The Foreign Service Journal, April 2021

30 APRIL 2021 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL shared purpose. We really cannot know what we are missing by not “being there” in person: the chance encounters and unscripted opportunities that bring new information or insight; the conversations over coffee that take an unexpectedly produc- tive turn; the relationships or even friendships that might be born, developed and deepened. The more narrowly intentional virtual realm effectively forecloses such ad hoc, random or unplanned opportunities. It is impossible to “run into” someone else on Zoom or MS Teams; and even informal Zoom conversations suffer from the formality of scheduling them, their “planned spontaneity” often collaps- ing of its own contradictory weight. The longer-term cumulative consequences of these countless unknown missed opportu- nities—including, for another type of example, in the case of International Visitor Leadership Program participants who never made the trip to the United States—are essentially incalculable. Virtual diplomacy is also fraught. Imagine daring to share a “candid” professional confidence in the perpetually monitored panopticon of your typical virtual platform. Think Wikileaks without the need for leaks. Speaking of Wikileaks, the absence of “in-person” engagement poses a weirdly parallel challenge to the foundation of trust on which diplomats rely, even if it’s more passive neglect than explicit breach in nature. In the end, reliance on virtual diplomacy will lead to the dilu- tion and erosion of the benefits of diplomacy altogether. Unable to “tend the garden” in person, the quality of our relationships suffers. As our relationships suffer, so does the quality of our understanding, information and appreciation of the complicated context, the subterranean dynamic or the thorny issue. Our value-added for Washington policymakers follows suit. The question facing us here is clearly part of a broader dynamic, a piece of the pandemic’s larger puzzle. Maybe that’s because diplomacy is a bit like life itself or sports or even love: You can maintain the momentum virtually for a time, but you can’t really make it happen. And however much it might seem to be working, you just can’t imagine it remaining this way— not quite real, not quite complete and not quite fully human— forever. n