The Foreign Service Journal, September 2003

Soon after, the Greek participants reciprocated by inviting their Turkish colleagues to Greece for more pro- fessional meetings and to continue the reconciliation process. Eventually, the American embassies were able to conduct similar encounters for journalists and other pro- fessionals. “The thin edge of the wedge [of U.S. foreign policy]” is what a veteran RELO once called himself, refer- ring to the occasions when his work opened doors for other embassy colleagues that had previously been closed. • Training in “workplace” English for Palestinian refugees enrolled in technical schools in Amman was set up by the RELO. Although graduates of the technical schools could read manuals written in English, they were being rejected for work in the Persian Gulf countries because they lacked sufficient oral skills to communicate with Indian, Pakistani, Philippine, and American super- visors. Technical and professional schools in Israel became interested in the training, and a digital video conference was held between Israeli and Palestinian curriculum developers. Post-9/11 Interest Interest in all of ECA’s programs and exchanges has grown since the 9/11 attacks. RELOs, it was dis- covered, had a product that even the most misin- formed and hostile of foreign publics were eager to accept. In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee earlier this year, the under sec- retary of State for public diplomacy and public affairs called English language programming a “secret weapon” of America’s public diplomacy over- seas. “Weapon” may not be the kindest or most appro- priate way to characterize an educational effort, but in the context of the war on terrorism it makes sense. Given the breadth and variety of RELOs’ work, and their adroitness in finding ways to promote U.S. poli- cy and support mission goals, let’s hope that English language programming, and other public diplomacy strategies for education, won’t remain a secret to the rest of the department. ■ F O C U S 30 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 3