The Foreign Service Journal, May 2003

have up to five Americans and 10 FSNs. Wherever they are sta- tioned overseas, in addition to their country-specific responsibilities, most FAS FS officers are responsi- ble for their own personnel, bud- gets and procurement actions. As with State and the other foreign affairs agencies, a majority — over 60 percent — of FAS’s Foreign Service personnel are stationed overseas at any given time. Nearly all FAS FS officers assigned abroad have multiple-country responsibilities, unlike their State Department colleagues. This requires that they travel, often extensively, and report to several ambassadors, which can test the political savvy of even the most expe- rienced officer. However, regional responsibilities per- mit FAS FS officers to develop a wider perspective on agricultural issues, which can be a tremendous benefit. In addition, it permits formation of a broad view of a range of other issues, including commercial and politi- cal developments. While FAS FS officers move approximately every three to four years, FSN staff serve in the same office for their entire careers. For that reason, FSNs are the backbone of our agency’s in-country institutional mem- ory and experience. A Diverse Mission No matter where they are located or how they are staffed, all but a few agricultural offices have export promotion as one of their primary missions. Beyond that, the mix of responsibilities of an agriculture office varies greatly from post to post, though some FAS offices have relatively well-defined portfolios. For example, our offices in Geneva and Brussels cover the World Trade Organization and the European Commission and therefore focus almost exclusively on agricultural trade policy. Similarly, FAS offices located in major food-producing countries are heavily involved with reporting on key commodities and trade prospects; the agricultural offices in Canberra and Buenos Aires keep track of devel- opments involving key rivals of U.S. agriculture. Although the issues the FSOs track are often technical and sometimes sound arcane (What is avian influenza?), they can have a major economic impact on the U.S. agricultural sector. Large posts with FAS contin- gents are especially versatile. In Moscow, the Office of Agricultural Affairs (supported by branch offices in St. Petersburg and Vladivostok) issues more than 50 reports a year on local crop production alone. It also monitors and promotes a long list of trade policy issues, and runs a host of food aid and international coopera- tion programs. This diversity of missions means that FAS Foreign Service officers may be called upon on any given day to: meet with a vice minister in the host country’s Ministry of Agriculture regarding an agricultural policy issue; negotiate the release of a shipment of U.S. food prod- ucts held by local port officials for any variety of rea- sons; submit a scheduled commodity report to FAS headquarters; meet with visiting U.S. business repre- sentatives seeking export opportunities; preside at the opening of the U.S. pavilion at a local food show; arrange the visit of a Forest Service delegation; facili- tate the logistics of donated wheat shipments; collect insect samples from local fields for U.S. research pro- grams; or challenge the scientific validity of a local quarantine-based import ban. Whereas an overseas FAS FS officer must be a jack- of-all-trades, back in Washington, he or she is a spe- cialist. Most headquarters staff work either as analysts or as marketing or trade policy specialists. A typical day for an analyst may include updating the official supply and demand forecasts for a specific commodity, while a marketing specialist might review marketing plans and funding requests from an FAS overseas office. A trade policy specialist may draft briefing papers in prepara- tion for upcoming negotiations. Because FAS FS officers normally are assigned to overseas tours of three to four years, they often are reluctant to accept short-term, TDY assignments. As a result, these opportunities primarily go to Civil Service employees, who wish to work overseas without com- F O C U S M A Y 2 0 0 3 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 33 Ed Porter is AFSA’s Vice-President for FAS. An FSO since 1988, he has served in France, the United Arab Emirates and Washington, D.C. Whereas an overseas FAS FS officer must be a jack-of-all-trades, back in Washington, he or she is a specialist.