The Foreign Service Journal, November 2012

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2012 11 description of diplomatic reporting as an internal dialogue between professionals is enlightening and ought to become a text at the Foreign Service Institute. Unfortunately, the author apparently became fixated with the concept of dis- sent and the idea that only dissenters are worthy of respect. Perhaps this is a gen- erational twitch on her part, but it leads her to a very serious misinterpretation. A good two-thirds of the book is taken up with the history of George Kennan, the “China hands” (e.g., Jack Service and John Paton Davies) and George Ball, about whom she is generous and compli- mentary. Yet she persists in erroneously labeling them as “dissenters,” implying that their professional virtues arose from that status. In fact, Kennan’s most famous and significant work, the “Long Telegram,” was the result of a formal request from the State Department for his analysis of the Soviet Union, and his recommenda- tions became the foundation of Ameri- can foreign policy for almost 50 years. Gurman makes much of Kennan’s later, critical remarks about implementation of deterrence doctrine, but those came after he had retired from the Foreign Service. So where is the dissent? Service and Davies were not dissent- ers either, but officers producing high- quality, well-received work. The fact they were later attacked for partisan political reasons and forced out of the Foreign Ser- vice is a travesty of justice, but does not make them dissenters. Gurman also labels George Ball a dissenter, because as a senior member of the Johnson administration, he argued for policies and positions that weren’t adopted. This is not dissent; it is partici- pation in the policy process. Near the end of her book, the author discusses the respective dissent programs of the State Department and of AFSA. We must thank her for publicizing these programs, but I do wish she had a better grasp of what each does and how they operate. That said, her discussion of the central role of internal reporting, analysis and discussion to the profession of diplo- macy is important. Edward Marks Ambassador, retired Washington, D.C.