The Foreign Service Journal - January/February 2018

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2018 9 eign Service career, explains the U.S. role in creating and working with partners from 70 countries that are part of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. Part II of our Diplomacy Works series offers more brief accounts from practitio- ners, illustrating how the day-to-day work of diplomacy over past and more recent decades has served our national interest and contributed to a better, more peace- ful world. (Foreign Service readers, please continue to share your stories. Send to journal@afsa.org. ) This issue of the Journal also contains the ever-popular annual AFSA Tax Guide. And while you’re facing taxes, we thought it would be useful to offer a bonus article fromDonna Gorman sharing experts’ advice on planning for retirement, at each stage of your career. And this month’s Speaking Out, from IMO Rob Kirk, looks at “Applying Behavioral Economics to the State Department.” The President’s Views column from December, “Time to Ask Why,” contin- ues to contribute to what has become a national conversation about the need for a strong Foreign Service and U.S. global dip- lomatic role (see Talking Points). Ambas- sador Stephenson follows this month with a “A Foreign Service Wish List.” I close by calling your attention to the heightened support for the Foreign Service that we are seeing fromCongress. In this issue, we inaugurate a new feature, Message from the Hill, in which a member of Congress speaks directly to the Foreign Service. Representative TimWalz of Min- nesota leads the way. n LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Global Leadership BY SHAWN DORMAN W e know nine in 10 Ameri- cans favor U.S. global leadership, but what does that look like, and how can we show the critical role the U.S. Foreign Service plays? Those are the questions we started with in shaping this month’s focus, which follows naturally from last December’s discussion of how diplomacy works and why it matters. A thought-provoking look ahead from the highest-level active-duty member of the Foreign Service today is the capstone of this issue. In “Reimagining the Future of American Leadership,” Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs TomShannon emphasizes that U.S. leadership today must be defined by our grasp of future trends. Dr. Amy Garrett from the State Department Historian’s Office looks back at a seminal example of U.S. global lead- ership, the European Recovery Program, better known as the Marshall Plan, on the eve of its 70th anniversary. We move then to some ground-level accounts of U.S. diplomacy in action on contemporary challenges—frompandemic disease threats to international terrorism. First, JimBever, USAIDmission director for Ghana in 2014, describes the vital work done by U.S. diplomats and development professionals, through an interagency effort led by USAID, on site in that country to help contain and defeat the spread of Ebola. Then Pamela Quan- rud, who just retired following a 30-year For- Shawn Dorman is the editor of The Foreign Service Journal.