The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2015

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JULY-AUGUST 2015 21 In the military, training and education are required. In the Foreign Service, employees have to actively seek it out— even demand it. assignment of Foreign Service personnel to lower-level positions, such as regional office directors and desk officers, as much as possible. Reconcile the differences between Foreign Service and Civil Service personnel systems. The department must recognize that while both are essential to the success of our mission, the Foreign Service and Civil Service personnel systems are inherently different. Attempts to obliterate the differences benefit neither, and do not contribute to national security in any meaningful way. Action needs to be taken to improve career prospects within both systems. Consideration should be given to creating a position of Director of Human Resources responsible for Civil Service personnel, and having the Director Gen- eral of the Foreign Service responsible only for Foreign Service personnel, as envisioned by the 1946 Act that created the position. In addition, the Director General should be given more authority over discipline and career development of Foreign Service personnel. Establish a formal code of ethics for the Foreign Service. An essential element of any career personnel system is a mechanism to provide basic standards and rules and to protect it frompolitical abuse. The American Foreign Service Association established a Committee on the Foreign Service Profession and Ethics in 2012 with the primary missio n to develop such a code. I had the honor of being the first chair of the PEC and am happy to report that significant progress has been made on this during the past three years. Working with the Institute of Global Ethics, the PEC conducted a worldwide survey of Foreign Service personnel and then began creating a draft code. Informa- tion on the PEC’s work can be found on AFSA’s website at www.afsa.org/ethics. Details on the results of the survey on professionalism and ethics can be found at www.bit.ly/1L1LoJq. Learning from History The first three steps I’ve outlined require buy-in from our political leadership. But the fourth—creation of a formal Foreign Service ethics code—is primarily our responsibility. That the U.S. Foreign Service is made up of people who conduct themselves professionally is not in question—but we have yet to achieve true professional status. It’s not enough to call ourselves a profession. We must be acknowledged by those outside the fold as such. Fortunately, we have the ability to influence external opinion by acting as an organization to clearly define what we are, and what we aspire to be. As a global power that must grapple with issues that affect not only the lives of every American, but the lives of people throughout the world, we need to field a diplomatic team that can do more than punch above its weight. We need to be represented by professionals in fact, as well as name. n Take AFSA With You! Change your address online, visit us at www.afsa.org/address Or Send changes to: AFSAMembership Department 2101 E Street NW Washington DC 20037 Moving?