The Foreign Service Journal, May 2003

26 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / M A Y 2 0 0 3 Like FSOs in other agencies, those in FAS are subject to up-or-out, time-in-class rules. Most FAS officers are commissioned after four years, and then have 22 years to make it into the Senior Foreign Service. Therefore, many wind up leaving FAS after about 26 years. However, FAS is unique among foreign affairs agen- cies in that FSOs can enter only through a lateral transfer within the agency. All employees enter FAS as civil ser- vants, often transferring from another part of USDA. Many have master’s degrees in a field such as public affairs or agricultural economics. After 18 months, they have a career choice at the GS-12 level — Foreign Service or Civil Service. If they apply for the Foreign Service, there’s both a written and an oral exam to pass. While the exam is selec- tive, one FSO told the Journal , “If you’re a competent person and you keep trying, you’ll probably get in.” Once accepted, FAS officers, unlike their State colleagues, do not have an A-100 orientation course, but they do take language training and area studies at the National Foreign Affairs Training Center. An FSO in FAS can expect to spend about two-thirds of his or her career abroad, the rest inWashington. When overseas, they are most likely to work as an agricultural attaché — a generalist responsible for reporting, trade policy and issues, food aid and marketing. “The amount of marketing an attaché will do depends on the lay of the land in that country,” says veteran FSO Dan Berman. “When I was in Portugal, I saw lots of opportunities and I set my own agenda.” The biggest markets also have agricultural trade offi- cers, focused on marketing. Japan, China and Mexico have multiple ATOs, an indication of their importance as trading partners. Part of the Embassy Community The FAS officers the Journal spoke with say that rela- tions with State and other agencies are pretty decent these days. Veteran officer Steve Huete admits, “Oh yeah, we’re aware that we’re part of the Ag[riculture] Department, not the State Department. But we’re active in the work of the embassy.” Adds Berman, “The relations you have are the ones you make. I have never seen anyone looking down their nose at us because of our acronym.” Allan Mustard, a senior FSO in the agency, agrees: “With State, we have a much better relationship than when I entered the department 20 years ago. We are viewed as full members of the Foreign Service now.” Of the Foreign Commercial Service, Mustard says, “We’re like fraternal twins, joined at the hip. A lot of times we’ll cover for each other. We help them a lot with their reports.” Perhaps the strongest evidence that USDA’s FSOs are getting real respect is that two of them are now ambas- sadors. Christopher Goldthwait, formerly the third- highest administrator in FAS, was named ambassador to Chad in 1999 — the first FAS person to become a chief of mission. Mattie Sharpless, who rose through the FAS ranks, is now ambassador to the Central African Republic. In addition, the highly experienced FSOs the Journal spoke with all report positive feelings about their careers. As Steve Huete says, “It’s a fun life. When I was stationed in Russia, some of my State Department colleagues were envious of my freedom of movement.” A Period of Growth If FAS as an agency is doing relatively well now, it probably has not hurt that the current Secretary of Agriculture, Ann Veneman, first entered USDA as deputy administrator of FAS in the late 1980s. When asked whether Veneman has any special fond- ness for her old agency, Administrator Ellen Terpstra diplomatically replies, “She’s very well aware of the tal- ents and capabilities of our staff here and in the posts around the world. She has a high expectation of how the Foreign Service and our FSOs around the world will rep- resent the entire Department of Agriculture.” Whatever the reason, FAS’s fortunes have improved since the Bush administration took office. “A few years ago,” says FSO Steve Huete, “we were trying to squeeze every penny we could.” FSO Allan Mustard notes, “In the 1990s, we were los- ing bodies through attrition — both Foreign Service and Civil Service. We had 50 vacancies at one point.” FAS budget officer Hal Wynne agrees, “During the second Clinton administration we suffered. They talked exports, but they didn’t want to walk the walk. Under Secretary Veneman, our budget recovered. She has a greater interest in exports than [former Agriculture Secretary Dan] Glickman.” The numbers back up that assertion. In the current F O C U S