The Foreign Service Journal, September 2007

M ichael Zorick showed tremen- dous courage by challenging the implemen- tation of U.S. counter- terrorismpolicy in Somalia, warning against what he viewed as an incorrect approach and offering an alternative. His advice was not followed, and subsequent events have proven that his analysis was correct. For his willingness to stand up for what he believed was right, Zorick was awarded the Rivkin Dissent Award. FromAugust 2004 to April 2006 while based at Embassy Nairobi, Zorick served as the only State Department “Somalia- watcher” overseas. His role was tomonitor the political-economic situation there, and promote efforts to establish a stable govern- ment that could function as a partner in confronting U.S. con- cerns regarding terrorism in the Horn of Africa. Despite the fact that Somalia was a country without a functioning government, with no security and no U.S. presence, Zorick built communica- tion networks within the Somali communities in both Somalia and Kenya, developing a unique vantage point. When Zorick learned of other U.S. counterterrorism efforts that were in direct conflict with publicly enunciated objectives, he attempted to argue through regular channels that these actions would, in the long term, undermine U.S. interests and prove harmful to future U.S. involvement. However, Zorick’s argu- ments for alternative approaches, based on his long-time contacts within the Somali community and his knowledge of the complex clan and faction relationships, went unheeded. Finally, he sent a cable through the Dissent Channel as a means of communicating his concerns to the appropriate policy levels within the State Department. One of the two separate nominations for Zorick noted that while he maintained a steadfast focus on the need for a long-term vision and strategy for Somalia, much of the embassy was con- sumed with keeping the active al-Qaida threat at bay. Despite his disagreements with current U.S. policy, his increasing isolation within the embassy community and threats fromSomali leaders because of his views, Zorick did not speak out publicly about the U.S. actions in Somalia even when his warnings and predictions were borne out by subsequent events. He worked within the sys- tem to urge a different course of action. Zorick dedicated his award to the memory of Abdulkhadir Yahya Ali, the Foreign Service National employee who worked with Zorick on Somalia issues, and who had also helped prior Somalia-watchers. At the June AFSA Awards Ceremony, Zorick paid tribute to the man “who was briefly my teacher andmy friend, a peace activist murdered inMogadishu in July 2005. A Somali who paid the ultimate price, in no small part for being unable to bring the United States to understand his people.” The dissent award, Zorick tells us, represents “a public pat on the back fromAFSA and, by proxy, fromone’s peers and col- leagues, for a desire to protect the interests of the United States of America; a reward for exhibiting the temerity to rock the boat, and recognition of the hidden costs of dissent. [It] is an honor indeed. And perhaps some vindication, however small, of the price paid.” Michael Zorick joined the Foreign Service in 1989, and has served in Toronto, Kigali, Budapest, Paris, Nairobi, N’Djamena andWashington. His career has been largely devoted to questions of economic development in Africa and the transition economies of Central and Eastern Europe. He is currently serving as chair of the Sub-Saharan Africa Area Studies program at the National Foreign Affairs Training Center. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, he served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Banfora/ Ouagadougou and then as a contractor for USAID in Conakry. He has anM.A. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, and a B.A. from the University of California, San Diego. S E P T EMB E R 2 0 0 7 / F OR E I GN S E R V I C E J OU R N A L 67 A F S A N E W S 2007 AFSA CONSTRUCTIVE DISSENT AWARD WINNERS William R. Rivkin Award FOR A MID-LEVEL FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICER Michael Zorick From left: Zorick on a hiking trip to Hell’s National Park, Kenya, in 2006; Zorick (center) with members of the International Referen- dum Election Observer Team and Kenyan poll workers at the Deley Primary School in north- east Kenya; Zorick in Hargeisa, self-declared Republic of Somaliland.