THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2023 21 ability to participate was “hindered by the fact that it was unclear who in the department had the lead. Naming a 7th Floor principal to oversee the crisis response would have improved coordination across different lines of effort.” Constantly changing policy guidance from Washington regarding which populations were eligible for relocation and how the embassy should manage outreach added to the confusion and often failed to take into account facts on the ground. Up until almost the time Kabul fell to the Taliban, most predictions said that the Afghan government and its forces could hold the city for weeks, if not months. The report called on the State Department to “insulate worst-case contingency planning and preparations from political concerns.” “While it may not be possible to prevent information from leaking regarding contingency planning, making such plans routine would eliminate political considerations,” the report stated. The document was released late on Friday before the long July 4 weekend. Sec. Blinken on Fentanyl and Foreign Policy On July 18, Secretary of State Antony Blinken led a town hall Open Forum event, “Fentanyl, Foreign Policy, and the Global Effort to Combat Synthetic Drugs.” It was his first appearance at the Open Forum since it was relaunched a year ago. The Secretary was joined by Margaret Nardi, deputy assistant secretary for the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement for the discussion. Nearly 110,000 Americans died last year of a drug overdose, and the vast majority of those deaths involved synthetic opioids. Secretary Blinken said the State Department needs to be a main actor in combating this crisis, a fundamental example of how domestic and foreign policy overlap. At home, he said, the U.S. must work to mitigate the illicit manufacture and trafficking of synthetic drugs, detect patterns, reduce demand, and offer treatment through public health interventions. Internationally, the Secretary said the department is following the collaboration model created at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. On July 7, he hosted a virtual ministerial meeting with dozens of countries and international organizations to launch a Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drug Threats. The coalition is a united effort to identify new drug threats and ensure a strong public health response around the world. It will reconvene on the margins of the 78th U.N. General Assembly in September and the March 2024 U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs. The Secretary’s Open Forum was established by Secretary of State Dean Rusk in 1967 during U.S. involvement in the Vietnam conflict as a venue for debate and discussion of policy issues. New Agreement for Canadian FSOs U.S. Foreign Service members’ counterparts to the north signed a new “collective agreement” with the Canadian government on June 30 that will provide general economic and group-specific increases for employees, plus a one-time payment of $2,500. The agreement applies to approximately 1,927 members of the Canadian diplomatic corps and remains valid until June 2026. Improvements in working conditions also include provisions for leave with pay for family-related responsibilities, an increase in the vacation leave accrual rate, and a new benefit for Indigenous employees who will now have access to paid leave to participate in traditional practices. Both parties have signed a letter of agreement on telework that gives employees the flexibility to continue to work from home up to three days a week. Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade, and Development—also known as Global Affairs Canada— currently employs about 12,000 people. This agreement applies only to members C reated by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Deep Dish is a weekly podcast hosted by Brian Hanson, vice president of studies at the council, and Elizabeth Shackelford, a former FSO and senior fellow on U.S. foreign policy. In each episode, the hosts speak with thought leaders, journalists, and other experts to create a broader context for global events, helping listeners understand what happened, why it matters, and what to pay attention to as developments unfold. Recent episodes cover U.S. strategy in China-Taiwan relations, the under- reported crisis of migrant treatment, and the complexities in Haiti two years after the president’s assassination. Podcast of the Month: Deep Dish on Global Affairs (https://bit.ly/DeepDishPodcast) The appearance of a particular site or podcast is for information only and does not constitute an endorsement.
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