The Foreign Service Journal, April 2021

20 APRIL 2021 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL On social media, members of the Foreign Service community have been discussing the challenges of waiting for vaccines, especially at hardship posts, and the isolation they feel in dealing with local quarantines and travel restrictions. At least 13 foreign governments have offered to vaccinate U.S. diplomats with their own allotment of Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, The Washington Post reported on Feb. 17. The State Department has accepted these proposals, the Post said, with offers from at least eight more pend- ing. Some U.S. diplomats in Russia have asked Moscow for doses of its Sputnik V vaccine, according to the Post , which added that State does not recommend that vaccine but is allowing employees to make their own decisions. “The health and safety of our people is a top priority for the department, and we are committed to providing our work- force timely, accurate information about vaccine distribution,” Acting Under Sec- retary for Management Carol Perez told The Washington Post . “This is a very fluid situation, and we understand employees are eager for information.” In January, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told staff that five American diplomats and 42 locally employed staff serving overseas had died from COVID- 19 to date. ARB: State’s Response to “Havana Syndrome” Illnesses Faulted A recently declassified State Depart- ment Accountability Review Board report from June 2018 says the department mishandled the mysterious neurological symptoms suffered by U.S. diplomats in Cuba in late 2016 and 2017. Posted Feb. 10 by the National Security Archive, the report says the department’s response “was characterized by a lack of senior leadership, ineffective communi- cations, and systemic disorganization.” As of May 2018, two dozen Embassy Havana community members had been “medically confirmed to have sustained brain injuries” while serving in Cuba, with some injuries so severe that those afflicted might never be able to return to work, the report says. Some diplomats have also been affected by similar myste- rious illnesses in China. “To this day, no senior official at the State Department has been assigned responsibility for leading and coordinat- ing efforts to assess past incidents and prevent/mitigate future events,” the report states. According to the report, State commis- sioned the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to launch an investigation into the Cuba illnesses at the end of 2017, but blocked sharing of medical data the CDC needed for the study to go forward for nearly a year. The State Department announced it was appointing an adviser to manage future incidents, CNBC reported on Feb. 11. Meanwhile, the National Academy of Sciences, in a report released on Dec. 5, determined that directed microwave radiation is the likely cause of illness among diplomats in Cuba and China. The report had been commissioned by the State Department. “The health effects from these mys- terious injuries have tormented those afflicted. Their illnesses and suffering are real and demand a response from Con- gress,” Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement. T he Association for Diplomatic Studies & Training is known for its collection of more than 2,500 oral histories from U.S. dip- lomats. ADST’s special web series, based on excerpts from the oral histories, of more than 800 “Moments in U.S. Diplomatic History” captures historical events as well as humorous aspects of diplomatic life, as seen through the eyes of those who were there. Moments include such topics as “Trust in Diplomacy: Secretary of State George Shultz,”“The Consequences of Serendipity: From Peace Corps to USAID,”“Life as a New Foreign Service Spouse” and “The State Department Under the Red Scare: McCarthy’s Campaign.” Topics feature short write-ups, as well as links to the related oral histories and other educational resources. ADST’s mission is to capture, preserve and share the experiences of the country’s diplomats with the American public. Podcast of the Month: Moments in History: Association for Diplomatic Studies & Training https://adst.org/moments