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 49 A F S A N E W S U nlike other foreign affairs agencies, the Foreign Agricultural Service does not directly recruit“Ag of- ficers” for our Foreign Service positions. Instead, our candidates work in FAS/Washington for several years before undertaking a series of exams to enter the Foreign Service. It’s our “mythic journey”: persisting through trials, obstacles and endless staff meetings before winning the prize— the opportunity to write endless commodity reports at your first post. We have several staffing problems. The first is a lack of money to hire new entry-level agricultural economists and trade specialists. And the second is our inconsistent view of what type of training a potential officer should receive once hired. We hope that the first problem will be addressed in the FY 2010 budget. FAS has a multiyear recruitment strategy, but we need the funding and desire to implement it. Unfortunately, the second problem (training and career development) is one with which FAS has always struggled. As a small agency, our officers have one foot or hand in each of our four functional subcultures — analysis (commodity reporting), trade policy and marketing (export promotion), de- velopment (ag technical assistance) and commodity disappearance (food aid or export credits). In addition to keeping all of his or her limbs busy, the FAS officer needs to wear a white lab coat (biotech, nanotechnology, climate change, biofuels) and coordi- nate with all the other agencies work- ing on those issues. The new hires won’t be familiar with our functional subcultures. Fortunately, our “junior profession- als” have organized a thoughtful two- year series of brown-bag seminars on all aspects of FAS, trade policy, the work of other federal agencies, etc. Unfortunately, these sessions are voluntary, done during the lunch break and not well supported by managers obsessed with short-term tasks. In fact, the 1965 Andrews-Phillips Report on FAS noted: “A more organized system of orientation on a group basis should be inaugurated at once.” After nearly 45 years to consider the matter, it’s time to carry out that recommendation. So, while I (“old fogey” warning) would prefer that FAS officers be farm kids with master’s degrees in agricultural economics (so we can discuss partial differential equations and cross elasticities of lobbying on agricultural exports), we need to have a wider hiring pool and a better training program. We can start to address these problems by raising the profile of the Career Intern Pro- gram. The CIP, with its short-term rotations through our functional subcul- tures, allows us to recruit new officers with strong analytic skills who still retain a sense of “wow” about new agricultural issues — and, like Dr. Seuss, can think and color outside the lines. ❏ V.P. VOICE: FAS ■ BYHENRYS. SCHMICK Partial Differential Equations, CIPs and Dr. Seuss seas posts for childbirth; and • finding ways within U.S. law to offer status and benefits to domestic partners overseas, who share all the risks and hardships of Foreign Service life. The Secretary promised to address these problems and indicated that a pro- posal concerning the last item is already in the works. After making the observation that the U.S. is the onlyWestern democracy that routinely appoints unqualified non-career ambassadors who have no diplomatic experience, Kashkett com- mented that AFSA members world- wide were encouraged by the presi- dent’s remarks last month and are closely watching the administration’s selections for special envoys, ambas- sadorships and senior positions. The AFSA leaders expressed their hope that the seasoned career experts of the For- eign Service will be chosen for key jobs. The Secretary responded that she is trying to keep professional diplomats in a leadership role. Focus on USAID Shifting to USAID, Zamora stated that the agency has been abused for eight years and suffers from a confusing, hypercentralized and wasteful structure. Members are unsure about the overall USAID mission and concerned about the creation of the F Bureau. Sec. Clin- ton agreed that the agency needs a bet- ter sense of purpose and that State and USAID must collaborate to implement both diplomacy and development. USAID, she said, should not be reduced to the role of a contracting agency. Zamora asked when a new adminis- trator would be named. The Secretary assured him that no one is more inter- ested in this than she is, but that the White House must finalize its decision. While encouraged by the tone of co- operation in this initial encounter, the AFSA leaders recognize that there is much work ahead and hope that Sec. Clinton will remain engaged with the association on these personnel and ca- reer issues that directly affect the Foreign Service. ❏ Secretary • Continued from page 45 Our “mythic journey” is about persisting through trials, obstacles, and endless staff meetings before winning the prize — writing endless commodity reports at your first post.