88 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2024 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL United States is a superpower and has global interests. We should be everywhere. Any duty officer who has fielded midnight calls from Americans in trouble will tell you that Americans are in every corner of the globe. Even if you don’t buy that argument, there is something special about Tonga and the U.S.-Tongan relationship. There are nearly 70,000 Tongan Americans in the United States. Tonga is rich in marine resources and is a bellwether state for climate change adaptation. As the second most disaster-prone country in the world, Tonga stands to benefit from American emergency response expertise. provided by Ambassador Marie Damour, who remains the chief of mission for Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Tuvalu, and Tonga until an ambassador is confirmed for Tonga. Our fledgling operation in Nuku`alofa doubled in size when the ambassador sent Gus Mario from Procurement and Samson Shankaran from Facilities. Gus and Samson helped find official residences, outfit the building with essential safety and security equipment, and begin the procurement of the thousands of items an embassy requires. Meanwhile, the Overseas Buildings Operations Bureau (OBO) and East Asian and Pacific Affairs Bureau (EAP) were moving mountains in Washington. The lesson is that even in the most remote posts, there is a team ready and willing to help. 2. DRAW FROM EXPERIENCE If there were a brick with the name of every contributor to the embassy’s opening, we would have a wall of hundreds of bricks. But you might find a pattern. In recruiting temporary duty (TDY) assistance, EAP found officers with unique experience around the world to come to Nuku`alofa. Alan Smith, Chris Hodges, Kevin Brendle, and Paul Neville had all served in Tonga with the Peace Corps or covered Tonga from Fiji. They believed in the relationship and even fought for establishing an American embassy over the years. They came to serve as chargés for several weeks, each with language skills, contacts, and context. Some still knew the royal family, some were fluent enough to do television interviews in Tongan, and all brought a love of Tonga and its rich culture. That love seemed to be reciprocated as they were welcomed back as old friends. And yes, there is a geopolitical imperative. China’s game in the Pacific is robust and growing. Sgt. Alavoni Tukunga (second from left) accepts the first American flag to fly over U.S. Embassy Nuku`alofa at the new embassy’s “soft opening” on May 10, 2023. From left: Major Jimmy Kow (U.S. Army), Tukunga, Antone Greubel (deputy chief of mission, U.S. Embassy Fiji), and Tom Armbruster (senior adviser). U.S. EMBASSY NUKU`ALOFA And yes, there is a geopolitical imperative. China’s game in the Pacific is robust and growing. They offer scholarships to young Pacific Islanders who come home speaking Chinese and more sympathetic to China’s world outlook. China’s ambassadors have wide spending discretion and love to make a splash at diplomatic events with large monetary contributions. Their building projects are anything but modest. Understanding that, here are the lessons we learned in opening the embassy. 1. REMEMBER IT’S A TEAM SPORT What kept us out of trouble were resources from U.S. Embassy Suva
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