The Foreign Service Journal, March 2022

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2022 25 COVER STORY AQ&AWITH POLICYPLANNINGDIRECTOR SALMANAHMED Challenging Groupthink, Injecting New Ideas—Exploring the Secretary’s Modernization Agenda FSJ: What led to creation of the Policy Ideas Channel? How will it work? Director Ahmed: When the Secretary asked me to lead his Policy Planning Staff, he made clear the most important role we could play would be to challenge groupthink and inject new perspective and ideas fromwithin and outside the State Department. The concept of a Policy Ideas Channel was his—he saw it as the natural counterpart to the Dissent Channel. Just as dissent makes our institution stronger, so does a culture that welcomes, promotes and pursues good ideas regardless of where they come fromor fromwhom. The hard truth is that bureaucracy doesn’t always elevate those ideas, and at times suffocates them. Our aimwas not to circumvent the rigor and debate of our policymaking processes, but tomake sure we did not deprive ourselves of fresh thinking at a moment that demands us to think and work in newways. We consulted widely across the department in setting up the channel, drawing on lessons learned from existing initiatives like the Bureau of Global Talent Management’s Innovation Portal and past efforts like the Sounding Board, and making sure that use of the channel is considered and disciplined. Submitters must include explanations of how they’ve pushed their policy idea with their leadership chain and relevant bureaus and offices, the nature of the feedback they received and obstacles they faced, as well as why they decided to use the channel. After receiving an idea, my colleagues in S/P will do a careful assessment, including by engaging with relevant bureaus and offices, who will have a chance to provide reactions and input. Salman Ahmed is the director of the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff. Prior to his appoint- ment on Jan. 20, 2021, he was a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he led a bipartisan task force dedicated to making U.S. foreign policy work better for the middle class. He also oversaw the review of the national security and foreign policy agencies for the Biden-Harris Transition Team. He served in the Obama-Biden administration as special assistant to the president and senior director for strategic planning at the National Security Council and as chief of staff of the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. Before joining the government, he served for almost 15 years with the United Nations and taught at Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced in October a major reform and modernization plan that included steps to increase debate and new thinking at the State Department, among many other initiatives. As the Secretary’s brain trust, the Policy Planning Staff has been deeply involved in crafting and implementing the plan. In the January-February Journal , we interviewed the Sec- retary about his plans. To continue the conversation about the reform efforts, we are delighted to offer this Q&A with Director of the Policy Planning Staff Salman Ahmed to dig deeper into the specifics of the new Policy Ideas Channel and revitalization of the Dissent Channel. —Shawn Dorman, Editor