For years, The Foreign Service Journal has regularly published a “Speaking Out” column: a forum where contributing authors can voice concerns and generally weigh in on a variety of Foreign Service issues. We are pleased to present an archive of these columns in one central location.
An Open Letter on USAID to the Secretary of State by Steven E. Hendrix (April-May 2025) Bridging the Interagency Gap by John Ringquist (March 2025) Defending Values—The Case for Strategic Clarity by Robert S. Wang (January-February 2025) The Foreign Service at 100: It’s Time for Renewal by George Krol (December 2024) My $100,000 EER by Rachel Schneller (November 2024) The Case for Reforming State’s Discipline Procedures by Jennifer Davis (October 2024) Pre-Election Homework—Build Our Institution by John Fer (September 2024) Workplace Conditions at State: Change Is Coming by Stacy D. Williams (July-August 2024) The Foreign Service Deserves Its Own Sorting Hat by Eric Bernau (June 2024) It’s Up to Us to Implement the Learning Policy by Don Jacobson (May 2024) The Surprising Secret to Powerful Leadership by Johanna Villalobos (April 2024) Needed—A New Approach to Protecting America’s Diplomatic Treasures by Glyn Davies (March 2024) State’s Pledge to Stop Promoting Bullies by Zia Ahmed (January-February 2024) Promotion Unicorns and the Case for Humility by Yikee Adje (December 2023) The Quest for Reasonable Civ-Mil Parity by Adam R. Pearlman (November 2023) Go Ahead, Ask About My Accent by Nikolina Kulidzan (October 2023) Merit Pay for Family Member Employees by Jonathan Geense (September 2023) Boomerang Diplomats? Another Look at Reappointment by Sonnet Frisbie (July-August 2023) Standing By Taiwan and Its Democracy: Why Statecraft Is Not Just About Avoiding Conflict by Robert S. Wang (June 2023) How Will You Lead? by Todd Kushner and Paul Watzlavick (May 2023) Why Our Evaluation System Is Broken and What to Do About It by Virginia Blaser (April 2023) In the Corridors—Where Culture, Reputation, and DEIA Meet by Tanesha T. Dillard (March 2023) Schedule F—Let’s Deprofessionalize Government and Make America Irrelevant Again by Dennis Jett (January-February 2023) “Winning the Competition for Talent”—The Case for Expanding the Diplomat in Residence Program by Brendan Rivage-Seul (December 2022) Why the State Department Needs an Office of Diplomatic Gaming by Robert Domaingue (November 2022) WikiLeaks Damage Lives On: The Case of Marafa Hamidou Yaya by Niels Marquardt (October 2022) Democracy as a Vocation by José M. Garzón (September 2022) Serbia and Russia and the Coming Balkan Storm by Denis Rajic and Marko Attila Hoare (July-August 2022) iMatch—Ready for Takeoff? by Ubah Khasimuddin (June 2022) On Our Own—Diplomats Deserve Equal Access to Reproductive Health Services by Andrea Capellán (May 2022) No One Was Listening: Russia, 1992 by Kristen K. Loken (April 2022) Time to Bring Back Legations Headed by Diplomatic Agents? by Gerald Loftus and Stuart Denyer (March 2022) A Paradigm Shift for Diversity by Lia Miller, Ana Escrogima and Christina Tilghman (November 2021) Knowledge Management @ State: It’s not the technology. It’s the people. by Yomaris Macdonald, Lourdes Cue, Timothy Haynes, Jennifer L. Smith and Benjamin A. Tietz (October 2021) The Remonstrating Official by Ted Osius (September 2021) A U.S.-German Look at the Essentials for Modern Diplomacy by Mirko Kruppa and Kenneth Kero-Mentz (July-August 2021) The Case Against Political Ambassadors by Edward L. Peck (June 2021) How the 1619 Project Can Help Public Diplomacy by John Fer (May 2021) Resilience Leadership by Josh Glazeroff (April 2021) On State Reform by Dennis Jett (March 2021) Food & Fun, or Debt & Despair? The Commissary Crisis and the Future of Employee Associations by Llywelyn Graeme (December 2020) Female, (Won’t) Curtail & Yale: Waiting to Exhale by Samantha Jackson, Ayanda Francis-Gao, Lisa-Felicia Akorli, Aja Kennedy, Annah Mwendar-Chaba and Tessa Henry (November 2020) Stop Shipping Your Personal Vehicle! by Warren Leishman (October 2020) Why “27 Years and Out” Should Be Retired by Ted Craig (September 2020) Changing Mindsets on Race at State by P. Michael McKinley (July-August 2020) Lessons from Silicon Valley: Practical Suggestions for a Modern Workplace by Andrew R. Moore (June 2020) The Diplomat and the State by Christopher W. Smith (May 2020) Breaking Away from “Born, Not Made” by Andrea Susana Martinez Donnally and Christina T. Le (April 2020) Integrity First by Alan Larson (March 2020) Truth and Honor by Harry Kopp (January-February 2020) In Support of Professional Nonpartisan Diplomacy (December 2019) Preventing Domestic Violence Is Our Shared Responsibility by Leslie Bassett (November 2019) There Is No “Complacent State” by Andrew Kelly (October 2019) How to Strengthen Human Rights Diplomacy by Samuel C. Downing (September 2019) Reforming State’s Personnel System Could Work This Time by Ronald E. Neumann (July-August 2019) Afghanistan: Rightsizing Expectations by Annie Pforzheimer (June 2019) Straight Talk on Bidding: What You Need to Know Before Trying for That Heavily Bid Job by Paul Poletes (April 2019) Compassion Fatigue in the Foreign Service by Kovia Gratzon-Erskine (March 2019) Improving the Economic Career Track by Virginia Bennett (January-February 2019) A Worldwide FSN Association at State: Advancing a Practical Dream by Eddy Olislaeger (December 2018) Radically Simple Ideas for a Better State: Foreign Service 2.0 by JC Windham (November 2018) What Is It We’re Doing Again? Time to Rethink How the State Department Communicates by Peter Lohman (October 2018) Diversity: Not Just a Cause for the Underrepresented by Jay Porter (September 2018) Two Ears, One Mouth, Two Hands: Diplomacy 101 by Jason Criss Howk (June 2018) What State Should Bring to the Table: Cultural and Language Expertise by Phil Skotte (May 2018) Respect, Trust and Partnership: Keeping Diplomacy on Course in Troubling Times by Ted Osius (April 2018) Families with Special Needs Kids Need Support by Kathi Silva (March 2018) Applying Behavioral Economics to the State Department by Rob Kirk (January-February 2018) Religious Diversity Benefits the State Department by Phil Skotte (December 2017) Owning Leadership by Michael Pelletier (November 2017) Decision-Making in Times of Uncertainty by Charles Ray (October 2017) How to Get More Bang for Our FSI Buck: Engaging Foreign Diplomats and Diasporas by Michael Rosenthal (September 2017) The Value and Purpose of American Diplomacy by William J. Burns (July-August 2017) The Golden Rule of Professionalism by Matt Tompkins (June 2017) Digital Diplomacy: Will State Ever Take the Plunge? by Amelia Shaw (May 2017) Why We Need a Better Intranet and How to Get It by Bradley Meacham (April 2017) With Deep Regret... by TJ Lunardi (March 2017) Why U.S. Ambassadors Should Be Career Professionals by Edward L. Peck (January-February 2017) Why USAID's New Approach to Development Assistance is Stalled by Thomas Dichter (December 2016) Getting Beyond Bureaucratese - Why Writing Like Robots Damages U.S. Interests by Paul Poletes (November 2016) Safeguarding a Nonpartisan Foreign Service by Matthew V. Tompkins (October 2016) Neglecting World's Fairs Doesn't Make Them Go Away, So Let's Do It Right by Beatrice Camp (September 2016) Reforming Entry-Level Assignments by Andrew Kelly (July-August 2016) Supporting FS Families with Special Needs Children by Maureen Danzot and Mark R. Evans (June 2016) Hippocrates and Hobbes, Assad and ISIS by Raymond Smith (May 2016) The Department of State: Mission and Vision Examined by Edward Marks (April 2016) More Hemingway, Less Kafka, Please by Matthew Keene (March 2016) Retiree Access, Step by Step by Mary Ellen Gilroy (January-February 2016) Proving Public Diplomacy Programs Work by James Rider (December 2015) The Trouble with the Lawyers List by James Ehrman (November 2015) Seeking Parity Between the Civil and Foreign Services by Larry W. Roeder, Jr. (October 2015) The State Department Needs to Reevaluate Its Use of 360-Degree Reviews by William Bent (September 2015) America Needs a Professional Foreign Service by Charles A. Ray (July-August 2015) Employee Plus One: Marriage and the War for Talent by Michael Guest (June 2015) A Strategic Approach to Public Diplomacy by Joe B. Johnson (May 2015) Citizenship and Unwed Border Mothers: The Misfortune of Geography by Amelia Shaw (April 2015) A Glass Half Full by David T. Jones (March 2015) Defining Diplomacy by Edward Marks (January-February 2015) Twitter is a Cocktail Party, Not a Press Conference (or, Social Media for Reporting Officers) by Wren Elhai (December 2014) What Specialists Want You to Know compiled by Francesca Kelly (October 2014) 'Up or Out' is Harming American Foreign Policy by George B. Lambrakis (September 2014) How to Get Better Ambassadors by Dennis Jett (July-August 2014) Publishing in the Foreign Service by Yaniv Barzilai (June 2014) Getting State and the Foreign Service Back in the Game by Robert Hunter (May 2014) Bring Back the Powell Fellows Program by Tyler Sparks (April 2014) Hispanic Representation at USAID: Why So Low for So Long? by José Garzón (March 2014) Protecting the Realm: The Past Must Be Prologue by Timothy Lawson (Jan/Feb 2014) A Plea for Greater Teamwork in the Foreign Service by George B. Lambrakis (December 2013) Keeping Faith with State’s Wounded Warriors by Juliet Wurr (November 2013) Iran and the United States: Getting to Yes by George B. Lambrakis (June 2013) It’s Time to Update the Threashhold Review by Brian T. Neubert (May 2013) Unionization, AFSA and the Foreign Service by David T. Jones (April 2013) The Value of Fortress Embassies by Nick Pietrowicz (February 2013) Facing the Unthinkable: Time for FCS to Merge with State? by Daniel Harris (January 2013) Reasons for Hope in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict by Kristin K. Loken (December 2012) Psst! Hey, Buddy, Wanna Buy an Ambassadorship? by Dennis Jett (November 2012) Achieving Work-Life Balance at State by Lillian C. Wahl-Tuco (October 2012) Overhauling the EER Process by Tyler Sparks (September 2012) Purchasing Parity: USAID’s EFM Language Training Policy by Brenden M. Wheeler (April 2012) How Data Visualization Can Change Diplomacy by Chris Bronk and Scott Smith (March 2012) Implementing the QDDR at Chief-of-Mission Level by Edward Marks (February 2012) The Next 50 Years by George F. Jones (January 2012) FS Blogging: An Opportunity, Not a Threat by Matt Keene (December 2011) Why the Foreign Service Should Be More Like the Army by Jon P. Dorschner (November 2011) Not-So-Smart Power by James Stephenson (October 2011) Needed: A Professional Specialization in International Organizational Affairs by Edward Marks (Jul/Aug 2011) Is the Foreign Service Still a Profession? by George B. Lambrakis (June 2011) Building Professional Skills by William P. Schofield (May 2011) Out with the Old, In with the New by Bruce K. Byers (April 2011) AFSA Members Speak Out on the WikiLeaks Mess (March 2011) Welcoming the Disabled to the Foreign Service by Michael Bricker (January 2011) U.S. Foreign Economic Assistance in Perspective by Raymond Malley (December 2010) Making Provincial Reconstruction Terms More Effective by Patricia Thomson (November 2010) Defining the Ideal Diplomat by Marc Grossman (October 2010) Recognizing Those Who Have Made a Difference by Edward L. Peck (September 2010) Latin America's Latest Victim: The Free Press by Christopher Teal and Silvio Gonzalez (Jul/Aug 2010) Diego Garcia: Freedom’s Footprint, or Enduring Injustice? by Gerald Loftus (June 2010) Time for State to Get Up To Speed by Tom Casey (May 2010) DNA: The Future of Immigrant Visa Processing by Simon Hankinson (April 2010) A Real Reset Button for U.S.-Russian Relations by Thompson Buchanan (March 2010) Starting the “New Gender Agenda” at Home by Amanda Fernandez (February 2010) The Population Bomb is Still Ticking by Michael Fritz (January 2010) Restore State’s Office of Public Communications by Alexis Ludwig (December 2009) Merge USAID Fully Into State by Raymond Malley (November 2009) Public Diplomacy: A View from the Front Line by PDFL Working Group (October 2009) Strengthen the Process for Middle East Diplomacy by David T. Jones (September 2009) Regaining Relevance: Five Steps to Strengthen State by William I. Bacchus (Jul/Aug 2009) EERs: The Forgotten Front in the War for Talent by Jonathan Fritz (June 2009) Hope for Gay and Lesbian Foreign Service Employees by Steven Giegerich (May 2009) Expanding Language Capacity Through Incentive Pay by Mark Allen (April 2009) Twelve Recommendations to Improve the Security Clearance Process by Daniel M. Hirsch (March 2009) AFRICOM & SOUTHCOM: Reliquaria from an Earlier Era by David Passage (February 2009) Let’s Help “H” Make the Case for State by Stetson Sanders (January 2009) It’s Time for State to Educate Senior Officers by Robert B. Newlin (November 2008) Mid-Level Hiring and the War for Talent by Kevin D. Stringer (October 2008) State’s Wrong Turn on the Information Highway by Scott Rauland (September 2008) Where Have All the Senior-Level Women Gone? by Susan Crais Hovanec (June 2008) Heading Off More Clashes in the Strait of Hormuz by Benjamin Tua (May 2008) Needed: A New Foreign Service Agenda by Alphonse F. La Porta (April 2008) Member of Household Policy: Failing Our Families by Michael Guest (March 2008) Taking the King’s Shilling by David T. Jones (February 2008) Expeditionary Sidekicks? The Military-Diplomatic Dynamic by Gerald Loftus (December 2007) Caution: Iraq is not Vietnam by David Passage (November 2007) Six Simple Proposals to Improve Efficiency and Morale by Hollis Summers (September 2007) U.S. Diplomacy: Can Science Help? by Kristen M. Lord (July-August 2007) Working it Out with the Military: The View from Kabul by Thomas E. Johnson, Jr. (June 2007) When Importance is Equated with Danger by Brian T. Neubert (May 2007) Time to Overhaul Contact Reporting Requirements by David J. Firestein (April 2007) How to Measure an Ambassador by J Michael Cleverley (March 2007) The Lost Art of Experimentation by Michael Bricker (February 2007) Long Term Senior Interagency Education Could Be Privatized by John Bushnell (January 2007) Immigration Policy for the 21st Century by David Searby (December 2006) Political Appointees: A Cost-Benefit Analysis by William F. Davnie (November 2006) Reaching Out to Muslims by Richard S. Sacks (October 2006) Time to Read the U.N.’s Culture of Corruption by Thomas D. Boyatt (September 2006) Run, Lemmings, Run by David T. Jones (July-August 2006) Iranian Nuclear Weapons: Advantage or Liability? by George B. Lambrakis (June 2006) What Are We Training IMSers To Do? by Carl E. Stefan (May 2006) Opening Embassies: A New Approach Needed by Joseph Schreiber (April 2006) Micromanagement and the Culture of Fear by Llywelyn C. Graeme (March 2006) It’s Not Who You Know, It’s Where You Serve by John Allen Quintus (February 2006) 25 Years Later, Time for Dialogue with Iran by Bruce Laingen (January 2006) Implement Career Development by Reforming the Assignment System by Camille Hill (December 2005) Leadership at State by Prudence Bushnell (November 2005) Let’s Use International Organizations to Fight Terrorism by Leon Weintraub (October 2005) The Truth About Language Instruction at FSI by Marie T. Huhtala (September 2005) Making Better Use of Eligible Family Members by Scott I. Danaher (July-August 2005) Guideposts for Generalists: The Career Development Program by Josh Glazeroff (June 2005) Making a Tragic Mistake in Indonesia by Edmund McWilliams (May 2005) Public Diplomacy: What Have We Learned? by Joe Johnson (April 2005) In Defense of Foreign Service Reporting by Necia Quast (March 2005) Foreign Service Evaluations: A Broken System by Michael C. Gonzales (February 2005) Toward A Points-Based Promotion System by Kenneth J. Fairfax (January 2005) The Lessons of Darfur by Harry C. Blaney III (December 2004) Achieving Full Diversity in the Foreign Service by Ajit Joshi (November 2004) A Failure of Imagination by Beatrice A. Camp (October 2004) A Cry for Justice by Larry W. Roeder, Jr. (September 2004) A Tribute to the Senior Seminar by William Stedman (July-August 2004) Saddam Hussein’s Trial: Due Process or Victor’s Justice? by Jason D. Soderblom (May 2004) U.S. Diplomacy and Other Sacrifices by John Brady Keisling (March 2004) IT: Spending is Not Enough by Joe B. Johnson (February 2004) Time to Speak Up for the Voice of America by Myrna Whitworth (January 2004) The Foreign Service and the Quality of Intelligence by Charles O. Cecil (December 2003) The Middle East Road Map: Going Nowhere Fast by Ronald Spiers (November 2003) Religion and Diplomacy by Phil Skotte (October 2003) Why Dissent is Important and Resignation Honorable by Ann Wright (September 2003) Why I Resigned by John Brown (September 2003) Strengthen Diplomacy for the War on Terror by Sen. Richard G. Lugar (July-August 2003) Dissent Again by David T. Jones (June 2003) Toward a True Israeli-Palestinian Peace by Max M. Kampelman (May 2003) Does State Need Volcker-Style Reform? by Anthony C. E. Quainton (April 2003) Anti-Nepotism Waivers: Let Them Bake Cake by Gina Willis (March 2003) Ambassadors and Post Morale by Tibor P. Nagy, Jr. (February 2003) The Courage of Our Convictions by Ken Moskowitz (January 2003)
