The Foreign Service Journal, September 2019

20 SEPTEMBER 2019 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL As of June, the group had 160 mem- bers, according to its president, Stephen Dreyer, and recently held elections to form a steering committee. It hosts dis- cussions between department employees and clergy, teachers and other profes- sionals on ethics, religious freedom and interfaith relations, and also has a Facebook page. Membership is open to all depart- ment employees and contractors in the United States and overseas, regardless of religious beliefs. To learn more about the group, email GRACE-Steering Committee@state.gov . GRACE operates in compliance with the June notice of the State Department’s Office of Civil Rights, which reminded employees that Equal Employment Opportunity laws prohibit the department from discriminating based on religion. “A central tenet of this is that the Depart- ment cannot favor religion over non- religion, cannot favor non-religion over religion, and cannot favor one religion over another,” according to the notice. More than a dozen affinity groups have been established in the State Depart- ment. They act to promote and strengthen diversity and inclusion, networking and cooperating with each other, and with AFSA, which is the exclusive bargaining agent for the entire Foreign Service. Management interacts regularly with the affinity groups to ensure fairness and equity for individuals in the work envi- ronment both domestically and abroad, and to eradicate harassment, intolerance and discrimination. Estonia Holds Cyber Diplomacy Summer School W riting in the July 29 edition of CyberScoop , Shannon Vavra reports that 80 diplomats from 26 NATO and European Union countries partici- pated in the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Tallinn Summer School of Cyber Diplomacy from July 22 to July 26. Estonia’s MFA organized the confer- ence for young diplomats who have recently been handed the challenging task of cyber foreign policy making and other government officials interested in complex cyber issues. The venue was fitting: Estonia was the target of a 2007 cyber attack—one of the first ever committed, and widely believed to have been the work of Russians. The sessions focused on lessons learned from previous international negotiations on cybersecurity issues, technical developments on the latest cyberthreats, and international norms and laws in cyberspace. The train- ing concluded with a simulation of a real-world international cybersecurity crisis, Britta Tarvis, media adviser for the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told CyberScoop . The U.S. State Department’s former top cyber diplomat, Chris Painter, who now serves as a commissioner for the Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace, was among the partici- pants. One of the key functions of the event, he said, was to help participants understand some of the technical details of different kinds of attacks. Painter noted that it was only six years ago that the United States held its first bilateral cyber dialogue, with Japan, to discuss sharing information on cyber- threats. In May 2019, the United States had its inaugural cyber dialogue with the Dutch, and followed that in June with its third session with Estonia. The United States was represented at the summer school by U.S. Under Secre- tary of State for Arms Control and Inter- national Security Andrea Thompson. Study: U.S. Fails to Counter Putin’s “Grand Strategy” A white paper, “Russian Strategic Intentions,” prepared for the Pentagon in May argues that the United States is underestimating Presi- dent Vladimir Putin’s “grand strategy” to increase Russia’s influence on the world stage, according to a June 30 Axios report. The United States is ill-equipped to counter the political warfare Russia is waging against democracies, according to the more than 150-page white paper prepared by some two dozen national security experts. “Contrary to conventional analysis,” the report reads, “after two decades under Vladimir Putin, Russia represents an ideological challenge to the West, not just a political and military rivalry. Although NATO continues to possess impressive overmatch against Moscow, that edge is dwindling, and Western vulnerabilities in certain military areas are alarming. “Moreover, the unwillingness of West- ern experts and governments to confront the ideological—as well as political and military—aspects of our rivalry with Putinismmeans that the threat of signifi- cant armed conflict is rising.” The report’s authors contend that disarray at home is hampering U.S. efforts to respond—saying America lacks the kind of compelling “story” it used to win the Cold War, according to Politico ’s Bryan Bender. The unclassified report is a clear warning from the military establish- ment to civilian leaders about a national security threat that strategists fear, if left unchecked, could ultimately lead to armed conflict. The assessment also raises alarm