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NATO AT 70 THE TRAGEDY OF VENEZUELA STRAIGHT TALK - ON BIDDING - American Foreign Service ...
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 2019

          NATO AT 70
                                               THE TRAGEDY
                                              OF VENEZUELA
                                              STRAIGHT TALK
                                               ON BIDDING
NATO AT 70 THE TRAGEDY OF VENEZUELA STRAIGHT TALK - ON BIDDING - American Foreign Service ...
NATO AT 70 THE TRAGEDY OF VENEZUELA STRAIGHT TALK - ON BIDDING - American Foreign Service ...
NATO AT 70 THE TRAGEDY OF VENEZUELA STRAIGHT TALK - ON BIDDING - American Foreign Service ...
NATO AT 70 THE TRAGEDY OF VENEZUELA STRAIGHT TALK - ON BIDDING - American Foreign Service ...
FOREIGN
                                       SERVICE                                                    April 2019 Volume 96, No. 3

                          Focus on NATO at 70                                          Message from the Hill
                                                                                                          12
                                                                                          BUILDing Better
                                                                                       Development Financing
                                                                                        B y R e p r e s e n t a t i v e Te d Yo h o
NATO

                         23                                     30
            Reinforcing NATO                       Working with NATO to
              for the Future                       Address Hybrid Threats
           At 70, the Atlantic alliance is a      Globalization—the worldwide system
           unique triumph of inter-state           of instant communication, finance
          cooperation. What should be its         and commerce—has given a dramatic
             “to-do” list for the future?          boost to the phenomenon of hybrid
              By George Robertson                    threats, one of today’s central
                                                           security challenges.
                                                    By Chris Kremidas Courtney

                                                                35
                                                    From the FSJ Archive:
                                                    Perspectives on NATO
                                                                                                   Feature
                                                                                                          38
                                                                                                The Tragedy
                         26                                                                     of Venezuela
           Global Shifts and                                                             Misguided tropical socialism
                                                                                       destroyed one of Latin America’s
         American Political Will                                                          most promising countries.
           as NATO Turns 70                                                                      Here’s how.
       In a difficult moment, NATO’s historical
                                                                                               By Oliver Griffith
            success, together with current
        operational advances, will once again
                see the alliance through.
                  By Steven Keil

   THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | APRIL 2019                                                                                           5
NATO AT 70 THE TRAGEDY OF VENEZUELA STRAIGHT TALK - ON BIDDING - American Foreign Service ...
FOREIGN
                                                SERVICE

         Perspectives                                             60
                                                          Reflections
                                                                                                Departments
                     7                            The Achille Lauro Affair, 1985
                                                                                                10     Letters
         President’s Views                                  B y To m L o n g o
     Time to Refund the Iraq Tax                                                                14     Talking Points
       By Barbara Stephenson
                                                                  62
                                                             Local Lens                         53     Books
                     9                                      Guilin, China
       Letter from the Editor                              By Andrea Nagy
     NATO: An Enduring Alliance
          By Shawn Dorman
                                                                                                Marketplace
                   20                                                                           55     Classifieds
             Speaking Out
       Straight Talk on Bidding:                                                                57     Real Estate
    What You Need to Know Before                                                                59     Index to Advertisers
    Trying for That Heavily Bid Job
           B y P a u l Po l e t e s

     AFSA NEWS                           THE OFFICIAL RECORD OF THE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE ASSOCIATION

     45 AFSA Seeks Award
         Nominations for 2019
                                      50 Retiree Corner:
                                          Change Your Health
                                                                             45
     46 State VP Voice:                  Plan?
         Foreign Service              50 Webinar: Planning
         Furlough Stories                 for Retirement
     47 FAS VP Voice:                51 AFSA Welcomes
         Government                       Newest FSOs
         Shutdowns Shut Out           52 FS Day: Letters to
         U.S. Farmers                     the Editor Are Back
     48 AFSA on the Hill:            52 AFSA Greets Newest
         Advocacy in a Divided            FS Specialists
         Congress
     49 AFSA Retirees:
         From International            52
         Careers to Local
         Engagement

On the Cover—NATO Ministers of Defense and Foreign Affairs meet at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on Oct. 14, 2010, to
prepare for the 2010 NATO summit in Lisbon, Portugal. Credit: U.S. Department of Defense. Inset: President Harry S Truman signs the
Washington Treaty establishing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on April 4, 1949, in Washington, D.C. Credit: Abbie Rowe/National
Archives and Records Administration. Composition by Driven By Design LLC.

6                                                                                                      APRIL 2019 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL
NATO AT 70 THE TRAGEDY OF VENEZUELA STRAIGHT TALK - ON BIDDING - American Foreign Service ...
PRESIDENT’S VIEWS

Time to Refund the Iraq Tax
BY BA R BA R A ST E P H E N S O N

A
            s news circulates about a               The evidence is clear: we have too few
            significant reduction in Foreign
                                                    Foreign Service positions in the field.
            Service positions in Iraq, and
            the State Department’s new
Five-Year Workforce and Leadership Suc-             percent budget cuts and 8 percent staffing            This is what great power competition
cession Plan reports on pages 4 and 49              cuts. Members will recall that Congress          looks like. This is why nearly 100 Ameri-
“abolishing a large number of positions             rejected these cuts as tantamount to a           can business associations wrote to Secre-
in warzone areas,” members have begun               “doctrine of retreat” and fully restored         tary Pompeo in October asking for more
to ask me if it is finally refund time for the      funding for FY 2018.                             FSOs at embassies and consulates. “We
“Iraq tax” levied more than a decade ago.              The evidence is clear: we have too few        urge you to send more diplomats over-
    Members of the Foreign Service vividly          Foreign Service positions in the field.          seas,” they wrote. “Foreign competitors
recall being asked during the height of the            Why does it matter that American              are continually extending their economic
“civilian surge” in Iraq to identify posi-          embassies are operating with depleted            reach into markets where America’s dip-
tions our embassies could sacrifice for             Foreign Service teams, with too few play-        lomatic presence is limited.”
the cause of ensuring that every position           ers to cover all the bases? This has long             Congress also takes seriously the
in Iraq was filled with a Foreign Service           been a suboptimal situation that has led         threat of rising competition. That is at
volunteer. Now, well over a decade later,           to missed opportunities and too little           least part of the reason why Congress
we still find ourselves struggling in short-        mentoring. But in the face of competition        voted by such wide margins to reject pro-
staffed political and economic sections at          from rapidly rising powers such as China,        posed cuts and again restore funding for
embassies around the world.                         the cost of leaving American embassies           the FY 2019 International Affairs Budget.
    The most recent report of State HR’s            short-staffed has rapidly risen to danger-            The appropriations bill passed on Feb.
Overseas Staffing Board validates the               ous levels, jeopardizing America’s global        14 increases funding for “Diplomatic
concern members express about being                 leadership.                                      Programs,” including $84 million for the
short-staffed. The model showed a deficit              Members, especially those serving in          “overseas programs” line item, which
of almost 200 overseas positions in “core           Africa, report that they are outnumbered         covers overseas support costs for mov-
diplomacy” (the term the Overseas Staff-            four or five to one by Chinese diplomats         ing FSO positions from Washington to
ing Model uses for political, economic              working on economic and commercial               the field. Congressional language firmly
and front office positions). Deficits in            issues. Lest we be tempted to discount           prohibits reducing staffing.
other categories were also flagged by the           the impact of being so outmatched,                    How do we begin to reclaim lost
OSB report.                                         consider what retired Ambassador Stuart          ground and reassert American global
    These deficits would be even higher if          Jones recently shared during an AFSA             leadership? For starters, it is time to
                            accurate plan-          panel on “Economic Diplomacy Works”:             refund the Iraq tax, especially given the
                            ning assumptions        According to Engineering Digest’s annual         announced reduction of positions in Iraq.
                            had been used           global survey of the top engineering and         It is time to make a serious effort to restore
                            instead of those        construction firms, in 2008, there were no       positions overseas—in advance of the next
                            derived from the        Chinese firms in the top 10. By 2018, Chi-       bidding season—and give embassies and
                            administration’s        nese firms occupied eight of those slots.        consulates the full teams needed to pro-
                            2017 budget pro-        Bechtel, which had always been in the top        tect and defend American interests. n
                            posal, namely, 32       10, had slipped to number 12.

                            Ambassador Barbara Stephenson is the president of the American Foreign Service Association.

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | APRIL 2019                                                                                                         7
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FOREIGN

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             SERVICE

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8                                                                                                                           APRIL 2019 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL
NATO AT 70 THE TRAGEDY OF VENEZUELA STRAIGHT TALK - ON BIDDING - American Foreign Service ...
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

NATO: An Enduring Alliance
B Y S H AW N D O R M A N

O
               n April 4, 1949, in the wake of     from FSJ articles about NATO from 1949 to
               World War II, the leaders of 12     the present.
               European and North American             This month’s feature is timely. In “The
               countries met in Washington,        Tragedy of Venezuela” retired FSO Oliver
D.C., to establish and sign the North Atlan-       Griffith presents a cautionary tale of how a
tic Treaty. This new military alliance guar-       nation that was once one of Latin Amer-
anteed that any member country would               ica’s most prosperous and promising has
protect any other in the event of aggression       devolved into dysfunction and crisis.
from an outside country.                               And the Speaking Out is a blunt but
     In 1955, the Soviet Union and affiliated      useful take on bidding. If you’ve ever won-
communist countries in Eastern Europe              dered how the “deciders” determine who
created the Warsaw Pact in response.               gets those plum posts overseas, look no
     Today NATO has 29 member countries,           further. In “Straight Talk on Bidding,” FSO
including 10 former Warsaw Pact mem-               Paul Poletes lifts the curtain on the process
bers and three from the former Yugoslavia.         and gives you insider advice on whether
     On its 70th anniversary, experts are          and when to bid on that popular post.
asking: How has the alliance changed, and              In her President’s Views column,
what might its future hold? Is NATO in             Ambassador Barbara Stephenson suggests
crisis? Are NATO’s days numbered?                  that it’s time to get a refund on the Iraq tax.
     As more than one of this month’s              Rather than abolish the positions that were
authors point out, the survival of NATO has        created to staff up Iraq and Afghanistan
regularly been pondered. Yet it remains in         during the height of the wars, those posi-
force and relevant.                                tions should be moved back to the posts
     In this issue of the Journal, we take a       that lost them—and still need them.
look at the evolution of the alliance. Lord            Thank you to those of you who joined
Robertson, secretary general of NATO from          us for the FSJ centennial exhibit at the U.S.
1999 to 2003 and British defense secretary         Diplomacy Center last month. The exhibit
from 1997 to 1999, offers an alliance to-do        will be on display through Foreign Service
list in “Reinforcing NATO for the Future.”         Day on May 3, so do stop by. Hopefully it
     Steven Keil from the German Marshall          will inspire you to dig deeper into the his-
Fund writes about “Global Shifts and               tory of diplomacy and the Foreign Service.
American Political Will as NATO Turns                  Please visit the FSJ digital archive at
70.” And NATO expert Chris Kremidas                www.afsa.org/fsj-archive. And consider
                        Courtney looks at new      submitting your own Foreign Service story.
                        alliance initiatives in    Author guidelines are at http://www.
                        “Working with NATO         afsa.org/fsj-author-guidelines. Drop me
                        to Address Hybrid          a line to pitch an article, share something
                        Threats.” We also share    interesting you find in the archive or let us
                        a selection of excerpts    know what you think of this issue. n

                       Shawn Dorman is the editor of The Foreign Service Journal.

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | APRIL 2019                                                             9
NATO AT 70 THE TRAGEDY OF VENEZUELA STRAIGHT TALK - ON BIDDING - American Foreign Service ...
LETTERS

On Economic/Commercial                        1980. Among our findings was that the           and Adams families have produced
Diplomacy                                     commercial officers at State were largely       father-and-son ambassadors. Not so!
    I’d like to make two comments regard-     ineffective at selling U.S. goods and ser-          The Francis family of Troy, New York,
ing the excellent article by Shaun Don-       vices abroad, and that the “commercial          also produced a father-and-son team:
nelly and Dan Crocker, “Six Elements of       cone” was the least desirable career path       John M. Francis and his son Charles S.
Effective Economic/Commercial Diplo-          at State.                                       Francis. Furthermore, like the Adams
macy,” in the January-February FSJ.               After exploring several options, Bill       family, they followed each other to
    First, I agree with the authors’ recom-   and I decided to legislate removal of this      represent the United States in the same
mendations. When I went to Mexico as          function from State and pass it over to the     country a generation apart.
ambassador in 1993, I had six objectives      Commerce Department as the FCS. That                According to the State Department’s
I wanted to accomplish. At the top of the     has been largely successful.                    Office of the Historian, John M. Francis
list was to grow the commercial relation-         James R. Jones                              served as minister resident in Greece
ship between our countries. I would note          Chairman, Monarch Global                    from 1871 to 1873; as minister resident/
that at this time, the Secretary of State,          Strategies LLC                            consul general in Portugal from 1882 to
Warren Christopher, was fully supportive          U.S. ambassador to Mexico, 1993-1997        1884; and as envoy extraordinary and
of elevating commercial development as            Member of Congress (D-Okla.),               minister plenipotentiary in Austria from
a top priority at U.S. embassies. This was          1973-1987                                 1884 to 1885.
a fundamental change.                             Washington, D.C.                                His son Charles was envoy extraor-
    As CEO of the American Stock                                                              dinary and minister plenipotentiary to
Exchange and                                      Economic Diplomacy                          Greece from 1901 to 1902, with accredita-
before that on the                                Stories Inspire                             tion to Romania and Serbia. Later, like his
House Ways &                                           I’m up reading the January-Feb-        father, he was ambassador extraordinary
Means Committee, I                                 ruary FSJ at 1:30 a.m. I loved the Tay-    and plenipotentiary to Austria, from 1906
had concluded that                                  lor guitar story, which I’ll share with   to 1910.
private-sector com-                                 my guitar-playing husband later.              The Francis family were newspaper
mercial development                                  Bob Taylor sounds like an amazing        publishers in Troy and prominent sup-
should be a major                                    guy who worked so well with the          porters of the Republican Party.
part of our foreign                                  embassy to form a great partner-             Stephen Muller
policy. It would create                               ship with Cameroon. He’s replant-           FSO, retired
wealth worth defend-                                  ing trees that get used for making          Troy, New York
ing and would lead to another important       guitars, and doing it with local labor!
objective: promotion of democracy. I              The other stories were inspiring too.       Responding to Radically
witnessed that in Mexico.                     And the photos are smashing. A class act.       Simple Ideas
    After we passed the North American            Most people have no idea what our               Writing in the November 2018 FSJ,
Free Trade Agreement and commerce             embassies do—and do for our coun-               Mr. JC Windham raised some creative
flourished between our countries, the         try. The Taylor guitar story is a perfect       ideas for improving the Foreign Service.
demand for openness in Mexico’s politi-       example. I hope it will be widely read.         While I do not agree with all his ideas,
cal system took hold. That was the end            Linda Michel                                I applaud his initiative.
of the one-party rule that had governed           FSJ reader                                      In particular, he recommended elimi-
Mexico for more than seven decades.               Owings Mills, Md.                           nating management officer positions
    My second comment concerns the                                                            and having each of the specialist sections
Foreign Commercial Service, which was         Father-and-Son                                  report directly to the deputy chief of mis-
created by an amendment I co-sponsored        Ambassadors                                     sion (DCM).
with Congressman Bill Frenzel (R-Minn.).         The interview with Ambassador Ron                I have found that the coordinating
    We had led a Ways & Means Task            Neumann in the December FSJ includes            role of management counselors at post
Force on U.S.-Japan Trade from 1978 to        the observation that only the Neumann           is absolutely essential, and it’s impracti-

10                                                                                                     APRIL 2019 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL
cal for the DCM to take on                               well-rounded, FS specialists   services officer, a tour as consular officer,
this additional responsibil-                            would need to have demon-       then as senior GSO before becoming
ity. However, I do think the                            strated experience outside      management counselor—with the major
department could look                                   their specialty, including      difference that now the department
more creatively at how                                 completing a tour as a con-      would have provided an upward career
those management coun-                                 sular officer, just as manage-   path for all specialists, whether GSO,
selor positions are filled.                            ment-coned FSOs do now.          office management specialist, financial
     I have met many bril-                                As Mr. Windham suggests,      management officer or something else.
liant FS specialists who                              the department might then             I know I tread on dangerous ground,
feel their upward mobility                            stop taking in entry-level man-   given that I am neither a specialist nor in
is limited in their career track. Why                 agement officers. But with the    the management cone. But I have worked
should they not one day run a manage-      above process in place, the department       with wonderful colleagues in manage-
ment section or be a DCM?                  could let specialists take these senior      ment sections, both FSO and FS special-
     To make this happen, I would argue    management-level jobs and then backfill      ist, and wonder whether the FSO/FSS
that management counselor positions at     with new entry-level specialists.            split there still makes sense.
posts should only be open to experienced      With this change, the overall career          Stuart Denyer
FS specialists. This would provide the     path of someone in a management                  FSO
upward mobility. To compete for one of     counselor job might be the same as               FSI/SPAS/CON
these positions and show that they are     today—e.g., a tour as an assistant general       Arlington, Virginia n

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | APRIL 2019                                                                                          11
A MESSAGE FROM THE HILL

BUILDing Better Development Financing
B Y R E P R E S E N TAT I V E T E D YO H O

I
  was honored to be asked to write                                                          foreign assistance changed. I developed
  an article for the American Foreign                                                       a deeper understanding of how aid
  Service Association’s magazine, whose                                                     could be an important tool in maintain-
  readership is made up of a prestigious                                                    ing American leadership while creating
group of Americans whose work has a                                                         strong allies in a complicated and unpre-
serious impact around the globe. To all                                                     dictable world. As my views evolved, I
current and former Foreign Service pro-                                                     better understood the effectiveness and
fessionals, I thank you for your service                                                    importance of U.S. foreign aid. In par-
and dedication to our country.                                                              ticular, that if it is used properly, it could
    You are on the front lines in more                                                      transition countries from “aid to trade.”
than 270 U.S. embassies, consulates and                                                         Evaluating the way our foreign aid
various posts around the world. It is safe                                                  is implemented, I noticed there was
to say that most Americans do not real-                                                     plenty of room for improvement. It was
ize or fully understand the importance                                                      imperative that we elevate America’s
of your work in assisting other coun-                                                       global competitiveness, reform our anti-
tries, problem-solving and promoting
the United States’ interests around the
world—while also improving conditions           I developed a deeper understanding of how
in the countries in which you serve. As
                                                aid could be an important tool in maintaining
diplomats and development specialists,
you understand the role soft power—
                                                American leadership while creating strong
especially foreign assistance programs—         allies in a complicated and unpredictable world.
plays in remedying issues and advancing
our nation’s interests overseas.                more about this very important compo-       quated programs and bring development
    When I was first elected to Congress        nent of our national security apparatus.    finance into the 21st century.
in 2012, I must admit, I was one of those          When I first arrived, it was no secret      That is what led our team to introduce
who didn’t fully appreciate the scope of        that I was in favor of eliminating all      The Better Utilization of Investments
our Foreign Service community. Soon             foreign aid. I had long been skeptical      Leading to Development (BUILD) Act,
after my arrival on Capitol Hill, I was         of how U.S. taxpayer dollars were spent     which was signed into law last year. I
fortunate to be named a member of the           overseas, having heard countless stories    believe this is the most important reform
House Foreign Affairs Committee, which          of America’s generosity being rewarded      of U.S. foreign development programs in
provided me the opportunity to learn            by wasteful projects and corrupt foreign    decades.
                                                bureaucrats enriching themselves at the        The BUILD Act consolidates vari-
Representative Ted Yoho (R-Fla.) is a member    expense of the U.S. taxpayer and robbing    ous federal development programs and
of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs       their own citizens of those intended        agencies into one full-service, self-
and lead Republican of the HFAC Subcom-         benefits.                                   sustaining U.S. International Develop-
mittee on Asia, the Pacific and Nonprolifera-      However, the more hearings I             ment Finance Corporation. Essentially,
tion. He is also a member of the Committee on   attended, testimonies I heard and           the IDFC combines the Overseas Private
Agriculture.                                    experts I spoke to, the more my views on    Investment Corporation and the U.S.

12                                                                                                    APRIL 2019 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL
The BUILD Act
has reformed
and modernized
America’s approach
to development
finance and made it
more efficient and
effective.

Agency for International Development’s
Development Credit Authority, while at
the same time expanding U.S. develop-
ment finance capabilities.
    The BUILD Act has reformed and
modernized America’s approach to
development finance and made it more
efficient and effective. U.S. foreign aid
and development, when properly imple-
mented, is a potent tool of soft-power
diplomacy. As you well know, when used
effectively these funds help improve our
diplomatic, economic and national secu-
rity interests around the world.
    When you combine a modern devel-
opment finance system with knowledge-
able and experienced Foreign Service
members such as yourselves, it spreads
goodwill and stability to other countries.
This goodwill leads to partnerships that
help create strong economies, strong
trade agreements and strong national
security.
    Thanks to you and your dedication,
the future of U.S. foreign policy and the
U.S. Foreign Service is looking bright.
I cannot wait to hear about how pro-
fessionals such as yourselves go on to
utilize the tools created by the BUILD
Act and witness the positive impact you
create around the world. n

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | APRIL 2019     13
TALKING POINTS
GAO Releases Report                                 GAO acknowledges the State Depart-        Military Brass Urge
on “Persistent Overseas                         ment’s various efforts to address the         Support for Diplomacy
Foreign Service                                 vacancies and the factor of fluctuating       and Development
Vacancies”

I  n March, the Government Account-
   ability Office released a new report,
                                                appropriations, but points to the fact that
                                                the department lacks an action plan that
                                                is integrated across its relevant offices
                                                                                              I  n congressional testimony and in public
                                                                                                 statements, representatives of the U.S.
                                                                                              military have been weighing in on plans
“Department of State: Integrated Action         and fails to identify the cause of the per-   for the 2020 U.S. federal budget, as they did
Plan Could Enhance Efforts to Reduce            sistent vacancies.                            on previous budgets, urging policymak-
Persistent Overseas Foreign Service                 Even State’s Five-Year Workforce and      ers to “continue to protect resources for
Vacancies” (GAO-19-220).                        Leadership Succession Plan: Fiscal Years      America’s International Affairs Budget.”
    This is the GAO’s third report in 10        2016-2020, GAO found, lacks such a com-           A March 10 statement addressed to
years on Foreign Service staffing short-        prehensive focus. “Addressing chronic         legislators by retired admirals and gener-
falls, and the findings are striking. Despite   vacancies in critical positions at overseas   als from all six of the regional combatant
an increase in the number of positions          posts requires a thoughtful, coherent and     commands states: “We know that the
staffed between 2008 and 2018, as of            integrated action plan that defines the       military alone cannot keep our nation
March 31, 2018, fully 13 percent of State’s     root causes of persistent Foreign Service     safe. Diplomacy and development are
overseas Foreign Service positions were         vacancies along with suggested corrective     essential to combating threats before they
vacant—nearly the same vacancy per-             measures,” states GAO.                        reach our shores.
centage the GAO found in both 2008 and              GAO concludes with one recommen-              “We stand with and share the perspec-
2012 (see the graph).                           dation for executive action: “The Secre-      tives of our fellow combatant command-
                                                                                              ers who have testified before Congress in
                                                                                              recent days on the strategic importance
                                                                                              of the State Department, USAID, and
                                                                                              other U.S. development agencies as key
                                                                                              partners around the world to protect our
                                                                                              interest and our values.”
                                                                                                  The brass conclude: “As Congress
                                                                                              considers next year’s federal budget, we
                                                                                              urge policymakers to continue to protect
                                                                                              resources for America’s International
                                                                                              Affairs Budget. Doing so is critical to
                                                                                              keeping our nation safe and prosperous in
                                                                                              a world of global threats and great power
                                                                                              competition.”
    According to State’s data, as of March      tary of State should develop an integrated
31, 2018, overseas posts with State’s high-     action plan that defines the root causes      Former Senior National
est foreign policy priorities had the high-     of persistent Foreign Service vacancies       Security Officials
est percentages of vacant Foreign Service       at overseas posts and provides suggested      Oppose National
positions. The data also shows high             corrective measures to reduce such            Emergency
vacancy rates in regions with security
risks that could threaten U.S. interests.
    The vacancies, GAO found, increase
                                                vacancies, including steps necessary to
                                                implement solutions.”
                                                    Significantly, GAO notes that its study
                                                                                              O     n Feb. 25, 58 former national
                                                                                                    security officials issued a statement
                                                                                              in opposition to the president’s Feb. 15
workloads, adversely affect morale              did not assess whether the total number       declaration of a “national emergency”
and make it difficult to perform some           of authorized overseas Foreign Service        that would allow him to divert previously
important functions such as training and        positions was appropriate or met State’s      appropriated funds to build a wall along
improving processes.                            needs.                                        the southern border of the United States.

14                                                                                                      APRIL 2019 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL
SITE OF THE MONTH – NATO DECLASSIFIED: HTTPS://WWW.NATO.INT/CPS/EN/NATOHQ/DECLASSIFIED.HTM

  I   t’s NATO’s 70th anniversary and you
      just can’t get enough of NATO? Policy
   wonks, historians, photographers and
                                                                                                  Another section, “NATO Lead-
                                                                                              ers,” gives a short biography of
                                                                                              each NATO leader, from General
   students alike will get a kick out of “NATO                                                Eisenhower (1950-1952) to Anders
   Declassified,” a section of NATO’s own                                                    Fogh Rasmussen (2009-2014). Still
   website that bills itself as the place to                                                 another section showcases the vari-
   “discover the untold stories of NATO,                                                     ous symbols that have been used by
   from its birth onward.”                                                                   NATO in the past and explains their
       The site is a bit confusing to navi-                                                  significance. This section covers
   gate, but your patience will be rewarded                                                  everything from NATO’s mobile infor-
   by numerous historical photos from                                                        mation center to the “NATO strap,”
   the NATO archives, a video timeline of                                                    a watch band first produced by the
   significant events in the history of the                                                  British Ministry of Defence in 1973.
   alliance, links to speeches given at NATO headquarters over           “Experts’ Corner” posts declassified NATO documents
   the years and stories specific to the Cold War, the fall of the    broken down by subject (e.g., the founding treaty, the fall of
   Berlin Wall and the post-9/11 period.                              the Berlin Wall) and provides lists of recommended reading
       One section, “The Cold War,” has a subsection that             on each specific topic.
   focuses on espionage against NATO, including a video                  Be sure to check out the section “A Short History of
   about what motivated people to spy against the alliance.           NATO.” In addition to the history lesson, this section is
   This section also includes images of security posters              sprinkled with photos that span the entire history of the
   distributed by the alliance over the years, and information        organization.
   about how NATO has been pictured in popular movies and                The rich visuals alone make “NATO Declassified” a site
   books.                                                             worth visiting.

The statement will be entered into the         Anne Patterson and Dana Shell Smith.          one reported incident in which immi-
Congressional Record.                             They wrote: “We have lived and worked      grants who had crossed the southern
    The bipartisan group of former U.S.        through national emergencies, and we          border illegally attempted to commit a
officials included many who worked for         support the president’s power to mobilize     terrorist act.”
the State Department such as former            the Executive Branch to respond quickly in        In fact, they explain, between October
Secretaries of State Madeline Albright and     genuine national emergencies. But under       2017 and March 2018, 41 foreign immi-
John Kerry; former Deputy Secretary of         no plausible assessment of the evidence is    grants on the terrorist watchlist were inter-
State and former Deputy National Security      there a national emergency today.”            cepted at the northern border, while only
Adviser to the President Antony Blinken;          The statement goes on to explain           six were stopped at the southern border.
former Deputy Secretaries of State Bill        that there is “no documented terrorist            There is no human or drug traffick-
Burns and Strobe Talbott; former Under         or national security emergency at the         ing emergency at the southern border,
Secretaries of State for Political Affairs     southern border,” where “illegal border       the statement continues, and redirecting
Ambassador R. Nicholas Burns, Thomas           crossings are near forty-year lows.”          funds for a claimed emergency will under-
Pickering and Wendy Sherman; former               They point to the administration’s         mine U.S. national security and foreign
Assistant Secretaries of State Johnnie         own recent Country Report on Terrorism,       policy interests.
Carson, Eric Schwartz, Andrew Shapiro,         which found “no credible evidence” that           Lastly, they write, “there is no factual
Linda Thomas-Greenfield and Arturo             any international terrorist groups had        basis for the declaration of a national
Valenzuela; and Ambassadors (ret.) Ryan        established bases in Mexico, and they         emergency for the purpose of circum-
Crocker, John Feeley, Roberta Jacobson,        note that since 1975, there “has been only    venting the appropriations process.”

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | APRIL 2019                                                                                               15
Marking NATO’s 70th

N      ATO was founded when the
       North Atlantic Treaty was signed
in Washington, D.C., on April 4, 1949,
by the United States, Canada, Britain,
France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Den-

                                                                                                                                                      ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/BET_NOIRE
mark, Portugal, Belgium, Iceland
and Luxembourg.
    Approaching the April anniversary of
its founding, many experts, former poli-
cymakers and academics have been look-
ing back at NATO history, considering its
state today and hypothesizing about what          and refocusing NATO partnerships.               hearing: “NATO needs to pay more atten-
comes next for the alliance.                          They emphasize that the single great-       tion to China’s increasing influence in
    Former U.S. Ambassadors to NATO               est challenge for NATO today is “the            Europe. ...In the coming decades, NATO’s
Nicholas Burns and Douglas Lute sound             absence of strong, principled American          importance will only grow because of the
the alarm in their February report from           presidential leadership.”                       U.S. competition with China.”
the Harvard Kennedy School’s Project on               During a March 13 House Foreign                 Lute stated: “I want to point out a
Europe and the Transatlantic Relation-            Affairs Committee hearing, “NATO at 70:         false narrative that ignores the values
ship, “NATO at Seventy: An Alliance in            An Indispensable Alliance,” members of          and erodes the cohesion of NATO. This
Crisis.”                                          Congress and witnesses all spoke in sup-        false narrative claims that NATO is an
    The authors say that “NATO remains            port of a strong NATO.                          anachronism, outdated and obsolete;
the single most important contributor to              “We are seeing a rise in authoritarian-     that our allies are ripping us off, tak-
security, stability and peace in Europe           ism, continued threats from international       ing advantage of our generosity. This is
and North America.” They list 10 major            terrorism and extremism, and aggres-            simply not true.
challenges the alliance faces in 2019,            sive attempts by Putin to invade Rus-               “The truth is,” he continued, “that the
including internal challenges such as             sia’s neighbors and attack democratic           U.S. created NATO and has maintained
reviving American leadership of the               elections throughout the world,” HFAC           the alliance for 70 years because NATO
alliance, restoring European defense              Chair Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) stated. “It’s by     is in America’s vital national security
strength, upholding democratic values             working with our NATO allies standing           interest. America benefits economi-
and streamlining decision making; and             side-by-side that we can successfully face      cally, politically and militarily from the
external challenges that include contain-         these challenges head on.”                      alliance. NATO and our other treaty
ing Putin’s Russia, ending the Afghan War             Douglas Lute also testified at the House    allies are the single greatest geostrategic
                                                                                                  advantage over any peer competitor. Rus-
                                                                                                  sia and China have nothing to compare.
Contemporary Quote                                                                                In short, NATO is indispensable.”
        The window for defining America’s pivotal role will not stay open                             The Center for European Policy
        forever. Whether we seize the moment of opportunity before us                             Analysis announced plans for an April
will depend in large measure on whether this chamber and this committee                           3 ministerial forum, “NATO at 70,” at its
can help recapture a sense of shared vision and shared purpose; whether                           Washington, D.C., headquarters. Attend-
we can recover a sense of diplomatic agility out of the muscle-bound national                     ees will include the foreign ministers of
security bureaucracy we have become in recent years; and whether                                  Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Lithuania,
we can come to terms with the realities of a new international landscape,                         Romania and Latvia, in addition to Sena-
and shape it skillfully with our considerable enduring strengths.                                 tor Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member
        —Ambassador William Burns, in an opening statement at a Senate Foreign Relations
                                                                                                  of the Senate Committee on Foreign
            Committee hearing, “Assessing the Role of the United States in the World,” Feb. 27.
                                                                                                  Relations.

16                                                                                                         APRIL 2019 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL
There are more NATO-related events         Ambassador Tracker:                                 This is an unusually high number of
and writings to come. The Democratic          Checking In on                                  politically appointed ambassadors at the
and Republican House and Senate               Appointments                                    midpoint of an administration. Since the
leadership has invited NATO Secretary-
General Jens Stoltenberg to address a
joint session of the U.S. Congress on
                                              A    FSA keeps a close eye on appoint-
                                                   ments for senior officials and
                                              ambassadors. Here is where the situation
                                                                                              Gerald Ford presidency, career Foreign
                                                                                              Service officers have made up 70 percent
                                                                                              of ambassador appointments on average.
April 3 in honor of the anniversary.          stands as of early March.                           Notably, 28 of the 137 appointees have
   And the NATO Secretary-General                The Trump administration has to date         yet to be confirmed by the Senate.
announced plans for a summit of the           made 137 ambassadorial appointments.                The diversity of the ambassador picks
leaders of the 29 member-states in            Of those, 70, or 51 percent, are career         has also come under some scrutiny.
London in December to mark the 70th           members of the U.S. Foreign Service and         According to media reports, only 15 of
anniversary.                                  67, or 49 percent, are political appointees.    the appointees are non-Caucasian and

50 Years Ago

   Russia and the Middle East
   ...Although Peter the Great has often been cited for              ment with the Soviet bloc. This

   initiating Russian dreams of influence in the Middle East,        led to arms deals with Egypt in

   these interests were limited to Iran, Afghanistan and Cen-        1955 which were followed by the

   tral Asia. Neither Czars nor Commissars were interested in        establishment of economic and

   Mesopotamia or the Nile Valley until the start of the war in      technical missions.

   Europe in 1939. Stalin and Molotov pressed Hitler and then           The same pattern took

   the allies for a Russian sphere of influence “south of the        place in Syria in 1956 and

   Soviet Union in the direction of the Indian Ocean.”               Iraq in 1958. Nevertheless, the Soviet

       At Potsdam, Molotov demanded “bases in the Medi-              intervention in Hungary in 1956 made a greater impact on

   terranean for its merchant fleet,” and a “trusteeship” for        the Arab political mind than millions of dollars of Soviet

   Libya. All of Russia’s demands were refused, however, and         economic and military aid. Moreover, the instability and

   the Montreux Convention of 1936 still regulates traffic in        unreliability of Arab governments and their leaders caused

   the Black Sea straits and there are no Soviet bases in the        the Soviets to proceed deliberately.

   Mediterranean.                                                                              This delicate balance was shat-

       The British withdrawal from                                                           tered by the 1967 Arab-Israeli war,

   Egypt in the 1950s gave Moscow                                                            which opened up new military and

   its first opportunity in the Middle                                                       economic opportunities for the

   East. Khrushchev adopted a                                                                Soviets.

   more moderate line toward “Third                                                               —Melvin A. Goodman, from “Rus-

   World” countries, including a policy                                                        sia and the Middle East in the Wake

   of collaboration with “bourgeois                                                           of the Mediterranean War,” FSJ, April

   nationalism” of the Nasser type.                                                            1969. Goodman, a former Woodrow

   The Arabs were developing a more                                                                Wilson Fellow, was at the time of

   forward policy of “neutralism” at the                                                        publication writing his dissertation

   same time, allowing for rapproche-                                                              on U.S. recognition of the Soviet
                                                                                               Union in 1933 for Indiana University.

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | APRIL 2019                                                                                               17
there are no African-American women             the deteriorating situation
among them.                                     in #Venezuela, as well as the
    Out of 51 individuals appointed by the      conclusion that the presence
Trump administration to senior posi-            of U.S. diplomatic staff at
tions at the foreign affairs agencies (State,   the embassy has become a
USAID, FCS, FAS and the U.S. Agency for         constraint on U.S. policy.”
Global Media) only six are non-Cauca-               Fewer than two dozen         Ebenezer
sian. Of those, 46 are political appointees,    Americans remained in the        Bassett, from
two are recalled Foreign Service retirees       embassy after the partial        the February
                                                                                 2009 FSJ.
and three are active-duty members of the        drawdown in January.
Foreign Service.
    Only one currently encumbers an             First Screening
assistant secretary–level position: Ambas-      of “A Diplomat of
sador Carol Perez, the newly confirmed          Consequence”
Director General of the Foreign Service.
The other two active-duty FSOs in senior
positions are Ambassador David Hale,
                                                A      s a first-tour officer in the Domini-
                                                       can Republic in 1999, Chris Teal
                                                happened across a photo of Ebenezer              www.facebook.com/EbenezerDBassett
who serves as under secretary of State for      Bassett, an African-American and one of          and on Instagram at www.instagram.com/
political affairs and Michael Harvey, who       the first U.S. envoys to the island of His-      ebenezer.bassett.
is USAID’s assistant administrator for the      paniola. Intrigued, he began to research
Middle East.                                    Bassett and ultimately wrote a biography,        Economic Diplomacy
    By historical standards, this number is     Hero of Hispaniola: America’s First Black        Works: FCS Featured
quite low. At the same point in the Obama       Diplomat (Praeger, 2008). This year marks        on Podcast
administration, for instance, there were
12 active-duty Foreign Service officers in
under secretary and assistant secretary
                                                150 years since Bassett’s appointment.
                                                    Teal was convinced that the sig-
                                                nificance of Bassett’s story—he was
                                                                                                 F    oreign Commercial Service Officer
                                                                                                      and AFSA FCS Vice President Dan
                                                                                                 Crocker was the featured guest on a
positions.                                      appointed ambassador to Haiti and the            Feb. 4 episode of the “American Diplo-
                                                Dominican Republic in 1869—went far              mat” podcast.
Last U.S. Diplomats                             beyond his breaking the color barrier                Mr. Crocker explained the role of
Leave Venezuela                                 and that his work and accomplishments            the Foreign Commercial Service both

O     n March 12, facing deteriorating
      conditions in Caracas, the State
Department pulled its remaining diplo-
                                                deserved a wider audience today. So he
                                                set out to make a documentary film about
                                                Bassett while on a sabbatical fellowship at
                                                                                                 overseas and domestically, helping the
                                                                                                 audience understand its work assisting
                                                                                                 small businesses and building American
mats out of Venezuela.                          Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite       prosperity at home.
    A nationwide power outage plagued           School of Journalism and Mass Commu-                 In 1980, Crocker said, the president
the country for a week in mid-March.            nication.                                        signed into law “the authority to help U.S.
The embattled President Nicolás Maduro              In February Teal, now on a faculty           companies export more overseas, and
blamed the outages on the United States,        assignment at the Inter-American                 defend U.S. companies’ interest, and also
a claim Washington denies. Secretary of         Defense College at Fort McNair, held the         to promote inward investment—foreign
State Mike Pompeo blamed the power              first screenings of his film, “A Diplomat        investment.”
outage and Venezuela’s other internal           of Consequence,” at the DACOR-Bacon                  “It’s about creating jobs,” he con-
problems on Maduro, accusing both Cuba          House and at George Washington Univer-           tinued, explaining that FCS has trade
and Russia of propping up the Maduro            sity’s Elliott School of International Affairs   specialists in 76 countries that together
government.                                     in Washington, D.C.                              represent 90 percent of U.S. exports. FCS
    Pompeo tweeted on March 11 that the             Upcoming screenings of the film              “helps about 30,000 U.S. companies every
decision to close the embassy “reflects         will be announced on Facebook at                 year,” and more than 80 percent of those

18                                                                                                        APRIL 2019 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL
Beware of Unintended Consequences                   Heard on the Hill                 U.S. Leadership Essential
        As former Department of Defense Secre-                                            When the United States scales back or cuts
    tary [James] Mattis said, ‘If you don’t fund the                                      our State Department and foreign assistance
    State Department fully, then I need to buy                                            budgets, or pushes out career, experienced
    more ammunition.’                                                                     diplomats, we fatally undermine our ability
        With a growing crisis in Venezuela, an                                            to renew and revive our leadership at just
    unpredictable North Korea, an aggressive                                              the time when our leadership is more essen-
    China and Russia creating mischief around                                             tial than ever before.
    the globe, terrorism on the rise in Africa,                                                     —Ranking Member Robert Menendez
                                                                                            (D-N.J.), in his opening statement at a Senate

                                                                                   JOSH
    and Iran continually threatening Israel, we
    must show our strength through a properly                                                       Foreign Relations Committee hearing,
    resourced and forward leaning diplomacy. …                              “Assessing the Role of the United States in the World,” Feb. 27.
        The president’s budget proposal contains some much-
    needed reforms and I welcome cutting waste, fraud and abuse         Diplomatic Engagement Critical
    from any programs that are not getting the American people             With countries like China and Russia working to under-
    the results they deserve. But we must be careful that cuts          mine democratic values and respect for human rights,
    don’t have unintended consequences that cost us more in the         American leadership is more important than ever. The U.S.-
    medium and long term. This is especially true of impactful cuts     led international order has helped populations across the
    to humanitarian and developmental assistance.                       globe enjoy safer, more stable, and more prosperous lives,
       —Representative Michael McCaul (R-Texas), lead Republican        and I believe American diplomatic engagement is critical to
          on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, from his statement    leaving a better world for the next generation.
              on the administration’s proposed FY2020 International                    —Rep. Ann Wagner (R-Mo.), during her testimony
                                            Affairs Budget, March 11.             at the Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and
                                                                                      Related Programs members’ day hearing, March 6.
    Understanding the Value of Diplomacy
       We need to make it clear to these dedicated public               Diplomacy’s Unbeatable ROI
    servants—and to the rest of the world—that the United States            With just about 1 percent of the federal budget, the United
    understands the value of diplomacy. And we need to give our         States gets no better return on its investment than the work
    personnel the support and resources they need to carry out          of our diplomat and development professionals, which saves
    this important work.                                                millions of lives, builds stronger economics, and creates a
                                   —Chairman Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.),      safer world.
               in his opening statement at the House Foreign Affairs            —Heather Higginbottom, in her opening statement at the
                  Committee hearing, “The Trump Administration’s           House Foreign Affairs Committee Oversight and Investigations
                   Foreign Policy: A Mid-Term Assessment,” Feb. 27.                Subcommittee hearing, “America’s Global Leadership:
                                                                                      Why Diplomacy and Development Matter,” Feb. 27.

companies are small- and medium-sized            about $200 of economic benefit, mostly in       studies that help to explain why the work
companies.                                       exports, as a result of every $1 in appro-      FCS does has such a positive effect on the
   Crocker explained the benefit to U.S.         priations.                                      U.S. economy. Listen in at www.amdip-
taxpayers: “When we look at our appro-              “It’s a great outcome. It represents         stories.org/podcast/more-fun-facts-
priations—this is the money Congress             over $63 billion in export benefits for         about-trade. n
gives us to operate, right?—these are            these companies. It also represents about           This edition of Talking Points was com-
taxpayers paying for our jobs, domesti-          328,000 jobs.”                                  piled by Donna Gorman, Ásgeir Sigfússon,
cally and overseas. We know that we drive           Crocker provides statistics and case         Susan Maitra and Shawn Dorman.

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | APRIL 2019                                                                                                       19
SPEAKING OUT

Straight Talk on Bidding: What You Need to
Know Before Trying for that Heavily Bid Job
B Y PA U L P O L E T E S

I
   n every bidding cycle, many hun-             one job with more than 40 bids. And it’s      time you find yourself thinking about
   dreds of FSOs and specialists spend          definitely not the case across the Euro-      joining 30+ other people vying for a job,
   untold hours chasing after heavily bid       pean Union and at lots of other “nice” or     ask yourself: What’s my comparative
   jobs. I’m talking about those vacan-         “important” places.                           advantage, and how will I leverage it to
cies in every cone and specialty that               If you fancy landing a heavily bid job,   get this job? What do I have that most of
attract 20, 30, sometimes more than 40          first consider the odds you face. If 30       the other bidders don’t?
bidders. A few years ago, I bid on a job        people bid on a position, you’ve got only        If you can’t answer those questions,
against 80 other hungry FS-1s. (I didn’t        a 3.33 percent chance of landing on top.      you should probably look elsewhere.
even make the short list.)                      And that assumes every bidder has an
    Most of the time, these bidders’            equal shot, which they don’t.                 How to Get on
hopes are misplaced. For many, their                In reality, on even the most heav-        the Short List
dreams of working in Rome or Singa-             ily bid jobs, no more than about 10               On heavily bid jobs, deciders feel like
pore are doomed even before bidding             people have a realistic chance at getting     they own the world. We have so many
season begins, a victim of unrealistic          selected, and only about half of those        candidates to choose from that we can
expectations and not understanding              will get on the short list. In other words,   afford to be ultra-picky, especially when
how assignment decisions are made.              you had better odds of getting into the       making the first cut. This is what you
    Think you’ve got what it takes to land      Foreign Service than you do of getting        face when you take on 40 other people
one of those “dream jobs”? Here’s what          that assignment in Australia.                 for a job. Unless you have a backer
you need to know.                                   Second, and what few bidders who          with lots of pull, your resumé, 360s and
                                                have never been in a position to decide       everything else need to sparkle. Are you
The Truth About                                 understand, is that the people who get        a diamond in the rough? You’ll prob-
Heavily Bid Jobs                                these jobs almost always have a com-          ably stay there, because, at least in the
     At some of the places I’ve worked, all     parative advantage that sets them apart.      beginning of the season, no one has
it took to get on the short list was a pulse        Either they have a high-level patron,     the need to dive into the weeds looking
and a lack of any recent felony convic-         or they are known favorably by the            for you. But should you decide to forge
tions. But that’s not the case in Riga, where   deciders. Or they have skills or experi-      ahead anyway, here’s how to do it:
for the summer 2019 cycle we had 144            ence that sets them apart. Maybe they             Details matter. More than once this
bidders on seven positions, including           work at the country desk (or, if bidding      year I received an introductory email in
                                                on the country desk, are coming from          which someone either listed the wrong
               Paul Poletes is deputy chief     the country itself ). Or they have a 4/4 in   position or misspelled my name. Had
               of mission at U.S. Embassy       the language or prior regional experi-        there been only four bidders on these
               Riga. He joined the Foreign      ence. In some cases, they have all of the     jobs, I would have been more forgiving.
               Service in 1998, and has         above.                                        But when there are 20+, I’m looking for
               served in Athens, Dhaka,             For heavily bid jobs, you need to do      any excuse to trim the list. As carpenters
Bishkek, Tirana and Ashgabat, as well as        everything right, have the right qualifi-     like to say, “measure twice, cut once.”
three tours in Washington, D.C. The views       cations and be a little lucky—and that’s      Translated into FS-speak, that means
expressed here are his own.                     just to get on the short list. So the next    “proofread three times, send once.”

20                                                                                                     APRIL 2019 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL
Brevity matters. And while we’re on      Lots of bidders hurt their chances because they
the subject of the introductory email: be
brief. Overly long, detailed emails are
                                             refuse to commit to one bid as their top choice.
a turnoff and take too long to read. Tell
me about yourself, lay out your com-
parative advantage and what you bring                                                      doesn’t change the fact that you prob-
to my team, and do it all in 300 words       Stretch Bids—For the                          ably have less relevant experience than
or less. Don’t press me for an interview     Most Part, Don’t Bother                       most of the other people vying for the
in our first communication. On heav-              Stretch bids are allowed because         same job. So unless you have assurances
ily bid jobs, there’s no time to speak       they give the department flexibility to       from the deciders that they are strongly
to everyone, and pressuring deciders         fill jobs that might otherwise sit empty.     interested in you, don’t expect much
for an immediate interview makes you         But when it comes to hotly contested          help from that quarter.
look presumptuous and overly pushy           jobs, your stretch bid gambit will almost
(remember, it’s all about interpersonal      certainly fail. Unless you have a high-       Fear of Commitment
skills).                                     level patron or get clear assurances              Lots of bidders hurt their chances
    References matter. Assuming your         from the deciders that they want you          because they refuse to commit to one
introduction didn’t misspell my name         and only you for the job, your stretch        bid as their top choice. They think being
or get the position wrong, I’ve now          bid is a waste of time.                       coy will keep them in the running for
moved on to your 360s and resumé.                 Stretches are a dicey proposition for    multiple posts at once, and fear that
What matters most for me is that you         everyone involved because they don’t          clearly identifying a number-one bid will
have good interpersonal skills, relevant     go to panel until stretch season, which       ruin their chances with everyone else.
experience and strong recommenda-            usually takes place months after bid              Ranking top choices is a bidding
tions from people I know and trust.          season closes (unless you have bid-           minefield. Telling me that Riga is your
References that I solicit myself count       ding privileges—see below). By then,          second or third choice in fact could hurt
more than the plain-as-oatmeal online        everyone else on the short list will be       your chances, because I don’t want to
360s. I also rely on the advice of the       long gone, so if the stretch doesn’t get      put someone at the top of my list unless
incumbents, working with them to sort        approved by Human Resources, the              I’m certain he or she will accept an offer.
through applications. Together, we look      decider has no Plan B.                        But the next time you make a short list
for comparative advantages. Those who             For this reason, few deciders or         and are dancing around a decider, with
have them make the short list.               assignments officers are willing to           neither side willing to say “you’re num-
    Experience matters. Regional and         go through the risk and extra effort          ber one,” ask the decider this: “If I were
bureau experience is important. In the       required to push through stretch bids         to commit to X as my top bid, would that
Foreign Service, we’re expected to be able   when so many other qualified, at-grade        make a difference in where I am on your
to parachute into any job, in any region,    bidders are vying for the same job.           short list?”
and succeed. But if you’ve spent your                                                          Sometimes it won’t matter. If you’re
whole career in WHA or EUR, don’t expect     A Note on Bidding                             number three on my list, but my number
your bid on a job in India to get the same   Privileges                                    one and two have already said Riga is
attention as the person with prior South         “Bidding privileges” can give you an      their top choice, I probably won’t move
Asia experience. You don’t know French?      advantage in some circumstances, but          you up. But deciders often face a short
FSI will teach you. But your bid on that     on heavily bid jobs they don’t count for      list full of people unwilling to commit.
job in Paris probably won’t get the same     much. If I’m serious about a stretch bid-         I try to be transparent and honest with
consideration as the one coming from the     der for a position, I’m more likely to take   bidders, and I appreciate the same from
person who already has a 4/4. (Unless the    a risk on someone with bidding privi-         them. Let me know where I am on your
fluent French speaker has lousy interper-    leges, because getting that assignment        list, and let me know if you change your
sonal skills, in which case not even a 5/5   through panel is easier.                      mind. I’ll never think ill of a bidder who
will help them with me.)                         But simply having bidding privileges      calls back and tells me Riga has moved up

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | APRIL 2019                                                                                           21
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