The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2008

Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training, and other organizations. A past president and treasurer of AFSA, he currently serves as treasur- er of its political action committee, AFSA-PAC. He has also participated in numerous corporate and nonprofit boards, including the State Depart- ment’s Leadership and Management Advisory Council. He is married to Maxine Shear- wood and they have five children. Foreign Service Journal Editor Steve Honley interviewed Amb. Boyatt on April 21. FSJ: Congratulations on your award for lifetime contributions to American diplomacy. What would you say have been your main strengths as a diplomat? TDB: I would say that the thing that distinguished my career was that I was not like most diplomats. I spoke in the active voice, using short sen- tences to get to the point and take a stand. One of my Princeton friends called me the most undiplomatic per- son he had ever known. FSJ: Maybe that’s a good lead-in to a discussion of your role in making AFSA what it is today: an organiza- tion that defends the importance of diplomacy and takes stands on behalf of its members. When did you first realize that there was a need for an advocate like AFSA to ensure that diplomacy functions effectively? TDB: Very good question. You have to go back to what the world was like when my generation came into the Foreign Service in the 1950s. We had observed that the China hands were decimated in the late 1940s dur- ing the administration of an arguably great president and a very decent man, Harry Truman. And then Eisen- hower came in — another arguably great president and a decent man — and the Foreign Service was decimat- ed all over again by McCarthyism. Since it was clear that we could not depend on our political masters to defend the Foreign Service when the going got tough, we “Young Turks” decided to convert AFSA into the vehicle for self-defense. We created an entire parallel universe in which we were still Foreign Service people but were not under the thumb of the State Department hierarchy. Because we were elected by our own people and made our own decisions, we would use AFSA to fight our own fights. In a very real sense, my entire career has been devoted to defending that universe. When we say “Never again” to those who would destroy the Foreign Service, we can make it stick. But it takes political strength, finan- cial strength and institutional strength to do that. It’s taken 50 years, but AFSA now has all three elements. FSJ: Let’s take each of those in turn. You were the driving force behind the establishment of AFSA’s political action committee, AFSA- PAC, six years ago. I know you en- countered a lot of resistance to that initiative; why did you feel so strongly it was the right thing to do? TDB: Because it makes eminent sense. My father taught me to play poker so long ago that I don’t remem- ber exactly when I learned. One of the things he taught me was: “Son, you’ve got to play the hand they deal you.” And in the Foreign Service, in our governmental system, there is a certain way that you deal with Congress. There’s nothing illegal or fattening about it: it’s just the way it is. And we have as much right to petition the Congress as anyone else. We need to do it in the way Capitol Hill understands, which is to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. FSJ: Have you been satisfied with the amount of influence AFSA has gained with key players on the Hill on both sides of the aisle thus far? TDB: There’s still much to do, of course, but we’ve made a lot of progress in just a few years. Before we set up the political action commit- tee, AFSA dealt almost exclusively with legislative staffers. There were a few exceptions, such as Sen. Claiborne Pell and a few other long- time friends of the Foreign Service. But on a regular daily basis, we didn’t have access to key members. Now, the president of AFSA routinely sees committee chairmen. The fact that AFSA-PAC’s bylaws stipulate that contributions must go equally to key members from both parties has helped a lot in giving us credibility. FSJ: What would you say to any AFSA members reading this inter- view who have been reluctant to make a contribution to the PAC because they don’t think it would make a difference, or because they believe it makes us look like money- grubbers who are only interested in overseas comparability pay? TDB: I would respectfully ask them to help us help the Foreign Service by contributing. If they have concerns about their funds being spent well, let me assure them that we comply with all the rules and regula- tions of the Federal Election Com- mission, just like any other political action committee. As for effectiveness, in just six 14 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 8 “We ‘Young Turks’ decided to convert AFSA into the vehicle for self-defense.” — Amb. Thomas Boyatt