The Foreign Service Journal, September 2013

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2013 55 ing months. Its great brutality in East Timor in 1999, following the decision of the people of East Timor to become indepen- dent of Indonesia, led the United States finally to suspend military-to-military cooperation. Did your dissent lead to any change in policy? I believe that my dissent laid the groundwork for the U.S. government decision to suspend military assistance. What was the impact of the dissent on your career? I received very critical employee evaluation reports that I believe were directly related to my dissent. I was, however, pleased to see all members of my team honored with well- deserved awards. I believe this was testament to an excellent political team. What was the impact of the dissent award on your career? The critical tone of my EERs while in Jakarta, coupled with very critical evaluations I had received as the result of my dis- sents while serving as special envoy for Afghanistan a decade earlier, led to the end of my Foreign Service career. I had one post-Jakarta tour in the State Department—as director for international labor in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor—where I received the Secretary’s Career Achieve- ment Award. n During his Foreign Service career, 1975 to 2001, Edmund McWil- liams served in Vientiane, Bangkok, Moscow, Kabul (periodically as chief of mission), Islamabad (as special envoy to Afghanistan, 1988- 1989), Managua, Bishkek (as first chief of mission to open the em- bassy), Dushanbe (as first chief of mission to open the embassy), and Jakarta, as well as stateside in the department and as a diplomat- in-residence at the University of New Mexico. McWilliams now lives in White Oaks, N.M., while continuing human rights and environ- ment advocacy work in Washington, D.C., and in New Mexico. “I believe that my dissent laid the groundwork for the U.S. government decision to suspend military assistance.” –Edmund McWilliams