The Foreign Service Journal, January 2003

strated skills equal to those of FS personnel in the other foreign affairs agencies, there is some- thing about them that is different from the rest of the Foreign Service, the rest of the Commerce Department work- force, and our counterparts in the private sector. I’d like to address each of those compar- isons in turn. “Another” Foreign Service? When serving overseas, FCSOs work closely with our other Foreign Service colleagues to accomplish the mission’s objectives. International understanding and cordial relations with our host country are important. However, the profit motive and business success are our principal motivators. The relationship between State and Commerce has always been clear on paper, even if it has not been con- sistently implemented. A memorandum of under- standing carefully crafted by the two agencies in 1982 guarantees FCS personnel a respected position on the country team and specifies that the senior commercial officer at post is supposed to be the ambassador’s prime confidant regarding commercial issues. At least that is the message Commerce gives new SCOs. Yet a few years ago, the Secretary of Commerce sought to explain the agreement to the ambassador at a large embassy and request more careful concurrence with the precepts in regard to the role of the SCO. To para- phrase the secretary’s response after meeting with the ambassador, the ambassador was well aware of the MOU and equally aware that she could manage the post as she wanted regardless of that guidance. The fact that the agreement has not been formally modified in the last 20 years could be because: 1) It’s dif- ficult, if not impossible, to negotiate any documents with Commerce; 2) State and Com- merce officials in Washington think all is well, so there is no need to change the agreement; or 3) FSOs and FCSOs in the field have developed a professional working relationship without need of an MOU. Whatever the reason(s), this isn’t the first case where those who do the heavy lifting do it best without close supervision. Many embassies have formed a Commercial Team (also sometimes known as the Ag-Econ-Commercial Team or the Econ-Commercial Team). Regardless of the name, the team consists of the State economic counselor, the Foreign Agricultural Service officer and the Foreign Commercial Service officer. It has been my experience that the econ officers take the lead on economic reporting and direct negotiations with the host country government; the agriculture officer is responsible for policy issues and promotions related to agricultural products; and the FCSO takes lead respon- sibility for trade promotion and outreach to the busi- ness community (e.g., the American Chamber of Commerce, importers’ associations). It is a classic interagency group with the same prob- lems found in its larger “cousins” within the Beltway. Since the team has no official charter or MOU, it works only if the three agency representatives agree on responsibilities and lead/back-up roles. But when it works, it works well: there has been a consensus among those with whom I have served that trade promotion events organized by FCS are much more enjoyable than treaty negotiations, summit meetings or VIP visits. For example, the FCSO may get credit for assisting an American-invested company with its first major sale, though that may not have been possible without the economics officer having successfully negotiated a mar- ket opening agreement with the host country. And although there are specific agreements between Commerce and Agriculture covering the market pro- motion of beer, wine, freshwater fish and saltwater fish, I have been accredited to nine embassies and have yet to learn officially which agency is designated to do what. We just always did what needed to be done, often without official guidance. Even when the agreement is faithfully observed, F O C U S 30 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 3 Peter Frederick is AFSA’s Vice-President for FCS. An FSO since 1982, he has served in Canada, Australia, Korea, France, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Washington, D.C. He was also the first career FSO to serve as deputy assistant secretary of Commerce. Prior to joining FCS, he was a country manager for E.I. Dupont in Argentina. FCS is the only federal government agency that offers the same service to its clients anywhere in the world.