The Foreign Service Journal, June 2014

14 JUNE 2014 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL A colleague of mine, having spent many a winter Sunday watching profes- sional football on television, recently mused: “There’s nothing wrong with the country team concept, except that it’s not up-to-date. Every embassy should have two country teams, one for offense and one for defense. It has struck me that this idea could be played for more than a laugh, and I have found myself, furthermore, pondering other unexplored analogies. No pro- ducer in his right mind, for example, brings a straight play or a musical into New York City without at least one out-of-town tryout. Out-of-Washington tryouts for new policies would similarly make a lot of sense. While it might, admittedly, be something of a shock at first, we should probably become accustomed to reading headlines like these: “New China Policy a Real Tur- key, Closes in Philadelphia.”“Alliance for Progress Shift Shows Promise in Chicago.” The possibilities inherent in a two-country team arrangement are limitless. … The dilemma of the football coach faced with the decision as to whether to have his team try for that extra two yards or kick on fourth down would, of course, be as nothing compared to an assistant secretary’s moment of truth when he would have to decide whether to leave the OCT in at the height of a crisis, or pull it out and send in the defense. Football fans and sportswriters could never begin to pro- duce Monday morning quarterbacks in the same league with those to be found among political commentators, congressmen or Washington taxi drivers. Morale and performance would certainly be improved when, say, American Embassy X could trade to Embassy Y an experienced but unneeded political offi- cer and a green but promising cultural attaché for a shrewd economic counselor and a shifty public affairs officer, throwing in some cash (in counterpart funds, of course). And instead of the present haphazard method of assigning new FSO-8s, we could look forward to the more sensible—and vastly more exciting—prospect of assistant secretaries participating in an annual draft of these newcomers to the professional diplomatic game. —From“The Young, Intellectual, Overseas Chinese Trade Union Leader and His Piano-Playing Student Wife,” by S.I. Nadler, FSJ , June 1964. 50 Years Ago the strike’s long-term impact on Canada’s reputation as a destination for travel, study, employment and immigration. We also continue to enthusiastically supply the same loyal, fearless and expert advice on which successive governments have relied to achieve their international priorities. But in a competitive global arena, a country with Canada’s footprint, ambi- tion and scope of interests demands a motivated and well-resourced Foreign Service. A productive relationship between government and its diplomats over the long run will require not just one favorable contract, but a reversal of the systematic nickel-and-diming of our conditions of service and the essential tools of our trade in recent years—includ- ing travel, hospitality, training and public diplomacy budgets. Bout: What more needs to be done to get the Canadian public to appreciate the value of the Foreign Service? TE: One of the collateral benefits of job action is that it gave us a podium to counter many of the negative myths associated with diplomatic work and the circumstances under which it is performed. We were able to tell our story and control our narrative, offering an accurate and up-to-date picture of the professional and environmental chal- lenges we face. As the strike progressed, it seemed that more Canadians—though certainly not all!—thought that equal pay was not such an outlandish request by those tasked with defending and promoting Canada overseas. Although it was never PAFSO’s aim to carry the day in the court of public opinion (we simply wanted to be ready to rebut government messaging as needed), media coverage turned out to be broadly sympathetic. PAFSO intends to use this attention, momentum and our well-oiled advocacy machine to continue building a community of inter- est and presenting a current image of life in the Foreign Service. —Steven Alan Honley, Contributing Editor #AskIraq—But Don’t Expect Many Answers O n April 16, Iraq’s ambassador to the United States, Lukman Faily, held his third Twitter Q&A, moderated by Josh Rogin of The Daily Beast. Using the hashtag #AskIraq, hundreds of Twitter users sent in questions for the ambas- sador covering a wide range of topics, though most of the questions centered on declining security in Iraq. Twitter users pestered Ambassador Faily throughout the session to comment specifically on the December 2013 attacks on Iranian dissidents living in Camp Liberty, which left multiple members of the Mujahideen-e-Khalq group wounded or killed. He responded: “We urgently