The Foreign Service Journal, April 2017

14 APRIL 2017 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL The department gave me the chance to be part of, and to lead, amazing inter- agency teams at embassies abroad, in the European Bureau and at the White House. These were great organizations; but it was only when I spent 11/2 years in the Political-Military Bureau and five years in the International Security and Nonproliferation Bureau, that I came to fully value the true strength of the department, a Civil Service cadre every bit as talented as the Foreign Service. It was perhaps my highest honor to learn from, to guide and to take credit for the accomplish- ments of the deepest bench of experts in any agency. The State Department owes me nothing. But we still owe America a lot. We still have a duty—you have a duty, to stay and give your best professional guidance, with loyalty, to the new administration. Because a foreign policy without profes- sionals is, by definition, an amateur foreign policy. You will help to frame and make the choices. Because that is what we do. Diplomacy in Detail Our work is little understood by our fellow Americans, a fact that is some- times exploited for political purpose. When I have the opportunity to speak to audiences across this amazing land, I explain: “We do not have a Depart- ment of State—we do not have a foreign policy—because we love foreigners. We do it because we love Americans.” We want Americans to prosper, to sell the world’s best food and the world’s best products everywhere in the world. We want Americans to be protected and safe when they are abroad, whether they are missionaries, tourists, students, business- men or (for those you have done consular work) the occasional false messiah. We want Americans to sleep the sleep of the righteous, knowing that the smallest fraction of their tax dollar goes to ease poverty and reduce injustice. We want them to know that our consular officers are the first of many lines of defense against those who would come to the United States with evil purpose. We want the families of America’s heroes—our ser- vicemen—to know that their loved ones are not put into danger simply because of a failure to pursue nonmili- tary solutions. And we want Ameri- cans to know that the torch borne by the Statue of Liberty is not just a magnet for immigrants: It is a projec- tor, shining the promise of democracy around the world. The United States is the world’s greatest economic power and the world’s greatest military power; and, with your vigilance, it always will be. But the greatest power we project is hope, the promise that people can establish liberty in their own country without leaving it. I’ve seen it in the country second dearest to my heart: Serbia. I saw democ- racy born in Serbia. I saw it stolen. I saw and played a minor role in its restora- tion. And I know this: that if a generation stands up and insists upon defending the rights of the people, they will succeed. And if the next generation stands up and resists every corrosive attack on democ- racy, they will triumph. If we wall ourselves off from the world, we will extinguish Liberty’s projection, as surely as if, as the Gospel says, we hid our lamp under a bushel basket. If we do not respect other nations and their citi- zens, we cannot demand respect for our citizens. If our public statements become indistinguishable from disinformation and propaganda, we will lose our cred- ibility. If we choose to play our cards that way, we will lose that game to the masters in Moscow. If our interaction with other countries is only a business transaction, rather than a partnership with allies and friends, we will lose that game too. China practically invented transactional diplomacy, and if we choose to play their game, Beijing will run the table. Business made America great, as it always has, and business leaders are among our most important partners. But let’s be clear: despite the similarities, a dog is not a cat. Baseball is not football. And diplomacy is not a business. Human rights are not a business. And democracy is, most assuredly, not a business. Why We Do It Each of us came to this work with our identities more or less fully formed, and we have preserved our values, with greater or lesser success, against the professional deformation caused by any bureaucracy. I myself came here with my identity framed: as a Christian, as an Eagle Scout, as a taxpayer. These didn’t require me to go into the State Department, but they define my obligations as a citizen: to spend tax dollars wisely; to look out for the best interests of the United States and its people; to share the best of America with the world; and to be not only optimistic, but also—to use a word so suddenly fallen from favor—altruistic. I line up with Steven Pinker. In his book, The Better Angels of Our Nature , Pinker describes the “escalator of reason”—“an intensifying application of knowledge and rationality to human affairs.”