The Foreign Service Journal, April 2005

al interest and construct new programs, particularly in the areas of trade agreements compliance, technical reg- ulations and standards. These are all important areas with many cross-cutting, competing domestic constituen- cies. Our direct commercial interests, regulatory ambi- tions and goals for trade liberalization and development often will not coincide in the short term or on a tactical level. Accordingly, we must create a policy mechanism to resolve such conflicts and identify workable solutions. The current lack of transparency in the process not only hinders commercial policy formulation but gives a com- petitive advantage to our European and Asian rivals. This must be a top priority for the new Commerce/ State/USAID joint secretariat I envision. While I am sympathetic to the creation of a Department of Trade containing the micro and macro responsibilities for commercial diplomacy, I am aware that both in the case of homeland security and public diplomacy, increased bureaucratic centralization has pro- duced very disappointing results. What does seem clear 25 years after the creation of FCS is that the current structure has made important progress in advancing our commercial interests overseas, but it is not yet sufficient to take us forward into this new century. Ultimately, however, this is not a time to focus (as we did in the late 1970s) only on organizational boxes and the structure of government programs and turf. Rather, all of us in the Foreign Service, as well as our friends and allies elsewhere in the government, and in the private sector and NGO community, must take on the challenge of building a consensus for a new vision. Allowing the status quo to continue is simply not an option. The U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service’s 25th anniversary celebration, scheduled to start in April and to continue throughout the year, offers a unique opportuni- ty for the development of a new initiative to underpin our support for trade liberalization as a key element of our goal to expand global freedom and liberty. Toward that end, we at AFSA are currently planning a symposium on commercial diplomacy which we hope to hold this fall. ■ C O V E R S T O R Y 30 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 5