The Foreign Service Journal, February 2013

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | FEBRUARY 2013 39 AFSA NEWS career. Today, by contrast, many of the initiatives of Economic “Stagecraft”—I use that epithet because so many of the efforts seem to focus as much on show (witness “Economic Day”) as substance—anything but col- laborative. Some of my econ colleagues tell me that much of this angst started with the FCS repositioning program, where we closed offices that shifted more work on to State. Some of you might be saying, why worry? In the end, each chief of mission will sort out these cables and initiatives as they see fit. To understand why this matters, I invite you to read the Janu- ary Speaking Out column by Commerce’s Dan Harris, regional director for East Asia and the Pacific, on the possibilities of moving FCS into State. At the same time all this is going on, we are facing a major internal reorganization of the International Trade Administration. If any of the many organi- zational possibilities are to be successful, they will have to preserve the FCS’s business- oriented culture. Expanding exports and creating jobs in the U.S. have given com- mercial work unprecedented priority. Potentially, there are both efficiencies and greater economies of scale to be gained for the critical com- mercial work of expanding and protecting our nation’s economic well-being. Now that we have the elections behind us, and the very serious business of set- ting priorities and containing government costs ahead of us, we need to focus on how to get this right. Let us look carefully at all the options, for there is much to lose, as well as much to gain in this area vital to our nation’s well- being. n FCS VP VOICE | BY KEITH CURTIS Views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the AFSA FCS VP. The relationship between the Foreign Commercial Ser- vice and the Department of State’s Bureau of Economic Affairs has been a bumpy one during the 25 years that I have served in the Foreign Service. But it seems to have gotten even bumpier in the last two years because of the double whammy of FCS shift- ing resources from lower-pri- ority to higher-priority mar- kets and thereby requiring more coverage from State, at the same time that State has put renewed emphasis on economic issues in its Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review. Over the course of my career I have tended to ignore as much as possible bureaucratic turf battles, which are uninteresting in the short run and unimport- ant in the long one. I prefer to get my job satisfaction from gettng things done and having real hands-on, results- oriented experiences with U.S. businesspeople, rather than writing a memo or cable to Washington about who did what. My experience in the field is that there has always been more than enough work to go around, so it never made any sense to fight over who does what. I have a high regard for the abilities of my econ colleagues and have almost always enjoyed working with them in a friendly and col- legial way. In fact, to borrow a phrase, “Some of my best friends are econ officers.” I would like to thank them for their help, and the fun we have had together. The best of the best are those that have low regard for their own bureaucracy. In this respect, The Foreign Service Journal ’s October issue on the new generation of officers was very insightful. The new offi- cers—more than 60 percent of whom have joined since 9/11—see the bureaucracy as one of the biggest problems. What has changed is a serious and alarming lack of coordination in Wash- ington. And unfortunately, this seems to be more by design than by accident. In the past, a serious cable on worldwide Commercial Service issues would have never gone out without the clearance of our agency. I can recall several joint cables being sent by the Secretar- ies of State and Commerce on these issues during my Now that we have the elections behind us, and the very serious business of setting priorities and containing government costs ahead of us, we need to focus on how to get this right. Nominate a Colleague for an AFSA Dissent Award by Feb. 28 Time is running out to nominate a colleague for one of AFSA’s Constructive Dissent Awards. Let’s recognize those who have had the courage to step forward with a valid argument worthy of changing course or policy. The deadline for the 2013 AFSA Dissent Awards is Feb. 28 at 5 p.m. For more infor- mation and the nomination form, please go to www. afsa.org/dissent. N ominations must be submitted to Perri Green at green@afsa.org. NEWS BRIEF Much to Lose, Much to Gain