S. armed forces and, in 1946, its extension to the U.S. the Republic of Hungary to Ambassador Foreign Service. We also noted that another five-star general, Henry Arnold, was one of the founders of the RAND Corporation, which provided the Department Mark Palmer. Palmer, an AFSA member, of Defense with many of the background documents used for this article. served as the U.S. ambassador to Hun- The up-or-out system first appeared in a form that we would easily recognize, gary during its transition to democracy in the U.S. Navy Acts of 1899 and 1916. Those acts included the following provi- 20 years ago. The award, presented to sions: time in class, mandatory retirement at maximum age limits, promotion Palmer at a dinner at the Hungarian am- and selection-out boards, and a retirement pension. The Marines adopted the bassador’s residence on Dec. 2, was “for up-or-out system in 1925 and linked mandatory retirement to being passed over his promotion of the Hungarian political for promotion. Despite the efforts of the five-star generals, the Army did not and economic democratization process.” adopt the full up-or-out system until 1947, when Congress consolidated the dif- Earlier in the year, David Hughes, ferent approaches into the Officer Personnel Act governing all the armed forces. president of the Hungarian American The goals of the OPA were to develop an officer corps with “youth and vigor,” Chamber of Commerce in Seattle, Wash., establish a career path for success- was awarded the Officer’s Cross of the ful officers lasting 30 years and offer voluntary retirement after 20 years Order of Merit of the Republic of Hun- of commissioned service. In the gary for his activities in the field of devel- run-up to World War II, General opment of U.S.-Hungarian economic Marshall struggled to retire many Whether he knew it or not, and commercial relations, and for his 60-year-old colonels who were “no Sec. Vance was following the promotion of the Hungarian political longer the vigorous men they were “youth and vigor” movement. and economic democratization process. in their 30s and 40s.” Hungarian Ambassador Ferenc Somogyi While working on the OPA, presented the award to Mr. Hughes, a re- Congress also passed the Foreign tired FSO and AFSA member, at the Em- Service Act of 1946, bringing the bassy of Hungary on June 19. up-or-out system to the Foreign On Feb. 8, Władysław Stasiak, head of Service. In 1979, during discussions that would lead to passage of the 1980 For- eign Service Act, Secretary of State Cyrus Vance noted several shortcomings of the Chancellery of the President of the the 1946 Act, including a top-heavy officer corps. He urged Congress to “restore Republic of Poland, awarded state dis- an effective up-or-out policy essential to attracting and keeping the most quali- tinctions to representatives of the Ful- fied people and assuring them the opportunity to move through the ranks at a rate bright Foundation who have which reflects their ability.” Whether he knew it or not, Sec. Vance was following significantly contributed to the establish- the “youth and vigor” movement. ment and development of an academic Some organizational economists divide promotional systems into several types: exchange program between Poland and (1) up-or-out; (2) absolute merit-based; (3) relative merit-based; (4) seniority- the United States of America. Retired based; and (5) random. Each promotional system type is studied, discussed and FSO and AFSA member Yale W. Rich- “modeled” (through computer simulations) to see if one type works better than mond received the Commander’s Cross another in a specific corporate environment. The goals of a promotional system of the Order of Merit of the Republic of are to select the most able employees for positions of greater responsibility and to motivate employees at one level to strive harder to reach the next one. Poland for his work in getting the Ful- Does the Foreign Service up-or-out system meet those goals? Is it better than bright program started there and, later in a seniority-based or completely random promotional system? Tune in for Part III, his career, for work on democracy pro- where we try to determine, to paraphrase the title of a 1995 book by P.J. O’Rourke, grams, both during the period of martial whether age and guile do, in fact, “beat youth, innocence and a bad haircut.” law in Poland and afterward. Part III will appear in the July-August issue of AFSA News. ❏

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A F Survey • Continued from page 53 S • belief that dissent would not be A Language Training: Generalists taken seriously – 59 percent When the comparability is fully im- More Satisfied Than Specialists • none of the above – 3 percent plemented, it will make it more likely for Here the numbers differ substantially A handful responded that dissent me to serve overseas. Until full imple- N between generalists and specialists: is freely given. mentation, it will not have an effect. E 75 percent of generalists but just 41 per- W cent of specialists are satisfied with the Our supervisor explicitly told our sec- Without this extension, DS agents ac- S availability of language training, with a tion that she does not appreciate dissent tually lose money when they serve over- slightly narrower gap on satisfaction in any form. seas. I moved from a 25-percent-differ- with the quality of language training (66 ential post to D.C. and my annual salary percent of generalists and 46 percent of I believe that dissent is offered quite went up almost $20K. specialists). More generalists than spe- often — perhaps too often. cialists feel that current practices support Iraq and Afghanistan Incentives those who ask for language training. For Tandem Couples: Most Are A third of respondents believe cur- further statistical breakdowns, particu- Not Happy rent incentives should be maintained; larly among specialists, refer to the full Fewer than half (41 percent) of re- that number rises to over 40 percent survey results online. spondents who identify themselves as among those who have served in Iraq part of a tandem couple are satisfied and Afghanistan. Yet almost a quarter State does not provide training; it pro- with department support for tandem of respondents feel incentives should be vides familiarization. Training still re- couples; 30 percent are extremely dis- only financial or otherwise limited so as mains on-the-job. satisfied. Availability of tandem assign- not to affect other employees. See Chart ments is the number-one consideration 10 on p. 57. There is a widespread feeling that in bidding for 98 percent of this sub- training is only necessary at the start of group. Current incentives work; these posts one’s career and is optional or frivolous at are different. It’s important for the de- later stages. I would like to see AFSA work more on partment to recognize that, and incen- tandem issues. It seems that the number tivize recruits. Stress- or Work-Related of tandems is increasing across the foreign Mental Health Issues affairs agencies, and tandems are cost-ef- Linked assignments need to stop. Peo- Fifty-six percent of respondents be- fective for the government. Yet the bid- ple doing multiple tours at 15- or 20-per- lieve that the department should do ding process for tandems is extremely cent hardship posts should have a chance more to address stress- or work-related difficult — especially across agencies — at cushy jobs, too. mental health issues, with exactly half of and tandems often face long periods of respondents believing that these issues separation, even if they are able to be as- DS agents should get linked assign- are stigmatized by the Foreign Service signed to the same post. This imposes a ments like everyone else. culture. In fact, 47 percent believe that significant financial burden on tandem receiving counseling for stress- or work- couples, and is difficult for children. Require the department to pay spe- related mental health issues can nega- cialists who serve in Baghdad and Af- tively affect an employee’s career and/or Could AFSA follow up with depart- ghanistan the same monetary differential security clearance. Only 21 percent of ment management to encourage the cre- that generalists receive when they sign on respondents believe that the department ation of more telecommuting opportuni- for an additional year of service over their handles Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder ties for tandems unable to work at the original one-year assignment. and other work-related mental health same post? issues in a satisfactory manner. Employees with Disabilities: Comparability Pay: Make It Stick! More Needs to be Done To Dissent or Not to Dissent? Respondents are evenly divided as to Overall, 41 percent of respondents Respondents cited the following fac- whether overseas comparability pay af- currently serve or have served with one tors when it comes to deciding not to fects bidding on an overseas assignment. or more employees with a physical dis- offer dissent: See complete statistics online. ability; 7 percent are personally aware of • corridor reputation – 76 percent a situation where it appeared that the • relationships at post – 73 percent Continue working comparability pay; department was not doing enough to • promotions and tenure – make it full and make it stick. accommodate disabled employees. 69 percent Forty-two percent of respondents be- • desire to be seen as a “team player” Overseas comparability pay should re- lieve the department provides satisfac- – 61 percent main AFSA’s highest priority. tory accommodations, and 29 percent

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A F S A N E W S

believe that department employees re- Specific Diplomatic Security and ceive sufficient training/orientation re- Single FSOs (i.e., those with no one on Information Management Issues garding working with employees who their orders) are expected to do more over- Home Marketing Incentive Pro- have a physical disability. time and evening events, and to be “flex- gram: Federal Trade Regulation 302-14 Only 10 percent of respondents who ible” with their leave relative to other authorizes the department to enact a identify themselves as having a physical FSOs with dependents. This is workplace home marketing incentive program that disability are satisfied with department discrimination. would reduce the possibility of financial support for employees with disabilities; loss to an employee who had to sell a 55 percent are very dissatisfied, and 60 When overseas, I often feel adrift; most home at one domestic assignment loca- percent do not believe there is sufficient CLO activities are geared toward officers tion in order to transfer to another do- training. and their families. The single officers are mestic assignment location. This parti- usually left to fend for themselves. cularly affects DS special agents, as The department is abysmal when it DS maintains numerous field offices comes to training managers how to han- Foreign-Born Spouses throughout the U.S. More than two- dle employees with potential (but not yet or Partners: Not Integrated thirds (69 percent) of respondents in that documented) disabilities and/or medical Easily category say that enacting such a pro- issues. Fewer than half (42 percent) of re- gram would substantially increase their spondents with foreign-born spouses or willingness to transfer from one domes- Single Employees: partners report that they are satisfied tic assignment to another. Often Overlooked with department support for integra- Law Enforcement Officers Safety About a third (35 percent) of single tion of foreign-born spouses; 16 percent Act: H.R. 218, known as the “Law En- respondents are satisfied with depart- are very dissatisfied with this support. forcement Officers’ Safety Act,” allows re- mental support for single employees; 27 tired federal agents to carry concealed percent are very dissatisfied with such Spousal support at post seems to be weapons. The act requires each agency support. programmed for American-born wives. employing law enforcement officers to Six percent of respondents who de- Most people forget about the growing initiate standards for training and testing scribe themselves as single, divorced or number of foreign-born male spouses when and a program of compliance. The over- widowed live in a household that in- planning for spouse activities/support. whelming majority (90 percent) of DS cludes minor children. Thirty-eight per- special agent respondents support urg- cent of those are dissatisfied with Foreign-born same-sex partners are a ing the department to comply fully with department support for children of sep- huge issue for those of us wanting to serve this act, including ensuring that retired arated parents. One percent of single re- in the U.S. on domestic assignments. Our agents have the proper credentials and spondents live in a household including partners need some sort of visa to allow access to training and firearms facilities dependent parents, and another 1 per- them to live/work in the U.S. while we are for the purposes of maintaining said cent have a child with special needs. on assignment there. standards. Continued on page 58

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A F Survey • Continued from page 57 S receive all fairness. I have seen many cases Worldwide Availability: A Fairness in specialist assignments: where FS members have absolutely wacky How “Foreign” Should the Only 6 percent of DS special agents re- stuff in their backgrounds that they try to Foreign Service Be? sponding feel that assignments in their cover up or “dance around.” Adjudication A large majority — 83 percent — N area of specialization are fair and of five-year recertifications is difficult be- feel that FS members should be world- E transparent. Twenty-eight percent feel cause the general culture of the FS is to be- wide available upon hiring, but only 27 W they are somewhat less fair than for come completely defensive at being re- percent think that they should be world- S other FS employees, and 31 percent investigated. wide available throughout their careers. feel that they are much less fair and Slightly more than half feel that if an FS transparent. member ceases to be worldwide avail- Likewise, only 6 percent of informa- I hope that AFSA will never waver in able at any point in his or her post- tion management specialists expressed its advocacy on behalf of more transparent tenure career, the department should satisfaction with the fairness and trans- procedures in the security clearance find or create positions in which that parency of the assignments process. process. employee can serve. Twenty-three percent feel that assignments are somewhat less fair and 16 per- Mandatory Retirement Age: FS members should be judged based cent feel that they are much less fair and Respondents Divided on their ability to contribute to the FS, not transparent. More than half of our respondents on their ability to be worldwide available. (52 percent) favor raising or at least ex- Additionally, those who want to serve [There is a] lack of professional and as- ploring raising (44 percent) the manda- worldwide should be allowed to do so. signment opportunities available to spe- tory retirement age from 65 to 67. A cialists, even if they are otherwise highly fifth (21 percent) oppose raising the If not available for overseas service for qualified, and in some cases, more so than mandatory retirement age, and 16 per- an extended period of time, separate or the generalists. cent urge AFSA not to further explore convert to Civil Service. It is the Foreign this issue. Service. Consular Affairs and Diplomatic Se- curity assignments are not remotely trans- As a man of 30, I fear the burden im- In many cases, employees are declared parent; gaining posts/geographic bureaus posed by ever-longer retirement periods to have limited availability against their have no voice whatsoever. That must by retirees on our basic social fabric far own wishes, and with little option to chal- change. more than I fear the impact of elderly but lenge that determination. More should be continually retrained workers above me. done to allow FS candidates and members Assignments, employee evaluation re- If people want to work, let ’em work. Just to challenge MED decisions; decisions and ports and promotions have been corrupted don’t force people to stay in who are worn practices need to be reviewed, and more to the point where the only things missing down. work should be put into finding reason- are secret envelopes of money being passed able accommodations for employees to to decision-makers. I think AFSA should be very careful allow service at all possible posts. about raising any issue that could reopen Security Clearance Adjudications the Foreign Service Act of 1980. If this Benefits for Opposite-Sex Informed that, unlike the Office of issue would result in congressional recon- Partners: Is Requiring Personnel Management and the Depart- sideration, the FS might lose many of the Marriage Fair? ment of Defense, the Department of benefits that FS employees currently enjoy. Forty-nine percent of respondents State does not use a standard of evidence think that AFSA should advocate for of- in security clearance revocations, only 8 I personally have doubts about the ef- ficial recognition and benefits for un- percent of respondents indicated that fectiveness of an FSO overseas over the age married opposite-sex domestic partners they had confidence that such clearance of 65. Please look to see if there is a corre- of Foreign Service members; 34 percent revocations are being adjudicated fairly. lation between length in service and views do not; and 18 percent are not sure. on this issue. I am very concerned that State De- The most important issue is opposite- partment employees can be fired, or have I am in favor of AFSA working with sex partner benefits. I am part of a tan- their careers destroyed, without any evi- other groups to increase the mandatory dem couple, but was told we could only be dence that they did something wrong. retirement age for federal law enforcement guaranteed an assignment together if we officers. This greatly affects the ability to were married by a certain date. I do not This is ill-worded. As a DS agent who recruit and hire individuals who could think that it is right that my employer can has conducted background investigations benefit the service, both from within and dictate when I must get married, and that overseas, [I assure you that] FS members outside the Foreign Service. I should be married at all in order to be

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A F together with my long-term partner. PROFILES: FIFTEEN YEARS AT AFSA S A I basically am forced to get married if Granting Students’ Wishes: Lori Dec I want my partner to have any benefits. N Not everyone believes in the institution of ori Dec combines marketing ex- from Tim’s dad. And there’s been a re- marriage, but that does not make those re- perience and a generous nature in cent addition to the family, says Lori. E lationships any less valid or worthy of L a job that demands both. Her po- “One year ago we adopted Rocky, a W recognition than those who said “I do.” sition as scholarship director began in white cockapoo, from the local pound.” S 1995, but she had already worked for Lori’s hobbies and activities include AFSA should not spend a single second AFSA on a temporary basis, filling in for jogging, circuit training, cooking and worrying about this manufactured issue Member Services Director Janet sewing. She has instilled in her husband of opposite-sex unmarried partners. Hedrick while she was on ma- ternity leave and then as a man- Looking Ahead ager for AFSA’s nonprofit funds, Respondents mentioned many other before joining AFSA perma- issues for AFSA to pursue. We will keep nently. you informed. Lori’s interpersonal and or- AFSA is reviewing the way we obtain ganizational skills come into member input. These annual surveys play in her daily dealings with will probably continue, but we are also both scholarship donors and looking at doing more timely and fo- student applicants. AFSA Treas- cused surveys in response to events or urer Andrew Winter, who has concerns. worked closely with Lori, calls As always, you are encouraged to her “a true professional, dedi- contact us at any time, either through cated to providing as many Lori Dec the AFSA State Web page (www.afsa. scholarships as possible to wor- org/state/), through your AFSA rep or thy recipients.” and children a love of the Midwest, and via e-mail to [email protected] or A native of Troy, Mich., Lori holds a the family often spends vacations at the [email protected]. ❏ degree in marketing from Michigan ancestral lake cottage in northern State University. Before working at Michigan. AFSA, she was director of education A Midwesterner she might be at services for the National Association of heart, but AFSA colleagues are happy AFSANEWSBRIEFS Realtors, where she oversaw the devel- that Lori has decided to make Maryland opment and marketing of realtor edu- her permanent home. Communica- New Mexico for cational programming nationwide. tions Director Tom Switzer is quick to Retirement: Natural Now that she has a new assistant, sing Lori’s praises. “Lori is the consum- Beauty and Foreign Jonathan Crawford, she will be able to mate professional: untiring, thorough, Affairs Discussions utilize her marketing background even persistent and unfailingly pleasant. She Foreign Service retirees settling in more in fundraising efforts. has brought considerable prestige to New Mexico will find they can remain Lori’s enthusiasm for her work has AFSA by means of her superb scholar- plugged in to foreign policy issues only increased over time. “AFSA has ship programs.” offered a very flexible work environ- Executive Director Ian Houston through the Santa Fe World Affairs ment, so I am able to balance my work comments that Lori “has been a great Forum. This nonprofit organization of and home life,” she explains. “Having example for many reasons, and her en- informed individuals was created in 2003 developed many close friendships with thusiasm for her position has been in- to broaden and deepen an understanding AFSA staff, contacts and scholarship- valuable. Lives are being influenced of world affairs, primarily through small, families over the years, doing my job through the scholarship work Lori con- interactive, professionally-led sessions on sometimes doesn’t even seem like sistently provides.” international issues. For more informa- work.” When it comes to Lori’s integral tion, visit the organization’s Web site at Her ease in communicating closely role at AFSA, Houston sums it up well. http://sfwaf.org/ or e-mail waforum@ with scholarship families is influenced “Lori remains focused on the ultimate gmail.com. (SFWAF board members by her own close-knit family: husband, goal of our scholarship programs — Patricia H. Kushlis and Patricia Lee Tim, a Maryland native; and their two building futures and developing confi- Sharpe are also known for their blog daughters, Tori, 17 and Cara, 12. They dence among our Foreign Service at www.whirledview.typepad.com.) live in Rockville, Md., only one mile youth.” ❏

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A F TRANSITION CENTER SCHEDULE OF COURSES for May-June 2010 S AFSANEWSBRIEFS May 1 MQ802 Communicating Across Cultures A May 3-4 MQ911 Security Overseas Seminar May 5 MQ916 A Safe Overseas Home FS Youth Raise $4,447 May 6 MQ000 Special-Needs Education in Foreign Service N May 7 MQ950 High-Stress Assignment Outbrief E for UNICEF Haiti Work May 15 MQ116 Protocol The Haiti Change Challenge was announced by the Foreign May 17-18 MQ911 Security Overseas Seminar W Service Youth Foundation on Jan. 15 in response to the dev- May 19 MQ119 Orientation to State Overseas S astating earthquake in Haiti three days earlier. American FS May 19 MQ854 Legal Considerations in the Foreign Service youth were encouraged to collect small change to make a big May 21 MQ950 High-Stress Assignment Outbrief difference for Haitian children in need. FSYF agreed to con- May 22 MQ200 Going Overseas for Singles and Couples May 22 MQ210 Going Overseas for Families solidate the donations, match the winning contribution 2:1, May 22 MQ220 Going Overseas: Logistics for Adults and donate the combined value to the United Nations Chil- May 22 MQ230 Going Overseas: Logistics for Children dren’s Fund as a single gift from FS children worldwide. May 25 MQ000 Developing Virtual Job Opportunities Several large donations came from just a few students and June 1 MQ115 Explaining America groups around the world who took collections at schools and June 4 MQ803 Realities of Foreign Service Life June 7-8 MQ911 Security Overseas Seminar embassies: Soren Putney, age 9 (Yerevan); Melissa Nave, 16 June 10 MQ703 Post Options for Employment and Training (Prague); Agnes Ezekwesili, 11 (Washington, D.C.); David (10) June 11 MQ950 High-Stress Assignment Outbrief and Thayer (11) King (Lima); Natasha Spivak, 14 (Washing- June 14-17 RV101 Retirement Planning Seminar ton, D.C.); and Girl Scout Troop 3105 (Lima) were the largest June 21 MQ250 Young Diplomats Day contributors to the fund. June 21-22 MQ911 Security Overseas Seminar June 22 MQ914 Youth Security Overseas Seminar Together, these Foreign Service youth raised $1,703. June 25 MQ950 High-Stress Assignment Outbrief Matching funds from FSYF, the State Department Federal June 26 MQ116 Protocol Credit Union and Clements Insurance added another $2,744. June 28 MQ250 Young Diplomats Day On March 9, FSYF donated the combined value ($4,447) to June 28-29 MQ911 Security Overseas Seminar UNICEF. Thanks to a private donor, UNICEF will absorb all ad- June 29 MQ914 Youth Security Overseas Seminar June 30 MQ203 Singles in the Foreign Service ministrative costs so that 100 percent of the donation will To register or for further information, e-mail the FSI Transition Center at FSITC- support the agency’s work for children in Haiti. [email protected]. CLASSIFIEDS LEGAL SERVICES LEGAL SERVICES TAX & FINANCIAL SERVICES

ATTORNEY WITH 30 years’ successful EXPERIENCED ATTORNEYS REPRE- FREE TAX CONSULTATION for over- experience SPECIALIZING FULL-TIME IN SENTING FS officers in grievances, per- seas personnel. We process returns as re- FS GRIEVANCES will more than double formance, promotion and tenure, financial ceived, without delay. Preparation and your chance of winning: 30% of grievants claims, discrimination and disciplinary ac- representation by Enrolled Agents. Federal win before the Grievance Board; 85% of my tions. We represent FS officers at all stages and all states prepared. Includes “TAX clients win. Only a private attorney can ad- of the proceedings from an investigation, is- TRAX” unique mini-financial planning review equately develop and present your case, in- suance of proposed discipline or the initiation with recommendations. Full planning avail- cluding necessary regs, arcane legal of a grievance, through to a hearing before able. Get the most from your financial dollar! doctrines, precedents and rules. the FSGB. We provide experienced, timely Financial Forecasts Inc., Barry B. De Marr, Call Bridget R. Mugane at and knowledgeable advice to employees CFP, EA, 3918 Prosperity Ave. #230, Fairfax, Tel: (301) 596-0175 or (202) 387-4383. from junior untenured officers through the VA 22031. Tel: (703) 289-1167. E-mail: [email protected] Senior FS, and often work closely with AFSA. Fax: (703) 289-1178. E-mail: [email protected] Free initial telephone consultation. Kalijarvi, Chuzi & Newman. Tel: (202) 331- 9260. E-mail: [email protected]

TAX & FINANCIAL SERVICES ROLAND S. HEARD, CPA WILLS/ESTATE PLANNING by attorney ATTORNEY, FORMER FOREIGN SER- • U.S. income tax services who is a former FSO. Have your will re- VICE OFFICER: Extensive experience with • Practiced before the IRS viewed and updated, or new one prepared: tax problems unique to the Foreign Service. FIRST CONSULTATION FREE No charge for initial consultation. Available for consultation, tax planning and 1091 Chaddwyck Dr. M. Bruce Hirshorn, Boring & Pilger, P.C. preparation of returns: Athens, GA 30606 307 Maple Ave. W, Suite D, Vienna, VA M. Bruce Hirshorn, Boring & Pilger, P.C. Cell: (706) 207-8300. 22180. 307 Maple Ave. W, Suite D, Vienna, VA E-mail: [email protected] Tel: (703) 281-2161. Fax: (703) 281-9464. 22180. Tel: (703) 281-2161. WWW.ROLANDSHEARDCPA.COM E-mail: [email protected] Fax: (703) 281-9464. E-mail: [email protected]

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A F S A CLASSIFIEDS N E TAX & FINANCIAL SERVICES TEMPORARY HOUSING TEMPORARY HOUSING W

PROFESSIONAL TAX RETURN PREP- SHORT-TERM RENTALS DC FURNISHED EXTENDED STAY in S ARATION: Forty years in public tax practice. TEMPORARY HOUSING Penn Quarter/Chinatown. The Lansburgh, Arthur A. Granberg, EA, ATA, ATP. Our 425 8th Street, NW. 1-BR and 2-BR apart- charges are $95 per hour. Most FS returns WASHINGTON, D.C. or NFATC ments w/fully equipped kitchens, CAC & take 3 to 4 hours. Our office is 100 feet from TOUR? EXECUTIVE HOUSING CON- heat, high-speed Internet, digital cable TV Virginia Square Metro Station. Tax Matters SULTANTS offers Metropolitan Washing- w/ HBO, fitness center w/indoor pool, resi- Associates PC, 3601 North Fairfax Dr., Ar- ton, D.C.’s finest portfolio of short-term, dent business center, 24-hour reception lington, VA 22201. 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Nice places, great lo- HOUSING IS AVAILABLE in a remod- tion, diagnosis and recommendations for cation. Well below per diem. Short term eled 4-unit townhouse, about a block and a services and accommodations in school and OK. GSA small business and veteran- half from the Dupont Circle Metro station standardized testing (SAT, ACT, GRE, GMAT, owned. Tel: (202) 544-4419. (Red Line). Each unit is furnished with a full- LSAT, etc). Preschool through graduate Web site: www.capitolhillstay.com size washer and dryer, fully equipped school. Weekend/weekday appointments. kitchen with cherry cabinets, granite counter Offices in McLean & Middleburg, Va. Will PIED-A-TERRE PROPERTIES, LTD: and stainless steel appliances, cable, wire- also travel to evaluate. Select from our unique inventory of com- less Internet, security system and a shared, Contact: Dr. Suzie Muir. pletely furnished & tastefully decorated private, enclosed backyard. 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A F S A CLASSIFIEDS N E W REAL ESTATE REAL ESTATE SHOPPING S GET THE MOST HOME FOR YOUR $$$ FSO REAL ESTATE is a full-service, EMBASSY 220-VOLT transformers, Take advantage of the Real Estate Market property management company with over office supplies and furniture. 5810 Semi- in Northern Virginia. Get Real Answers 15 years experience. We are managed by nary Rd., Falls Church, VA 22041. About Homeownership / Rentals. a former FSO who understands the con- Tel: (703) 845-0800. Call Me Today! cerns of FS families. E-mail: [email protected] TONY FEIJOO Principal Broker Web site: www.fsorealestate.com. Web site: www.shopembassyusa.com MaxValue, Realtors® Tel: (571) 246 2406 FLORIDA’S FIRST COAST AUTOMOTIVE E- Mail: [email protected] Real Estate, Relocation, Residency Web site: www.usgovrelo.com Expert Counselor Consultant (SFSO, ret.) SELLING YOUR VEHICLE? [email protected] BUYING A VEHICLE? PROFESSIONAL REAL ESTATE serv- Tel: (904) 207-8199. Since 1979, Steve Hart has been assist- ices provided by John Kozyn of Coldwell Web site: www.FirstCoastRealtor.com ing members of the Foreign Service with Banker Residential Brokerage in Arlington. their automotive needs. Need to buy, sell or rent? My expertise will BEAUTIFUL SPANISH-STYLE model AUTO BUYING SERVICE serve your specific needs and timeframe. home located in acclaimed Ariz. retirement BUYS and SELLS FSO references gladly provided. Licensed community, with virtually no crime. 560 W. ALL MAKES AND MODELS in VA and DC. Tel: (202) 288-6026. Golf Haven Dr., Green Valley, AZ, 85614. Steve Hart, Auto Buying Service E-mail: [email protected] Breathtaking views include mountains, des- 2971 Prosperity Ave, Fairfax, VA 22031 Web site: www.cbmove.com/johnkozyn ert and golf course. Upgrades: custom win- Tel: (703) 849-0080. 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SPRING IS THE perfect time to get your parts for U.S. specification vehicles. Give us E-mail: [email protected] home in NORTHERN VIRGINIA ready to oc- the year, make, model and serial number of cupy or put on the market. Whether it’s a your car and we will supply the parts you fresh coat of paint or a bathroom and/or need. LOOKING TO BUY, sell or rent prop- kitchen renovation, Door2Door Designs can Tel: (440) 234-8381. Fax: (440) 234-2660. erty in Northern Virginia? This former FSO do the work for you while you’re away. We E-mail: [email protected] understands your needs and can help. specialize in working with Foreign Service Web site: www.expresspartsinc.com David Olinger, GRI Long & Foster, Realtors and military families living abroad. For more Tel: (703) 864-3196. Fax: (703) 960-1305. information, contact Nancy Sheehy at (703) TRANSPORTATION E-mail: [email protected] 244-3843 or [email protected]. PET MOVING MADE EASY. 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Showing the Way hasn’t done, leaving the field wide Taken together, open for what a later generation would call citizen diplomats. Maybe that’s Airlift to America: How Barack these books Obama Sr., John F. Kennedy, spotlight the role of why — if we are to believe years of Tom Mboya and 800 East public opinion polling — Africans like African Students Changed nongovernmental us so much more than does the rest of Their World and Ours forces. the world. Tom Shachtman, St. Martin’s Press, The legacy of the U.S. government’s 2009, $24.99, hardback, 273 pages. marginalization of Africa means that the usual symbols of anti-Americanism No Easy Victories: African and political activism. In the absence of didn’t make it to black Africa. There is Liberation and American a sustained official U.S. commitment to no African version of a standard trope Activists over a Half-Century, Africa, this remarkable engagement of in Latin American literature: the U.S. 1950-2000 private citizens and institutions goes far Marines sent to teach lesser peoples William Minter, Gail Hovey and to explain the profound good will that how “to elect good men” [sic]. Inas- Charles Cobb Jr., editors; Africa many Africans feel toward America. much as a vision of official America has World Press, 2007, $29.95, paperback, 248 pages. Two books have begun to show the existed in Africa until recently, it has way. On the surface, neither Tom come in the form of Peace Corps Vol- REVIEWED BY Shachtman’s Airlift to Africa nor No unteers and USAID officers, well-in- GREGORY L. GARLAND Easy Victories, edited by William tentioned but imperfect. Minter, Gail Hovey and Charles Cobb Generally, however, it was a non-of- The definitive history of relations Jr., would seem a likely candidate for ficial America that ventured into between the United States and Africa telling this story. Neither is a tradi- Africa: missionaries, educators, stu- during the last half of the 20th century tional academic history. Nor does ei- dents, adventurers, idealistic activists remains to be written. To be sure, ther volume claim to be an intellectual and development specialists. Africans reams of monographs and memoirs guidepost that could help alter the thus saw an America that contrasted dealing with the diplomatic aspects of U.S.-Africa narrative. sharply with the pretensions of impe- the relationship have appeared, in- Yet taken together, these books go rial Europe. Whereas Europeans cluding a good number by State De- where many Africanists have failed to came to conquer, exploit and rule, partment veterans. Yet until recently go: delving into the role of nongovern- Americans came as often as not to — with the exception of aspects of mental forces in not only U.S.-African preach, teach, heal and live with, trans-Atlantic black activism — there relations, but international affairs over- rather than apart from, black Africans. has been almost total silence on the re- all. The irony here is that Africa — the What’s more, a good many of these lationship’s most important dimension: last of the populated continents to Americans looked like Africans, some- the story of non-official Americans and enter into the modern Western histor- thing that unnerved colonial potentates Africans in the fields of education, re- ical mindset — shows the way pre- and white settlers alike. ligion, health, economic development cisely because of what Uncle Sam No Easy Victories depicts the ac-

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tivists who fought the lonely fight to the program afloat. So by rejecting underscore that message. The deepest support decolonization and majority Nixon’s proposal, State may have unin- source of a democratic nation’s influ- rule. This coffee-table volume consists tentionally contributed to John F. ence lies in its own citizenry engaging of photographs and remembrances Kennedy’s narrow electoral victory a citizens of other countries with dignity, that bring to life the American Com- few months later. respect and humility. mittee on Africa, various grassroots Though it is a good read, Airlift to campaigns in support of African liber- America leaves out the scholarly appa- Gregory Lawrence Garland is cur- ation organizations, and the U.S. anti- ratus that would assist the future re- rently a research fellow at the Defense apartheid movement. A veteran acti- searchers Minter seeks to inspire. Intelligence Agency’s National De- vist and scholar himself, co-editor Shachtman apologizes for this omis- fense Intelligence College. A career William Minter has urged researchers sion in a bibliographical note, but there Foreign Service officer, he has served to dig into the story of what academ- is carelessness to the writing. In a rare with the U.S. Information Agency, the ics nowadays term non-state actors. citation, he mistakenly attributes to an- Board for International Broadcasting Tom Shachtman’s inspiring Airlift other source words penned by this re- and the State Department in Maputo, to America does exactly that by ren- viewer in this magazine. Shachtman Tijuana, Luanda, Conakry, Warsaw, dering the dramatic tale of 800 has since acknowledged the error, but Mexico City and Washington, D.C. Kenyan students who reached Amer- it raises doubts about his research. The views expressed here are his own. ica with scholarships in the lead-up to Nevertheless, Shachtman and No independence from 1959 to 1963. A Easy Victories have already accom- handful of Americans and Kenyans, plished the biggest task by affecting the A Record of acting privately and often with inter- direction of future writing on this topic. Accomplishment ference from both the State Depart- Documenting this kind of citizen diplo- ment and British colonial officials, macy is hard work, much more so than Negotiating Environment and arranged funding, visas and a support writing about “policy” or government- Science: An Insider’s View of network that made possible the Amer- to-government relationships. Yet it is International Agreements, from ican education of Barack Obama Sr. impossible to understand the current Driftnets to the Space Station and many of the leaders of modern Save Darfur movement without linking Richard J. Smith, Resources for the Kenya. it to a long line of predecessor net- Future, 2009, $27.50, hardcover, The airlift became an issue in the works. Additionally, bringing the story 163 pages. 1960 presidential campaign. Sensing of non-official relationships to the fore political fallout that would hurt him means that professional diplomats will REVIEWED BY TED WILKINSON among black voters, Vice President have fewer excuses to ignore what has Richard Nixon, the Republican pres- become a central force of global poli- As principal deputy assistant secre- idential candidate, pressed an unwill- tics. tary of State for the Bureau of Oceans, ing State Department to find a way to More than 50 years ago, Eugene Environment and International Scien- assist the Kenyans. State’s Africa Bu- Burdick and William J. Lederer’s tific Affairs for an unprecedented nine reau and powerful European Bureau novel, The Ugly American, threw an years (1985-1994), Richard Smith opposed upsetting our closest ally, intellectual dagger into the heart of presided over as heterogeneous a bu- Britain, which clung to a policy of de- the foreign policy establishment by reau as any in the U.S. government. termining which Kenyans could go to highlighting the differences between OES work spans the interests of an al- universities. AF also preferred to Americans acting officially and those phabet soup of agencies — EPA, stick with its established links, such as acting privately. It was the latter NASA, NOAA, NSF, NRC, OSTP, the the African-American Institute, rather group, averred Lederer, who stood the National Marine Fisheries Service, than do business with an operation best chance of doing good in a way etc. — even Defense. that lacked any pedigree. that would enhance America’s lasting As a veteran of five years of attend- The Kennedy family foundation influence. ing office directors’ meetings in the stepped in at the last minute to keep However belatedly, these two books OES conference room, I found it hard

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enough to stay on top of the issues and • Achieving an agreement to con- jargon in my own bailiwick (first the trol and monitor driftnet fishing, and law of the sea, then nuclear issues), let This is a wonderfully laying the basis for the eventual pro- alone to follow the reports of the other scription of the practice; directors under Smith’s supervision. readable account of • Agreeing with Canada on meas- The dialogue ranged from space explo- ures to curtail acid rain; ration and the chemistry of the atmos- lessons learned • Agreeing, again with Canada, on phere to the migratory movements of protection of migrating caribou; fish and mammals. from eight difficult • Reinstituting a dormant scientific When the news broke in 2000 that exchange with the USSR; the conference room had been bugged negotiations. • Implementing President Ronald for years by the Russians, I speculated Reagan’s 1984 promise to build an in- that our counterintelligence games- ternational space station jointly with men had left the device there on pur- other nations (initially Canada, Japan pose — so the Russians would waste learned from his leading role in eight and nine European countries; later endless time trying to figure out what difficult negotiations: joined by Russia); they were hearing added up to. • Bringing China, India and others • Confronting the Stalinist regime Happily, the author has made ad- in as parties, and updating the Mon- of Bulgarian President Todor Zhivkov mirable sense of it all in this wonder- treal Protocol to protect the ozone at a 1989 meeting in Sofia, thereby fully readable account of lessons layer in the stratosphere; helping to empower a nascent Bulgar-

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ian environmental movement; and When and if the United States is • Agreeing with fishing states to ready to go beyond the limited climate control measures for the collapsing change understandings reached in In 1906, Roosevelt had pollock stock in the “donut hole” of in- Copenhagen last December, lead U.S. ternational waters between U.S. and negotiator Todd Stern and his col- the word “Korea” Russian exclusive economic zones in leagues can profit from reviewing the Bering Sea. Smith’s lessons — as, indeed, can all deleted from the U.S. Among the lessons from these dis- readers with an interest in the increas- parate experiences, Smith stresses the ingly important role that science and government’s Record of importance for lead negotiators of stay- environmental negotiations play in the ing close not just to the U.S. agencies preservation of our planet. Foreign Relations, involved, but also to their constituencies (e.g., environmental organizations, fish- Ted Wilkinson, a Foreign Service offi- placing it under the ery groups, etc.) and to the legislators cer from 1961 to 1996, is the chairman who listen to them; and to begin the of the FSJ Editorial Board. heading “Japan.” contact work early in the preparatory phase, well before the negotiations begin. Manifest Destiny, As in so many cases, the toughest Pacific Style sion of Manifest Destiny. Just as the negotiation is all too often the intera- U.S. Army had settled the American gency struggle just to develop a U.S. West, the U.S. Navy would do the The Imperial Cruise: A Secret position. As one case in point, Smith same in the Pacific. In essence, History of Empire and War cites the Defense Department bomb- Bradley says, Roosevelt chose the James Bradley; Little, Brown and shell late in preparations for the space Company, 2009, $29.99, hardcover, Japanese as American proxies, consid- station directing the U.S. team to insist 387 pages. ering them “honorary Aryans,” to on recognition that undefined “na- counter Chinese and Russian spheres tional security activities” be permitted REVIEWED BY FRED DONNER of interest in the region. on a station that had been billed as Toward that end, on July 8, 1905, “peaceful.” Our allies’ dismay about This year marks the 100th anniver- the USS Manchuria left San Francisco this was eventually buried in an ex- sary of the annexation of Korea by for Tokyo, carrying Secretary of War change of side letters. Japan, so The Imperial Cruise is a well- (and future president) William How- Perhaps most instructive for our timed book. Anti-Japanese demon- ard Taft, seven senators and 23 repre- current climate change dilemma is strations in Korea are already likely sentatives. The delegation’s mission Smith’s discussion of the Montreal Pro- but, if many Koreans read this work, was to conduct secret negotiations on tocol. Like the Kyoto Protocol, which the demonstrations could take on an behalf of the United States with Japan, was negotiated after his departure anti-American tone, as well. Korea, China and the Philippines. from OES, the initial agreement to Author James Bradley specializes in Bradley persuasively argues that the curtail emissions was reached even historical nonfiction chronicling action resulting treaties, while never ratified without complete understanding of the in the Pacific theater during World by the U.S. Senate, set the stage for a science involved, and without commit- War II. Perhaps his best-known pre- century of needless wars and American ments from major developing coun- vious book is Flags of Our Fathers misadventures in East Asia. Or to put tries. Unlike Kyoto, however, there (Bantam, 2000), which Clint Eastwood it another way: Teddy Roosevelt had as was broad public and congressional adapted into an acclaimed 2006 film. much to do with World War II in the support for the new protocol, and the Bradley’s thesis is that President Pacific as Franklin Roosevelt. lead U.S. negotiator had been working Theodore Roosevelt, a product of the Washington had already been in- hard to cement support before the ne- Anglo-Saxon Christian ruling class, volved in Japanese foreign affairs long gotiations began. viewed the Pacific as the logical exten- before Tokyo’s enthusiastic welcome of

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the delegation. In 1873, American of- 1906, Roosevelt had the word “Korea” ately after we annexed Hawaii), as well ficials had urged Tokyo to invade Tai- deleted from the U.S. government’s as an account of Theodore Roosevelt’s wan to punish those who had massa- Record of Foreign Relations, placing it life up to that point and stories about cred some shipwrecked sailors; the under the heading “Japan.” his family (particularly his always-col- U.S. even dispatched military advisers For its part, China viewed the Taft orful daughter, Alice Roosevelt Long- to accompany the Japanese fleet. The mission with grave reservations, as did worth). Bradley writes in a lively, same officials encouraged greater the U.S. legation. Even though Taft ar- journalistic style throughout, but has Japanese prominence in the region, a rived secretly at night on a U.S. Navy done, and documented, his research. concept Tokyo would later, and infa- gunboat, his visit triggered demonstra- Any Foreign Service member who mously, co-opt as the “Greater East tions and trade boycotts. In contrast, has ever served in East Asia will revel Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.” the Philippine segment of the trip was in the numerous anecdotes proving As early as 1900 Roosevelt had writ- largely peaceful, though the delegation that, to paraphrase Ecclesiastes, there ten, “I should like to see Japan have cautioned Filipinos not to look for in- truly is nothing new under the (rising) Korea.” Within two months of the Taft dependence from the United States sun. ■ mission, the president shuttered the anytime soon. U.S. embassy in Seoul and left the In addition to covering the Taft mis- Fred Donner was an Air Force officer country to the Japanese. (The depart- sion in great detail, the book includes and a Foreign Service officer in East ing deputy chief of mission observed an extensive account of the Spanish- Asia before retiring from the Defense that the U.S. was leaving Korea like American War (the conflict that put Intelligence Agency as a Southeast Asia rats fleeing a sinking ship.) And in the U.S. in Guam and Manila immedi- intelligence analyst.

Share Your Expertise! Join the Journal ’s Editorial Board!

Active and retired Foreign Service employees from foreign affairs are invited to nominate colleagues (or themselves) for a two-year term with the Foreign Service Journal. Editorial Board members, appointed by the AFSA Govern- ing Board, set the general editorial direction of the Journal, in consultation with the editorial staff, each month. Members evaluate manuscripts, decide on future focus topics, and weigh in on other matters affecting the Journal ’s style, substance and process. Board members must reside in the Washington area and be able to attend monthly midday meetings at AFSA.

If interested, please contact FSJ Editor Steve Honley ([email protected]) by June 1.

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Bryan H. Baas, 77, a retired FSO, Mr. Baas was predeceased in 1976 Economic Affairs in the Bureau of Eu- died on July 18, 2009, at his home in by his first wife, Virginia “Ginny” Amos; ropean Affairs. His last overseas ap- Severna Park, Md., of lung cancer. and in 2003 by his second wife, Hélène pointment was as minister counselor in Born on June 13, 1933, in Chicago, Pizem, who had been in the Canadian Rome. Mr. Baas served in the U.S. Navy from Foreign Service. He is survived by his In retirement, he returned to Maine 1951 to 1953. He graduated from the son, Todd Baas, and his brother-in-law, and became actively involved in state University of Texas in 1956 with a bach- John Amos, both of San Antonio, Texas, Democratic Party politics. He was also elor’s degree in business administration. and by many friends. engaged in community projects such as In 1956, he joined the Foreign Serv- Memorial contributions may be the Lighthouse Museum of Maine, and ice, retiring in 1985 after a 29-year made to the SPCA of Anne Arundel was a volunteer interviewer for Scar- diplomatic career. He served in Af- County, P.O. Box 3471, Annapolis MD borough Public Television. ghanistan, Lebanon, Iraq, Britain, Ire- 21403. Mr. Beaudry is survived by his wife land and Washington, D.C. of 64 years, Jacqueline Chouinard Mr. Baas had diverse interests Beaudry of Carlisle, Pa., and four chil- throughout his life. In earlier years, he dren: Paul Beaudry of Cleveland, Ohio; put a lot of effort into training his Ger- Robert M. Beaudry, 86, a retired John Beaudry, an FSO posted in Dakar; man shepherds, becoming something Senior FSO, died on Jan. 29 of respira- Catherine Beaudry of Carlisle; and of an expert on that subject. tory failure at Forest Park Health Cen- Mary Beaudry Fienup of Basye, Va.; He continued reading Arabic to the ter in Carlisle, Pa. and seven grandchildren. end of his life and was learning Hebrew Mr. Beaudry was born in Lewiston, at the time of his death. In addition to Maine, on May 12, 1923. He graduated French and Spanish literature, he en- from Edward Little High School in joyed theater, opera, ballet and sym- 1940 and went on to study economics Marshall Brement, 77, a retired phony. at The Catholic University of America, FSO and former ambassador and ex- In retirement, he was active in the graduating magna cum laude. He was pert in Sino-Soviet affairs, died on April Alliance Française, Friends of the An- a member of Phi Beta Kappa. 6, 2009, in Tucson, Ariz., from multiple napolis Chorale and “Peer Learning After serving in the U.S. Army in myeloma, a bone-marrow cancer, and Partners,” a senior educational program World War II, he joined the Foreign secondary amyloidosis. at Anne Arundel Community College, Service in 1946. His first post was Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1932, Mr. for which he served as an officer and Dublin, where he helped implement Brement graduated from Brooklyn taught several classes. the Marshall Plan. Over the next 30 College and received a master’s degree Friends recall Mr. Baas as an ad- years, he held positions of increasing re- in American civilization from the Uni- mirable, modest and courageous man sponsibility in Europe and in Washing- versity of Maryland. He served in the who was solicitous of those he left be- ton, D.C. Air Force for two years during the Ko- hind, true to his character during his When he returned to Washington in rean War. brief illness and inspiring to those who 1977, Mr. Beaudry was named director In 1955, he joined the Foreign Serv- shared his last weeks with him. of the Office of Regional Political and ice and studied Mandarin Chinese in

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Taiwan before postings in Hong Kong, ford University as a State Department to hold that position. Ms. Dillon retired Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam. fellow in the late 1960s. His novel Day in 1978. After spending a year learning Russian, of the Dead (Moyer Bell, 2006) is a Throughout her career and after- he served two years in the political sec- treatment of the assassination of the late ward, she was a dedicated activist for tion in Moscow during the mid-1960s, South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh women’s rights, and witnessed changes returning in the mid-1970s as political Diem. He was perhaps most proud, along those lines in USIA and else- counselor. however, of his translations of two vol- where by the time she retired. Mr. Brement was a highly accom- umes of Icelandic poetry — Three In retirement she remained active in plished linguist who also spoke French, Modern Icelandic Poets (Iceland Re- Latin American affairs, serving as di- Spanish, Hebrew and Bahasa Indone- view, 1985) and The Naked Machine rector of the Washington Center for sia, as well as Old Norse. (Forest Books, 1988). Latin American Studies. She was also a An expert in Sino-Soviet affairs, Mr. Amb. Brement is survived by his member of the Foreign Service Griev- Brement served on the National Secu- wife of 35 years, author and playwright ance Board and a contributing editor to rity Council as Soviet adviser to Presi- Pamela Sanders Brement of Tucson, The Times of the Americas. dent Jimmy Carter. He was deputy Ariz.; his daughter, Diana of Seattle, Ms. Dillon leaves no immediate sur- ambassador to the United Nations Wash.; sons, Mark and Gabriel, both of vivors. under President Ronald Reagan, and Tucson; five grandchildren; and his first from 1981 to 1985 he served as ambas- wife, Joan Bernstein Brement of Seat- sador to Iceland, where his work with tle, Wash. the NATO Naval Base at Keflavik Norris Dean Garnett, 78, a retired earned him the U.S. Navy’s highest Senior FSO with the U.S. Information civilian medal and an honorary knight- Agency, passed away on Jan. 14 at his hood from the Icelandic government. Dorothy R. Dillon, 92, a retired home in Culver City, Calif., from com- After retiring from the Foreign FSO with the U.S. Information Agency, plications following a stroke he had suf- Service in 1985, Ambassador Brement died on Jan. 31 at her home in Wash- fered some years earlier. served for four years at the U.S. Naval ington, D.C., after a long illness. Mr. Garnett was born on Nov. 21, War College in Newport, R.I., where Born in New York, N.Y., she ob- 1931, in Newton, Kan., the seventh of he was director of the Strategic Studies tained a doctorate in U.S. and Latin 13 children. After graduating from high Group, an advisory think-tank to the American history from Columbia Uni- school in 1949, he attended Bethel Col- Chief of Naval Operations. versity. Prior to joining the Foreign lege in Newton until 1951, when he From 1994 to 1999, he was associ- Service, she taught at Sweet Briar Col- joined the Air Force. After demon- ate director of the College of Strategic lege and Rutgers University. In 1951, strating a significant aptitude for lan- Studies at the George C. Marshall Cen- Ms. Dillon joined the State Depart- guages, he was given intensive Japan- ter in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Ger- ment as an intelligence analyst, trans- ese-language training and assigned to many. And from 1999 to 2002, he was ferring in 1953 to USIA, where she was Tokyo. the Hugh S. and Winifred B. Cumming chief of the Latin American branch of Following an honorable discharge, Memorial Professor in International Af- the Office of Research. Mr. Garnett settled in Los Angeles and fairs at the University of Virginia. Later, In 1960, she joined the Foreign enrolled at California State University, he was a member of the Tucson Com- Service. After serving as cultural affairs Los Angeles, where he majored in for- mittee on Foreign Affairs. officer in Guatemala City, she was as- eign affairs and languages. Upon grad- The author of numerous articles in signed to Manila as CAO. Returning to uation, he moved to Washington, D.C., his areas of expertise, Amb. Brement Washington, she was a Federal Execu- where he pursued graduate studies in wrote a book, Reaching Out to Moscow tive Fellow at the Brookings Institution Russian language and foreign affairs at (Praeger, 1991), as a Woodrow Wilson and, later, a policy officer for Latin Georgetown University. fellow in 1990. He studied fiction in the America. She then became deputy as- In 1958, he applied for a position as prestigious writing program taught by sistant director and assistant director for a Russian-language guide with USIA’s Wallace Stegner while attending Stan- Latin America at USIA, the first woman American National Exhibition, a collec-

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tion of art, fashion, appliances and tech- guage Service of the Voice of America obliged to leave the Foreign Service, nology that toured the USSR for two in Washington, D.C., supervising radio Mr. Keppel was assigned to Regens- years. He was present in 1959 when broadcasts to the Middle East and burg, where he had further training in Vice President Richard Nixon and Pre- South Asia. Soviet politics. The couple then re- mier Nikita Khrushchev held their fa- Mr. Garnett’s final assignment was as turned to Moscow, staying until 1955. mous “Kitchen Debate” at the exhibit the public affairs director for the Mar- Their next assignment was to Rome, in Moscow, and later received a per- tin Luther King National Holiday Com- where their son, David, was born. They sonal letter of recognition from the vice mission. When that body was decom- returned to Washington, D.C., while president for his service. missioned in 1988, he retired. John was acting director of the Bureau Upon completion of his contract in In retirement he wrote articles for of Intelligence and Research office for 1960, Mr. Garnett was given an ap- The Brooklyn Advocate, a New York the Sino-Soviet bloc, and then went to pointment as a public affairs trainee in newspaper, and completed a novel. He Cambridge, Mass., while he was a fel- USIA’s Foreign Service. His first as- was compiling his memoirs when he low at Harvard’s Center for Interna- signment, in 1960, was to Helsinki, suffered a stroke, and his health began tional Affairs. where he became fluent in Finnish. In to decline. He eventually resettled in In 1962, the family moved to Rio de 1962, he was assigned to Dar es Salaam Culver City, Calif., to be closer to rela- Janeiro, where Mr. Keppel was political as public affairs assistant, and was pro- tives. counselor during a tumultuous period moted to cultural affairs officer in 1963. Mr. Garnett is survived by two that included a military coup against In 1964, he was assigned to Moscow brothers, two sisters and many nieces President Joao Goulart. Mrs. Keppel as a program officer. There he worked and nephews. studied Portuguese and planned an ex- closely with the many French-speaking tensive trip to the Amazon, which the students from Africa who had come to family took before leaving Brazil. Russia for higher education. His efforts From 1965 to 1969, the Keppels were so successful that the Soviet au- Grace Keppel, 91, a former mem- were again based in Washington, D.C. thorities tacitly associated the African ber of the Foreign Service and spouse In 1969, they moved to New York City, student community in the country with of the late FSO John Keppel, died on where Mr. Keppel was detailed to the political subversion and expelled Mr. Dec. 5, 2009, in Bloomington, Ind. United Nations Population Fund. Garnett for “conducting anti-Soviet Born on March 24, 1918, in Little Mrs. Keppel, who was passionate about work among students from African Rock, Ark., Grace Marjorie Wood was music, particularly enjoyed the Metro- countries.” educated at the University of Califor- politan Opera. USIA transferred Mr. Garnett to nia, Berkeley, where she earned a bach- Upon Mr. Keppel’s retirement in New Delhi in 1965. In 1967, he re- elor’s degree with a major in drama in 1974, the couple settled in Essex, Conn. turned to Washington, D.C., where he 1940. Returning to Little Rock, she There Mrs. Keppel ran a small busi- enrolled in Vietnamese-language in- worked as assistant society editor of The ness, importing Thai silk dresses destruction and area studies. After suc- Arkansas Gazette. Keenly interested in signed by her friend Germaine Phola- cessfully completing the course in 1969, foreign affairs, she asked Senator J. bun of Moscow days, and Mr. Keppel he was assigned as a personnel officer, William Fulbright, D-Ark., for career investigated the 1983 Korean Airlines rising to chief of recruitment and advice and, on his recommendation, Flight 007 disaster. source development in the Office of joined the Department of State. In 2001, the couple relocated to Personnel in 1970. Her first assignment, as a Foreign Bloomington, Ind., where Mr. Keppel In 1972, upon completion of Ger- Service secretary, was to Embassy Mos- died in 2003. A third-generation Chris- man-language training at the Foreign cow in 1947. There she met John Kep- tian Scientist, Mrs. Keppel was a mem- Service Institute, he was assigned to Vi- pel, an FSO and Soviet analyst. Before ber of the Christian Science Church of enna as CAO. Mr. Garnett was then as- the couple wed in Little Rock in 1952, Bloomington. She was also a pacifist. signed to Bucharest as PAO, followed Mr. Keppel was assigned to Seoul while Her friends recall her beauty, elegance, by a tour in Pakistan. Next came a four- Mrs. Keppel worked at Embassy Paris. curiosity, warmth and gentleness. year stint as chief of the Mid-East Lan- Following their marriage, when she was Mrs. Keppel is survived by her son,

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David, of Bloomington. Memorial con- at the U.S. Detailed Interrogation Cen- ming and playing cards every day. tributions may be sent to the Friends ter in Gmunden, Austria. There she Mrs. Landau is survived by her hus- Committee on National Legislation met her husband, then a U.S. military band of 62 years; her two sons, Robert (Washington, D.C.) or to Oxfam Amer- intelligence officer. She came to the of Anchorage, Alaska, and Christopher ica (New York, N.Y.). United States on a plane of war brides, of Chevy Chase, Md., and their wives, and the couple married in New York Linda and Caroline; and four grand- City in 1947. children. Mrs. Landau and her husband lived Memorials may be made in her Wanda E. Kurland, 80, wife of re- in New York and northern New Jersey name to the Miami Lighthouse for the tired USAID Foreign Service officer for several years, while he worked in Blind, 601 SW 8th Avenue, Miami FL Bert Kurland, died on Jan. 5 in Fort private business. The couple moved to 33130. Myers, Fla., of acute renal failure. Cali, Colombia, in 1955, where he con- Mrs. Kurland was born in Cokton, tinued to work in the private sector, and W. Va., on March 14, 1929. She at- Mrs. Landau quickly learned Spanish. tended school in Washington, D.C., These language skills were to serve Mr. James O’Donald Mays, 91, a and was employed by the U.S. Navy her well after her husband joined the retired FSO with the U.S. Information during World War II. Foreign Service in 1957, and the cou- Agency, died on Jan. 20 in Burley, Eng- Following her marriage to Bert Kur- ple was posted to Montevideo. As she land. land in 1949, Mrs. Kurland resided in liked to tell it, Mrs. Landau quickly Born on June 15, 1918, in Perkins, Deland and Daytona Beach, Fla., and mastered the role of a diplomatic Ga., the son of Floyd L. and Kathleen in Beaufort, N.C. She accompanied spouse from a series of remarkable Lutes Mays, Mr. Mays attended the her husband on overseas postings to mentors, including Virginia Woodward, Louisville Academy in Louisville, Ga. Manila, Bangkok, Saigon, Dhaka, Accra Marvin Patterson and Andree Sparks. An avid reader with a particular love of and the Sinai, as well as on his military In 1962, the Landaus were transferred history and geography, he worked his postings to Germany. to Madrid, and then to Kingston, way through college at the University of An avid bridge player, Mrs. Kurland Canada. In 1966, they returned to Georgia’s School of Journalism. In was also an expert in craft designs using Washington, D.C., for six years. 1939, the summer before graduation, seashells. Her main interests, however, In 1972, the couple returned to he explored five southern states, cycling were centered on her family. South America, where Mr. Landau almost 2,000 miles. His first job was as Mrs. Kurland is survived by her hus- served as ambassador to Paraguay city editor of the Cobb County Times in band of 51 years, Bert, five children, six (1972-1977), Chile (1977-1982) and Marietta, Ga. grandchildren and six great-grandchil- Venezuela (1982-1985). Mrs. Landau At the outbreak of World War II in dren. was a gracious and conscientious host- 1941, he joined the U.S. Army Trans- ess of the old school, and enjoyed re- portation Corps, which was posted to decorating and entertaining at her England and became responsible for embassy residences. She took great the buildup for the Normandy invasion. Maria A. (“Mary”) Landau, 83, pride and pleasure in representing the There he met his wife, Mary Roberts, wife of Ambassador George W. Lan- United States, and was known for her whom he married on Dec. 1, 1945. Re- dau, died on Jan. 10 in Miami, Fla. elegance and charm. turning to the U.S., Mr. Mays began Mrs. Landau was born into a farm- After Mr. Landau retired from the publishing Blairsville’s Union County ing family on the banks of the Danube Foreign Service in 1985, the couple re- Citizen, soon becoming editor of Rural River in Kling, Upper Austria. Al- turned to New York City. There Mr. Georgia, a magazine that promoted though her studies at the Bergheim- Landau served as president of the rural electrification. Linz Teachers’ College were inter- Americas Society and the Council of In 1956, he entered government rupted by World War II, she learned to the Americas, retiring in 1993. The service as an information officer for the speak English proficiently and, after the couple then moved to Coconut Grove, U.S. Air Force in England and Ger- war, obtained an administrative position Fla., where they lived happily, swim- many. He then joined the Foreign

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Service, representing the United States Glickstein of Vermont and Melinda the line of duty. After his death, Mrs. in Israel, France and Finland. He re- “Pipkin” Palmer of England; one sister, Noel re-entered the Foreign Service, turned to USIA headquarters in Wash- Hope Arnold of Louisville, Ga.; one and worked in the Bureau of Personnel ington, D.C., in 1967 and went on to brother, Harold Mays of Augusta, Ga.; until her retirement in 1978. inspect the agency’s offices around the six grandchildren; and many nieces and In retirement, she volunteered as a world, ending his diplomatic career at nephews. docent at the Clara Barton Home in the U.S. Arms Control and Disarma- Glen Echo, Md., and in the Foreign ment Agency. Throughout this time he Service Book Room. She enjoyed par- remained in the U.S. Army Reserve, ticipating in the Springfield Garden eventually reaching the rank of lieu- Lucille McHenry Noel, 91, a re- Club and the Little Falls Library Liter- tenant colonel. tired FSO, former WAVE and wife of ary Salon. Her interests included gar- Upon retiring, Mr. and Mrs. Mays the late FSO Cleo Noel, died on Feb. dening, travel and, above all, reading. moved to England, where he estab- 14 at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, Survivors include her son, John Noel lished a small publishing house, New Md., of a stroke. (and his wife, Jaclyn), of Phoenix, Ariz.; Forest Leaves. His first book, The Born in Passaic, N.J., Mrs. Noel her daughter, Janet Regan (and her Splendid Shilling, won an award from graduated from what is now Montclair husband, Patrick) of Chevy Chase, Md.; the Royal Numismatic Society. The State University in 1940. In 1943, she one grandson and four granddaughters; second, Mr. Hawthorne Goes to Eng- joined the Women Accepted for Volun- and her sister, Frances McHenry. land, a biography of Hawthorne’s con- teer Emergency Services. After in- sular years in Britain, was praised by struction at the Midshipmen’s School in reviewers on both sides of the Atlantic. Northampton, Mass., she was commis- Tokens of Those Trying Times is a social sioned as an ensign and assigned to the Claudia Davenport-Romeo, 54, a history of Britain’s 19th-century silver Bureau of Ships in Washington, D.C., member of the Foreign Service, died tokens. and, later, to the Naval Air Station in on Feb. 7 at her home in Annandale, The work for which he is best Patuxent River, Md. Va., of leukemia. known, however, is The New Forest In 1949, she joined the Foreign Born in Bethesda, Md., and a grad- Book: An Illustrated Anthology. Some Service. Commissioned as a vice con- uate of Surrattsville Senior High School 20 years after publication, it remains a sul, she served two years in the State in Clinton, Md., Mrs. Romeo joined the classic reference on the region. An au- Department Bureau of Personnel be- Foreign Service in 1976. During a 32- tobiography, Sweet Magnolias and Eng- fore being assigned to London as assis- year career, she served in Lusaka, Hong lish Lavender: An Anglo-American tant to the civil air attaché. In 1951, she Kong, San Salvador, Rome, Brussels, Romance, appeared in 2008. married Cleo A. Noel, an FSO sta- Canberra, Brasilia, Rabat, Madrid and Friends and family members recall tioned in Genoa. Washington, D.C. Her final post was Mr. Mays’ prodigious memory. He was Resigning from the Foreign Service Muscat, where she was the human rean expert on many subjects, particularly (as was required at that time of female sources officer. social history, British and American lit- officers who married), Mrs. Noel began “Claudia’s warm personality and her erary giants, and numismatics, and gave her life as a Foreign Service wife. Her focus on helping others touched every- talks on these subjects all over Britain. husband was an Arabist, so much of one who met her,” associates in the Bu- He remained interested in current their time was spent in the Middle East. reau of Near Eastern Affairs recall. events until the end of his life and was Overseas posts included Dhahran “With just the right mix of humor and always a diplomat, regularly trying to (where their son and daughter were reality, she mentored and guided many explain the vagaries of American poli- born), Marseilles, The Hague, Jeddah Foreign Service colleagues and drew tics to perplexed British friends. and Khartoum, where they spent three great respect and admiration from Mr. Mays was preceded in death by tours. those who knew her.” his wife of 42 years, Mary Roberts. Sur- Cleo Noel was appointed ambassa- A dedicated employee and mother vivors include his son, Stuart Mays of dor to Sudan in 1973 and served there of four, Mrs. Romeo always found time Pennsylvania; two daughters, Angela very briefly before his assassination in for community service with the Ameri-

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can Women’s Association, the Parent devoted friends. after Pearl Harbor, she joined the U.S. Teacher Association, local orphanages Memorial contributions may be Marine Corps and was assigned to and animal rescue shelters. She was an made to a charity of the donor's choice. Santa Barbara, Calif. avid reader and gardener, and loved to When the war ended, she entered bake and entertain. the Fletcher School of Law and Diplo- Mrs. Romeo was preceded in death macy at Tufts University, where she met by her father, Walter P. Davenport, and Marie Elizabeth Johnson Sulli- her future husband, a fellow veteran a sister, Vicki S. Davenport. van, 88, the spouse of retired FSO and and aspiring FSO. Despite having her She is survived by her husband, re- former ambassador William Sullivan, master’s degree and passing the exam, tired FSO Nick Romeo; her children, died on Feb. 10 in Washington, D.C. she was not allowed to enter the For- Francesco, Mark, Catherine Rose and Mrs. Sullivan was raised in Cuba and eign Service because she had admitted Nicholas; her mother, Henrietta R. Mexico, where her father, Harold John- she was engaged to be married. Davenport; her father-in-law and son, a World War I veteran and first- Ms. Johnson and Mr. Sullivan were mother-in-law, Frank and Catherine generation American of Swedish married in Mexico City in 1947 before Romeo; a sister, Carolyn Johnson (and descent, worked for General Electric. shipping out on his first diplomatic as- her husband, Mark); brothers Paul As a youth, she became a competitive signment, to Bangkok. The couple was Davenport (and his wife, Joanne) and swimmer, setting several records in then posted to Calcutta, during the par- Mark Davenport; two sisters-in-law, Mexico. She graduated from the Uni- tition of the Indian subcontinent. It was Bruna (and her husband, Joe) and versity of Texas in 1941 and returned to a turbulent time, and they proceeded Rose; and many nieces, nephews and stay with her family in Mexico. But to their next assignment, in postwar

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Tokyo, with some relief. While they arranged for American entrepreneur later retired from the Foreign Service. were there, the United States ended its H. Ross Perot to fly in a planeload of The couple then moved to New formal occupation and Japan resumed medical supplies. She also visited U.S. York City, where Mr. Sullivan served as self-government. military hospitals in Southeast Asia and president of the American Assembly at In 1953, the Sullivans and their two helped tend to wounded American ser- Columbia University. Mrs. Sullivan children transferred to Naples, where vicemen. taught literacy to Spanish-speaking Mr. Sullivan served as liaison to the U.S. After Mr. Sullivan helped initiate the adults and worked with schoolchildren Fleet and NATO. Mrs. Sullivan set up Vietnam peace talks from Laos, the in the area as a volunteer. her household, had another baby and, family returned in 1968 to Washington, At the same time, they built a home 18 months later, moved the family to D.C., where he assisted the talks from in Cuernavaca, Mexico, where they set- Rome, where Mr. Sullivan served the National Security Council and the tled in 1986. Mrs. Sullivan swam every under Ambassador Clare Booth Luce. State Department. day in her pool, and she and her hus- In 1956, they were transferred to The Mr. Sullivan was sent on his second band made many new friends and en- Hague. ambassadorial assignment, to the tertained friends and family. In 1958, the Sullivans returned to Philippines, in 1973, during the presi- In 2000, Mr. Sullivan suffered a Washington, D.C., for their first assign- dency of Ferdinand Marcos. The U.S. stroke while visiting family in Washing- ment in the United States. Mrs. Sulli- ambassador’s already high profile in ton, D.C., and the couple moved to an van learned to drive a car and to tend to Manila was further raised by the fall of assisted living community in the area. her household alone, shopping at su- Vietnam and the flight of Vietnamese Mrs. Sullivan is survived by her hus- permarkets and department stores. refugees through the Philippines in band, William, of Washington, D.C.; The family was still in Washington 1974. During this period, Mrs. Sullivan their daughters, Anne of Washington, when John Kennedy, a childhood ac- ran a large household, hosted hundreds D.C., and Peggy of Bethesda, Md.; quaintance of Mr. Sullivan’s from their of people at a time and came to know their sons, John of Louisville, Ky., and shared New England upbringing, was many members of Filipino society. Mark of Birmington Hills, Mich.; and elected president. In 1977, Mr. Sullivan was named six grandchildren. They entered into the world of Pres- U.S. ambassador to Iran. Only weeks ident Kennedy’s advisers, endured the after the family arrived in Tehran, Mrs. Cuban Missile Crisis and eventually Sullivan helped host a visit from Presi- watched his funeral on television, along dent Jimmy Carter and, later that year, Charles T. Sylvester, 75, a former with most other Americans. Mr. Sulli- they accompanied the shah and his wife Foreign Service officer, died on Feb. 7 van was then sent to Saigon on tempo- on a return visit to Washington. Early at his home at Hereford, Ariz. rary duty, and Mrs. Sullivan packed up in their tenure, however, the Sullivans Accompanying his grandfather and her household and four children to join realized that the political situation father, who served with the U.S. Asiatic her own family in Mexico City. under the shah was deteriorating. Fleet, Mr. Sylvester lived in China from In 1964, Mr. Sullivan was appoint- Mrs. Sullivan undertook an intense 1936 to 1939, seeing as a child the start mented U.S. ambassador to Laos. In visitation and entertainment schedule of World War II with the Japanese in- Vientiane, Mrs. Sullivan resumed some and ran a large household, despite re- vasion there. familiar aspects of her life overseas — sistance from some of her own Persian He graduated from the U.S. Naval managing a household, being chauf- staff because of her gender. But in early Academy in 1955 and, after training at feured by a driver and entertaining. 1979, the State Department ordered all Pensacola, flew the F-3 Demon as a As wife of the ambassador in a sen- non-essential personnel and all de- carrier pilot. His adventures included sitive, high-risk post, she worked closely pendents to leave. Mrs. Sullivan was in having to bail out once from his plane with the American and host-country Washington, D.C., on Feb. 14, 1979, over the sea when a fuel line broke. communities and became attuned to when the embassy grounds were over- In 1961, Mr. Sylvester joined the the political environment of a country run by various factions. A few weeks Foreign Service, serving first in Bor- identified as one of the “dominoes” of after Mr. Sullivan’s release by the insur- deaux and then studying the Chinese the Vietnam war. At one point, she gents, he returned to Washington and language in Taiwan. He served next in

74 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/MAY 2010 I N M EMORY

Vietnam. Subsequent postings includ- counselor for the state. sion, the Atlanta Resident Office and ed Taipei, Tromso (Norway) and Bei- After several years, he changed ca- the Salt Lake City Resident Office, and jing, where he served as political coun- reers and worked in the construction also coordinated security for the Win- selor. He was there when Mao died, industry as a cost estimator for the La ter Olympics. Deng returned and young Chinese Fleur Daniels Construction Company Colleagues and friends remember demonstrated at the Democracy Wall. on major projects in the Tennessee Val- his keen sense of duty tempered by a Mr. Sylvester’s final assignments ley and Jackson Hole, Wyo. During this sharp sense of humor, his love of the were as consul general in Bordeaux, as time, he became an avid outdoorsman. outdoors and his great culinary skill. an inspector in the department and as He loved camping, skiing and scuba He is survived by his mother, Mary consul general in Shanghai. He retired diving and carried that love with him Laura Palmer; his wife, Norma, and in 1989, just after the tumultuous Tien- into the Foreign Service. their daughter Mariah; three brothers, anmen events. Mr. Wohlman joined the State De- Roger Johnson, Michael Johnson and Ironically, in view of his and his fam- partment as a special agent with the Bu- DS Special Agent Jake Wohlman; and ily’s Navy background in Shanghai, one reau of Diplomatic Security in 1986. In four sisters, Polly Stewart, Mary Hamby of his last official duties was receiving a 24-year career, he served overseas in Wohlman, Sarah Wohlman and Josefa the U.S. Seventh Fleet for a port visit San Salvador, El Salvador, Ankara, Wells. there, the first in the country since the Turkey, Monterrey, Mexico and Egypt. Memorial contributions may be establishment of the People’s Republic He had domestic tours in the Miami made in his name to the Ogeechee of China. Field Office and with the Secretary of Area Hospice, P.O. Box 531, Statesboro After retirement, he lived first in State’s detail, the Mobile Security Divi- GA 30408. ■ Bernardston, Mass., serving for a while as a town selectman. In 2002, he and his wife moved to Hereford, Ariz. He leaves his wife, Evelyn Kluger Sylvester of Hereford; two sons, John A. Sylvester of Durham, N.C., and FSO Thomas Y. Sylvester, now in Washing- ton, D.C.; and four grandchildren.

Merrill C. “Buzz” Wohlman, 56, a special agent with the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, died on Jan. 24 at the Ogeechee Area Hospice in States- boro, Ga., of cancer. Born in Ft. Benning, Ga., to Ser- geant Major Stanley R. Wohlman and Mary Laura Wohlman, Mr. Wohlman was the fourth of eight children. He grew up on military bases around the world and, upon graduation from Reid Ross High School in Fayetteville, N.C., moved to Cullowhee, N.C., to attend Western Carolina University. Graduat- ing in 1979 with a degree in psychology, he worked in Seneca, S.C., as a youth

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REFLECTIONS

The Yukon Jack Manifesto

BY JONATHAN MINES

There’s a race of men that don’t fit in, tal. It seemed to beckon to me, instill A race that can’t stay still; Like clockwork, in me the “itch,” often unexplainable, So they break the hearts of kith and kin, I would suddenly to leave suddenly without a trace. And they roam the world at will. You have wanderlust. The words I’d read those lines a thousand feel it was time haunted me for years, as a kind of times, maybe more, at night in the to move on. condemnation, a sentencing. last few minutes before sleep en- veloped me, whispering the words. They were printed on a poster that I don’t see it that way today. Now depicted a man clad all in fur, a thick I see it as a calling. To me, Yukon beard on his face, looking out onto an would suddenly feel it was time to Jack represents an entire race, one I expanse of snow-capped mountains. move on. am proud to be a part of. We have ex- Not a soul in sight. Wanderlust, she called it. I hadn’t isted since the beginning of man, in- It was a peculiar advertisement made the connection before, but dividuals who are never satisfied with because the commercial element was there was a side to me that main- the status quo. extremely subtle, displaying only the tained an infatuation with the drifter’s We believe that the only consistent words “Yukon Jack.” In fact, it wasn’t curse. When I first heard Robert thing about this existence is change, until much later that my brother and Plant sing “Ramble On” in high and that where one lays one’s head is I noticed the very small print at the school, I fell in love with it. home. We will never fully under- bottom of the poster, “Yukon Jack, Got no time for spreadin’ roots, stand those who sit still, and they will Canadian Whiskey.” The time has come to be gone. never fully understand us. As a young child, I understood And though our health we drank a And we believe that no matter Yukon Jack to represent the entire thousand times, what your tragedy, the world will con- race of men mentioned in the poem. It’s time to ramble on. tinue to turn; that we can find unity The more I read the poem and stared Then there were the Westerns. in personal independence; and that at Jack, the more I idolized him. He Clint Eastwood’s character, Joe, from sometimes the hardest thing to do is reached a state of godhood for me, the Sergio Leone’s “A Fistful of Dollars” not to venture out into the unknown poster his shrine. Yet I did not see was the embodiment of the kind of but instead to sit with yourself. how closely his life mirrored my own. man I wished, and to a certain extent I lead the next generation of continue to wish, to be: cool, calm, drifters in my family. We stretch into collected and, above all, without at- the four corners of the world, ever “You have wanderlust,” declared a tachments, able to drift from town to searching but never satisfied. We girl I was involved with some years town, living according to his own will. don’t know what we’re looking for, later. “That’s why this relationship Common in Westerns, of course, but are intent on finding it. We are won’t work.” is the hero’s departure into the sun- the followers of Yukon Jack, and we I was growing up, and friendships set, the decision to leave that rarely have wanderlust. ■ and associations seemed to be getting seems to be for any real reason. I more complicated. I was fickle when could relate to that, too. Jonathan Mines, the son of FSO Keith it came to all relationships, whether The poster’s place in my life was Mines, is a sophomore at the University romantic or not. Like clockwork, I accidental, yet somehow fundamen- of Edinburgh.

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