The Foreign Service Journal, June 2008

produce detailed receipts to prove they did not cheat on their travel voucher. If all travel were approached using the flat per diem model, obviating the need to keep receipts in almost all cases, the number of positions — possibly entire offices — that could be eliminated would be substantial. To reas- sure those worried about fraud, regulations could be adopted to ensure that any cheating would result in an immediate termination of employment. Alas, such a sensible approach would require a total revision of the Foreign Affairs Manual, which, in turn, would require congressional approval. This may be why it has not been advocated or attempted. Apparently, it is much easier to create a system that only requires some tweaking here and there, all of which can be done under the radar. Even better, the originators of the program can collect awards for the short-term savings and be long gone by the time an investigation by the Office of the Inspector General, Government Accountability Office or media organizations turns up the many weaknesses of the approach. To put it another way, perhaps we need to replace “rightsizing” with “right reasoning.” We should begin from scratch by taking an objective look at the reasons for our presence in each country and determine how best to allocate scarce resources to carry out the mission. We should also remember that an American embassy is just that: its primary goal is to support and represent American interests, which at times are vastly different from those of our host government. In closing, let me be clear: Locally engaged staff are the backbone of the Foreign Service. The vast majori- ty of them are outstanding, dependable, conscientious, reliable, responsible and honorable. Many of them have risked (and lost) their lives trying to protect our embassies, both the people and property. But we should repay their exceptional service by protecting them from being placed in the awkward position in which LES Empowerment will put them. We owe them, at the very least, that much. n F O C U S 46 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 8