40 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2025 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Tony Motley said he was going to ask me, and, thanks to Tony and the HR team, I had the answers. At the end, he said: “So, what could I do for you? What would really show the people here something really great, something fantastic?” … I pulled out my slides on the float, which I called the Diplomatic Readiness Initiative. I pitched him, and he said, “First of all, I have to tell you I hate the name ‘diplomatic readiness.’” I said, “I do not care what you call it, actually, if you give me 1,200 people.” And he said, “We will have to think about the name.” I said: “You are going to testify to the need for readiness. Who better to testify about the need for readiness than the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs?” He said: “I hate the name, but the substance is great. I commit to you, right this afternoon, that we will get these 1,200 people over three years.” I said: “Really?” He said: “You have my word.” And that is what started the DRI (because in the end he could not think of a better name, and I could not think of a better name), which has been pursued so successfully by my successors, Bob Pearson and Ruth Davis, with strong support from Under Secretary for Management Grant Green. We hired just under 1,200 people in three years. Of course, as we sit here today, we still do not have a 15 percent float for training and transit because most of those people were taken up in Afghanistan and Iraq. But we had the people. n Ambassador Marc Grossman served as Director General and Director of Human Resources when George W. Bush was elected president. He is currently vice chairman of The Cohen Group and was the 2024 winner of AFSA’s Lifetime Contributions to American Diplomacy Award. This interview was conducted by Charles Stuart Kennedy in 2006. President Bill Clinton and President-elect George W. Bush shake hands during their meeting in the Oval Office, Dec. 19, 2000. Inset: President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell at a National Security Council meeting on Sept. 12, 2001. WHITE HOUSE PHOTO OFFICE WHITE HOUSE PHOTO OFFICE
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