The Foreign Service Journal, September 2005

V.P. VOICE: STATE n BY STEVE KASHKETT The Real Foreign Service I made a depressing discovery when I started telling friends and acquaintances outside the State Department that I had been elected vice president of AFSA and when I tried to explain that AFSA is the labor union and professional association for America’s diplomats. I discovered that many people out there, even those who work in other parts of the U.S. government, real- ly don’t think much of the Foreign Service. Despite the dramatic changes that have occurred in the world over the past few decades—and in the conditions under which we serve overseas— little has changed in the distorted public image of a diplomat. People still seem to think of diplo- mats as overpaid snobs who breeze through a cushy, relaxing existence sipping cham- pagne at black-tie receptions every evening in places like Paris and Rome. Many people out there imagine that we are enjoying the good life and that we have no need for a labor union or any kind of special consideration. We in the Foreign Service need to do a better job correcting this quaint public image of a diplomat. We need to educate the public, the media and the Congress on the often harsh realities of life for today’s Foreign Service professional. We need to remind people that we spend most of our careers working in difficult places, scattered in every corner of an increasingly dangerous world. Few realize that we have more hardship posts, more danger-pay posts andmore unaccompanied posts than ever before. People need to see that we are standing on the front lines of the war on terrorism, dealing with political instability and regional conflicts, working to protect U.S. trade and commercial interests, confronting poverty and HIV/AIDS and safeguarding the rights of American citizens all over the world. We need to get out the message that the Foreign Service is composed of patri- ots who spend their lives acquiring foreign languages, regional knowledge and for- eign affairs expertise that will enable them to serve and protect their country. This lack of understanding or sympathy for the Foreign Service undermines every- thing AFSA is trying to accomplish, fromoverseas locality pay to fairness in assign- ments and promotions to a meaningful role for America’s diplomats in the for- eign policy-making process. In my capacity as State Department VP for AFSA, I plan to devote the next two years to correcting themisperceptions about Foreign Service professionals, to defend- ing the Service and to fighting for those things that we need in order to do our jobs well. I plan to speak out loudly when the Foreign Service gets unfair treat- ment or is unjustly slighted. I plan to listen tomy fellow active-duty Foreign Service members at State — the largest constituency by far within AFSA — and to take your concerns and ideas to heart. In September, I will send out a comprehensive, interactive, Internet-based survey seeking the opinions of the State active-dutymem- bership, which I hope to use as a guide for deciding how best to represent you on key issues. My door (in the AFSA office, Room 1251 on the first floor at Main State) will always be open, and the e-mails you send tome (KashkettSB@state.gov) wi ll always be welcome and will always get a reply. Let’s work together to preserve the proud traditions of the Foreign Service while adapting our profession to the changed world of the 21st century. r SEPTEMBER 2005 • AFSA NEWS 3 Cheap Shots Diary The July 12 Financial Times carried AFSA's rebuttal to a June 30 op-ed in the newspaper by Danielle Pletka titled “U.S. Mixed Messages on an Arab Diplomacy,”which unfairly claimed that a number of FSOs do not loyally carry out administration policies. The letter, by then-acting AFSA President Louise Crane, was entitled, “Diplomatic Corps Not a Source of Disloyalty.” Here’s an excerpt from her letter: “Danielle Pletka has joined the ranks of those pundits and critics who, when they don't like the policy, blame the Foreign Service. …. Ms. Pletka, like the critics before her, assumes that the moment a Secretary of State walks into the State Department lobby the new Secretary is immediately taken hostage by the Foreign Service and rendered mute and helpless. If so, then it is curious as to why such illustrious Secretaries of State as James Baker and George Shultz never mentioned their impotence at the hands of the Foreign Service in their memoirs and actually speak highly of their association with our nation’s career diplomatic corps. “The members of the Foreign Service of the United States are loyal government employees serving under often difficult and dangerous conditions. To accuse them of dis- loyalty and of undermining the poli- cy is both absurd and foolish.” AFSA NEWS BRIEFS Briefs • Continued from page 2 Briefs • Continued on page 8