The Foreign Service Journal, January-February 2019

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2019 17 only 15 ambassador nominations have been confirmed, including nominees for Somalia, Moldova, Nepal and Suriname. Currently, 53 ambassador nominations are awaiting action. At press time, AFSA was tracking a total of 32 ambassador vacancies. Vacant, in this instance, means that no one has been nominated or confirmed for the position of ambassador and the previous incumbent has left post. Nominees for various senior posts at State andUSAID also continue to come forward, with 11 nominations since July 1. These include assistant secretaries for the Bureaus of East Asia and the Pacific and Political-Military Affairs, the Director General of the Foreign Service and three USAID assistant administrator positions. Confirmations have similarly slowed to a trickle on this front, however, with only five of the nominees confirmed since July 1. AFSA is tracking 18 senior nominations that the Senate has yet to act on. Through November 2018, the Trump administration has nominated 130 ambassadors. Sixty-seven, or 51.5 per- cent, are career members of the Foreign Service, while 63, or 48.5 percent, are political appointees. The long-awaited hearing for Carol Perez, picked to be the new Director General, was held on Dec. 4. There was no vote at the time of this writing. As is customary, AFSA expects the Senate to confirm all noncontroversial nominations—including most, if not all, career FS nominations—before the end of the 115th Congress, so these statistics should improve after this issue has gone to press. Our diplomatic personnel on the ground in these countries have unique insights on their political and economic complexities. We must domore to use this information to help the private sector do business abroad and support U.S. foreign policy in upholding global stability. —Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), in a Nov. 26 press release regarding the Championing Ameri- can Businesses Through Diplomacy Act of 2018. It’s critical we protect our frontline civilians who serve in the most dangerous corners of our world. This includes adapting to new technologies that compromise security and ensuring that the State Department works to specifically address vulnerabilities exposed through location- tracking consumer devices. I’m glad to see the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted in favor of the Protecting Diplomats from SurveillanceThrough Consumer Devices Act today, and hope to see it sent to the president’s desk soon. Today’s passage brings us one step closer to comprehensively protecting those who risk their lives in service to our nation. —Representative Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee andHouse Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and First Vice Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, in press release onNov. 28, 2018. Petty Officer First Class Glen “Bub” Doherty and Senior Chief Petty Officer Tyrone Woods were Navy SEALS doing what they loved, serving as security personnel in Libya and working to protect U.S. diplomats. Ambassa- dor J. Christopher Stevens and Staff Sergeant Sean Smith combined for 31 years of service with the U.S. State Department. In honor of the memory of these four brave men killed during those fateful 13 hours in Benghazi, our bill formally recognizes them with the Congressional Gold Medal for their heroism and dedication to our country. —Facebook post from Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.) on Nov. 21, 2018. We have lost so many lives and expended so much on con- flicts that don’t seem to ever get resolved. Addressing fragility brings us closer to the root causes of these conflicts and we owe it to our servicemen and women, to members of our Foreign Service, and to the American people to do that. Time and again, our research has shown that focusing on fragility will be a much more effective way of creating more sustain- able peace and security around the world. —Rep. Bill Keating (D-Mass.), ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade and Co-Chair of the Congressional Counterterrorism Caucus, regarding the House’s passage of the Global Fragility and Violence Reduction Act on Nov. 27, 2018. Heard on the Hill JOSH