The Foreign Service Journal, March 2021

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2021 47 Expand Trans-Atlantic Relations Positive engagement with our NATO allies is critical. NATO has been central to maintenance of peace in Europe since 1949, and its expansion has led to greater and greater capabil- ity. U.S. foreign policy in Europe should leverage this history to strengthen the close and efficacious relationship, and expand it to new and candidate members. Sharing the burden of maintain- ing peace is a sure way to generate trust and goodwill. NATO should not be seen exclusively as a military alliance, but an alliance of shared values. U.S. embassies in NATO and NATO- candidate countries should be encouraged to increase not only military-to-military engagement based on NATO ties, but also political and cultural engagements based on these shared values. Trans-Atlantic relations should be centered on the already established cooperation generated by NATO. A strong diplomatic effort to highlight the advantages of NATOmembership—includ- ing educational and cultural exchanges and preference in trade policies, as well as military-focused cooperation—would deepen this crucial alliance. NATO has been, and I believe will continue to be, the most successful alliance system in history. U.S. foreign policy would be well served to not only work within this existing relationship, but work to expand it, increasing its capabilities and reach. Michael P. Murphy is a vice consul at U.S. Embassy Podgorica. Train Diplomats in the Declaration of Independence U.S. diplomats must know America’s founding tenets, and how to project them. Council on Foreign Relations and Harvard Kennedy School papers recommend new diplomatic education. Today that must cover more than international relations. Future U.S. diplomats should be immersed in the creed of the Declara- tion of Independence, and how it works in the world. No expertise in the declaration’s creed is codified, but several motifs illustrate some of its content: The declaration’s truths define national identity; the Constitution defines the governing state. Many see “democracy” and “free enterprise” as American values, but those are particular interpretations of “consent of the governed” and “pursuit of happiness.” The creed is America’s common ground and is debased by partisan claims to its exclu- sive sanction. No airy ideal, the creed is meant to flourish in a dirty world. Diplomats must reconcile, sometimes painfully, to pragmatic measures. Nuanced understanding is required to assert the con- text of America’s intentions and core identity around economic deals, moral compromises and wars. Immersion in these ideas and nuances demands more than readings. Digestion of concepts and philosophies must occur alongside case studies and simulations that portray how the creed and the world affect each other. Dilemmas of pragmatic policy, questions of philosophy and morality, and burdens of an abstract creed must all be raised to test student-diplomats’ commitments. With this formative education, diplomats will constitute a Foreign Service of shared professional commitment. Knowing America’s core, they can represent diverse administrations’ shift- ing policies as acts of a united nation. They can digest chaos and form coherent policy where instructions are absent. CFR recom- mends a “de-layered” State Department and supportive culture; these enabled diplomats animate a “nimble” Service. In policy processes, they wouldn’t be seen as representing “other coun- tries’ voices,” but as stewards for America’s creed. No other agency is charged with this general national inter- est. While the Department of Defense provides national secu- rity, creedal expertise is as vital and real as expertise in armed force. State should become the “America Desk.” Implementing a curriculum takes time, and expertise in America’s creed will only demonstrate its value as successive administrations contradict each other. But prescribing this expertise for the foreign policy apparatus today will signal that America knows its common ground. George F. Paik is a retired State Department FSO in Newtown, Connecticut. Four Ways to Reinvigorate U.S. Diplomacy The incoming administration can reinvigorate U.S. diplo- macy and development by advocating for and supporting passage of a new Foreign Service Act, enhanced health and environmental policy, and improved hiring and talent manage- ment. First , a new Foreign Service Act should codify several changes. It should dictate minimum staffing numbers for the Foreign Service. It should mandate that political appointees fill no more than 10 percent of ambassadorial appointments, and that at least 70 percent of all assistant secretary and senior department positions be filled by career officers. It should also ensure a minimum floor of overseas FS positions and codify the importance of functional assignments.