The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2015

10 JULY-AUGUST 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Obsession with Security Kudos to Jim Bullock for his pro- vocatively written piece questioning the ever- growing security budget and the preoccupation with security at State. Bullock knows what he is talking about. I served with him in Bagh- dad, where “Mr. Out and About” should have been his position description. There are no better officers serving this country than Jim Bullock. Our obsession with security has paral- leled the expansion of the U.S. military in the Middle East. The 1991 Persian Gulf War was the most visible example of the U.S. government’s steady retreat from global engagement since Vietnam. As a commercial officer in the region from 1981 through 2002, I watched this inexo- rable shift of power from State to the Defense Department with great dismay. The trajectory of USAID since 1975 is an excellent barometer of these shifts. Everyone, especially our generals, says we “cannot just kill everyone,” and no one says most of the conflicts in today’s world can (or will) be solved by force. Tragically, nobody seems to want to engage in the kind of commitment the civilian side of conflict resolution requires. Worse, Congress does not seem interested in altering the funding and related policy priorities to energize a new vision of U.S. civilian diplomatic international engagement. And that is not a pretty picture for U.S. diplomacy, as Jim Bullock so articulately explains. Charles Kestenbaum FSO, retired Former AFSA FCS VP (1997-1999) Vienna, Virginia FROMTHEDG: AFOREIGNSERVICE FOR2025ANDBEYOND PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE ASSOCIATION MAY 2015 MANAGINGRISK FOREFFECTIVEDIPLOMACY TIPSFROMTHE BELLYOFTHEPYTHON Out of the Cold Thank you for publishing the remark- able poem by Jim Owen, “Coming Out of the Cold” (May FSJ ), which evokes with grace and humor how a 12-year-old coped with the xeno- phobia of Moscow in the 1950s. Jim’s poem brought to mind a passage fromGeorge Kennan’s memoirs, in which he describes an incident that occurred a few days before the abrupt and wrenching end of his brief tour as ambassador in Moscow in 1952. A spontaneous playful encounter between his 2-year-old child and a group of friendly Russian children was sternly broken up by the Russian embassy guards. “It was a small episode, but it came at the end of a difficult and nerve- wracking summer,” Kennan writes. “And something gave way, at that point, with the patience I was able to observe in the face of this entire vicious, timid, medieval regime of isolation to which the official foreigner in Moscow was still subjected. Had I been the perfect ambassador it would not, I suppose, have given way. But give way it did, and it could not soon be restored.” Within 48 hours, Kennan had publicly compared serving in Moscow with internment by the Nazi regime. His ambassadorship was at an end. What makes Jim Owen’s and George Kennan’s experiences of more than just literary or historical interest is the renewed groundswell of anti-foreign sentiment that has been building in recent years in Russia. Most recently, the passage of “undesirable organization” legislation by the Duma marks an escalation of the regime’s efforts to foment a climate of suspicion about contact with foreigners. Perhaps Jim Owen’s poem should be included in briefing materials for current assignees to Russia. Bob Rackmales Senior FSO, retired Northport, Maine State’s Equality Efforts On April 16, I was shocked and sad- dened to read comments from GLIFAA and its president in an article titled “Gay Diplomats Say State Department Is Failing Their Families,” published on BuzzFeed.com. Having served in the Marine Corps under “don’t ask, don’t tell” for many years before starting my career in the Foreign Service in 2009, I feel that GLIFAA has completely misrepresented the incredible determination the State Department has put into being an inclusive and welcoming employer for its entire workforce. As diplomats, most of us are aware that functioning in a multinational and multicultural world comes with limita- tions. The United States pushes its agenda abroad, recognizing that we will not be able to realize all of our goals at once. I remember how proud I was when I read the first demarche that advocated the accreditation of gay employees’ spouses and pushed foreign governments to treat their own gay citizens better. This was a huge step, because it meant that LGBT issues were now officially included as a U.S. foreign policy objective. The principal complaint voiced by GLIFAA was the inability of people to live (and I assume that means openly and without harassment) in all posts worldwide. This is a worthy goal, but it is not just gay men and women who are limited by conditions overseas. Families are separated for security LETTERS