The Foreign Service Journal, June 2017

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JUNE 2017 7 was recently invited by the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition to speak at an event about the vital role the Foreign Service plays in sustaining America’s global leadership. As careful readers of AFSA’s 2016 Annual Report will know, cementing a closer strategic partnership with USGLC is one of AFSA’s top outreach goals for 2017. I am always happy to report progress, but especially so at times like this when the Foreign Service needs partners like USGLC to help make the case for a strong Foreign Service. There is no place like my monthly column to review the case and repeat our key messages: Nine in 10 Americans support strong U.S. global leadership. Such leadership is unthinkable without a strong professional Foreign Service deployed around the world protecting and defending America’s people, interests and values. Since the end of World War II, the United States has enjoyed a position of unprecedented global leadership, which was built on a foundation of military might, economic prowess, good gover- nance and tremendous cultural appeal— and the diplomatic prowess to channel that power, hard and soft, into keeping us safe and prosper- ous at home. American leadership is being challenged by adversaries who want to see us fail; we cannot let that happen. We need to reassure allies, contain our enemies and remain engaged around the globe. If the United States retreats, we leave a vacuum that will be filled by others who do not share our interests or values. Walking that back— reclaiming American global leadership, once lost—would be a daunting and uncertain task. How then do we, in the face of budget cuts, avoid retreat? We collectively take seriously our role as stewards of this great organization, the U.S. Foreign Service. We seize the opportunities of the transi- tion to streamline and refocus on core diplomatic priorities; we adopt compre- hensive risk management policies so we can get out and do our jobs; and we reintroduce ourselves as the lean, high- performing, cost-effective and responsive tool of national security that we are. I recap all this because I am deter- mined to use my presidency to help the Foreign Service do a better job of explain- ing to the American people what we do and why it matters. I increasingly realize, however, the magnitude of the chal- lenge. As I acknowledge in the Annual Report, “Members of the Foreign Service are famously reticent about tooting their own horns. After all, American diplomats pride themselves on coaxing a partner overseas to ‘yes’ without leaving a trace of their advocacy.” The very skill set that makes us such an effective diplomatic force representing and channeling American power while serving abroad (often best approached with humility and understatement) can be a handicap at home when we try to articulate our case. Which brings me back to AFSA’s stra- tegic partnership with USGLC, and to the focus of this edition of the FSJ , the role of the military in foreign policy. While we are working on improving our own ability to speak up for our institution, we need to make the most of friends and partners who are eager to make the case for us, including the 120 generals and admirals who signed a letter in April praising the Foreign Service. One of those admirals shared the stage with me at the USGLC event, and he did a terrific job of explaining how much he as a visitor to a foreign country depended on the “enduring platform ”— aka the U.S. embassy—to do his job. With budget choices being framed as either “hard power” or “soft power,” Ambassador Barbara Stephenson is the president of the American Foreign Service Association. Getting Out in Front BY BARBARA STEPHENSON I PRESIDENT’S VIEWS Being asked to choose between hard power and soft power strikes me as akin to being asked by hotel staff, when I urgently need to sew on a button before a meeting, whether I would prefer a needle or thread.