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 55 A F S A N E W S V.P. VOICE: FAS ■ BY HENRY SCHMICK Up or Out — Part II — The Theory I n Part I (see April AFSA News ), we briefly reviewed the involvement of three five-star generals — John Persh- ing, GeorgeMarshall and Dwight Eisenhower— in firmly establishing the“up or out” system across the U.S. armed forces and, in 1946, its extension to the U.S. Foreign Service. We also noted that another five-star general, Henry Arnold, was one of the founders of the RAND Corporation, which provided the Department of Defense with many of the background documents used for this article. The up-or-out system first appeared in a form that we would easily recognize, in the U.S. Navy Acts of 1899 and 1916. Those acts included the following provi- sions: time in class, mandatory retirement at maximum age limits, promotion and selection-out boards, and a retirement pension. The Marines adopted the up-or-out system in 1925 and linked mandatory retirement to being passed over for promotion. Despite the efforts of the five-star generals, the Army did not adopt the full up-or-out system until 1947, when Congress consolidated the dif- ferent approaches into the Officer Personnel Act governing all the armed forces. The goals of the OPA were to develop an officer corps with “youth and vigor,” establish a career path for success- ful officers lasting 30 years and offer voluntary retirement after 20 years of commissioned service. In the run-up to World War II, General Marshall struggled to retire many 60-year-old colonels who were “no longer the vigorous men they were in their 30s and 40s.” While working on the OPA, Congress also passed the Foreign Service Act of 1946, bringing the up-or-out system to the Foreign Service. In 1979, during discussions that would lead to passage of the 1980 For- eign Service Act, Secretary of State Cyrus Vance noted several shortcomings of the 1946 Act, including a top-heavy officer corps. He urged Congress to “restore an effective up-or-out policy essential to attracting and keeping the most quali- fied people and assuring them the opportunity tomove through the ranks at a rate which reflects their ability.” Whether he knew it or not, Sec. Vance was following the “youth and vigor”movement. Some organizational economists divide promotional systems into several types: (1) up-or-out; (2) absolute merit-based; (3) relative merit-based; (4) seniority- based; and (5) random. Each promotional system type is studied, discussed and “modeled” (through computer simulations) to see if one type works better than another in a specific corporate environment. The goals of a promotional system are to select the most able employees for positions of greater responsibility and to motivate employees at one level to strive harder to reach the next one. Does the Foreign Service up-or-out systemmeet those goals? Is it better than a seniority-based or completely randompromotional system? Tune in for Part III, where we try to determine, to paraphrase the title of a 1995 book by P.J. O’Rourke, whether age and guile do, in fact, “beat youth, innocence and a bad haircut.” Part III will appear in the July-August issue of AFSA News. ❏ Hungary and Poland Recognize American Diplomats’ Service Hungarian Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai, inWashington for high-level meetings last December, presented the Order of Merit, Commander’s Cross of the Republic of Hungary to Ambassador Mark Palmer. Palmer, an AFSA member, served as the U.S. ambassador to Hun- gary during its transition to democracy 20 years ago. The award, presented to Palmer at a dinner at the Hungarian am- bassador’s residence on Dec. 2, was “for his promotion of the Hungarian political and economic democratization process.” Earlier in the year, David Hughes, president of the Hungarian American Chamber of Commerce in Seattle, Wash., was awarded the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hun- gary for his activities in the field of devel- opment of U.S.-Hungarian economic and commercial relations, and for his promotion of the Hungarian political and economic democratization process. Hungarian Ambassador Ferenc Somogyi presented the award to Mr. Hughes, a re- tired FSO and AFSA member, at the Em- bassy of Hungary on June 19. On Feb. 8, Władysław Stasiak, head of the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland, awarded state dis- tinctions to representatives of the Ful- bright Foundation who have significantly contributed to the establish- ment and development of an academic exchange program between Poland and the United States of America. Retired FSO and AFSA member Yale W. Rich- mond received the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland for his work in getting the Ful- bright program started there and, later in his career, for work on democracy pro- grams, both during the period of martial law in Poland and afterward. AFSA NEWS BRIEFS Whether he knew it or not, Sec. Vance was following the “youth and vigor” movement.