The Foreign Service Journal, April 2018

38 APRIL 2018 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL tors were not diverting materials to manufacturing atomic warheads in contravention of the Nonprolifera- tion Treaty. The Journal ’s 4,000-word scoop—a taped interview with the reclusive agency head that included detailed discussions of the safe- guards systemmeant to shield against proliferation—ran in the September 1981 issue. Through some creative sleuthing, we secured a contraband color picture of the Iraqi facility that had been snuck out of the country before the Israelis reduced the reactor to rubble. Once again, the Journal had a striking and important photo on the cover (see p. 36) and an article that was both topical and of intense interest to foreign affairs professionals: the func- tioning of an international agency in the news with an ambitious and challenging diplomatic mandate. These articles weren’t isolated points of light. That same September issue also con- tained an important essay on State’s diminish- ing role versus that of the National Security Council by former ambassador and Cabinet secretary Elliott Richardson, and an article on state-sponsored terrorism by none other than head Iran hostage, Ambassador Bruce Laingen. We also printed covers by nationally known illustrators to feature our content, especially via humorous art. My favorite was a sketch by the New Yorker ’s Henry Martin of a diplomat in tails meeting a penguin. The mirror twins were used to show- case an article on Antarctica in the February 1983 FSJ . For the September 1983 cover, the syndicated editorial cartoonist Henry Payne highlighted an article on ensuring ambassadorial quality by painting three identical pin-striped diplomats com- ing down an assembly line followed by an unnoticed Bozo the Clown. Former Ambassador James Spain joked on see- ing that cover that he wasn’t sure the ratio shouldn’t be closer to 1:1. “Ambassador Klunk” and Beyond In the winter of 1982, I got a phone call from Malcolm Toon, a retired FSO who had been ambassa- dor to the Soviet Union. With AFSA, he was concerned about the number and qualifications of political appointees named to ambassado- rial posts. Fran and I interviewed him. Ambassador Toon referred to several appointees as “Mr. Klunks” and called out specific non-career ambas- sadors with further epithets, especially his successor in Moscow. When the “Ambassador Klunk” article (April 1982 FSJ ) hit the streets, it got huge play in the media. We submitted the story to the Society of National Association Publica- tions’ annual contest with a ream of press clippings, and it received the gold award for outstanding article of the year at SNAP’s membership convention in June 1983. A week later, the AFSA Governing Board was considering a Journal expense request. After it was approved, I showed board mem- bers the award plaque. The announcement prompted a hearty cheer from the room. Following the meet- ing, a State representative, who went on to have a distinguished career in the Middle East, pulled me aside and said that I should W e sought covers that advertised the contents of the issue … and announced via tone and content that the magazine was a professional policy magazine now.