The Foreign Service Journal, June 2017

count on the presence of talented American diplomats nearly everywhere. The best example is that of Robert Murphy, the illustrious American diplomat who was on the ground in North Africa before and after we invaded. Dozens of State and USAID FSOs served in combat zones in Vietnam, some paying for that service with their lives. Those of us who served behind the Iron Curtain, in the Balkans, Africa, Central America and other tough places have similar stories of working solo or alongside our military in dangerous places. One Army officer commented that nothing creates credibility and cements respect among the military more than an FSO who “shares the mud” with them. Nature Abhors a Vacuum Fast forward to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The State Department was not just slow in deploying capable personnel to these two war zones, leaving the military to fend for itself in devel- oping governance and restarting economies, but faced strong internal opposition to participating alongside the military—which only accelerated the militarization of foreign policy. The year 2007 was angst-filled for the Foreign Service. “An Uneasy Partnership—The Foreign Service and the Military” was the focus of the March Foreign Service Journal . The Journal ended the year with a cover story questioning whether State was still in charge of its embassies. As Iraq’s security situation worsened from 2005 to 2007, the need for Foreign Service tal- ent had increased. When I came on board in January 2007 as State’s deputy assistant secretary (DAS) for Iraq, we urgently needed to staff 15 new provincial reconstruction teams, one for each of the brigade combat teams being sent to the country. In addition to THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JUNE 2017 39 The proliferation of activities that pander to U.S. domestic special interests and divert resources from other work, and whose effectiveness cannot easily be measured, is one aspect of the creeping irrelevance of American diplo- macy. This problem has been compounded by the Foreign Service’s apparent unwilling- ness or inability to work with the U.S. military when they need us the most. Missing in Action Since retiring in 2013 from my position as the civilian deputy to the commander of EUCOM, I occasionally help prepare American military units to deal with U.S. embassies in operations abroad. This brings me into contact with officers getting ready to go back to the Middle East and Afghanistan, as well as Europe. At an event earlier this year, I was talking to a Marine heading to a task force operating in western Iraq. He knew I had served as a foreign policy adviser (POLAD) in Iraq, and complained that he did not think there would be a State Department officer out with his task force. He outlined all the (civilian) areas where such a person was needed to advise and guide the task force. Listening in was a two-star Army general, a battalion com- mander in Afghanistan in the early years of that conflict. He noted the absence of the State Department in his province at that time, and explained how valuable POLADs and State-led provincial reconstruction teams (PRTs) had been to him later on in Iraq. One of my duties at EUCOMwas to ensure we were as sup- portive of our embassies as possible, going so far as to develop our theater and country plans based on each embassy’s Integrated Country Strategy. We extended invitations to ambassadors and deputy chiefs of mission to visit, as well as arranging regional gatherings to develop personal relationships we could draw on in times of crisis. (“You cannot surge trust” is a military adage.) Yet not every embassy seemed to see the value in investing time with EUCOM. In one case, an important Nordic embassy did not find it convenient to participate in a regional tabletop exercise designed to help us think about how we would defend the Baltic republics in the event of Russian aggression. During World War II and the Cold War, the military could A group of foreign policy advisers (POLADs) with Commander of the U.S. European Command Admiral James Stavridis at the U.S. European Command’s Component Commander’s Conference in Naples on Jan. 11, 2013. First row, from left: the late Jonita Whitaker, U.S. Naval Forces Europe POLAD; Adm. Stavridis; Lee MacTaggart, U.S. Marine Forces Europe POLAD; Greg Marchese, U.S. Special Operations Command Europe POLAD. Second row, from left: Colonel Pat Hoffman, XO to Amb. Butler; Matt Boyse, U.S. Army Europe POLAD; Brent Bohne, U.S. Air Force Europe POLAD; and Ambassador Larry Butler, U.S. European Command POLAD. COURTESYOFLARRYBUTLER