The Foreign Service Journal, May 2010

M A Y 2 0 1 0 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 17 he zeal with which the Foreign Service constantly re-examines its structure and mis- sions and reappraises its training needs honors our passion for our profession, but also makes it difficult to reach conclu- sions about how effective such changes have been over the years. For instance, the need for a more “expeditionary” (or “program directive”) Foreign Service has been discovered repeatedly for more than 60 years, with the proponents of each iteration acting as though they had discovered a new truth. Yet for just as long, opponents have questioned the F O C U S O N T H E F U T U R E O F T H E F O R E I G N S E R V I C E T HE C HALLENGE OF P ROFESSIONAL D EVELOPMENT I T IS TIME FOR THE F OREIGN S ERVICE TO PULL TOGETHER RECENT ADVANCES IN TRAINING INTO A COMPREHENSIVE PLAN . B Y R ONALD E. N EUMANN Gary Kempston T