The Foreign Service Journal, April 2016

18 APRIL 2016 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL domestic locations, divorced in practice from the essential “foreignness” of the department’s responsibilities, on the other. A Clear Personnel Policy Required What is required instead is a clear personnel policy, one that is in line with the injunction of the Foreign Service Act and with the mission statement of the Department of State. Given the exis- tence of the FSA, new legislation will not be required; and because the reform will be budget neutral, a seventh floor–led internal reorganization should be suf- ficient. The objective would be to staff the department and its field posts with a pro- fessional diplomatic service, recruited and promoted by competition, obligated to worldwide assignments for “the good of the Service” and focused on the inter- national character of diplomacy. The principles of the Wriston Act should be restated to produce a single personnel system for the department. A reasonable integration period for currently employed professional staff would be required, with the objective of rationalizing the department staff into a single personnel system in a reasonable time frame. Specialized duties such as the legal office and, perhaps, departmental bud- geting might require Civil Service incum- bents, but they should be specifically identified and set aside as exceptions. What this system is called is irrelevant, but “foreign service” (diplomacy) is what it should be about. No one would argue that military officers should be allowed to pursue a career exclusively in the Pentagon. Nor should the Department of State’s foreign affairs personnel be permitted to pursue diplomatic careers solely or largely in Washington. This ongoing change in the quality and character of our diplomatic repre- sentation, and in the management of our foreign affairs, does not appear to be happening as the result of conscious national policy. But the trend should be of concern not just to Foreign Service members, but to our political leadership and the public in general. n