The Foreign Service Journal, May 2010

Do you consider the For- eign Service to be a diplomatic service? Is it a profession, or just a job that anyone inter- ested in travel and international affairs can dabble in for a few years before moving on — or back—to business, nonprofits, teaching or politics? And if you do think it is a profession, is it one you and the public can define, believe in and be proud of? Our military and intelligence serv- ices long ago recognized the need for high-quality professional education (as opposed to short-term training) to pro- duce skilled practitioners and leaders, and have invested heavily in providing it. With that history in mind, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, among others, have spo- ken out repeatedly about the need for our nation to invest more resources in civilian foreign affairs agencies, such as the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development. Recently, 50 senior retired military leaders signed a letter to members of Congress in which they supported Pres- ident Barack Obama’s FY 2011 Inter- national Affairs Budget request. In particular, they endorsed its commit- ment to begin reversing the chronic un- derfunding and understaffing of America’s civilian foreign affairs institutions. But are we clear about what foundational profes- sional education and what sort of short-term traning are needed to build the skills, ex- pertise and sense of “corporateness” America’s diplomats and development professionals require? Would being certified and perceived as professionals — like doctors, lawyers or teachers — make a difference? Former Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, the first speaker in AFSA’s new lecture series, “Promoting Excellence in Diplomacy,” emphasized the critical need for foreign-language proficiency and the ability to under- stand and operate in other cultures. Ac- cordingly, the greatest challenge for the Foreign Service is “recruiting, training, deploying, retaining and retraining offi- cers” with the skills needed to carry out America’s foreign policy. A little more than 50 years ago, Samuel Huntington made the case for military “officership” as a profession in his book, The Soldier and the State. He defined a military professional as some- one with the intellectual skills and pro- fessional responsibility to carry out the “management of violence.” Huntington acknowledged diplo- matic service as a profession possessing “a high degree of specialization of labor and responsibilities ... which renders a collective service to society as a whole.” But he left the definition of the profes- sion, and its professional education and certification requirements, up to the diplomats to determine. AFSA believes that it is time to take up this task. We need to put forward a definition of our profession for scrutiny and debate, as a first step toward devis- ing an effective approach to in-service training. Toward that end, the American Academy of Diplomacy has launched a comprehensive study to address profes- sional education, training, and develop- mental assignments needed to produce a high-value cadre of diplomatic service professionals with the knowledge and skills needed tomeet present needs and future evolving requirements. AFSA, along with the Cox andDela- van Foundations, is funding this study and will participate in the work of the AAD Advisory Group that will provide overall guidance and policy direction. AFSAwants to provide a channel for active-duty perspectives and input to this project, and we are exploring a va- riety of ways to do this. If you are inter- ested in these issues, please be in touch with us at President@afsa.org. ■ Susan R. Johnson is the president of the American Foreign Service Association. P RESIDENT ’ S V IEWS Seeing Diplomacy As a Profession B Y S USAN R. J OHNSON 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 5 3 The first step is to define our profession.