THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JULY AUGUST 2024 11 State Launches International Cybersecurity Plan On May 6, the United States released the “International Cyberspace and Digital Policy Strategy: Towards an Innovative, Secure, and Rights-Respecting Digital Future.” e strategy emphasizes “digital solidarity” to enhance global technology diplomacy and cybersecurity. Unveiled by Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the RSA Conference, an international meeting on cybersecurity, in San Francisco, the strategy focuses on building international coalitions to maintain an open, secure, and resilient internet while countering cyber threats from countries like Russia and China. The strategy includes partnerships to set global cyber norms and collectively address cyberattacks. It also supports the semiconductor industry and invests in global internet infrastructure. U.S. Ambassador at Large for Cyberspace and Digital Policy Nathaniel Fick highlighted the importance of coalition building to establish broader cyber norms and collectively challenge adversaries. Despite ongoing tensions, the strategy also encourages diplomatic efforts to engage adversaries in dialogue and stresses holding allies accountable for misusing technologies. Fick acknowledged the possibility of a change in administration coming out of the November 2024 presidential elections but was confident that the main goals of the strategy will likely remain in place. “It is so important in the world that the United States be a reliable, consistent partner. We’re trying to ensure that we have maximal continuity beyond November,” he stated. “And it’s certainly something that we’re trying to make clear to allies and partners when we engage with them.” SIGAR: Afghan Aid Siphoned to Taliban On May 19, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) released its newest audit report on U.S. activity and expenditure in Afghanistan. The audit was conducted in response to the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s March 13, 2023, request to determine the extent to which U.S. taxpayer dollars are benefiting the Taliban. Since the collapse of the Afghan government and the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021, the U.S. has provided more than $2.8 billion in humanitarian and development assistance to Afghanistan. The objective of the report was to assess the extent to which U.S. funds intended to assist the Afghan people are instead benefiting the Taliban and to evaluate the oversight provided by U.S. agencies on these funds. According to the report, 58 percent of 65 responding implementing partners reported paying taxes, fees, duties, or utilities to the Taliban-controlled government, totaling at least $10.9 million. In addition, SIGAR reports that the Taliban has pressured these implementing partners to divert aid and recruit Taliban-approved individuals, and that State and USAID did not consistently enforce foreign tax reporting requirements, resulting in incomplete reporting of taxes, fees, duties, and utilities paid. JOSH Through the passage of the Rogers Bill the serious limitations and inadequacies inherent in our present Foreign Service adjustment have been removed, and a substantial basis of reorganization achieved. The date of its enactment marks the birthday of the new service broadened in the rewards which it offers to men of ability, permanently stabilized by statute, coordinated by amalgamation, rendered mobile by interchangeability, democratized and Americanized through a scale of compensation and representation allowances which eliminate the necessity for private incomes, and definite in its assurances that men who have spent their lives in the service will not be left devoid of resources when the age of superannuation arrives. Through this salutary legislation young men of ambition are offered a career of almost unparalleled opportunity and attractiveness, and the country receives its best assurance of security and substantial achievement in the future conduct of its foreign affairs. —Charles E. Hughes, U.S. Secretary of State, in American Consular Bulletin (precursor to the FSJ), July 1924. The Secretary’s Statement 100 Years Ago
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