The Foreign Service Journal, June 2022

30 JUNE 2022 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL that we can use it to get where we want to go as an organization. We have tomake sure that regulation and law is followed. Our favorite line is recruit for diversity and hire for merit . Make absolutely sure that our recruiting efforts bring a diverse cohort into the department. But when you’re putting together panels of officers to consider for positions, that list better be diverse. If you’ve done your job right, there’s no compromise on merit. You have done your recruitment in a way that brings you great officers from a wide variety of backgrounds. Therefore, you can keep that mix going all the way to the top. That’s what we expect. b AFSA Outreach and Strategic Communications Manager Nadja Ruzica: Thank you both for an excellent discussion. We’ve received a lot of questions, and we will try to get through as many as we can. …Will the recruitment and testing processes, as well as medical security and suitability assessments, be reviewed to ensure there is no implicit bias there? CDIO: The short answer is yes. Things are happening even as we speak. But the Board of Examiners and that part of GTM have the lead. I will not steal anybody’s thunder on making any announcements. I’d say watch this space, and watch it with hope. When I came into the Foreign Service, I remember I had 52 people in my class. We went out for a drink afterward, and the guys stood around at the bar speculating on which women came through another way, through the Mustang Program or through another program, and who didn’t pass the written test. The reality is that the written test has zero correlation to being a successful diplomat. Zero. Passing doesn’t prove that you’re going to be a good diplomat. It doesn’t prove that you’re going to be a terrible diplomat. It tests a certain body of knowledge at that time. As you all know, we have the extraordinary Foreign Service Institute. Anything that we need, it can be taught, except for emotional intelligence, except for respect for the other. One of the things that our full process does not do—and I hope we can figure that out soon, because the oral exam actually does have a cor- relation to success as a diplomat—is test for racists, or sexists, or homophobes, or ableists. Those are the things that we need to be screening for. There will be changes coming, watch this space. AFSA: There’s a perception that FSOs who are people of color have been leaving the Foreign Service over the last few years in record numbers. This isn’t necessarily reflected in the statistics that we’re seeing. Do you have a sense of what is accurate? CDIO: I’m certainly aware of the perception. We’ll get the data; we’re going to be putting it all out there. Watch the ODI SharePoint site, our website and our dashboard. Frankly, because there are so few of us, when you lose one, you’re losing a huge percentage. Each one, if it is someone who is a valuable, productive member of our cohort, is a heartbreaking loss. We don’t want to lose people that we shouldn’t be losing, but I don’t have hard numbers yet. AFSA: Another questioner says they’ve heard many stories of people not filing grievances because the burden of proving discrim- ination is so hard. And as a result, there is a toxic work environ- ment that’s not properly dealt with. How can this be changed, so that people are finally held to account? CDIO: We are discussing a variety of options and ways, keep- ing in mind privacy law. There are some things that might appear logical to do, that we simply cannot do for privacy reasons. I urge every colleague, if you are having challenges at post, document them. Make a memo to the file. If you have witnesses, then send an email. Make sure that you’ve got a track record that will help you when you decide to file a case. Make sure you understand the difference between harassment and discrimination. I might suggest to people that you go to both parts of OCR [the Office of Civil Rights]—harassment, as well as discrimination—because the investigation part of the harassment is faster. There are a variety of things out there that can help you hold accountable those of us who need to be held accountable. Now we have a system that seems to fail across the board. Both parties feel like they are being ill-used, that the treatment is unfair, that bad things are happening. If everybody feels like it’s not working, we’ve got to figure out what else we can do. But there are privacy restrictions. We work with GTM, its Office of Employee Relations [on conduct, suitability and discipline issues] and the Office of Civil Rights and employment lawyers, as well as our office, because we want more transparency. It is our belief that if people talk about bad things that are happening, that people will behave better. My definition of success is that the office shuts down.