The Foreign Service Journal, September 2014

42 SEPTEMBER 2014 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL When Washington quashed a local outreach effort in Kandahar, one FSO decided to throw a spotlight on a broader public affairs problem. BY JONATHAN ADDL ETON A REFLECTION OnBravery A career Foreign Service officer, Ambassador Jonathan Addleton is the recipient of AFSA’s 2014 Herter Award for constructive dissent. He is cur- rently regional USAIDmission director for the Central Asian Republics, based in Almaty, Kazakhstan. He previously served as U.S. ambassador to Mongolia; senior civilian representative for southern Afghanistan in Kandahar; development counselor at the U.S. Mission to the European Union in Brussels, Belgium; acting USAID deputy assistant adminis- trator for legislative and public affairs inWashington, D.C.; mission director in Pakistan and Cambodia; and a program officer in Jordan, South Africa and Yemen. Prior to joining the Foreign Service inMarch 1984, he worked briefly at the World Bank, the Macon Telegraph and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. D issent is never easy. Respectful of the chain of command, I ordinarily accept decisions made by those above me and then move on. However, there are occasions when this approach is tested to the limit—and beyond. Once in my 30-year Foreign Ser- vice career, that resulted in a dissent cable. FOCUS AFSA HONORS DISSENT AND PERFORMANCE Courtesy Jonathan Addleton