The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2020

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JULY-AUGUST 2020 33 basic public health practices using modern tools. The coun- tries that have done that have been most successful, even at a low-tech level. Vietnam does not have nearly the capability the United States has, but they’ve way outperformed us even despite their proximity to China. They have been aggressive and disci- plined, and so the first thing we need to do is look at what the rest of the world has done and apply that at home. We have yet to do that in a serious way. And the second thing, even if we’re able to control this at home—I would’ve said when a month ago, but I’m starting to say if now because I’m not sure we have the political commitment to handle this in a serious way—even if we can get it under control at home, we will continue to be at risk as long as it is burning in another part of the world. We have to be vigilant over the next several years until there is a vaccine, because we cannot keep the economy sealed off indefinitely, and we cannot keep people in their homes indefi- nitely. We have to reopen ourselves to the world and the global economy in order for our economy to work, and we have to do that in a way that doesn't expose us to undue risk from the virus. That doesn’t just mean readiness and protective gear at home; that means doing everything we can to suppress it abroad. Our greatest protection is keeping this suppressed every- where in the world. There’s really no one who can lead that fight as well as the United States can, if we choose to. JB: Anything else you’d like to add about the team role U.S. diplomats play overseas? JK: I think one of the challenges for diplomats in this kind of situation—where it’s kind of an inherently multidisciplinary, multisector response—is balancing how to facilitate those connections between interagency partners and their foreign counterparts, versus trying to control them. I’ve seen that done well, and I’ve seen that done poorly. Where we’re most effective is where our diplomats are facilitators and enablers, rather than adding bureaucratic layers in between. n