The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2015

the Foreign Service journal | July-August 2015 91 Read and Practice the Wisdom To Serve with Honor: Doing the Right Thing in Government Terry Newell, Loftlands Press, 2015, $12.95, paperback, 256 pages. Reviewed By Robert Dry EverymemberoftheForeignServiceshould buy,readandre-readTerryNewell’simpres- siveandhighlyaccessiblenewbook, ToServe withHonor:Doing theRight Thing inGovern- ment .Andtheyshouldapplythewisdominits pagestoadvancethehonorandethicsofour Service. This book homes in on ethical issues confronted every day by government employees, whether in the Civil Service, the armed forces or the Foreign Service. Other books address ethics in govern- ment; none, I’ll wager, is as timely or practical as this one. Terry Newell spent 40 years in the Air Force, the Department of Education and the Federal Executive Institute in Charlottesville, Virginia. He also served as FEI’s dean of faculty for the four-week, interagency program, “Leadership for a Democratic Society.” He is a master of ethics in government. This book is not about compliance ethics, on which each year the depart- ment requires us to watch a video replete with laws and regulations. Rather, it concerns aspirational, values-based con- duct; constructive dissent, speaking up and speaking truth to power; and ethical leadership—the ingredients essential to renewing honor in government. Compliance ethics, Newell clarifies, tell us what is clearly wrong. More dif- ficult to discern is how to make the right decision when faced with conflicting right choices. The book is not designed solely for those entering government or moving up the ladder. The author also emphasizes how managers and leaders can foster an ethical climate for responsible govern- ment to thrive. Newell succeeds by highlighting real-world examples. From the first page, he introduces the reader to the conse- quences of failed or faulty governmental action. He describes how the Federal Emergency Management Agency bought thousands of trailers in 2005 for the dis- placed in Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath. Before long, the agency received com- plaints about noxious chemicals in the trailers. To its credit the agency investi- gated, finding formalde- hyde in some reaching levels 75 times the safety limit. But then, what did it do? Nothing. In 2012 a federal court affirmed a $42.6 million settlement of a class-action suit brought by victims against the trailer manufacturers. As Newell writes, while FEMA likely didn’t violate laws, its “actions reflect a lack of both compe- tence and character.” It is character more than competence that Newell explores in the remaining 200 pages of his book. Another egregious ethical failure resulted in the Challenger disaster. Readers should take to heart Newell’s account, the result of a perfect storm of a lack of individual moral courage com- bined with an organizational culture that gave only lip service to ethics. Not all of the case studies are nega- tive. In fact, a number of positive exam- ples of leadership and ethical conduct are drawn from State Department and Foreign Service experience. Newell lauds the character of George C. Marshall. Both as Army Chief of Staff and as Secretary of State, he spoke truth to power regardless of personal consequences. When called to testify in Congress, Marshall spoke plainly and forthrightly. Spin was not part of his vocabulary. He was one of those rare leaders who was disap- pointed in his staff when they did not question his decisions. In another case, Newell praises the moral courage displayed by U.S. Vice Consul Hiram Bing- ham in issuing visas and passports to Jews in Mar- seille as Vichy authorities began rounding them up in 1940. The State Department didn’t want to upset its relations with the new French government at the time and sent Bingham “out of the action,” first to Portugal and then to Argentina. There, at the end of the war, he reported that the country was harboring Nazi war criminals. When the department failed to investigate, Bingham resigned in protest. In 2002, AFSA and Secretary of State books The author emphasizes how managers and leaders can foster an ethical climate for responsible government to thrive.