The Foreign Service Journal, February 2006

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 6 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 29 he oldest of the federal agencies, the Department of State is a conservative institution with a risk-averse culture. State’s stead- fastness of purpose and avoidance of rapid swings in orientation are positive attributes that reflect its enduring commitment to the basic national interests of the country and its mission to create a more secure, democratic and prosperous world for the benefit of the American people and the international community. Still, far-reaching changes in our foreign policy objectives have occurred in recent years. The Carter administration oversaw a greater emphasis on human rights; during the 1990s we paid more attention to global issues such as the environment; the Clinton and Bush administrations made heightened efforts to combat the scourge of HIV/AIDS; and now we face the threat of global terrorism. There is little doubt that America’s foreign policy challenges are greater than ever. At the same time, both the world and the depart- ment have witnessed profound changes in computing and communication power. Yet despite the demands and opportunities posed by these developments, modifications in the work process of the department — its institutional culture — have been much slower to emerge. The Stage Is Set Nonetheless, change is afoot. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell had a tremendous influence by introducing new ideas and new tools to the depart- ment. He won funding to hire over 1,200 new Foreign Service officers via the Diplomatic Readiness Initia- tive. And he encouraged a significant upgrade of State’s information technology capabilities, including improved bandwidth and networking worldwide and access to the Internet from every department employ- ee’s desktop computer. Drawing on his military career and personal pro- clivities, Powell stressed personal leadership, encour- aged training (mandating mid-level management training for the first time) and urged employees to strike a better balance between official duties and their personal lives. In this connection, Powell actu- ally forbade his top deputies to work in the depart- ment on weekends. Tellingly, however, this order forced many of them to depend on commercial ser- vices such as Yahoo and Hotmail for connectivity, because access to work-related information was not F O C U S O N S E C . R I C E ’ S F I R S T Y E A R A NYWHERE , A NYTIME D IPLOMACY T C HANGES IN INSTITUTIONAL CULTURE AND AN IMPROVED IT INFRASTRUCTURE WILL HELP REALIZE C ONDOLEEZZA R ICE ’ S VISION OF TRANSFORMATIONAL DIPLOMACY . B Y P ETER S. G ADZINSKI