The Foreign Service Journal, February 2012

22 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 2 stronger central control over na- tional budgets, authorizing the use of such tools would only allow spendthrift nations to live beyond their means and drag down the credit rating of the entire European Union. The early months of 2012 will indicate whether Europe is able to take historic steps to create a fis- cal union and to make correspon- ding expansions to the powers of the European Central Bank. If Europe does demonstrate that it is ready to take the necessary hard steps, it surely will be possible to mobilize expanded financial resources from the International Mon- etary Fund, and even frommajor creditors, such as China. But as of now, such investors have not seen sufficient signs of resolve to believe that such investments can be justi- fied. The Challenge for State The trans-Atlantic alliance cannot solve the euro debt crisis; Europe must do that mainly on its own. Even so, Washington should seek ways to help. As Europe works to resolve the euro crisis, the U.S. and the E.U. would do well also to consider how to renew their durable partner- ship. Ten years after the 9/11 attacks, we can see just how greatly the last decade reshaped the contours of American diplomacy. For more than 10 years, the best and bright- est U.S. diplomats have concentrated much of their ener- gies on Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and related aspects of the war on terror. The United States devoted enormous budget resources and high-level policy attention to chal- lenges in the Middle East and Central Asia. As a result, the policy agenda for the European Union and the United States stalled and increasingly became dominated by “out of area” missions. During my last years at the State Department, U.S.-E.U. summits tended to focus on aligning policies to stabilize Iraq and Afghanistan, and contain Iran. As important as those efforts were, it ap- pears to me in retrospect that we could have done more to integrate the European and American economies, and to harmonize our approaches to economic issues. One can hope that during the next generation, the U.S. and E.U. can devote more attention to Asia, to common economic objectives such as promoting development and trade, and to setting an agenda for deeper trans-Atlantic economic co- operation and integration. If Europe is able to devise a suc- cessful recovery program, with tar- geted political and economic support from Washington, there is every reason to believe that the trans-Atlantic alliance can be revi- talized. Europe and the United States can continue to play a deci- sive role in shaping the economic, political and security in- stitutions of a new globalized and multipolar world, and the rules that govern them. The European debt crisis is also a wake-up call on the changes that are needed for State and the Foreign Service to adapt to the challenges of the 21st century. In this re- gard, it is fortuitous that Secretary of State Hillary Rod- ham Clinton launched the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, completed in 2010. I believe the QDDR’s recommendations in the eco- nomic policy area are right on the mark. They should be implemented and even expanded upon. It is very important that future Secretaries of State be supported by a stronger economic function. I welcome the expanded responsibilities contemplated for the Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, the creation of a new energy bureau and the creation of the position of a State Department chief economist. In addition, I believe that the Foreign Service needs to recruit more officers with strong economic and business backgrounds. The Foreign Service Institute’s in-house program of economic training should be sustained, and the university economic training program should be expanded. Interagency coordination, especially among State, Treasury and the National Security Council, should be strengthened in both formal and informal ways. For ex- ample, I recall great value arising from the regular break- fast meetings that Secretary of State George Shultz, Secretary of Treasury James A. Baker III and National Se- curity Adviser Colin Powell, together with senior advisers, held during the Reagan administration. That model should be followed again. In short, the euro zone crisis has furnished Foggy Bot- tom with a case study of the types of challenges it must tackle in the future. To meet them, State must once again reinvent itself. F OCUS The QDDR’s recommendations to strengthen State’s economic policy capability are right on the mark.