The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project AMBASSADOR RICHARD C. HOWLAND Interviewed by: Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial Interview Date: January 26, 1999 Copyright 2 13 ADST TABLE OF CONTENTS Background Born and raised in Ne York Adelphi College; George Washington University US Army, Germany Entered the Foreign Service in 19,0 A.100 Course State Department/ East Africa Desk 19,0.19,1 0ulius Nyerere Frederick 1Frit23 Picard III State Department/ Foreign Service Institute 1FSI3 19,1 Orientation and language training Phnom Penh, Cambodia/ Rotation Officer 19,1.19,3 USAID projects Environment United States Information Service 1USIS3 0oint US 8ilitary Aid and Advisory Group 10US8AAG3 Ambassador William Catlett Trimble Prince Norodom Sihanouk Royal family French 9hmer language study Press reporting :ietnam 9hmer press Refugees :ietminh Soviet embassy Housing /;Bud Overton; 1 Bernard Fall —Oasis of Peace; The 9hmers 8eetings ith Sihanouk Royal 9hner Armed Forces 1FAR93 9hmer.American Friendship High ay Leftist intellectuals Pracheachon Pasrty Foreign Relations —14 Nation Congress; 0ean Cocteau visit Preah :ihear temple dispute Thai.Cambodia r elations Dean Acheson visit 8ontagnards Ambassador Philip D. Sprouse Internal travel Commodity Import Program Geography 8ayague2 ship sei2ure State Department/ FSI/ Indonesian language study 19,3.19,5 Djakarta, Indonesia/ Political Officer 19,5.19,A Housing Environment Revolutionary opposition Poverty Sukarno Government Ambassador Ho ard 0ones 0ones.Sukarno relations North 9alimantan Liberation Front Anti.US demonstrations Embassy staff 8alaysia Internal embassy dissention —Ne Emerging Forces; Ambassador Ells orth Bunker visit Francis Galbraith USAID and Peace Corps ithdra n Ambassador 8arshall Green Green.Sukarno relations PeoplesB Commissar System General Achmad Yani 2 Communist Party 1P9I3 Travels Abortive coup dBCtat Dependents evacuation Student anti.government demonstrations General Suharto Indonesian army Reconstruction State Department/ FSI/ Economics study 19,A Yale University/ Southeast Asia studies 19,A.19,9 :ietnam ROTC State Department/ INR/ Indonesia analyst 19,9.1971 —Golkar; Political party Indonesia elections :ientiane, Laos/ Political Counselor 1971.1974 US policy Pathet Lao :ietnam War Prime 8inister Prince Souvanna Phouma Ambassador George 8c8urtrie 18ac3 Godley Plain of 0ars Fighting North :ietnamese Army 1N:A3 Lao neutrality Thai mercenaries Coups, strikes and assignations Track bombing US military air activity —Bomb damage assessment; 1BDA3 —Operations 8eetings; William 1Bill3 Sullivan US military support Country Team members US —contract; air support companies Embassy staff PoliticalE8ilitary organi2ations Congressman Paul 8cCloskey The Plain of 0ars War in Laos USAID —8eo; troops 1irregulars3 3 Royal Lao Army 1RLA3 POW.8IA Soth Phetrasy, Pathet Lao representative 8eeting ith North :ietnamese Chinese Road China joins United Nations Ho Chi 8inh Trail War in Southern Laos Wartime environment Narcotics 9uomintang 0ohn Gunther Dean International Control Commission 1ICC3 Laos Peace agreement 119733 Seth PhetraseyESouvnna Phouma meeting :o Nguyen Giap 1N.:ietnamese3 —:ientiane Government; Souvanna desire for settlement Embassy personnel reduction Godley conduct of the ar Paris agreement SouvannaBs vie of future Laos N. :ietnam demands re Laos 9issinger Hanoi visit End of Laos War Agreement implementation Phasing do n the 8ission Abortive Coup, August, 1973 Pathet Lao Troops arrive in :ientiane Charlie Whitehouse Embassy security Chris Chapman Prince Souphanouvong arrives in :ientiane Surabaya, Indonesia/ Consul 1974.197, Ambassador David Ne som Islam Staff Ambassador Ne somBs visit Consular district Relations ith Embassy Surabaya city Naval detachment Consular operations Bali visit 4 East 0ava government Indonesian army Political Parties President Suharto Communist Party 1P9I3 Governor Noer Indonesian corruption Chinese 0e ish community Pro.Palestinians Family Planning American Consulate School Portuguese Timor visit —Heroin Hilton; Indonesians invade Timor Lon Nol visa Consulate closed Army War College 197,.1977 Environment Course of instruction Student body and Faculty Office of the Inspector General 1SEIG3 1977-1979 Sherman Funk Office organi2ation 0esse Helms :ie of Secretaries of State Inspector General Bob Sayer Inspection team composition Inspection process Revie of inspection reports Inspector Evaluation Reports 1IERs3 Timing of post inspections Nancy Ra ls Dante Fascell Post Inspections The Bahamas Consular section problems Consul General visa fraud Haiti Environment Human Rights Patt Derian 5 Criticisms Officers :isa section AdministrationEsupport Local conditions Dominican Republic Environment Relations ith government Ambassador Bob Hur itch 0amaica Administration Environment :isas Ambassador replaced Intelligence and Research Bureau 1INR3 Hal Saunders Secretaries Computeri2ation Civil Service analysts Filing cabinet West Africa 1general3 Inspection team Climate problems Environments Fuasi.communist regimes Niger Environment Ambassador Henry 0ames Embassy morale Air conditioning EmbassyEgovernment relations Peace Corps 8ali Timbuktu Bamako Ambassador Pat Byrne Favorable comments Senegal Ambassador Hank Cohen Dakar Former slave Guarters Guinea.Bissau Ambassador 8elissa Wells Senegal relations Embassy facilities 6 Opening the post Environment Food shortage Lack of basic needs Staff morale Guinea Government Sekou Toure Infrastructure Staff fraud Liberia ChargC Hal Horan ConsularEciti2enship problems Americo.Liberians Firestone Ivory Coast 1Stopover3 Ambassador 8onty Stearns Political and economic environment Upper :olta Ambassador Tom Boyatt General comments 8auritania Port Louis Nouakchott Travel to embassy Physical environment Polisario rebel front Canadian hotel Population Local fishing Embassy compound Ambassador Greg 9ry2a DC8 Charlie Dunbar Environment Infrastructure Canadian aid projects Local omen German harbor offer Saudi Arabia 1197A3 0eddah Team composition Ambassador 0ohn West Embassy compound Political reporting Economic reporting 7 Embassy staff AmbassadorEWhite House relations Inspection assessment Comments on Riyadh Dhahran Consul General Ralph Bergstrom Dammam number six 1first oil ell3 United Arab Republics 1UAE3 ChargC Brooks Wrampelmeir Fujairah Ras.al.9haimah Dubai Fatar Bahrain :ince Battle Emir Political issues Saddam Hussein threat 9u ait Funding problems General observation and assessment Political officers Lack of officer training Bureau of Near East Affairs 119793 Chuck Cross NEA personnel David Ne som Iran hostage crisis White House sacks personnel Arab.Israel Peace Plan Inspection Reports Completion Checking posts re follo .up London embassy objections to recommendations Ambassador Bre ster Post compliance ith recommendations State Department/ Chief, Division of Employee.8anagement 197A.19A0 Relations Operations Negotiations American Foreign Service Association 1AFSA3 Foreign Service Institute 1FSI3 Foreign Service Act of 19A0 Personnel System 8 Government employee unions Foreign Agricultural Service officers 0ohn and Cynthia Thomas Congressional interest WomenBs issues State Department/ Country Director for Thailand 19A1.19A3 0ohn Negreponte Staff Prime 8inister Prem Tinsulanonda Coups Thai Royal Family Ambassador 8ort Abramo it2 General 9riangsak 0im Thompson Fueen of ThailandBs US visit Dan OBDonohue Buddhism Economy PremBs visit to US Stinger missiles Cambodian border issue :ietnamese Cambodia takeover RussiaBs Asian policy Association of South East Asia Nations 1ASEAN3 Coalition Government of Democratic 9ampuchea China area policies 8eetings at UN 0ohn Negroponte 9hmer Rouge China.Thai relations Thai refugee policy Thai border problems Utapao airbase :ietnamese incursions Laos Pirates Narcotic trafficking Lao refugees 8ilt Caniff Thai agriculture Chinese community Communist insurgencies Prisoner of War and 8issing in Action 1POWE8IA3 :isit to Thailand 9 US Embassy in Bangkok Yello Rain Thai army INTERVIEW $: Today is January 26, 1999. This is an interview with Richard C. Howland, a retired Foreign Service officer. It is being done on behalf of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training, and I am Charles Stuart Kennedy. ,ou are -nown as Dic-, aren.t you/ HOWLAND/ Yes. $: And you.ve been Ambassador to Suriname most recently. HOWLAND/ Yes, from 19A7.90, before becoming an inspector. Before that I served as Deputy Chief of 8ission in Indonesia. I retired in 1994 but IBm still active ith the Inspector GeneralBs Office. $: 0hen did you come into the Foreign Service/ HOWLAND/ It as August A, 19,0, almost forty years ago. $: ,ou1ve had a very distinguished career. HOWLAND/ Well, IBve been very lucky. Luck has been the key ingredient. In the Foreign Service itBs not the luck of the dra , but the luck of the corridor. A chance meeting in the hall can re.orient your hole career. $: Did you come straight into the Service from college/ HOWLAND/ Yes, but not in the usual ay. I had a fe adventures bet een high school and college, a lot of casting about. You see, I started college late, at age 22. I had graduated from high school barely 17 years old and started at one college but left after a fe months. I as too young to start college right a ay, I hated it. I orked and goofed off for a hile and then joined the Army to get the GI Bill. $: Dic-, I.d li-e to start with the beginning. Could you tell me when and where you were born and something about your family/ HOWLAND/ Yes. I as born in Brooklyn,