The Foreign Service Journal, April 2014

14 APRIL 2014 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL AFSA Scholarship afsa.org/scholar AFSPA afspa.org AKA stayAKA.com Arlington Court Suites Hotel arlingtoncourthotel.com Clements Worldwide clements.com Coldwell Banker Residential Bro- kerage (Mary Lowry Smith) dcredlinehomes.com Diplomatic Automobile diplosales.com Embassy Risk Management embassyrisk.com The Hirshorn Company hirshorn.com/usfs McGrath Real Estate Services homesdatabase.com/jimmcgrath PROMAX Management Inc. promaxrealtors.com WJD Management wjdpm.com Norway Post have reported, the Tsunis performance elicited apologies to the country and to the Progress Party from both U.S. Embassy Oslo and the White House. Nordic Page Norway, which reports that some Norwegian-Americans in the United States have begun petitioning for the removal of Tsunis’ nomination, also probed the larger issue of the nomina- tions process, citing the AFSA Guide- lines. — Bret Matera, Editorial Intern The War on Bad Air in China W riting in the Feb. 3 Washington Post, Simon Denyer reports tha t the Chinese government is becom- ing increasingly transparent about the extent of the country’s air pollution, thanks in large part to pioneering efforts by Embassy Beijing. Denyer explains that in 2009, the embassy began monitoring and pub- lishing data on the fine particles in Beijing’s air that cause the most harm to human health, known as PM2.5 (because they measure less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter). Those hourly air-quality readings, which are also taken at U.S. consulates throughout China, are disseminated on Twitter and widely watched through a smartphone app. Painfully aware that air pollution is a major topic of discussion—and discon- tent—on Chinese microblogs, Beijing T he Department of State’s chronic state of penury is a fact of Foreign Service life to which all officers have long been accustomed. Can anyone recall a year when a travel freeze was not necessary? When a supplemental appropriation was not urgently needed? … Travel has been strictly curtailed since December. Home leaves are backed up. Several courses at the Foreign Service Institute have been canceled because travel funds are not available to bring officers home for training. Officers around the world are altering plans for the educational schedules of their children. All of these inconveniences and uncertainties tend to lower morale. … If the Department of State is to play its role as the executive agent of the president in carrying out foreign policy, it must be financed to provide leader- ship and guidance to all these elements. We think the department should take the lead in encouraging the Bureau of the Budget to take a totally new look at our budget in 1965. Let’s not try to meet the department’s responsibilities by asking for small increases each year. This will still leave us going around in the same vicious circle. Let’s instead ask for a realistic budget that meets the needs of the role we have to play in a world of recurring crises. We are convinced that Congress and the country would welcome a bold and realistic approach to the department’s budgetary problem, so that it may effectively handle the emergencies which will inevitably arise while carrying on a planned program to meet its own responsi- bilities. —From an editorial titled “The Vicious Circle,” FSJ , April 1964. 50 Years Ago