The Foreign Service Journal, June 2013

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JUNE 2013 35 Bridging the Divide Experts with experience working with both U.S. govern- ment branches say the relationship suffers from a lack of sustained contact on human rights and other issues. Posner, speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations, described an aversion in the State Department to testifying and congressional briefings. He said he found it helpful to spend at least one day per week on the Hill, when not on official travel, to discuss rights issues with members of both parties. “There is huge risk aversion at the State Department in engaging Capitol Hill,” says Lagon, the former director of State’s trafficking in persons’ office. “The State Department engaging the Hill is much like engaging the press. One out of 20 times it will bite you in the rear. But for the other 19 times, greater things ensue.” Adds Barry Lowenkron, who served as assistant secretary for democracy, human rights and labor in the George W. Bush administration: “Sometimes it can just mean going up and hav- ing conversations with staffers and walking through what the issues are.” Lowenkron adds that avoiding Congress can backfire. “I think the more Congress is ignored or shunted aside, the more it will legislate additional reporting.” Easing relations between the two branches will involve mak- ing policies and personalities less foreign to each side. The steps that can be taken include embedding more Foreign Service officers on the Hill. Currently, a small number of FSOs every year have the opportunity to spend a year acquiring legislative experi- ence while working as congressional staff. These opportunities are made available through either a Pearson Amendment assign- ment or a training assignment through the American Political Science Association’s Congressional Fellowship Program. Both programs are well regarded and would benefit from participation by a larger pool of rotated FSOs. Also helpful would be the establishment of a program that sends congressional staff to State Department bureaus involved in human rights work, to gain an appreciation for how such issues are handled there. But deploying more personnel to each branch has its limits. Most FSOs are focused on training for rotations abroad, and congressional staff members are increasingly stretched thin coping with an array of new foreign policy issues, ranging from geo-economics to asymmetric security threats. Clearly, though, both the State Department and Congress would benefit frommore frequent contact through existing channels to negotiate smoother landings—and present a more consistent voice internationally—for initiatives like the Mag- nitsky Act. n Association for Diplomatic Study and Training (ADST) Got an interesting story to tell? Want to read one? The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training is a non-gov- ernmental, nonprofit organi- zation located at the State Department’s Foreign Service Institute. Founded in 1986, ADST advances understand- ing of American diplomacy and supports training of foreign affairs personnel. We sponsor a publishing program and our collection of more than 1800 oral history interviews includes such fascinating interviewees as Prudence Bushnell, Terence Todman, and Kathleen Turner. Excerpts from the collection highlight the monumental, the horrifying, the thought-provoking, and the absurd. They reflect the reality of diplomacy, warts and all, mak- ing them a great resource for foreign affairs profession- als, scholars, journalists, and anyone else who likes a great read. Check us out at www.adst.org.