The Foreign Service Journal, May 2021

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MAY 2021 23 the commitment to prioritize and then fund upgraded State Department education and training. Five Steps to Consider Here are some basic steps deserving of consideration from the perspective of the U.S. Diplomatic Studies Foundation. Give high priority to a comprehensive review of the careerlong progression of tradecraft and general skills that all employees need, linked to a thorough needs assessment. Begin planning now for a full set of revised courses at the entry-, mid- and senior levels for the longer-term future. This revision should be based on existing studies of needs and any necessary new research to provide offi- cers and staffs, the Congress and the public with the best overall solution to this issue. Assessments should also prepare a way to acquire all the needed authorities and funding. Prepare ambassadors for their expansive and critically important mandate. The president traditionally writes a general instruction letter to new ambassadors and places an incred- ible amount of responsibility and accountability in the hands of the chief of mission. This includes broad oversight of all U.S activities in a host country (excluding military-commanded combat activities). While career Foreign Service ambassadors have a wealth of prior foreign policy experience both at home and abroad, these men and women only receive roughly three weeks of ambassadorial training before representing the United States across the entire range of international activity of the U.S. government in their host country. The current course simply does not allow enough time for thorough coverage of the scope of ambassadorial responsibil- ity and, more generally, the criticality of that role. Moreover, greater provision needs to be made for noncareer appointees, brand-new to the task, who need a more in-depth orientation. But any course of this nature on the eve of becoming an ambas- sador or, for that matter, an assistant secretary is going to be too little, too late, if it is not built on a solid professional education as well as experience. Increase the quality and quantity of midlevel training. There is a significant gap in essential training at the midlevel. The midlevel is also where the department begins identifying poten- tial seniors and seeing higher frequency in the departure of minority employees. This is where the department can make the biggest statement about its commitment to the career develop- ment of its personnel. By programming more training opportunities for employees and ensuring availability for attendance, the department can directly and forcefully affirm its commitment to the profes- sional development of all its officers. It has for decades provided a widely successful course in upgrading economic proficiency. In the last 20 years, it has added a careerlong progression of courses in leadership and management. Those courses need complements in other areas—e.g., where newly arising knowl- edge and skills are required such as in technology and climate generally, and cyber security particularly. Increase the frequency of training, and tie training to promo- tion. Although the percentage of State Department officers’ time spent in training may not realistically equal their military counterpart’s (15 to 20 percent), State should, with the excep- tion of language training, approach levels similar to the more parallel CIA (about 5 percent). The department must supplant the current culture that sees training as career-stalling with a new culture of education being career-enhancing by making certain courses, and a student’s performance in them, a require- ment for promotion. Provide initial, joint residential training for new officers. A residential training experience on entry into the Foreign and Civil Service allows officers to build camaraderie and a unified State Department identity. Joint residential training can also help build needed personnel cohesion within the department, overcoming the culture gap that exists between the Foreign Service and Civil Service. Improved education and training reform is not “Mission Impossible.” There is an emerging broad coalition of retired and currently serving senior State Department officials and con- gressional leaders that will support meaningful education and training. A number of recent studies are available; the recom- mendations are similar, and the agenda is clear. The Diplomatic Studies Foundation is prepared to help start and initially fund some of this effort. Getting it done, giving the women and men who serve the State Department the intellectual software they need to best serve our nation, will require breaking some china and tak- ing some heat. The State Department and the nation it serves deserve no less than that commitment from the new Secretary of State and administration. n The unstructured approach to professional development is inadequate.