The Foreign Service Journal, May 2006

A Needed Discussion I commend the Foreign Service Journal for the outstanding March issue devoted to analyzing the impli- cations of the war in Iraq on the Foreign Service. I was particularly impressed by AFSA’s decision to give people serving in Iraq the opportuni- ty to voice their opinions. The only way to truly understand the impact of this war is to hear from the people on the ground. I hope you will devote future issues to analyzing the longer-term impact of the war in Iraq and the war on terror on the Foreign Service. The talk of directed assignments, the new precepts for promotion, the “Iraq tax” and the goals of “transfor- mational diplomacy” all seem to point in one direction. Adventure seekers who are attracted to conflict situations will be rewarded. Those who are motivated to transform the world will hold sway over those moti- vated to understand it. While intended to meet the for- eign policy goals of the current administration, the challenges in- evitably will transform the overall character of the Foreign Service. For example, FSOs increasingly will have to choose between family and career because there will be fewer assignments that will accommodate both. Some may argue that this type of change is necessary to meet the challenges of what is now being called the “long war.” Others may counter that the value of a diplomat- ic corps is to prevent conflict, not to adapt to it. The FSJ is well posi- tioned to host this debate and I encourage you to do so. Kathleen Sheehan Former FSO Arlington, Va. (Ms. Sheehan resigned in 2005 to take a Civil Service position in the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration.) Iraq Challenges Shawn Dorman’s “Iraq Service and Beyond” (March) is a landmark piece that will hopefully prompt close scrutiny by policy-makers and man- agers now and in the future. Only such a piece, drawing on direct obser- vations by those engaged in this pro- ject, could reveal the extraordinary challenges posed by this posting. The candor and deep concerns expressed by respondents provide a perspective that bureaucratic depart- ment analyses and reviews obscure. Of particular note was the concern expressed by several respondents that the Iraq project could be having as destructive an impact on the Foreign Service as it is having on the military; i.e., debilitating under-resourcing and lasting harm done to America’s inter- national reputation. Having witnessed the stress and long-term damage inflicted on both the U.S. military and the Foreign Service by our Vietnam experience (as an Army enlisted man there and, briefly, as part of the Defense Attaché’s Office in Phnom Penh), I would draw one parallel. As in Vietnam, so in Iraq, too few partici- pants have voiced timely, fundamen- tal policy critiques — either through the formal Dissent Channel or by going public (which is often more effective, but even more career-en- dangering). I am aware of the criticism and consequences meted out to those who challenge policy from within the Service. Better to hold your tongue and offer your bold, post-facto assess- ments through too-late but lucrative book contracts and professional pun- ditry. But with the stakes so dire and costs so debilitating, dissent, notwith- standing the formal and informal ret- ribution, becomes an undeniable bur- den of conscience. Edmund McWilliams Senior FSO, retired Carrizozo, N.M. Generals and Ambassadors AFSA President Anthony Holmes’ views on Iraq service expressed in the March Foreign Service Journal remind me of an insurgent mortar attack: hastily prepared, with lots of noise but little accuracy. Admittedly, being simply one of the many “TDYers who served in the CPA,” my own judgments about Iraq may be clouded by “outdated information,” while Ambassador Holmes has the kind of hard-won, first-hand knowl- edge that comes with access to raw survey data. Amb. Holmes admits that AFSA’s Iraq survey — in which a mere 57 employees currently or previously posted to Iraq participated — cannot be used to “draw statistically valid conclusions.” Yet, with some un- L ETTERS 6 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 6