The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2014

30 JULY-AUGUST 2014 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL In fact, bountiful Web access to open-source information has the potential tomake good diplomatic reporting even better. analysts in Washington were quick to recognize, however, that while the Internet would narrow the diplomat’s reporting domain, it could not compete with the Foreign Service’s ability to provide policy-relevant insight and invaluable context with regard to local people, events and trends. In fact, bountiful online access to open-source information has the potential to make good diplomatic reporting even better. Technology Needs Brainpower We cannot minimize the challenges ahead. U.S. diplomats must deal with a world in which everything moves faster, including advances in technology. The State Department will need to invest more in technology to preserve the global edge for diplomacy. IT-driven globalization has already fostered the unprecedented development of interconnected, global networks that move political, cultural, economic, financial, military and environmental information around a shrinking world with unprecedented speed and efficiency. This historic phenomenon of our age will not go away. My core message, however, is that, while technology enhances brainpower, it is no substitute for it. Today a new, tech-savvy generation of Foreign Service officers is entirely comfortable with analytic tools and software applications like time series, clustering, link analysis and visualization. These young diplomats use social media as easily as they brush their teeth. But in the end, it is their talent and passion for crisp, incisive reporting that sustains the State Department’s gold standard for reporting from the field. Technology enables as never before, but cognitive power still makes the critical dif- ference. The advance of technology will only accelerate in the decades ahead. But it can never match the seasoned diplo- mat’s powers of observation and artful precision in assessing complex issues, local developments and trends. n