The Foreign Service Journal, March 2021

14 MARCH 2021 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 50 Years Ago Automation T he technology of automation will profoundly influence the work of the Foreign Service in the 1970s. The key elements of this change will be: 1) Fast, cheap, direct satellite communications; 2) Large computer data banks inWashington, and in a few regional posts abroad; 3) Simplified and lowmaintenance computer terminals and classified Long Distance Xerox (LDX) facilities or similar equipment linking the Department with most posts. Some traditional and important Foreign Service functions such as representation and public relations functions are not likely to be much influenced by automation. On the other hand, “new areas of encounter” such as pollution, environment control, various scientific fields of develop- ment, technology and others will represent areas of growth in overseas activities. It is still too early to predict what precise form these changes will take, but their influence is likely to be significant. —Excerpted from an article by the same title by former Political Officer Thomas M. Tracy in the March 1971 FSJ . Pompeo’s Flurry of Activity on Way Out M ike Pompeo issued a series of actions in his final weeks as Secretary, in some cases setting up potential obstacles for the Biden administration. Just a day before President Biden took office, the State Department made the declaration the Chinese govern- ment is committing genocide and crimes against humanity against Uighur Muslims and other minority groups in the northwestern region of Xinjiang. Incoming Secretary of State Antony Blinken, when asked during his Jan. 19 nomination hearing, said he agreed with the designation. In response, China imposed sanc- tions on Secretary Pompeo and 27 other former Trump administration officials over “crazy actions that have gravely interfered in China’s internal affairs,” the Chinese foreign ministry said on Jan. 21, according to an NPR report. Secretary Pompeo and the other officials are banned from entering China, Hong Kong or Macao, and companies associ- ated with them are banned from doing business with China. On Jan. 11, the Trump administration designated Cuba as a sponsor of terror- ism, five years after the Obama adminis- tration opened diplomatic relations with Havana. Secretary Pompeo also designated Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels as a foreign terrorist organization. U.N. officials are concerned the move could exacerbate Yemen’s humanitarian situa- tion. Meanwhile, Pompeo, posting from his official State Twitter account, issued scores of self-congratulatory tweets in his final weeks about his tenure as Sec- retary of State. “The Pompeo tweet-a-thon will sur- prise no one who has followed his ten- ure,” the Los Angeles Times wrote on Jan. 19. “He condemned journalists, hailed Trump’s achievements and posted pho- tographs of himself traveling the world. The tweets generated an intense amount of rebuttal, even ridicule.” In one Jan. 19 tweet, Pompeo spoke out against multiculturalism, raising the ire of many diplomats: “Woke-ism, multiculturalism, all the -isms—they’re not who America is. They distort our glorious founding and what this country is all about. Our enemies stoke these divisions because they know they make us weaker.” On Jan. 21, using his personal account, Pompeo tweeted “1,384 days,” a countdown to the 2024 election. Attack on U.S. Capitol F oreign diplomats serving in Wash- ington were stunned by the attack on one of America’s most important democratic institutions, CNN reported on Jan. 7. “Appalling and so very sad- dening,” one told CNN, adding: “The U.S. was the benchmark of democratic governance and peaceful transitions of power.” Dozens of State employees signed two dissent messages, one criticizing the State Department guidance on how to respond and one urging then–Secre- tary of State Mike Pompeo to denounce Trump’s role in the insurrection attempt. Both were leaked to the press. Secretary Pompeo, in Jan. 6 tweets, condemned the violence without nam- ing Trump.