The Foreign Service Journal, June 2014

16 JUNE 2014 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL SPEAKING OUT Publishing in the Foreign Service BY YAN I V BARZ I LA I I t almost goes without saying that members of the Foreign Service have a lot to share. Whether through incredible stories of adventures abroad, personal accounts of years spent in war zones, memoirs of a life in government service or poignant analyses of foreign policy and history, the men and women of the Foreign Service are in an extraordinary position to share valuable personal insights and contribute to national and global debates. Unfortunately, most Foreign Ser- vice and State Department employees perceive such vast bureaucratic barriers to publishing while in the Foreign Service that they determine it is not worth the effort. To be sure, those obstacles are very real and very frustrating. I person- ally experienced practically every one of them in publishing as a State Department employee. It often felt like I was a first- time athlete trying to run a marathon with no end in sight and high jumps at every turn. But I made it through the process. My book, 102 Days of War—How Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda & the Taliban Survived 2001 , was released in January with only a small amount of information redacted. Yaniv Barzilai, a State Department Foreign Service officer serving in Baku on his first overseas posting, is the author of 102 Days of War—How Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda & the Taliban Survived 2001 (Potomac Books, 2013). The views expressed in this article are his alone and do not necessarily represent those of the State Department or the U.S. government. Author’s Note: This article has been reviewed by the State Department, Central Intelligence Agency and Department of Defense in order to prevent the disclosure of classified information. Since then, I have held public events at the Brookings Institution and the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced Interna- tional Studies, spoken on National Public Radio, and published articles in national and international news media—all with the approval of the State Department, and all while serving as an FSO. And if I can do it, so can anyone else in the Foreign Service. A Win-Win Proposition Publishing is not only good personal career development; it is important for American society. Historical and foreign policy scholarship is a universal good that can inform leaders about difficult decisions and help them avoid the mis- takes of the past. And personal stories about life in the Foreign Service help educate the American people about a type of public service that is often over- looked and underreported. As an American diplomat, I strongly believe in the obligation to protect all classified information. There are simply things that cannot be discussed in the public domain, which can often include current, unresolved issues in interna- tional relations. In general, however, the U.S. govern- ment has a keen interest in encouraging its employees to engage in a dialogue with the American people and the world at large. Such exchanges are not only an important element of a functioning democracy, but an essential part of rep- resenting the United States abroad. The rules and regulations for publish- ing in the Foreign Service can be found in the Foreign Affairs Manual at 3 FAM 4170. All current and former State Department employees who want to publish or speak publicly should review the document in its entirety. How the Process Works The first determination that must be made is whether your material is “of official concern.” The FAM defines official concern as any material that relates to “any policy, program or operation of the employee’s agency or to current U.S. foreign policies, or reasonably may be expected to affect the foreign relations of the United States.” In other words, it is entirely a judgment call. Unless it would be utterly preposterous to mark your material “of official concern,” you can safely assume which verdict the State Department will give. Personal judgment plays a role. Tech- nically, “Materials that do not address matters of official concern need not be submitted for review” (3 FAM 4172.1-1a). You may make that determination as an individual, but if you possess any doubt about meeting the threshold, forgoing