The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2012

64 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 1 2 afford religious freedom “an appropri- ately robust status within the foreign policy community.” These include enhancing the role and resources of the Ambassador-at- Large for Religious Freedom; giving religious freedom policymakers ade- quate means and the discretion to nimbly target them; making religious freedom a functional subspecialty; building religious freedom strategies into annual mission planning pro- cesses; and putting a senior interna- tional religious freedom official at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. Although densely written, the re- port argues effectively for a vigorous foreign policy defense of religious freedom—not only as a human rights concern, but as a critical part of Amer- ica’s strategic interest. Such a per- spective could add vitality to State’s legally mandated mission to advance this right. John M. Grondelski is an FSO cur- rently studying Chinese for an assign- ment in Shanghai. He previously served in London, Warsaw, Bern and Washington, D.C. B O O K S America’s national interest clearly lies in defending religious freedom around the world. www.facebook.com/fsjournal Like Us! Get FSJ and AFSA Updates