The Foreign Service Journal, September 2011

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 1 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 17 • For those who entered the Foreign Service after 9/11: To what extent did the attacks motivate you to join the Service? Do you still feel that drive? • For those who have served overseas in recent years (particularly at unaccompanied or danger-pay posts): Have security measures af- fected your ability to do your job? How, specifically, have you coped with the challenges of working and interacting with host-country coun- terparts while based in what some have called fortress em- bassies? And do heightened security restrictions remain appropriate, or is the price too high? • For all: Is the Foreign Service a stronger, more ef- fective institution now than it was 10 years ago? Whatever your answer to that question, how much of the change do you attribute to the impact of 9/11? Our thanks to all who responded so thoughtfully. — Steven Alan Honley, Editor Honored to Serve On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, while I was teaching a class at the University of North Texas, a student knocked on the window of my classroom door. “Please, ma’am. Class is canceled.” Annoyed, I hurried down the hall to the office of the Intensive English Language Institute, where I worked, and asked what was going on. “We’ve been attacked,” said my boss. “Everybody should go home and call their families.” Five months pregnant with my first child, I gladly took her advice. After dismissing my class, I walked home in a daze. Glued to CNN, mesmerized by the horror, I called every member of my family. We all knew the world had changed forever. Over the next couple of months, as the U.S. govern- ment charged into overdrive and began the search for Osama bin Laden, the thug who had perpetrated these un- thinkable acts of violence, I contemplated my future and that of my husband and unborn child. When my boss warned me that enrollment of international students would surely drop in the aftermath of the attacks, I began to search for other jobs. No longer content to teach English as a second lan- guage to privileged international college students, I checked out the options for government service. Somewhere on the Internet, I found an invitation from Secretary of State Colin Powell to take the Foreign Service exam. As a young Peace Corps Volunteer from 1994 to 1995, I had thought about join- ing the Foreign Service some day, but I had no idea how to go about it. When Sec. Powell’s invitation ar- rived, I answered the call. In my A-100 class, we all asked each other why we’d joined the Foreign Service, and most of us mentioned the feeling of wanting to do something to help our country in its time of need. All my life, I had wanted to serve my country. Despite the fact that my dad and three brothers had served in the Army, I was drawn to the Peace Corps (“the toughest job you’ll ever love”) and the diplomatic corps, even though I had not yet been born when John F. Kennedy issued his immortal call to service, “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.” His words have always inspired me. Nearly seven years into my career as a consular officer, I am still greatly honored to have the opportunity to serve my country. In Mexico, Ethiopia and India I have worked in consular sections, adjudicating visas, assisting American citizens overseas, and learning about how people live and work around the world. Though there is much to admire in countries to which I’ve been assigned, I am prouder than ever of the United States. Sept. 11, 2001, did not signify the closing of our nation’s doors and the myriad opportunities for advancement we offer. To the contrary: Our great experiment in democ- racy is still a beacon to the world. Celia Thompson FSO Chief of American Citizen Services & Consular Information Unit Consulate General Hyderabad Taking on Risks I am a Foreign Service officer who has served in Liberia, Iraq and Afghanistan in unaccompanied positions. In all three of those assignments, security measures defined my C OVER S TORY There has to be an option for some officers to take on more risk in a prepared way to reach the areas where our interaction with local populaces is most needed.