The Foreign Service Journal, April 2003

sentative’s office, part or all of the Export-Import Bank, and the Over- seas Private Investment Corporation also be included in such a restruc- tured department? And what of visa issuance and verification, and criminal investigation of passport and visa fraud? Given the new Department of Homeland Security’s field oversight responsibility over the State Department’s tradition- al visa issuance function, should the Bureau of Consular Affairs and the Immigration and Naturalization Service continue as independent entities? Whatever the answer to those questions, it is unlikely that Recom- mendation 1’s call for consolidation of functional responsibilities will see fruition any time soon. Similarly thorny issues would arise if most of the Volcker Commission’s other rec- ommendations were taken seriously. Top Guns A particularly neuralgic issue is posed by Recommendation 6, calling on Congress and the president to reduce the number of executive- branch political positions. As the report concludes, such layering forces “talented and experienced career managers further and further away from the centers of decision-making.” In State’s case, the issue is not just the number of non-career ambassadors but the presence of too many assistant secretaries and deputy assistant secre- taries who are political appointees. Clearly, the solution is either to con- vert them all to career positions or eliminate them entirely. Nor is a preponderance of political appointees the only serious problem at the top of State and other agencies. The Senior Foreign Service was established by the Foreign Service Act of 1980 to mirror the Civil Service’s Senior Executive Service, set up two years before. Like the SES, A P R I L 2 0 0 3 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 15 S P E A K I N G O U T SHORT TERM FURNISHED APARTMENTS AVAILABLE columbia plaza apartments Capital Living With Comfort and Convenience Beautiful, Spacious Efficiencies, 1 and 2 Bedrooms SEVEN MINUTES TO STATE DEPARTMENT Utilities Included Complimentary Voice Mail Courtyard Style Plaza Polished Hardwood Floors Private Balconies Huge Walk-In Closets 24 Hour Front Desk Garage Parking Available Shopping on Site Cardkey Entry/Access River Views Minutes to Fine Dining Walk to the Kennedy Center and Georgetown Minutes to Foggy Bottom Metro (202) 293-2000 2400 Virginia Ave., N.W. Washington, D.C., 20037 Managed by Polinger, Shannon & Luchs Co.