The Foreign Service Journal, March 2015

24 MARCH 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL munity—was Iraq. Even so, the voice of advocates outside of the U.S. government for regime change in Iran grew louder and louder. Some called for an Ahmad Chalabi-like policy to promote the late shah’s son, Reza Pahlavi, or someone else as the next leader of Iran. Some advocated a U.S. embrace of the Iraq-based Iranian Mujaheddin-e-Khalq, then designated as a terrorist group, with the dangerous argument, “The enemy of our enemy is our friend.” Many claimed to speak for the “Iranian people,” arguing that the Iranian population would support U.S. intervention in their country and would see any engagement with the government of the Islamic Republic as betrayal, legitimizing an entity that was supposedly close to implosion. What was not clear, however, was on what basis anyone could claim to speak for public opinion in Iran. Meanwhile, Tehran refused to be sidelined, as it watched the U.S. presence in its eastern and western neighbors growing. While some in Iran are probably grateful that we targeted two of the country’s biggest enemies, SaddamHussein and the Taliban, oth- ers, including many within the regime, view the United States as a far greater threat. In 2005, I replaced Alan Eyre as the sole Iran watcher in the field and learned firsthand the challenge of trying to produce credible reporting with such limited access to Iranians. Outside the context of negotiations andmultilateral settings, U.S. officials, including the watchers, have long had a policy of no contact with official Iranians. Given the possible repercussions of meeting with a U.S. official, private Iranians were rightly apprehensive about such contact. Still, I found that Iranians were eager to address the many mis- conceptions the West had about their country. Many I met were deeply unhappy with governance in their country, yet the bloody backlash to their 1979 revolution—including internal purges—and the horrific war with Iraq in the 1980s left them afraid of any kind of violent or abrupt change, preferring organic evolution. Their fears were compounded watching the declining security situation in both Iraq and Afghanistan, particularly as media speculation about possible direct military strikes against Iran’s nuclear program spiked roughly every six months. Some thought change must be led exclusively fromwithin Iran, while others thought the United States could play a supportive role in bringing about reform. I also saw that the spectrumof political thought inside Iran was much broader than I had imagined. In some ways—particularly while President Mohammad Khatami was still in office—the status of women and the media within civil society, and economic diver- sification, were farther advanced in Iran than they were inmany of our allies in the region. Then, I had to bear witness as his successor, While Iran watchers are not directly involved in sensitive nuclear negotiations, they represent a critical feedback loop for policymakers. Career Opportunities Related to Iran While the lack of posts in Iran would appear to stymie a career as an Iran expert, there are numerous opportuni- ties for Foreign Service personnel to develop and use Iran-related expertise. In Washington, State Department offices with an interest in Iran include NEA, International Security and Nonproliferation, Economic and Business Affairs, Energy Resources, Counterterrorism, Interna- tional Organization Affairs, Mission to the United Nations, Policy Planning, Educational and Cultural Affairs, Public Affairs, Intelligence and Research, Consular Affairs and Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. Several former Iran watchers have served as advisers to the Deputy Secretary and under secretary for political affairs. Outside State, Foreign Service members with Iran experience have served in related positions at the National Security Council, the National Intelligence Council, the Department of Defense and the Voice of America. Overseas, there are multiple opportunities as watchers, including the IRPO unit in Dubai, where the senior Iran watcher overseas is an FS-1 position. In terms of follow-on assignments, Iran expertise is useful at many posts, including multilateral offices. And Afghanistan and Tajikistan offer opportunities to serve in countries with languages related to Farsi. —Jillian Burns