The Foreign Service Journal, April 2018

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | APRIL 2018 65 DEFINING DIPLOMACY for YEARS Above inSILVERFOILonCover FSJ March 2007 Iraq PRTs: Pins on a Map Duty at Iraq PRTs repre- sents a new reality for the Foreign Service. Diplomats are accustomed to danger and hardship, but they are not soldiers. So it is not an unreasonable question to ask what role (if any) the Foreign Service should have in active war zones. The PRTs are the administration’s answer to that question. But how they oper- ate, what they try to accomplish and what they actually can accomplish is an evolving story—and one that is not the same for each PRT. In trying to tease out the reality for the Foreign Service behind the rhetoric concerning the PRTs, the Journal cast a wide net. –Shawn Dorman, a former FSO, is associate editor of the FSJ and editor of AFSA’s book, Inside a U.S. Embassy FSJ March 2009 Support for Unaccompanied Assignments The face of the Foreign Ser- vice has changed profoundly since the 9/11 attacks: Most current members can expect at least one unaccompanied assignment during their career, generally lasting a year or longer. In 2001, the number of unaccompanied, or par- tially accompanied, Foreign Service positions was about 200; now there are over 900. –Bridget Roddy, State Department Family Liaison Office FSJ May 2009 Reshaping Ag Diplomacy In the face of a budget shortfall, the Foreign Agri- cultural Service is expected not only to carry out its traditional mission of export promotion but to assume new responsibilities in the realms of national security, climate change and global food security. At the same time, a Congress and new administration increasingly preoccupied with domestic headaches, coupled with a stalled Doha Round, hint at a weakening of support for the liberalization philosophy that has underpinned trade policy for three-quarters of a century. Will FAS survive? –Allan Mustard, FSO with the Foreign Agricultural Service 2010 ~ 2017 FSJ May 2010 The “Reform” of Foreign Service Reform The need to redefine the diplomatic mission and organize accordingly has driven a debate that began in the late 1940s and continues today. The first phase of that process revolved around managing the bipolar world of the Cold War and endured from 1946 until 1991. The current iteration of the debate centers on managing a multipolar, globalized set of state and non-state actors (from the Little Sisters of the Poor to al-Qaida) and coping with insidious threats ranging from pandemics to nuclear terrorism. –Thomas D. Boyatt, retired FSO, former ambassador and now chair of the American Academy of Diplomacy’s “Foreign Affairs Budget for the Future” project FSJ May 2012 An Arab Spring Primer The Arab Spring has shown the limits of American power in the Middle East. No longer does the United States have the prestige and resources to dominate Middle East affairs to the degree it has done ever since the British withdrew from east of Suez in 1971. –Allen Keiswetter, retired FSO and scholar at the Middle East Institute June 1970 FSJ