The Foreign Service Journal, June 2016

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JUNE 2016 11 Instead, she was a management-coned officer with assignments in Africa, a year at National Defense University and an academic background that included a bachelor’s of science in psychology and a master’s of public administration. She also had done something else that proved to be of particular value: a Pearson Fellowship on Capitol Hill. In just a few years, Jonita transformed PM/POLAD from a “mom and pop” niche market into a major player. To be sure, she benefited from the conclusions by State and the Department of Defense that our “long war” against terrorism needed more effective Foreign Service-military cooperation. During this process, Jonita orga- nized relentlessly. The POLAD program expanded into Iraq and Afghanistan with cadres of FSOs matched with military commanders at multiple levels. She arranged Washington POLAD conferences coinciding with major military confer- ences, and then persuaded senior military commanders to speak frankly to advisers. With clever creativity, she devised POLAD symbols, including a flag and a much-valued coin. And she convinced PM to publish The Future of POLADs in the 21st Century , useful for years as a backgrounder and recruiting tool, as a hard-copy study. Jonita did her own stint as a political adviser to the Commander of the U.S. Sixth Fleet in Naples before her final posi- tion as minister-counselor for administra- tive affairs at Embassy Pretoria. Creative charmwas her hallmark. David Jones FSO, retired Arlington, Virginia CORRECTION In the May Local Lens by John F. Krotzer the body of water pictured is mis- takenly identified as “Pokhara Lake.”The proper name is “Phewa Lake.” We regret the error, and thank attentive reader Larry Fields for bringing it to our attention. n FSO Steve Banks responds to the April Speaking Out, “The Department of State: Mission and Vision Examined,” by Ambassador (ret.) Ed Marks. This is a “solution” in search of a problem. It’s clear to me that the department is extraordinarily well-served in Washington by its extremely capable and effective Civil Service personnel. Meanwhile, it’s senseless to try to convert the bulk of Civil Service positions into FS positions. It’d be a disaster for every headquarters job to change over every two years with the FS bidding cycle. There’s a body of expertise unique to the Washington headquarters milieu that we do not gain overseas. I have greatly benefited during my domestic assignments from the specialized knowledge and hard-won experience of my CS colleagues. Plus, we’d be forcing hundreds of Washington-hating FS personnel to do a lot more D.C. tours. Basically, this idea—seemingly based on little more than FS chauvin- ism—would create huge management headaches to implement, and for what? The article doesn’t really articulate how we’d allegedly be better off were this idea put into effect. AFSA Facebook Feedback