The Foreign Service Journal, March 2023

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2023 25 The Blueprints cover four areas: • A revised mission and mandate for the Foreign Service and a new framework for com- municating with the American public; • Expanded professional education and training to deepen our diplomats’ expertise as leaders and preeminent experts, and a plan to create sufficient positions to make it possible; • Modernization of the personnel system to build in more diversity, accountability, flexibility, and accommodation of the needs of accompanying families and partners at home and overseas; and • A plan for a diplomatic reserve corps to provide surge capac- ity in geopolitical crises and natural disasters. Why Mission and Mandate A topic that came up frequently was chief of mission authority. Since 9/11, the role and authority of U.S. ambassadors have at times been challenged or overridden, leading to confusion and a lack of cohesiveness in some embassies. The process of nominating and confirming ambassadors is unpredictable and slow, leaving many embassies without an ambassador for months or even years. In Blueprint 1, we propose a new updated draft presidential letter to ambassadors as the clearest way to reaffirm ambassa- dors’ responsibilities and authorities to direct U.S. government personnel and resources abroad, as well as adding new areas of responsibility and emphasis. The new draft highlights diversity and inclusion in our embassies as a presidential priority and a chief of mission responsibility. Another passage directs ambassa- dors to take responsibility for risk management and to prioritize the safety of their missions while also conducting critical busi- ness, even in crisis situations. Another proposal gives the State Department chairmanship of interagency groups addressing foreign policy at the assistant secretary level, putting to best use the knowledge that the Foreign Service brings to those deliberations. A companion study to our Blueprints published by the Rand Corporation in 2022, The Foreign Service and American Public Opinion , concludes that while Americans have a generally favor- able view of their diplomatic service, they know very little about it. The Mission and Mandate Blueprint has a cost-effective plan to get the Foreign Service out to speak to American audiences by combining it with home leave, paying expenses, and including family members. The Case for More Professional Education and Training Blueprint 2 begins: “State Department leadership of Ameri- can diplomacy in an increasingly complex and dangerous world depends on several factors, crucially having personnel with the right skills, knowledge, and experience in the right places at the right time to advance national security interests.” But the Foreign Service today is underfunded by about 300 positions needed to support even existing education and train- ing. These represent largely overseas positions left vacant until training is finished. The consequence is that supervisors are reluctant to authorize staff training, and the Foreign Service cul- ture has it that going off to training does not help—and may even hinder—promotions. We believe there are two keys to getting this right: First, we propose that Congress fund a training and education comple- ment (positions set aside by law for professional education and training) equal to 8 percent of the direct hire workforce. (The department is currently looking at how to do something similar for the Civil Service.) Additional funding for the Foreign Service Institute to support longer or additional courses would also be part of a budget request. The aim is to create conditions for career-long education and training at regular intervals, directed at developing more sophisticated leadership and management skills, as well as stra- tegic perspective, greater area knowledge, and more advanced language skills. Second, the Foreign Service culture must change. The cultural biases against professional education and training will be hard to overcome, but they must be for the Service to earn its way back into the center of foreign policy creation and execution. We suggest that a full commitment to long-term training requires a more rigorous approach to evaluating performance in classes, changing promo- tion precepts to include educational achievement and giving consideration to relevant educational achievement in assignments. The goal of our blueprint format, including legislative and regulatory language, is to show that these reforms are achievable and affordable.