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P U B L I S H E D BY T H E A M E R I CA N F O R E I G N S E R V I C E A S S O C I AT I O N   APRIL 2020

CAREER MANAGEMENT TODAY

DISCOVERING A POST’S HISTORY

                                          RETIREMENT 101
CAREER MANAGEMENT TODAY - DISCOVERING A POST'S HISTORY RETIREMENT 101 - American Foreign ...
CAREER MANAGEMENT TODAY - DISCOVERING A POST'S HISTORY RETIREMENT 101 - American Foreign ...
CAREER MANAGEMENT TODAY - DISCOVERING A POST'S HISTORY RETIREMENT 101 - American Foreign ...
CAREER MANAGEMENT TODAY - DISCOVERING A POST'S HISTORY RETIREMENT 101 - American Foreign ...
FOREIGN
                                    SERVICE                                                                   April 2020 Volume 97, No. 3

                    Focus on Career and                                                                       Feature
                 Performance Management
                                                                                                                     53
                                                                                                     The Power of Language
                                                                                                     Here’s how an “English For Work”
                                                                                                    program improved security in Kabul.
                                                                                                           By Krishna Sharma

                                                                                                     Retirement Supplement

                                                                                      JEFF MOORES
                                                                                                                      67
                                                                                                    Retirement Planning 101
                                                                                                    It may be years away, but the sooner
                      24                                             37                               you think about and plan for your
  Needs of the Service and                        State’s New MSI Program:                             retirement, the better it will be.
   Those of Our People:                           Preliminary Results Are In                               By John K. Naland
       The New HR                                           By Raeka Safai
           B y P h i l i p W. K a p l a n
                                                                                                                      73
                                                                     41                                AFSA Membership
                      27                            What’s Next for SNEA?                                in Retirement:
                                                   By Donna Scaramastra Gorman
                                                                                                       What’s in It for You?
   Evaluation Reform at                                                                             Besides camaraderie, there are paths
 State: A Work in Progress                                                                          to engagement and advocacy, access
          By Alex Karagiannis
                                                                     45                              to unique practical information and
                                                        Balancing Act’s                               assistance—and it’s a good deal!
                                                      Formula for Driving                                   By Dolores Brown
                      32                             Institutional Change
   Redesigning Foreign                                                                                      Life After the
                                                        B y L i l l i a n W a h l -Tu c o
 Service Performance and                                                                                   Foreign Service
   Promotion at USAID                                                48
            By Martha Lappin
                                                      From the FSJ Archive
                                                                                                                      75
                                                     Managing a Foreign                                   The Theater and
                                                       Service Career                                      Policy Salon
                                                                                                          B y M i c h a e l Fe l d m a n

                                                                                                                      78
                                      FS Heritage                                                      The Inn by the Lake
                                                                                                           By David Summers
                                              49
             Discovering Our Consulate’s History,
                                                                                                                     80
         We Discovered Ourselves—Matamoros, Mexico                                                    Try the Smaller Pond
                                        By Moises Mendoza                                                   B y J a n i c e We i n e r

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | APRIL 2020                                                                                                   5
CAREER MANAGEMENT TODAY - DISCOVERING A POST'S HISTORY RETIREMENT 101 - American Foreign ...
FOREIGN
                                                         SERVICE

                                          Perspectives
                                                                                                   Departments
                         7                                            89                           10     Letters
         President’s Views                                        Reflections
       The Legacy of Tex Harris                              On the Road from Sibiu                12     Letters-Plus
                By Eric Rubin                                By Jonathan B. Rickert
                                                                                                   14     Talking Points
                         9                                                                         82     Books
      Letter from the Editor
 Diplomacy in the Time of Corona
            By Shawn Dorman

                                                                                                   Marketplace
                       20
              Speaking Out
                                                                                                   84     Classifieds
           Breaking Away from
            “Born, Not Made”                                         90                            85     Index to Advertisers
    By Andrea Susana Martinez                                     Local Lens
    D o n n a l l y a n d C h r i s t i n a T. L e               Cessy, France                     86	Real Estate & Property
                                                                 By Kevin Keen                         Management

    AFSA NEWS                                        THE OFFICIAL RECORD OF THE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE ASSOCIATION

    57 The Passing of F. Allen “Tex” Harris                                                                           57
    58 State VP Voice—Giving the MSI the Attention
         It Deserves
    59 USAID VP Voice—Labor Management Relations
    59 AFSA Governing Board Meeting
    59 Everything You Need to Know about the TSP
    60 FCS VP Voice—We’ve Seen This Movie Before
    60 AFSA Seeks Volunteers for Elections Committee
    61 AFSA on the Hill—Building on Fiscal Year
         2020 Gains
                                                                      65 Call for Nominations:
    61 Retirement Planning Five to 10 Years Out                            2020 Exemplary Performance Awards
    62 Foreign Service Artists Featured at                           66 AFSA Outreach Campaign Highlights the
         AFSA Showcase                                                     Foreign Service as the First Line of Defense
    64 AFSA Welcomes Incoming Classes                                 66 AFSA Hosts Breakfast for Ambassadors

On the Cover—Illustration by Jeff Moores.

6                                                                                                        APRIL 2020 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL
CAREER MANAGEMENT TODAY - DISCOVERING A POST'S HISTORY RETIREMENT 101 - American Foreign ...
PRESIDENT’S VIEWS

The Legacy of Tex Harris
BY ERIC RUBIN

T
           he U.S. Foreign Service lost a           Our country’s security and prosperity depend
           giant in February when Tex
           Harris left us. Tex did more than
                                                    heavily on our international engagement.
           any single individual to build
today’s AFSA, and to lay the groundwork             simply doing their jobs, reporting accu-         the world still needs the United States
for AFSA to serve not only as the voice             rately on what they observed, or for being       to be a leader among nations to work
of the modern Foreign Service, but as its           homosexual or suspected to be. At that           for peace and progress. The post–World
stalwart defender and advocate, as well.            time, AFSA did not stand up for them.            War II era was shaped by the United
    Tex also believed passionately that                 Let me be clear about where AFSA             States. Its institutions were largely our
members of the Foreign Service could                stands today: We will fight for our mem-         creation. And the result was the single
not simply count on the goodwill of                 bers, and we will fight for the practice of      longest period of peace and prosperity
management, but needed rules and                    diplomacy, which is the alternative to war.      in human history.
procedures in place to make sure that                   We are passionate about our com-                 We serve our country, with dedica-
individual members of our Service were              mitment to nonpartisan, nonpolitical             tion and loyalty. But in working for
treated fairly and were able to defend              service to our country. We will loyally          our country, we work for the world.
themselves.                                         serve whomever the American people               Our country’s security and prosperity
    At AFSA, we take seriously our obliga-          elect as their leaders and work assidu-          depend heavily on our international
tion to defend our members when they                ously to ensure the success of the poli-         engagement. No one can or will replace
encounter difficulties. We are proud that           cies established by our elected leaders.         the United States if it withdraws from
we raised enough money for our Legal                But we expect respect for our patriotism         engagement in the world’s affairs.
Defense Fund so that not one AFSA                   and service in return.                           Americans need us—and the world
member who was called to testify in the                 There are other things to say about          needs us.
recent impeachment battle is left with a            the legacy of Tex Harris. More than any              Tex also passionately believed in
single cent of liability for legal fees. We         other U.S. diplomat, Tex advanced the            the importance of constructive dissent.
also have a significant balance of dona-            notion that America is about values, that        The culture of the U.S. Foreign Service,
tions to cover our members facing legal             our country stands for more than just our        and the value that we bring to the table,
bills in the future—and to defend our               own self-interest. Along with Assistant          emphasizes the importance of speaking
association if AFSA itself should encoun-           Secretary of State Patricia Derian, he pio-      truth to power—confidentially and inter-
ter legal challenges.                               neered the idea that our diplomacy must          nally—and insists that we can only get
    The lessons of the McCarthy period in           include a commitment to basic norms of           the right results in policy deliberations
the 1950s resonate to this day. Hundreds            human rights, and that ignoring or sup-          when there is a real discussion informed
                        of members of the           porting gross violations of those values         by career expertise and knowledge.
                        Foreign Service             undermines our standing in the world.                For those of you considering whether
                        were investigated,          His human rights work in 1977-1979               to remain in public service, I repeat the
                        pilloried, perse-           Argentina still stands as an outstanding         request I have made before. Please stay.
                        cuted and fired for         example for the Service.                         Please continue serving our country,
                        specious reasons—               Surely we have not always lived up           and know that the work you do mat-
                        in some cases for           to that standard, to our principles. But         ters—a lot. n

                         Ambassador Eric Rubin is the president of the American Foreign Service Association.

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | APRIL 2020                                                                                                    7
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FOREIGN

                                                               CONTACTS
                  SERVICE

                                                                                            www.afsa.org
Editor-in-Chief, Director of Publications
Shawn Dorman: dorman@afsa.org
Senior Editor
Susan Brady Maitra: maitra@afsa.org
Managing Editor
Kathryn Owens: owens@afsa.org                                   AFSA Headquarters:                          ADVOCACY
Associate Editor                                                  (202) 338-4045; Fax (202) 338-6820        Director of Advocacy
Cameron Woodworth: woodworth@afsa.org                           State Department AFSA Office:                  Kim Greenplate: greenplate@afsa.org
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Publications Coordinator                                                                                    FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION
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Molly Long: long@afsa.org                                                                                      Cory Nishi: cnishi@afsa.org
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Caryn Suko Smith                                                 Hon. Eric S. Rubin: rubin@afsa.org         Member Accounts Specialist
Editorial Board                                                 Secretary                                      Ana Lopez: lopez@afsa.org
Alexis Ludwig, Chair                                             Ken Kero-Mentz: KeroMentzKA@state.gov      IT and Infrastructure Coordinator
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                                                                                                              Briana J. Odom

8                                                                                                                     APRIL 2020 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL
CAREER MANAGEMENT TODAY - DISCOVERING A POST'S HISTORY RETIREMENT 101 - American Foreign ...
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Diplomacy in the Time of Corona
B Y S H AW N D O R M A N

A
            s I write this letter (just before   some very “inside baseball” elements of             Our April Speaking Out argues against
            we go to press in mid-March)         managing a Foreign Service career and, in       the notion that diplomats are “born,
            from Baltimore, AFSA has             particular, changes to the State HR Bureau      not made.” The column’s authors make
            moved operations to all-remote       (in addition to its new name, Bureau of         a compelling case for a change in State
work in response to the coronavirus out-         Global Talent Management), as well as           Department culture and for more system-
break, now pandemic. The president has           to the evaluation processes at State and        atic training, education and mentoring.
just held a press conference to announce         USAID (the EER and the AEF).                        Perhaps the most significant space
a “national emergency.” Universities are             We bring you updates on the MSI pilot       in the Journal, the Speaking Out column
sending students home, sports events are         and the special needs education allow-          is where we can share different views
being canceled, and travel restrictions          ance (SNEA) program, and a look at the          on current issues for the FS community.
grow by the hour.                                Balancing Act organization, which shows         In recent months, we’ve received fewer
   News about the spread of the virus            how employees can make change happen.           Speaking Out submissions than ideal.
and how it’s being handled worldwide                 In addition, a special retirement section       In hopes of inspiring wider participa-
changes hourly, and the U.S. domestic            offers useful guidance on planning and          tion in the Journal, I share here thoughts
response is still in the early stages. But       profiles of life after the Foreign Service.     from Editorial Board Chair Alexis Ludwig.
from the time the first cases in China
were made known, members of the U.S.                   Ours is an age of hyperventilation.       or small, external or internal, large for-
Foreign Service posted all over the world          There’s quite enough yelling and scream-      eign policy questions or vexing person-
have been on the front lines, involved             ing going on as it is, and no good reason     nel problems. Whatever deserves a fair,
in helping track developments, marshal             to join in. But how about reasoned            transparent or different kind of airing.
data and information, liaise with foreign          dialogue? How about cool-headed               Whatever might need fixing.
governments and international organiza-            argument with one’s inside voice? Isn’t           A few possible examples:
tions, and keep U.S. citizens informed             that what diplomats are supposed to do            • Security clearance updates take too
about public health and travel.                    best, including amid intense and even         long; here’s what needs to be done.
   A monthly publication planned far in            structural disagreement?                          • Here’s how to better utilize the
advance, the Journal is not a vehicle for              We put forth a dispassionate, broadly     diverse professional skills family mem-
breaking news. The stories, insights and           informed perspective on a several-sided       bers bring to the Foreign Service.
lessons learned from the diplomats grap-           or controversial topic in the hopes of            • The tangible value of a nonparti-
pling with this new world health crisis            persuading others to take action, accept      san, professional Foreign Service in a
have yet to be told. When they are, you            a compromise course or at least under-        polarized environment.
will find them here.                               stand where we’re coming from. Such               • Here’s what’s wrong with the
   In the meantime, we continue cover-             engagement would seem welcome and             assignment system and a plan to fix it.
ing topics relevant to our community,              even tonic at a time like this.                   Please join the discussion. I urge you
                       such as this month’s            Why am I writing this now? The FSJ        to contribute your two cents or more—
                       focus on career             depends on the Foreign Service com-           if only to further ensure that the differ-
                       management. We              munity as authors. Right now, we need         ent sides of issues that matter to us are
                       take a close look at        more submissions for Speaking Out, our        duly aired, reflected on and argued.
                                                   opinion page.                                 Speak Out! Because silence, too, can be
                       Shawn Dorman is the             Issues worthy of speaking out about       deafening. n ­
                       editor of The Foreign       are not in short supply. They can be big                                 —Alexis Ludwig
                       Service Journal.

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | APRIL 2020                                                                                                      9
CAREER MANAGEMENT TODAY - DISCOVERING A POST'S HISTORY RETIREMENT 101 - American Foreign ...
LETTERS

An Inspiring Look                                                    Every day across the       ingly overwhelming obstacles. You chal-
at the U.S.                                                      globe, you work on the         lenge powerful dictators and entrenched
    The front section of the                                     front lines to prevent wars    authoritarian regimes, often in face-to-
January-February Foreign                                        from breaking out, protect      face encounters and on their home turfs.
Service Journal does a good                                    American citizens, promote       You press on.
job in reviewing the chal-                                     economic prosperity, defend          You are American diplomats and pub-
lenges of recent months                                        democracy and prevent            lic servants who have brought American
in the President’s Views,                                     human rights abuses and           ideals and values to the rest of the world
letters from readers and in                                   atrocities. These are noble       for decades—showcasing America as a
excerpts from online post-                                    causes.                           powerful ideal and a counterweight to the
ings, and I plan to keep this                                    Thank you all for your         allure of centralized authoritarian rule
issue for its apt record of the important       efforts to prevent the spread and use of        that has captured much of the world’s
current events affecting our Service.           nuclear weapons, chemical weapons and           population for decades.
    But it was Alexis Ludwig’s “Outside         other weapons of mass destruction. Thank            You work in an organization that is not
Observers See the United States in Ways         you for engaging in continuous dialogue         without its faults, and you face many of
We Ourselves Cannot” that I found               with our allies and with our adversaries        the same challenges that come with any
especially profound and uplifting. I            day in and day out, year after year and         large institution. You have no choice but
recommend it to all who on occasion             decade after decade.                            to operate under conditions that are often
doubt the grandeur and endurance of                 Your work to promote and demon-             constrained by regulations and layers of
the United States’ spirit.                      strate democratic values and advance a          internal safeguards that have been put
    With close to 20 years in the Foreign       free, peaceful and prosperous world is          into place to help ensure the integrity of
Service now, I found Ludwig’s piece not         largely unseen to most Americans, yet           the organization and provide accountabil-
only historically and intellectually well       you continue to serve with little praise or     ity to the American people.
researched and written (as are many FSJ         recognition.                                        But you overcome these and other
articles), but also simply—at the risk of           You serve in challenging environments,      hurdles, and strive on a daily basis to
sounding trite—good for my Foreign              often risking your own lives in war zones,      deliver excellence in service to our great
Service soul.                                   in regions where there are dangerous pub-       country and to all Americans.
    Kristin M. Kane                             lic health epidemics and where the rule             Thank you for doing all this and more.
    Deputy chief of mission                     of law is oftentimes very little rule at all.       Joseph Domask
    U.S. Embassy Lisbon                         There are countless unsung heroes among             DoMar Learning & Leadership founder
                                                you who devote time, energy and internal            Potomac, Maryland
Thank You for Your Service                      fortitude toward serving our country and
    Thank you to all members of the             promoting the security of Americans in          Your Special Collection
Foreign Service for your service to our         large and small ways.                           on McCarthyism and the
country. I write this to pay tribute to what        Many of you spend years separated           China Hands
I believe is one of the greatest institutions   from family, often missing your children’s          I learned about your addition of a new
in the world—the State Department—and           special milestones, such as graduations,        special collection on McCarthyism from a
to give thanks to all those who serve in this   performances and more. Sacrifice is             recent AFSA Daily Media Digest. I applaud
important institution and in the other U.S.     required on a continuous basis to carry         the timeliness of this initiative, and would
foreign affairs agencies.                       out the work that is required to help pro-      respectfully suggest several additions for
    I have spent half of my career in the       tect America and our values.                    the sake of completeness.
State Department, most recently as a                Even where the circumstances                    From the July-August 2008 FSJ, the
director and senior adviser within FSI’s        sometimes appear hopeless and where             following should also be on that list: the
Leadership and Management School, and           authoritarian regimes have been in power        letter from Ambassador Robert Service,
I have worked hand-in-hand with many of         for many decades, you press on with the         “Getting History Wrong”; the letter
you over these years.                           work at hand and challenge those seem-          from Dana Deree, “Smearing the China

10                                                                                                       APRIL 2020 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL
Hands”; and my article, “Grace Under
Pressure: John Paton Davies.” I would
note that the latter was cited by historian
Bruce Cumings in his epilogue to Davies’
autobiography. [All of these can be found
in the FSJ Archive at www.afsa.org/fsj-
archive.]
    Bob Rackmales
    FSO, retired
    Belfast, Maine

A Puzzling Statement
    Kudos for the excellent interview with
Ambassador Hank Cohen in the Decem-
ber FSJ. We can be grateful for his service
and expertise in navigating the waters of
post-colonial Africa.
    One of his comments puzzled me,
however: “The Cold War never had any
influence on U.S. policy toward Africa.”
I believe volumes could and have been
written saying that it did, and this was
certainly my experience during my tours
in Ethiopia and South Africa in the 1970s
and 1980s.
    Chuck Ahlgren
    FSO, retired
    Incline Village, Nevada n

  CORRECTION
      In the March FSJ focus article
  “When Lightning Struck Twice:
  Drawing Down Mission Russia,”
  Sergei Skripal is mistakenly identified
  as a former officer of Russia’s Federal
  Security Service (FSB) on pp. 39 and
  40. Skripal was an officer of the Rus-
  sian Main Intelligence Directorate
  (GRU). We regret the error.

         Please send
        your letters to
      journal@afsa.org

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | APRIL 2020      11
LETTERS-PLUS
RESPONSE TO DEC. 2019 FSJ COVER STORY ON USAID TRANSFORMATION

The Purposes and Use of                                                                        writes that “the purpose of foreign assis-
                                                                                               tance should be to end the need for its

Foreign Economic Assistance                                                                    existence. All of our reforms are designed
                                                                                               to accelerate development progress and
                                                                                               work toward the day when partner coun-
BY RAYM O N D M AL LEY                                                                         tries can finance and implement solutions
                                                                                               to their own development challenges.”

I
                                                                                                   In my view and long experience, this
   reflected with great interest                                   ligan mentions affect and   statement is too narrow. True, the prime
   on Chris Milligan’s article,                                   overlap with the work        purpose of foreign assistance is to foster
   “USAID Transforms,” in the                                     of these other agencies.     economic and social development. In
   December 2019 edition of                                       Some examples: USAID         practice, however, that is far from the only
   the Journal. It is hearten-                                    and MCC often support        purpose. Under every administration,
ing to hear that the agency                                      development projects in       USAID has been and continues to be a
continues to reform to keep up                                   the same country; all agen-   soft foreign policy tool with an array of
with the times, and I presume                                    cies stress private-sector    purposes. It is a flexible instrument, never
that the changes in structure                                    and free-market-based         used solely for development—no matter
are substantive and not mere                                    approaches where possible;     how much purists wish it were so.
movements on the administrative tableau.         MCC and DFC, in addition to USAID,                The additional purposes of USAID’s
   But I have two comments.                      seek to co-finance with the private sec-      work over the years and today are legion.
                                                 tor; the State Department also has major      Many, of course, are closely related to
What About the Overlap?                          programs in health and humanitarian           development, but some are only tangen-
    First, in addition to USAID, U.S. eco-       activities; and State, USAID and Treasury     tially related and others are not related
nomic assistance relations with develop-         manage relations with the various multi-      at all. Here are some examples of other
ing countries are the prime responsibility       lateral development institutions.             purposes: to reduce civil strife and create
of four other agencies—namely, the Peace             I assume that USAID took into account     stability, including in failed states; to sup-
Corps, the Millennium Challenge Corpo-           and discussed with these agencies how         ply humanitarian assistance to the world’s
ration, the U.S. International Development       the reforms relate to and affect their        numerous refugees inside and outside
Finance Corporation, formerly the Over-          responsibilities and operations, and that     camps, and to assist victims of natural
seas Private Investment Corporation, and         there are no problems in this regard. But,    disasters such as hurricanes and earth-
the U.S. Trade and Development Agency.           surprisingly, there is no mention of other    quakes; and to promote countries’ transi-
    Also, major departments of govern-           agencies in the article.                      tions to democracy and free markets, as
ment—such as State, Treasury, Justice,                                                         was so important with the collapse of the
Agriculture and others—have assistance           The Question of Purpose                       Soviet Union and Yugoslavia.
spigots in their areas of competence.               My second comment relates to the pur-          Still other purposes are to support
    Many of the USAID reforms Mr. Mil-           poses of foreign assistance. Mr. Milligan     friends and allies, even authoritarians
                                                                                               if necessary, such as South Korea’s Park
               Raymond Malley, a retired Senior Foreign Service officer, had a long and        Chung-hee and Zaire’s Mobutu Sese
               varied career with USAID and State. He negotiated and managed develop-          Seko yesterday and Egypt’s President
               ment and security projects in many countries, including Korea, India, Nepal,    Abdel Fattah el-Sisi today; to spread
               Pakistan, Bangladesh and Congo/Kinshasa; was U.S. representative to OECD’s      influence and help counter the influ-
               Development Assistance Committee; and was USAID’s contact with U.S.             ence of adversaries, as in Eastern Europe
International Development Finance Corporation and Treasury. He also briefly headed the         and the South China Sea right now; and
U.S. Trade and Development Agency. Later, he was a senior executive with the global Korean     to uphold integral parts of treaties—for
manufacturing group Hyun Dai/Halla. He lectures, writes and teaches at Dartmouth’s lifelong    example, assistance to Israel and Egypt
learning program. He and his wife live in Hanover, New Hampshire, and McLean, Virginia.        under the Camp David Accords.

12                                                                                                       APRIL 2020 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL
Multiple Objectives                         More Efficient
    Further, U.S. assistance is supposed    Organization
to support major foreign policy initia-         These skills and budgets need not
tives and complement military opera-        be centered in USAID, but they must be
tions, as in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghani-     housed somewhere. Given political reali-
                                                                                                      AFSPA
                                                                                                     afspa.org
stan; assist in acquiring the use of        ties, it is likely that things will remain as
foreign military bases; and support         they are for the time being.
                                                                                              ASU Thunderbird School
U.S. exports and investments in                 That said, there are better ways to            of Global Management
developing countries and create future      organize these necessary capabilities that      thunderbird.asu.edu/emagam
profitable markets. (Note that DFC and      would result in greater efficiency and
TDA were created within USAID; when         substantial administrative savings. One is          Chambers Theory
proved successful, they were spun off       to merge MCC into USAID. USAID would               chamberstheory.com
under pressure from U.S. business           be the major partner in such a merger,
interests.)                                 but the MCC name would better describe             Clements Worldwide
    Of rapidly growing importance           the wide range of responsibilities and               clements.com/fsj
today, assistance is also used to address   activities. Or create another name.
major issues that transcend boundaries,         Our country then would have two
                                                                                             Episcopal Church Schools
                                                                                                     of Virginia
such as global warming and the great        main foreign economic assistance oper-
                                                                                               episcopalschoolsva.org
number of problems that stem from it,       ating entities—the merged USAID/MCC,
as well as diseases, possible pandemics,    dealing with most of the matters outlined           Federal Employee
population pressures and mass migra-        above; and the DFC (merging the smaller            Protection Systems
tions.                                      TDA into it), promoting finance and                fedsprotection.com
    USAID collaborates with other parts     private investment in, and trade with,
of the U.S. government and bilateral        developing countries. Some donor coun-               Jake Realty Group
and multilateral donors in most of          tries do, in fact, divide their assistance          jackrealtygroup.com
these undertakings, and it contracts        organizations in this way.
with numerous companies, universities           Yet another approach would be to             Property Specialists, Inc.
and nongovernmental organizations.          merge USAID into State as a separate             propertyspecialistsinc.com
It also represents the United States on     bureau and specialty; now the two are
                                                                                                 Richey Property
the Development Assistance Commit-          partly joined and partly separate. At the
                                                                                                  Management
tee of the Organization for Economic        same time, State could seek control of or
                                                                                                  richeypm.com
Cooperation and Development in Paris        greater influence over the other assis-
and often to United Nations agencies in     tance spigots. I have discussed these               WJD Management
Rome and elsewhere.                         options in previous FSJ articles (see                 wjdpm.com
    Are many of these wide-ranging          Speaking Out in December 2010 and
activities likely to disappear or decline   November 2009).
in importance in the near future?
Of course not. Can the United States        The Future
as a country cease to address them?             We live in complex and turbulent
No. Thus, it follows that we must con-      times. World problems will continue to
tinue to have mechanisms, skilled per-      accumulate as the decades pass. Most
sonnel and budgets to deal with them,       of them can be addressed only with
even if—and this is most unlikely—          substantial and wise use of soft power.
most or all of the world’s countries        That is the argument for a continued and
reach satisfactory levels of economic       expanded organization like USAID, suit-
and social development.                     ably transformed for the long term. n

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | APRIL 2020                                                                                  13
TALKING POINTS
GAO Report: State                                                                                                  thing is wrong when most of those occu-
Department Struggles                                                                                               pying our most powerful positions are
with Diversity                                                                                                     overwhelmingly male and overwhelm-

W       hile the overall proportion of
        racial and ethnic minorities
at the State Department has grown in           AFSA/KIM GREENPLATE
                                                                                                                   ingly pale,” stated Menendez.
                                                                                                                      View the report at bit.ly/gao-diversity.

recent years, the proportion of African                                                                            Trump Envoys Push Out
Americans and women serving in the                                                                                 Career Diplomats
department has declined, according to a
Feb. 25 report from the U.S. Government
Accountability Office.
                                                                     Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), at
                                                                     podium, hosts a briefing on the GAO
                                                                                                                   O      n Feb. 5, Foreign Policy maga-
                                                                                                                          zine featured an exclusive report
                                                                                                                   about an issue AFSA has been watch-
                                                                     report on Feb. 25. On the panel are, from
    From 2002 to 2018, the proportion                                                                              ing closely—the pushing out of career
                                                                     right, AFSA Director of Professional
of racial or ethnic minorities among                                 Policy Issues Julie Nutter, Ambassador        diplomats by some political-appointee
the department’s full-time, permanent                                (ret.) Mari Carmen Aponte, GAO’s Direc-       ambassadors.
                                                                     tor of International Affairs Jason Blair,
career employees increased from 28 to                                                                                  President Donald Trump’s envoys
                                                                     and Ambassador (ret.) Gina Abercrom-
32 percent. On the Civil Service side,                               bie-Winstanley.                               have removed their deputy chiefs of
the proportion of minorities decreased                                                                             mission (DCMs) in South Africa, Canada,
slightly from 44 to 43 percent, while in the                                                                       France, Iceland, Romania and the United
Foreign Service, the number increased                                diversity and representation throughout       Kingdom, Foreign Policy reports. Some of
from 17 to 24 percent.                                               the ranks of its workforce,” GAO stated,      the ambassadors did so shortly before or
    Though the overall number of                                     adding, “However, longstanding diversity      just after they arrived at post.
department employees rose from 16,570                                issues persist at the agency.”                    “We are deeply concerned by the
to 22,806 during that time frame, the                                    “State may have an incomplete picture     number of removals of deputy chiefs of
proportion of African Americans fell                                 of issues affecting diversity in its work-    mission overseas, which are happening
from 17 to 15 percent of all employees,                              force,” GAO noted. “Taking additional         at way above the normal pace,” AFSA
GAO found. The proportion of African                                 steps to identify diversity issues could      President Eric Rubin told Foreign Policy.
Americans in the Civil Service decreased                             help State properly direct its resources to   “It’s generally very rare for a DCM to
from 34 to 26 percent from 2002 to 2018,                             investigate, identify, and remove barriers    be removed by the ambassador. It does
while it increased from 6 to 7 percent in                            to a diverse workforce.”                      happen. Sometimes it happens for a good
the Foreign Service over that time.                                      On Feb. 25 AFSA Director of Profes-       cause. But it’s rare. And it is now becom-
    The proportion of women in the Civil                             sional Policy Issues Julie Nutter partici-    ing an epidemic.”
Service decreased from 61 to 54 percent                              pated in a congressional briefing on the          FP reports that in past administra-
from 2002 to 2018, while the propor-                                 report, hosted by Sen. Bob Menendez           tions, career officials, including DCMs,
tion of women in the Foreign Service                                 (D-N.J.) and Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.).         “felt they had the support of the State
increased from 33 to 35 percent.                                         “The results of this important report     Department if their ambassadors were
    The proportion of minorities and                                 unfortunately show that despite some          causing issues.”
women was much smaller at higher                                     laudable efforts, the Department of State         Lewis Lukens, who was ousted as
ranks, GAO found. For example, women                                 has yet to cultivate the kind of diverse      DCM from U.S. Embassy London in 2018,
make up 69 percent of jobs at GS-10 or                               and representative national security          told FP: “When I was being told I had to
below, but only 38 percent of executive-                             workforce we need,” Sen. Menendez,            leave seven months early, the answer
level jobs in the Civil Service. Minorities                          ranking member of the Senate Foreign          from the department was, ‘Look, the
make up 65 percent of jobs at GS-10                                  Relations Committee, said in a Feb. 25        ambassador is a friend of the president’s,
or below, but only 13 percent of executive                           statement.                                    he’s a friend of Trump’s, and there’s noth-
jobs.                                                                    “Whether we are talking about the         ing we can do.’ I imagine that some of
    “State has implemented several plans,                            boardrooms of the Fortune 500 or the          these other people are facing that same
activities, and initiatives to improve                               upper echelons of government, some-           situation.”

14                                                                                                                          APRIL 2020 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL
Site of the Month:                                                                                 outstanding American or foreigner who
Mapping the Coronavirus                                                                            has shown distinction in the conduct of
(bit.ly/cor-virus-map)                                                                             diplomacy.
                                                                                                       “We need to build a constituency

  I   f you’re interested in
      tracking the COVID-
   19 coronavirus, Johns
                                                                                                   among Americans,” Amb. Yovanovitch
                                                                                                   said in accepting the award. “Over the
                                                                                                   last few months, I have received hun-
   Hopkins University’s                                                                            dreds of letters, from all over the United
   Center for Systems                                                                              States, from individuals thanking me for
   Science and Engineer-       AS OF MARCH 13, 2020                                                explaining what diplomats do. Clearly,
   ing has put together a                                                                          we need to do a far better job at commu-
   dashboard showing real-time data                   data sources, including the World            nicating our story.”
   on the number of patients diagnosed                Health Organization and the Centers              Ambassador (ret.) William Burns
   with the virus, the number of deaths               for Disease Control and Prevention.          joined Yovanovitch on the stage for a
   and the number of people who have                     The dashboard was first shared            question-and-answer session following
   recovered by country.                              publicly on Jan. 22. “It was developed       her remarks. You can view the event at
       The dashboard also features                    to provide researchers, public health        bit.ly/trainor-award.
   a map that lets you track where                    authorities and the general public
   coronavirus cases have been found.                 with a user-friendly tool to track the       United States, Taliban
   At press time, there were 136,929                  outbreak as it unfolds,” according to        Reach Peace Deal
   confirmed cases of coronavirus
   worldwide, and 5,065 deaths, accord-
   ing to the portal. CSSE uses several
                                                      Lauren Gardner, an associate profes-
                                                      sor in JHU’s department of civil and
                                                      systems engineering.
                                                                                                   T     he United States signed a peace deal
                                                                                                         with the Taliban on Feb. 29 in Doha,
                                                                                                   marking the potential end of America’s
                                                                                                   longest war. But media reports suggested
                                                                                                   that key elements of the agreement were
                                                                                                   starting to buckle just days later.
White House to Purge                                  tration has “assembled detailed lists            The agreement includes a 14-month
“Disloyal” Feds?                                      of disloyal government officials to oust.”   timetable for the final withdrawal of U.S.

T     he White House confirmed that it is
      seeking out disloyal employees in
federal agencies, Government Executive
                                                          According to a Feb. 21 Washington
                                                      Post article: “The National Security Coun-
                                                      cil, the State Department and the Justice
                                                                                                   troops from Afghanistan, according to a
                                                                                                   Feb. 29 New York Times report.
                                                                                                       In exchange for the withdrawal of U.S.
reported on Feb. 25.                                  Department are targets of particular         troops, the Taliban promises to cut ties
    “It’s not a secret that we want people            focus, according to two administration       with al-Qaida, the terrorist group respon-
in positions that work with this presi-               officials, and there have recently been      sible for the 9/11 attacks, and prevent the
dent, not against him, and too often we               multiple resignations and reassignments      use of Afghan soil to threaten the United
have people in this government—I mean                 at each of those agencies.”                  States and its allies.
the federal government is massive, with                                                                Hours after the agreement was
millions of people—and there are a lot                Yovanovitch Wins                             reached, the insurgent Taliban and
of people out there taking action against             Trainor Award                                Afghan security forces had resumed
this president and when we find them
we will take appropriate action,” White
House spokesperson Hogan Gidley told
                                                      A     mbassador Marie Yovanovitch, who
                                                            retired from the Foreign Service not
                                                      long after testifying in the impeachment
                                                                                                   fighting, Politico reported on March 2,
                                                                                                   “marking an end to the reduction in
                                                                                                   violence that paved the way for the
Fox News on Feb. 24.                                  hearings, received the Trainor Award on      agreement.”
    This follows a Feb. 23 report on the              Feb. 12 from Georgetown University’s             Also on March 2, the Taliban refused
online news website Axios that over                   Institute for the Study of Diplomacy.        to take part in talks with the Afghan
the past 18 months the Trump adminis-                    The award is presented annually to an     government, Politico reported, until the

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | APRIL 2020                                                                                                   15
government releases 5,000 Taliban pris-             “The request has been made by the          build out a peaceful resolution to their
oners. Under the terms of the peace deal,       United States for the release of prisoners,    now, what for them, is a 40-year struggle.”
the government-held prisoners were to           and it can be part of the negotiations, but        The New York Times added that the
be released in exchange for up to 1,000         it cannot be a precondition,” he added.        war has cost $2 trillion and taken the
Afghan captives held by the Taliban by              “No one is under any illusion that         lives of more than 3,500 American and
March 10. On that date, according to the        this will be straightforward,” Secretary of    coalition troops and tens of thousands of
agreement, the Taliban was to start intra-      State Mike Pompeo told CBS News’ “Face         Afghans. About 12,000 troops were still in
Afghan negotiations.                            the Nation” on March 1. “We have built         Afghanistan at the time of the peace deal.
   On March 1, Afghan President Ashraf          an important base where we can begin
Ghani—whose government was not                  to bring American soldiers home, reduce        The Costs of
involved in the negotiations or the U.S.–Tal-   the risk of the loss of life of any American   Reconstruction
iban deal—told reporters that “there is no      in Afghanistan, and hopefully set the          in Afghanistan
commitment to releasing 5,000 prisoners.”       conditions so the Afghan people can
                                                                                               O     n Feb. 5 the Special Inspector Gen-
                                                                                                     eral for Afghanistan Reconstruction
                                                                                               reported that there were 5,135 casualties
50 Years Ago
                                                                                               in Afghanistan associated with recon-
                                                                                               struction or stabilization between April
  The Quiet Battles                                                                            2002 and December 2018.
                                                                                                   That number, according to SIGAR,

     R     ecently, in a course on American
           society, I tried to convey to my
     students some impression of what
                                                losing purpose, to retain purpose
                                                while implementing other people’s
                                                ideas. It may thus mean being able
                                                                                               includes at least 284 Americans (216 U.S.
                                                                                               service members and 68 U.S. civilians)
                                                                                               who were killed in Afghanistan. SIGAR
     it was like being a bureaucrat, in my      to hold two ideas in his head at               found that an additional 245 U.S. service
     case, a Foreign Service officer. …         once, the official one, the one he             members and 76 U.S. civilians were
         At twenty-two, when I entered          may disagree with but implements,              wounded.
     the Foreign Service, one of the first      and his own, the one he hopes to                   The report, “The Human Cost of
     things I learned was that the Organi-      introduce, quietly and effectively,            Reconstruction in Afghanistan,” is
     zation was not simply an extension         perhaps years hence at the proper              believed to be the first official accounting
     of my personal development. It had         time. …                                        by an independent agency of the human
     work to be done, and this perforce            A bureaucratic career does pose             costs of reconstruction in that war zone.
     took priority over the work’s interest     moral dangers. It can be thought of                SIGAR found that 2,214 people
     or usefulness to me. …                     as a series of battles, some of which          were killed and 2,921 wounded dur-
         By the time an officer has the         will be lost. They are quiet battles           ing the time period. It also identified
     opportunity to exercise a satisfying       and often lack the glamour of sit-             1,182 people who were kidnapped or
     amount of initiative                                     ins and picket lines,            went missing. The majority of casualties
     will he still be able to?                                but they are no less,            occurred between 2008 and 2011, the
     How much will the                                        and perhaps are more             height of reconstruction efforts according
     “system” get to him…?                                    decisive for the future of       to SIGAR.
     This, I believe, depends                                 society.                             “While considerable effort is made
     on him, on his quiet                                         —Craig R. Eisendrath,        to track the amount of U.S. dollars
     day-to-day battles with                                   a former Foreign Service        spent, this review shows that we do not
     himself, on his ability                                     officer, excerpted from       adequately capture the human cost of
     to live fully into his                                       his article of the same      conducting reconstruction and stabiliza-
     experiences, to retain                                     title in The Foreign Ser-      tion projects while combat operations
     effectiveness without                                      vice Journal, April 1970.      are still ongoing, especially third country
                                                                                               nationals and Afghans,” the report states.

16                                                                                                      APRIL 2020 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL
Freedom House Finds
Global Democracy                                Contemporary Quote
on Wane

D     emocracy is under assault around
      the world, according to Freedom
House’s “Freedom in the World 2020”
                                                       I’m confident we can handle it here. I’m confident we’ll
                                                       handle it better than any nation in the world.

                                                             —Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in response to a question about whether the
report, released on March 4.                                United States could have as successful a response as China without imposing on
   “This year’s report is deeply concern-                                   people’s civil liberties, during an interview with CNBC, March 6.
ing, in that it finds that we are in the 14th
year of a global recession in democracy,”
says Freedom House president Michael
Abramowitz. “Almost twice as many               States’ democracy ranking has fallen            decade ago, its ranking was on par with
countries declined in their scores this         several points, to 52nd on the list of 195      the United Kingdom and Switzerland.
year as improved, and those declines            nations and 15 territories, according               Twenty-five of 41 established democ-
aren’t just happening in places that you        to the report. With a democracy score           racies in the world have seen net losses
expect, like China or Russia, but also in       of just 86 out of 100, the United States        in democracy since 2006, according
established democracies.”                       falls behind Slovakia and Mauritius but         to the report. “The most common areas
   Over the past few years, the United          just ahead of Argentina and Croatia. A          of decline,” writes the report’s author,

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | APRIL 2020                                                                                                  17
Sarah Repucci, “took place in functioning    tool that our forces need to have available    any confidence that they would respect
of government, freedom of expression         to them in order to ensure mission suc-        international law,” Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, a
and belief, and rule of law.”                cess and in order to reduce risk to forces,”   former commander of U.S. Army Europe,
    View the document at bit.ly/freedom-     Secretary of Defense Mark Esper told           told NPR. “So this is about being able
report.                                      journalists on Jan. 31.                        to protect allies and protect our own
                                                 According to the Defense Department        troops.”
U.S. to Allow Greater Use                    policy, the U.S. will continue to prohibit         But many are opposed to the use of
of Land Mines?                               the use of any “persistent” land mines         what they see as inherently indiscrimi-

I  n January the Trump administration
   rescinded the presidential policy on
anti-personnel land mines adopted by
                                             (without a self-destruct/self-deactivation
                                             function) per its commitment to the
                                             Convention on Certain Conventional
                                                                                            nate weapons. The current policy, said
                                                                                            Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) in a Jan. 30
                                                                                            statement, “is the culmination of nearly
the Obama administration in favor of a       Weapons.                                       30 years of incremental steps, taken by
new policy to be overseen by the Defense         The United States did not join the         both Democratic and Republican admin-
Department that will allow land mines to     more than 160 countries that signed on         istrations after extensive analysis and
be used in conflicts around the world.       to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty. Russia and        consultation, toward the growing global
    The previous policy restricted the use   China have not signed the treaty either.       consensus that anti-personnel mines
of land mines to the Korean Peninsula.           “I’ve seen nothing in my study of          should be universally banned.”
    “I think land mines are an important     Russian or Chinese history that gives me           “The Congress,” Sen. Leahy added,
                                                                                            “must be consulted before any decision
                                                                                            that would reverse the gains we have
                                                                                            made toward ending the carnage caused
                                                                                            by land mines.”

                                                                                            Senators Urge Field-
                                                                                            Forward Policy

                                                                                            I  n early February, Sen. Chris Van Hol-
                                                                                               len (D-Md.) and Sen. Dan Sullivan
                                                                                            (R-Alaska), co-chairs of the Senate For-
                                                                                            eign Service Caucus, sent a letter to Sec-
                                                                                            retary of State Mike Pompeo urging him
                                                                                            to increase the deployment of members
                                                                                            of the U.S. Foreign Service overseas.
                                                                                                “From global health crises to emerg-
                                                                                            ing technologies to great power competi-
                                                                                            tion, the United States faces a diverse
                                                                                            and growing array of threats that demand
                                                                                            greater diplomatic engagement around
                                                                                            the world,” they wrote. “In addition to our
                                                                                            military and economic tools, diplomacy
                                                                                            is essential for advancing U.S. national
                                                                                            security interests.”
                                                                                                “Posting more State Foreign Ser-
                                                                                            vice abroad,” the senators continued,
                                                                                            “coupled with an increase in the Foreign
                                                                                            Commercial Service and Foreign Agri-
                                                                                            cultural Service, will help underpin U.S.

18                                                                                                   APRIL 2020 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL
Proud to Help Foreign Service
    Families
                                                     Heard on the Hill              needs of those we aim to help. I salute your
                                                                                    dedicated cadre of development profession-
    Foreign Service officers play a crucial                                         als that too often are working in or near very
    role in furthering our national security                                        dangerous circumstances. …
    interests and promoting our values abroad,                                         Turning to the matter at hand, the presi-
    and their patriotic family members endure                                       dent’s budget request for Fiscal Year 2021 is
    frequent moves to support that service.                                         nearly a 20 percent cut from the Fiscal Year
    I’m proud to co-sponsor this bill to help                                       2020 enacted budget. I look forward to work-
    remove the hurdles that make it difficult                                       ing with the chairwoman in the weeks ahead
    for Foreign Service families to access job                                      on a bill that provides more appropriate levels
    opportunities.                                                                  of funding to address the serious global chal-
                                                      JOSH

        —Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), in a Feb. 7 press                                  lenges that we are confronted with this year.
      release on the Foreign Service Families Act.                                             —Representative Hal Rogers (R-Ky.),
                                                                             ranking member of the State, Foreign Operations and
    Supporting Commercial Policy                                           Related Programs Appropriations Subcommittee, at the
    We’re also putting commercial diplomacy at the fore-                    hearing on the USAID budget request for FY 2021 with
    front of our foreign policy to help confront China around                                  USAID Director Mark Green, March 3.
    the world through bills like my Championing American
    Business Through Diplomacy Act. The original mission of           Telling the Truth
    the Foreign Service was to advance American interests,            There are some 24,000 Civil and Foreign Service officers,
    American business interests. It’s in their charter, and yet       Mr. Secretary, who are also listening to you right now. They
    many diplomats seem to forget that that is a fundamental          know that they have a duty to implement this president’s
    mission of the State Department, to advance our business          policies and they do. You called them just a moment ago
    interests abroad.                                                 “amazing people.” You know they’re not working against
            —Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), from remarks at a         this president. But they also feel they have a responsibility
      Feb. 4 American Enterprise Institute event in Washington,       to share with you and their president their best judgment
         D.C., “How to Counter China’s Global Malign Influence.”      to tell you the truth as they see it, whether it’s what the
                                                                      leadership wants to hear or not. … Are you going to back
    Funding USAID                                                     them up when they speak what they believe to be the
    Let me start by once again acknowledging the good work            truth? Are you going to stand by while people in the White
    that you are doing at USAID and the collaborative manner          House talk about purging your employees?
    in which you do it. These are not easy times to be engaged          —Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.), questioning Secretary of
    in international development: the challenging operating                          State Mike Pompeo at a House Foreign Affairs
    environments from insecurity continue to mount as do the                                           Committee hearing, Feb. 28.

global leadership and economic compet-         abroad. According to the index, China         to meet with the Secretary in the near
itiveness, strengthen linkages between         now has the largest diplomatic network        future to discuss this important issue.
the U.S. and other countries, and contain      in the world.                                    AFSA has long promoted a field-for-
Chinese influence abroad.”                         The senators request specific data        ward Foreign Service to restore America’s
    In their letter, the lawmakers cite the    from State and pose several questions         core diplomatic capability. n
Lowy lnstitute’s “2019 Global Diplomacy        about the pattern of diplomatic postings
Index” to underscore the urgency of            in recent years and going forward, stating        This edition of Talking Points was com-
increasing the U.S. diplomatic presences       that they would welcome the opportunity       piled by Cameron Woodworth.

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | APRIL 2020                                                                                              19
SPEAKING OUT

Breaking Away from “Born, Not Made”
B Y A N D R E A S U S A N A M A R T I N E Z D O N N A L LY A N D C H R I S T I N A T. L E

T
            he Department of State’s Dip-         Without a more significant investment in
            lomatic Readiness Initiative
            hiring surge from 2001 to 2004
                                                  education, we are abdicating our responsibility
            included active recruitment for       to prepare the next wave of diplomats.
specialized languages and experiences.
The expanded hiring should have been
matched with relevant changes to our              that diplomats are “born, not made”—             ernize the personnel systems on which we
organizational culture and accompanying           remains pervasive.                               rely to ensure they reward talent and merit
systems like promotions, education, eval-              This organizational culture is pre-         (not simply years of service).
uations and assignments. Unfortunately,           venting the State Department from
it was not. It is often said by department        realizing the full potential of the wide         Training: Ready, Set,
leaders that great diplomats “rise to the         spectrum of people that make up our              Diplomat
top” and “hard work is rewarded,” but             department, including not only the                   We describe ourselves as learned,
it isn’t clear how a person’s efforts will        ethnic, racial and religious diversity of        and the Foreign Service Act of 1980
deliver promotions and opportunities. In          our colleagues, but also nontraditional          explicitly directs the executive branch
fact, what allows some to rise over others?       structures such as international or              to develop a corps of well-prepared
     Director General Carol Perez’s recent        interagency marriages, single parents,           officers, “representative of the Ameri-
personnel reform efforts have sounded             divorced tandem spouses and second-              can people” and “informed of current
the alarm, highlighting the need for              career professionals, among others.              concerns and trends in American life,
a new organizational culture. But her                  The situation, perpetuated now by           knowledgeable of the affairs, cultures
endeavors alone will not right the ship           mostly outdated systems, is unlikely to          and languages of other countries.” If the
of State so long as our community con-            change unless we are aware of our out-           department’s role is to conduct foreign
tinues to act on our antiquated thinking,         dated views of the traditional workplace         policy, it would stand to reason that
and our personnel systems do not fully            and break with this arcane thinking. It is       continuous education is important.
capture or keep pace with the diversity           incumbent upon each of us to recognize               Yet although we pride ourselves on
of our people. The rigid institutional            that diplomats should be made with expe-         being smart, we do not hold education in
identity underlying these systems—                rience, mentorship and training, and that        high esteem. Many among us have fondly
which can be summed up as a belief                it is essential that the department mod-         referred to learning the art of diplomacy
                                                                                                   as “on-the-job training.” A more accurate
              Andrea Susana Martinez Donnally joined the State Department Foreign Service          descriptor is “learn as you go.” Newly
              in 2004 after six years as an international trade specialist with the Foreign Com-   arrived staff at a post, including first-tour
              mercial Service. She has served in Colombia, Iraq, Tunisia, India and Cyprus,        officers, are lucky if they receive notes
              in addition to assignments in Washington, D.C. After joining the department,         handed over by their predecessors. The
              she married and now has three young children, a dog and a working partner.           majority of training (not education) a
                 Christina T. Le joined the Foreign Service in 2009 and has served in Mexico,      generalist receives throughout their career
              Greece and Japan, as well as in Washington, D.C. She was president of the            is in foreign languages or technical skills
              Asian American Foreign Affairs Association from 2015 to 2018. She was a              (e.g., budgeting and contracting).
              co-recipient of the 2017 William R. Rivkin Award for Constructive Dissent                Mandatory leadership training for mid-
              and a National Security Fellow at the Center for a New American Security.            level specialists and generalists is given for

20                                                                                                           APRIL 2020 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL
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