The Foreign Service Journal, January 2003

ack in 1980, as part of the Foreign Service Act, Congress voted to move the function of pro- moting the United States’ commercial interests from the State Department to the Department of Commerce. This change led to the creation of the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service. This transformation was far from painless, but over the ensuing 22 years, our agency has made substantial progress. It has done so with the help of a cadre of career officers who care deeply about their profession and their agency. FCS (as it was then popularly called) recognized that it needed mature officers to carry out an orderly transition and J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 3 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 39 F O C U S O N F C S B Jeff Moores T WO D ECADES ON THE R OAD L ESS T RAVELED T HE CREATION OF FCS WAS FAR FROM PAINLESS , BUT OVER THE PAST 22 YEARS IT HAS MADE SUBSTANTIAL PROGRESS . N OW IT MUST CONTINUE ON THAT PATH , USING NEW TOOLS . B Y S TEPHAN H ELGESEN