The Foreign Service Journal, September 2019

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2019 13 Will the leaks affect U.S.-British rela- tions or, more broadly, U.S.-European relations? Other than a brief U.S.-British chill, I think not. Generally speaking, official and pri- vate foreign policy circles in this coun- try were well aware that the analysis in Darroch’s cables was already widely believed by the governments of our European allies. Perhaps only Trump himself was surprised. Last, I congratulate Amb. Darroch on doing the right thing by resigning. Even though I agree with the ambassador’s evaluation, it is clear he could no longer be effective in his role. He no longer has credibility with it and was correct to step aside and let another British ambassador deal with the difficult bilat- eral relationship. n Christopher E. Goldthwait Ambassador, retired Washington, D.C. a South Carolinian and newly commis- sioned member of the fledgling U.S. diplo- matic service of the Continental Congress. Another South Carolinian, Ralph Izard, was also tasked by the Conti- nental Congress to join the American diplomatic team in Europe as commis- sioner to Tuscany. Although for many reasons Izard never made it to Florence, he did associ- ate with Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane and Arthur Lee in Paris, from whence his reporting to the Continental Congress was clear and correct. Izard was later U.S. senator from South Carolina. See “Envoy Designate” in the Spring 2016 edition of Carologue , a publication of the South Carolina Historical Society, or rwandakenya.blogspot.com (2016) for more on Izard’s diplomatic efforts. Robert E. Gribbin FSO, retired Springfield, Virginia An Ambassador Caught Being Honest The leak in July of confidential British embassy cables is certainly the most interesting story about diplomatic Washington to surface so far this year. In it, messages transmitted under the signature of Ambassador Sir Kim Dar- roch described the Trump administra- tion as “inept” and “dysfunctional.” The following comments come to mind. First, in reporting his views, the ambassador was merely doing his job. Reporting about the government of the country is a top responsibility of any embassy. The honesty of this reporting is supposed to be protected by its clas- sification (i.e., the inability of outside individuals or organizations to access the reporting). During my 4 1 / 2 years as ambassador in Chad, we constantly reported our views of the host government’s policies and activities; this could be positive, but much was negative, as well. Amb. Darroch’s evaluation of the Trump administration shouldn’t sur- prise anyone. The verdict is shared by many, if not most, Washington com- mentators—and not only liberals, but reflective conservatives like Michael Gerson and George Will. The administration’s reaction is also no surprise. What administration would not object to the characterization of its president and operations in the terms used by Darroch? The fact that it was leaked is more interesting. Who leaked, and why? Were the supposedly secure British commu- nications systems hacked? The media reporting has used the term “leak,” suggesting an insider, undoubtedly with an agenda. This is a particularly disturbing and very sad development. More and more people today believe that such acts are justified when their own values are compromised by their employing orga- nizations, despite commitments they have made to maintain the confidential- ity of internal discussions. What will be the impact of this leak? Will it discourage frank reporting from embassies to their governments? Yes and no. I cannot, for example, see it affecting any reporting from our Ameri- can embassies. But there are cases in which policy issues concerning an embassy’s host country may be fiercely debated within the embassy’s home government. Such was rumored to be the case with France’s Africa policy during my time in Chad. Under these circumstances, I can imagine ambassadors tempering their official reporting in fear of leaks that could hurt them personally. Share your thoughts about this month’s issue. Submit letters to the editor: journal@afsa.org