The Foreign Service Journal, March 2005

M A R C H 2 0 0 5 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 7 Why Not Give Credit? While I have not seen Ambassador Negroponte’s message to which AFSA so strenuously objected, based on the account in the January Foreign Service Journal , I completely disagree with the AFSA position. Those will- ing to serve in the toughest, riskiest places without their families should be rewarded with more than a hard- ship differential and danger pay. And instructing the selection boards to take such service into account is hard- ly unprecedented. Those of us who served in Vietnam received such cred- it; I am unashamed to say that I was one who benefited. In the same issue, on page 40, for- mer AFSA president John Naland quotes from the 2004 precepts: “Boards are encouraged to weigh pos- itively creditable performance at hardship and danger pay posts ... including ... Iraq and Afghanistan.” Why all the fuss over the Negroponte telegram? A case could probably be made that a large number of those who volunteered to serve in Iraq or Afghanistan are among our most dedicated and high-achieving offi- cers who, one hopes, are always pro- moted at well above average rates. No one thinks being assigned to Baghdad or Kabul should mean an automatic promotion, but positive credit for such service is quite cor- rectly encouraged. Walter A. Lundy FSO, retired Arlington, Va. FSJ : A Useful Tool I want to thank the Journal for the breadth and depth of the articles pub- lished this past year. The variety of topics and the thoroughness with which they’re presented have been really useful. As a retired FSO (USIA) and American Studies professor, I’ve been developing and teaching “Dimensions of Diplomacy,” “A Practical Guide to International Relations” and “The World View Factor in Politics and International Relations” as an adjunct at the University of California/ Berkeley, Sonoma State University and University of Phoenix/Online. I build the need for public diplomacy into each course, and into my public speaking as well. Jay Gurian FSO, retired Santa Rosa, Calif. U.S. Colleges Abroad I have particularly appreciated recent issues of the Journal and, now living and working in Greece, I find the FSJ an excellent vehicle for keep- ing in touch. Keep up the good work in 2005. Tibor Nagy is absolutely right in his December letter that post-9/11 circumstances have resulted in a criti- cal loss of international students for U.S. universities, and that European and Asian competitors have made gains, probably permanent, at our expense. From my perspective as president of Anatolia College and its higher division, the American College of Thessaloniki, I would like to high- light the vital role of U.S.-accredited colleges and universities abroad. Under secretaries for public diplo- macy charged with repackaging the U.S. image abroad — like breakfast cereal or toothpaste — come and go. But these institutions — from Kyrgyz- stan to Lebanon, Egypt, Greece, Spain, France and Britain — are there for the long haul, and their credibility is an overlooked and in- valuable resource for the United States. The Association of American International Colleges and Univer- sities, with some 20 U.S.-accredited members, is the framework organiza- tion for U.S. institutions for higher education abroad. Its members have over many decades ensured the pres- ence of an American-educated elite in cabinets and boardrooms across a wide and turbulent region. If we are serious about reaching foreign opinion-makers, particularly in the Middle East, the U.S. should— directly and through foundations — reinforce the AAICU as a framework, sponsor top-quality visiting lecturers and, more significantly, contribute to making the existing infrastructure of U.S. universities abroad a bulwark of American values and education in critical regions of the world. The $2 billion price tag for a single stealth bomber, for example, could cover a half-million scholarships around the world at colleges such as Anatolia. Until conditions in the U.S. again become customer-friendly for inter- L ETTERS