The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2003

cable that was informally coordinated with Gen. Schwarzkopf and that sank without a trace into the Washington morass. W hile in North Korea in 1995, as part of a delegation to oversee that country’s compliance with the new framework agree- ment on nuclear energy, Kenneth Yates discovered that high-tech isn’t necessarily the last word. Some of the positions of the North Koreans that we thought did not have any merit turned out to be based on things of which we had no under- standing. That happened a number of times in my North Korean experience. You may remember in the press a couple of years ago, we had accused the North Koreans of siphoning off the fuel oil of the first shipment and diverting it to other purposes. Their tally of how much had been taken in was different from ours. Theirs showed less and ours showed more. We said, “Aha!” The press had a field day saying that they were stealing the fuel. It turned out that our technolo- gy was overly sophisticated and had given us incorrect readings. We used technology utilizing sound waves to measure the flow of the heavy fuel oil, which meant we did not have to put anything into the fuel flow itself. It was an acoustic process by which you could tell the rate of flow by, I sup- pose, the Doppler effects on the reflected sound. The North Koreans were adamant that their figures were correct. They used an old propeller system directly in the flow of the oil. The number of times it went around indicated the amount of fuel flow. What happened, as it turned out, was that the fuel going through the line was at a colder tem- perature than we expected. Since the acoustic properties of the fuel change under those conditions, we had to recalculate our own totals. In fact, the North Koreans were right and our fig- ures were wrong, despite all of our high-tech equipment. Nonetheless, the American press had made much about the possible fraud, but made much less about our foul-up of the data. ■ 56 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U LY- A U G U S T 2 0 0 3 “In fact, the North Koreans were right and our figures were wrong, despite all of our high- tech equipment.” — Kenneth Yates You know that intimate, boutique all-suite hotel that everyone wants to find? The one that has cutting-edge style and service, but is still reasonably priced? You just found it! • Located minutes from State Department Headquarters • Government per diem accepted all year • Newly Renovated suites with full kitchens • Visit our new restaurant “Dish” For more information please visit w ww.theriverinn.com or ca ll (202) 337-7600. L OTS OF S TYLE , N OT A LOT OF P R I CE 9 2 4 2 5 T H S T R E E T , NW W A S H I N G T O N , DC 2 0 0 3 7 Need to Sound the Alarm About Something? Why not write a “Speaking Out” column for the Foreign Service Journal ? “Speaking Out” is your forum to advocate policy, regulatory or statutory changes to the Foreign Service. These can be based on personal experience with an injustice or convey your hard-won insights into a foreign affairs-related issue. Writers are encouraged to take strong stands, but all factual claims must be supported and docu- mented. Submissions should be approximately 1,500 words in length and should be sent via e- mail to jo urnal@afsa.org. Please note that all submissions to the Journal must be approved by the Editorial Board and are subject to editing for style, length and format.