The Foreign Service Journal, May 2009

M A Y 2 0 0 9 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 15 mericans haven’t gotten much good news fromWashington or fromWall Street about the state of the economy lately. But there are few more notable bright spots than the performance of American exporters — and, in turn, few more positive stories about government’s ability to help than those of the Foreign Agri- cultural Service and the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service. Exports equal jobs. And with unemployment in the United States rapidly approaching double digits, those jobs F O C U S O N FA S & FCS H OPING FOR A B REAK : F OREIGN T RADE A GENCIES U NDER P RESSURE D ESPITE THE ECONOMIC AND DIPLOMATIC DIVIDENDS OF THEIR WORK , FSO S AT A GRICULTURE AND C OMMERCE ARE COPING WITH INADEQUATE BUDGETS . B Y S HAWN Z ELLER Phil Foster A