The Foreign Service Journal, April 2008

A P R I L 2 0 0 8 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 5 Given Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s well-known enthusiasm for football, it seems fitting to describe her four-year tenure as having entered its fourth quarter. After the three previous quarters of disappoint- ing yardage in terms of securing resources for diplomacy, her final bud- get request represents a last-minute pass far down the field. If successful, her pending budget request would noticeably advance the ball in terms of funding for the Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development. But for this long-pass attempt to suc- ceed, it needs to be caught by Congress, which has the constitutional responsibil- ity for appropriating funds to conduct diplomacy and development assistance. An accumulating stack of independent blue-ribbon panel reports and com- ments by concerned third parties such as Secretary of Defense Robert Gates all reflect the fact that over the past sev- eral years, Congress has dropped the ball on providing our diplomats and development professionals with the resources they need to do their jobs. Of course, it has long been noted that, unlike the armed forces, diploma- cy lacks a domestic constituency push- ing for funding for its activities. Nevertheless, there are many lawmak- ers who do care deeply about the civil- ian component of U.S. international engagement. Simply because it is the right thing to do, they focus on issues such as Darfur, overseas HIV/AIDS relief, or the Middle East peace pro- cess. Unfortunately, such con- cern is often not accompanied by interest in adequately fund- ing the diplomatic platform upon which foreign policy is implemented. After funding most, but not all, of Secretary of StateColin Powell’s “Diplo- matic Readiness Initiative” between 2002 and 2004, Congress turned down all subsequent requests for new posi- tions, except those earmarked for con- sular affairs and diplomatic security. Between Sec. Powell’s last year and Sec. Rice’s Fiscal Year 2008 budget request, Congress turned down requests to add a total of 709 new positions (almost all for Foreign Service personnel). These refusals came despite sharply increasing staffing needs in Iraq, Afghanistan and other emerging priority areas. Congress has an opportunity to make up for lost time by fully funding the pending FY 2009 budget request, which seeks to add 1,076 new positions at State and 300 at USAID (again, almost all for Foreign Service person- nel). Obviously, AFSA urges support by those lawmakers who have tradi- tionally favored funding for diplomacy and development assistance. But we also urge past critics of State and USAID to take a close look at this bud- get request. To them, I say: If you believe that America needs more diplomats who are fluent in key foreign languages such as Arabic and Chinese, there are 300 such training positions requested. If you agree that Foreign Service members would be strengthened by receiving advanced training alongsidemilitary col- leagues at institutions such as the National War College, the budget request designates 75 positions for that purpose. If you think that an organized and well-trained group of civilians should be available to deploy on short notice to overseas crisis spots to help sta- bilize the situation, so the uniformed military does not have to bear that bur- den alone, there are 351 such positions requested. And if you believe that USAID needs to strengthen its capacity to develop and carry out programs that bring prosperity to developing coun- tries, this budget will create 300 posi- tions to do just that. Now is the time to address these urgent staffing needs. The next presi- dent, whoever he or she is, will un- doubtedly want a strong diplomatic corps to work hand-in-hand with our nation’s strong military. Yet, if the cur- rent Congress were to miss this oppor- tunity, it would be 2010 before the first diplomatic reinforcements could finish their initial training. Waiting two more years for reinforcements is too long. It would reduce the new president’s flexi- bility in crafting foreign policy, and con- tinue to place undue burdens on the uniformed military to carry out tasks for which they are ill-suited. Thus, AFSA urges Congress to act this year. Let’s win one for diplomacy! P RESIDENT ’ S V IEWS Win One for Diplomacy B Y J OHN K. N ALAND John K. Naland is the president of the American Foreign Service Association.