18 MARCH 2025 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Our health assistance is also one of the most tangible and effective tools in our diplomatic efforts to project U.S. power and counter the malign influence of our geopolitical competitors. The President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR) is by far the largest investment of any country to combat a single disease and continues to save millions of lives; and its impact on improving our diplomatic relations even with countries not inclined to support U.S. interests is immeasurable. Our adversaries have noticed: In Africa, for example, China and Russia have increased their development activities in the health sectors of various countries and would be eager to fill any gaps should we lose focus and reduce our health assistance. The COVID-19 pandemic clearly demonstrated the need for a comprehensive strategy to ensure global security and the vital leadership role that the United States plays in this fight. The previous Trump administration demonstrated its commitment to the health security of our nation via its support for Operation Warp Speed. Supporting our global health assistance activities again will be vital in protecting our people and projecting U.S. power and influence. Failure to do so would weaken U.S. border security as well as provide inroads for our strategic competitors such as China and Russia to fill the void. State Department FSO Build a Professional Culture Project 2025 asserts that State Department employees incorporate significant political bias into their work. I am not qualified to scientifically comment on the veracity of that claim. What I can say, however, is that State as an organization is susceptible to all forms of political influence because we do not have a strong organizational culture. Our weakness, at least at the working level, isn’t that we’re too political; our failing is that we lack a professional culture. Addressing this more fundamental problem would greatly improve operational effectiveness and, at the same time, go a long way toward assuaging any worries, whether Democratic or Republican, about the focus of State’s employees. At present, we are incentivized to self-promote while pleasing our principal at any cost. We undergo relatively little training beyond language classes, and we treat the backbone of our workforce, locally employed (LE) staff, as an afterthought. Instituting a culture of leadership at State, through which we grow leaders in the profession of diplomacy, involves three changes: Recognize, value, and empower locally employed staff. They are 70 percent of the organization. Create offices dedicated and responsive to their issues. It will pay massive dividends. Make FSOs earn their commissions. Foreign Service officers are commissioned after a lengthy application process, followed by five weeks of orientation. Having been previously commissioned an Air Force officer, I believe it is a profound understatement to say that State falls well short of the commissioning requirements of other services. Crib from more stringent services, and make us earn it. Build a leadership culture with a significant training float. The leaders who tell you that they cannot spare people for training are products of a lack of training themselves. The Foreign Service Institute now has a core curriculum, but it’s optional. The truth is that a significant portion of our work is generated at the whims of chiefs of mission and Washington, D.C., principals, who themselves never received much leadership training on their way to the top. Create a training float and incentives to develop professionally, and you will see the whimsical work diminish and the workforce thrive. John Fer State Department FSO U.S. Embassy Moscow Better Articulate Why the U.S. Is the Partner of Choice As China builds roads, bridges, and soccer stadiums around the world, the United States needs to have a clear answer for why foreign governments should partner with us. Partnering with the U.S. has lots of advantages including access to the largest market in the world, military and development assistance, and so on. However, sometimes these benefits are diffuse and can get lost in the shuffle. One institution needs to take the lead on articulating these benefits to partner countries, and the logical institution to do so is the State Department. The following steps are required: • Equip embassies with true communications teams that can articulate the value that the United States brings. Communication teams at multinational corporations are focused on defining and formulating important corporate messages and not on running their own programs. Embassy public
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