The Foreign Service Journal, September 2014

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2014 59 AFSA NEWS Ambassador Seeks Change to Cumbersome Clearance Policy AFSA CONSTRUCT I VE D I SSENT AWARDS : THE CHR I ST I AN A . HERTER AWARD FOR A SENIOR FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICER Ambassador Jonathan Addleton, a USAID officer, was the State Department’s senior civilian representative for southern Afghanistan, based in Kandahar, when he urged a systematic review of the department’s public affairs policy. He believed its complex system for reviewing requests by Foreign Service personnel to speak and write was cumbersome and overly risk-averse. “I have always been strongly interested in commu- nications, outreach and public diplomacy,”Addleton says. He notes that he had been disap- pointed by the many “missed opportunities” for communica- tion over the years, he says. “At times it is tempting to simply ‘give up’ in the face of a complicated, exhausting and opaque process that typically takes much longer than it should.” Two events occurred that spurred him to write the Dis- sent Channel message that earned him the AFSA award. The first was the length of time and number of steps it took to get a book-length manuscript on Mongolia cleared before it could move forward to publication ( Mongolia and the United States: A Diplomatic History, 2013 ).“Something is seriously amiss when it takes longer to officially clear a book-length manu- script than it does to write or translate it,” he notes. The second concerned an op-ed on the “two Malalas” he wrote for publication in the Pashto language press in Kandahar (see p. 44). State Department officials killed the piece on the grounds that publication would feed con- spiracy theories then emerging in Pakistan that the U.S. was somehow behind the attack on the young Pakistani girl. Addleton’s dissent mes- sage made the case for a more creative and rapid response on public affairs issues, conclud- ing: “Whether driven by policy sensitivities that seek to avoid directness in countries where radical Islamist agendas drive our discourse, or because of institutional structures that deaden our creativity and flex- ibility, we are somehow unable to engage with confidence on the ideas we hold dear. For all our efforts to become more streamlined, our public affairs culture and overly complex review processes remain far too cautious and risk-averse. This needs to change.” Jonathan Addleton joined the Foreign Service as a USAID officer in 1984 and is currently the Regional USAIDMission Director for Central Asia based in Almaty, Kazakhstan. He previously served as U.S. ambassador to Mongolia, and at posts in Afghanistan, Belgium, Pakistan, Cambo- dia, Jordan, South Africa and Yemen. Addleton and his wife, Fiona Mary Riach, have been married 29 years and have three children. “My sincere hope is that this award will raise further awareness about this issue and expand efforts to some- how streamline the process,” Addleton says.“More local approaches are also needed, pushing approval authority much closer to the field.” n Amb. Jonathan Addleton meets with Haji Gulzar, chairman of the Peace Council in Zabul province, southern Afghanistan, in the fall of 2012. Amb. Jonathan Addleton at the ceremony. Profiles of award winners compiled by Debra Blome. COURTESYOFJONATHANADDLETON AFSA/JOAQUINSOSA