44 MARCH 2025 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Dick Virden is a retired Senior Foreign Service officer. His assignments abroad included tours in Poland (twice), Thailand (twice), Brazil (twice), Romania, Vietnam, and Portugal. He is a graduate of the National War College and served on its faculty. The “new American way of diplomacy” following the Cold War saw the closure of provincial posts around the world. BY DICK VIRDEN Poznan 1995 Requiem for a Diplomatic Post In the mid-1990s, I was serving as the country public affairs officer at U.S. Embassy Warsaw when officials above my pay grade decided to close our consulate general and associated United States Information Service (USIS) branch post in Poznan. The United States had won the Cold War and deserved a peace dividend, the thinking went. We could do without a presence in western Poland. Keeping our consulate general in Krakow, in the south, would be sufficient representation outside the Polish capital. From my perspective at the time, the decision seemed penny-wise and pound-foolish. It doesn’t look any better today, given Poland’s role as a pivotal frontline NATO state in the struggle to protect Eastern Europe from Moscow’s push to restore its empire. The United States now has 10,000 troops stationed in the country, but we have diplomatic posts only in Warsaw and Krakow. For decades, we have been closing provincial posts in favor of operating from heavily fortified embassy chanceries. No doubt this new American way of diplomacy is safer and less costly. But it also risks leaving us out of touch with daily life in places like Poland, the Arab street, or in outlying cities, towns, and villages elsewhere around the globe. Nor does it help advance our foreign policy goals that the agency charged with leading the effort to understand, inform, and influence foreign publics has disappeared into the Department of State, which has other goals. The country founded out of a decent respect for the opinions of humankind apparently decided what others think is no longer a priority. Edward R. Murrow, the legendary broadcaster (and former U.S. Information Agency director) famously said that in communication, it’s the final three feet that count. Personal contact remains vital today, even with the advent of social media. It’s one reason why posts like USIS Poznan had so much to offer: they were closer to the people. As Americans once again rethink our country’s role in the world, some even question the wisdom of backing friends and allies such as Ukraine. As we reevaluate, however, we should consider not only what our efforts cost but also what they’re worth. What follows is my report at the time—written for USIA World, the agency’s house organ—about the value of USIS Poznan, and what was lost when this post and others like it were shuttered. FS HERITAGE
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