The Foreign Service Journal, June 2006

tary, however critical their role is in other dimensions. This has been a unique challenge for the department, and I admire and respect the profes- sionalism of our colleagues who have gone to do a job they knew would be tough. FSJ: Do you believe the Foreign Service will continue to attract enough qualified bidders (for example, with Arabic and regional expertise) for positions in Iraq and other critical- needs countries to avert the need for directed assignments? WRP: The work in Iraq, Afghanis- tan and, indeed, in all the other tough posts in the world has been accom- plished almost entirely by volunteers. This speaks strongly in support of a genuinely bipartisan, professional Foreign Service. It also commends all our Civil Service colleagues who have stepped forward. We are training four times the number of Arabic speakers today com- pared with 2001. The requirement for hardship service in the career develop- ment plan will also spread the burden and create broader expertise in our Service. We’ve introduced new flexi- bilities for civil servants to move into the Foreign Service after tours over- seas, and for specialists to change pro- fessions. Directed assignments occa- sionally are necessary, but I do not believe we have arrived at that point. FSJ: Do you favor offering more in- centives for service in hardship posts? WRP: We have a very good package of incentives that also preserves fair- ness for the rest of the Service. The incentives reflect the seriousness of the work and the difficult and dangerous environment. They should be adjusted as needed to reflect those factors. For example, we fought hard to have the hardship and danger-pay limits raised from 25 to 35 percent. We need to constantly review what is offered, how- ever, and we especially need to ensure we are providing more support for our families whose loved ones are serving in unaccompanied posts. FSJ: What are the top challenges confronting the Foreign Service as an institution in the post-9/11 era? How is the department meeting them? WRP: The most important single challenge is strengthening the diplo- matic arm of the United States for the decades ahead. As a culture, tradi- tionally we have given greater weight to action, but the overwhelming majority of issues facing us in the world today must still be solved by negotiation in one form or another, even when force must be a compo- nent. By the middle of the 21st cen- tury, 90 percent of the world’s popula- tion will live outside Europe and North America. Our challenge as a Service and a country requires helping 54 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U N E 2 0 0 6