The Foreign Service Journal, January 2009

J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 9 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 13 S ince I joined the Foreign Service five years ago, two things have surprised me: the constant re- frain to “do more with less” because of inadequate resources, and the hands- off approach of the State Department toward Capitol Hill. Increasingly, I have come to see these two issues as intertwined, the former caused by the latter. While there is no substitute for an active, committed Secretary of State and front office in making the argu- ment for more resources, the depart- ment should also raise its profile with policymakers and appropriators on Capitol Hill by investing in the Bureau of Legislative Affairs. Known as “H,” the bureau could be an effective advo- cate for the department and help re- claim State’s proper place in the for- eign affairs community. Readers of this magazine know all too well that the Foreign Service’s growing responsibilities for “transfor- mational diplomacy” call for the re- sources to identify, train and deploy a larger and more sophisticated corps. Yet despite the Diplomatic Readiness Initiative and other efforts to keep up with those demands, all the trends are going in the wrong direction. Fortunately, as the focus section of the December issue of the Foreign Service Journal spelled out, a wide- spread, bipartisan consensus has de- veloped that the situation has become too dire for “business as usual.” So now is the time to expand the Legisla- tive Affairs Bureau’s capacity to fight for us on several fronts to attain: greatly increased funding streams in order to meet the department’s expanding responsibilities; broader recognition of the role and needs of the Foreign Service among policymakers on the Hill; increased involvement of rele- vant congressional staff in State’s overseas activities; and closer collab- oration with the private and nonprofit sectors. Increase H’s Staffing Policymaking on Capitol Hill is a contact sport that relies on relation- ships. Sending more State personnel to build those relationships will im- prove opportunities to make our case. Currently, the H Bureau consists of just three people in the Appropriations Affairs section, and four each to deal with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. As hard as those individuals work, such limited staffing is simply inadequate. Consider the following statistic: The Bureau’s Liaison Office, now appro- priately located in the Rayburn House Office Building, conducted visits to 174 members of Congress during Fis- cal Year 2006, according to its FY 2009 Strategic Plan. But that means 361 members — fully two-thirds of the leg- islative branch — did not receive an outreach visit that year. No wonder the department’s resource needs are not a high priority on Capitol Hill! While the H Bureau recognizes it needs to do more, it has been con- strained by the very resource problem this column seeks to address, operating at funding 30 percent below minimum needs. But as Ambassador Thomas Boyatt, a long-time advocate of lobby- ing Congress to support diplomacy, stated in a July-August 2008 Foreign Service Journal interview, we ought to “build the structure around the needs” —not simply cobble together our strat- egy after we’re told how many re- sources we have at our disposal. Target Outreach Efforts State’s congressional relations team needs to include mid-level and senior staff members dedicated to liaison work with each of the following con- stituencies: • House Committee on Foreign Af- fairs • House Appropriations Commit- tee’s Subcommittee on Foreign Affairs • Individual House member offices • Senate Foreign Relations Com- mittee • Senate Appropriations Commit- tee’s Subcommittee on State, Foreign Let’s Help “H” Make the Case for State B Y S TETSON S ANDERS S PEAKING O UT Investing in the Bureau of Legislative Affairs, known as H, will make it a more effective advocate for the department.