The Foreign Service Journal, April 2003

the SFS was intended to create a cadre of managers to serve as ambas- sadors and deputy chiefs of mission abroad and office directors, deputy assistant secretaries, etc. in Wash- ington. However, both groups have become cluttered with non-general- ists, doctors, engineers, security offi- cers, and IT specialists. While some of these specialists have managerial responsibilities, they are not fungible with SFS officers from the traditional diplomatic and consular services. Recommendation 7 calls for dividing the SES into a Professional and Technical Corps and an Executive Management Corps. In addition, the report urges that talent in these two corps be drawn from the private, public and non-profit sectors, argues for mobility across agencies and endorses the imple- mentation of performance-based pay. While the division of the SES would not automatically affect the SFS, there is a strong case to be made for dividing the generalists and specialists into two separate cadres and creating interagency mobility for the generalists. Such mobility into other foreign affairs agencies for SFS officers would be of considerable benefit to the department and expand the horizons of its best and most talented officers. At present, only a handful of USAID and FCS officers attain ambassador- ial status, and regular secondment of SFS officers, or of the smaller pool of SES officers, to other agencies is rare. State is highly resistant to receiving SFS or SES officers from outside into its own ranks. Recommendation 7 also calls for greater effort to identify potential managerial talent early in employees’ careers and to nurture it through train- ing, professional development and subsidized opportunities for graduate education and work experience out- side government. While State has begun to move in this direction, much more needs to be done. University opportunities need to be expanded, senior training made mandatory, and excursion tours to other agencies and to the private sector encouraged. In a world dominated by global issues that no longer fit conveniently into a tidy, traditional, political/economic frame- work, no senior foreign affairs manag- er will be able to fulfill his or her func- tions adequately without exposure to, and understanding of, the cultures of other bureaucratic players and the non-governmental organizations that 16 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / A P R I L 2 0 0 3 S P E A K I N G O U T