The Foreign Service Journal, January 2009

16 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 9 H appy New Year! Once again it’s time for my periodic invi- tation to take advantage of the many opportunities to contribute to the Journal . Each issue of the magazine features a focus section examining various facets of an issue related to the Foreign Service or international relations. This month, as President Barack Obama takes office, we examine the transfor- mational diplomacy initiative, includ- ing the Global Repositioning Program, that outgoing Secretary of State Con- doleezza Rice launched with great fan- fare three years ago. Whether to retain that approach is one of the key foreign policy decisions the new administration faces, yet to the best of my knowledge, there was no debate about the program before or after it was announced — neither in- side nor outside State. And as far as I know, there has been no public assess- ment of its progress. To rectify that situation, we are pleased to present Associate Editor Shawn Dorman’s article describing how the program has been imple- mented, both inWashington and in the field, and how it has fared thus far. Her research began last spring in In- donesia, where she was able to meet with the GRP officers at Embassy Jakarta, as well as the deputy chief of mission, the management counselor, the political counselor and others. The U.S. mission to Indonesia has turned out to represent a sort of best-case sce- nario for effective utilization of GRP positions. The broader story is not as positive, however. Shawn repeatedly ran into one dis- concerting problem that bears men- tion: many Foreign Service personnel speaking about their experience with GRP declined to be quoted by name. Some of them even asked her not to mention their post, for fear of retalia- tion. It should trouble all of us that so few people felt safe going on the record on a subject of professional in- terest. The falloff in use of the Dissent Channel and in nominations for AFSA’s Constructive Dissent Awards in recent years may be another reflection of this climate. And the fact that the outgoing administration allowed the four- decade-old Secretary’s Open Forum to go dormant certainly reinforced the view that constructive dissent is not welcomed. We follow that article with two oth- ers that examine other aspects of the outgoing administration’s record on transformational diplomacy: “The Brave New World of Democracy Pro- motion” by Robert McMahon of the Council on Foreign Relations, and “The Middle Eastern Partnership Ini- tiative: Adding to the Diplomatic Tool- box,” by FSO Peter Mulrean. Looking ahead: To the right is a list of the focus topics our Editorial Board has identified for the coming year L ETTER FROM THE E DITOR B Y S TEVEN A LAN H ONLEY 2009 EDITORIAL CALENDAR for the FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL JANUARY 2009 Transformational Diplomacy/ Global Repositioning Program FEBRUARY 2009 The World Politics of Energy (PLUS AFSA Tax Guide) MARCH 2009 Coping with Separation: Unaccompanied Posts & Evacuations (PLUS AFSA Annual Report) APRIL 2009 60th Anniversary of NATO MAY 2009 Iraq after the War: Relations with Iran and the Region JUNE 2009 USAID/MCA & Development Assistance (PLUS semiannual SCHOOLS SUPPLEMENT) JULY-AUGUST 2009 FAS and FCS (PLUS AFSA Awards coverage) SEPTEMBER 2009 Consular Issues OCTOBER 2009 Public Diplomacy a Decade after USIA’s Demise NOVEMBER 2009 COVER STORY: “In Their Own Write” (annual roundup of books by FS authors) DECEMBER 2009 The Foreign Service as an Institution (PLUS semiannual SCHOOLS SUPPLEMENT)