The Foreign Service Journal, September 2013

32 SEPTEMBER 2013 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL have the abilities, outlook and organizational structure to effectively discharge their role in the active promotion of U.S. interests abroad? GWL: I believe that the Foreign Service inflicted a wound on itself when it adopted the cone system. Officers in senior positions must constantly deal with both political and economic problems, and on-the-job training is the only way to acquire the necessary skills. So FSOs should be able to move freely between cones. That said, if someone prefers to remain in a specialized function, for instance, he or she can so indicate and that wish should be honored. But all others should be given well-rounded assignments that will prepare them for the most senior positions. On another issue, I still remember when Ben Read, then under secretary of State for management during the Carter administration, ceded the State Department’s commercial functions to the Department of Commerce around 1978. Not- withstanding self-congratulatory statements, such arrange- ments do not always work well. They often result in duplica- tion of effort, with the economic and the commercial sections reporting separately on the same issues. Also, when it comes to the really big commercial deals, it is still the U.S. ambassador who must weigh in with the host government. The French and British ambas- sadors, and those from other countries, are very involved in commercial matters, and we must match their efforts. The U.S. business com- munity had reasons to advo- cate the change to the com- mercial function in 1978, but the situation has changed. Back then, there were still old-style U.S. ambassadors who felt it was beneath their dig- nity to deal with commercial affairs. Today’s Foreign Service can assure the business community that our ambassadors are able and willing to give them first-rate, speedy service. “By the end of my five years in Asunción, I had developed a reputation for being able to deal with dictators, which is probably one reason I was sent as ambassador to Chile in 1977.” U.S. Ambassador to Chile George W. Landau, left, at the opening of the Food Ingredients South America (FISA) trade fair in Santiago, October l981. Photo courtesy of G.W. Landau