The Foreign Service Journal, October 2008

T he outcome of the forthcoming presidential electionwill determine the shape of theU.S. Foreign Service for years to come. We have before us two candidates who both articulate very well-developed but different visions of the future of U.S. foreign policy, as well as somewhat different approach- es to the role and conduct of diplomacy. The victor inNovember will set the tone for what we will be doing at our overseas posts and back here in the State Department, how we will go about doing it, and what resources we will have at our disposal. It has never been AFSA’s role to judge the foreign affairs credentials of presidential candidates, nor would we ever endorse one can- didate over the other. As professional civil servants, we take pride in our longstanding tradition of patriotic and loyal service to the president and Secretary of State, whoever they may be. The Foreign Service will enthu- siastically embrace whichever candi- date becomes our next president and will eagerly look forward to beginning work with the distinguished individ- ual whom he chooses as our next Secretary of State. We are, of course, interested in the public statements that the two candidates havemade specifically with regard to us, the dedicated people of the U.S. Foreign Service, which are a mat- ter of record. Senator Barack Obama has repeatedly spoken with admi- ration of the Foreign Service, recognizing the vital role that we play in achieving our country’s objectives overseas and in help- ingU.S. citizens all over the world. He tells the story of the assis- tance that his mother received from the U.S. embassy in Indonesia when he lived there briefly as a child. Obama has called for increased resources and staffing for the Foreign Service, and his public Web site makes the following assertion: “To make diplomacy a priority, Obama will stop shutter- ing consulates and start opening them in the tough and hope- less corners of theworld—particularly inAfrica. Hewill expand our Foreign Service, and develop the capacity of our civilian aid workers to work alongside the military.” Senator John McCain, who as a young man once consid- ered joining the Foreign Service, has called for an expandedU.S. military and increased training for military members in civil affairs and foreign languages, but is not on record as endors- ing greater resources or staffing for the Foreign Service. His pub- licWeb site does not specificallymention the StateDepartment. The Wall Street Journal inDecember 2007 reported a brief dis- cussion of the State Department during a meeting between its editorial board and Sen. McCain: “When he’s asked what he thinks about the State Department, he delivers the jab with a smile: ‘Sometimes you have a little personal bias when you find out that they nearly rebelled when the Secretary of State said all of them had to go serve in Iraq. I mean, please. Please.’ He continues: ‘I think we ought to have a State Department that under- stands that service to the country is what they’re all about. And if that means going into countries where theremay be some danger in serving, then by God that’s the place they should want to go first.’” We hope that both candidates now understand that — notwith- standing the inaccuratemedia report- ing last fall— the U.S. Foreign Service has stepped up to the plate every year to fill all of our positions in Iraq and Afghanistan with volunteers. We hope that both candidates realize that Foreign Service members today are no strangers to hardship and danger, and that we are serving our country with great dedication and self- sacrifice in some of themost difficult places on earth. We need them to come to grips with the reality that our ability to con- duct diplomacy has suffered because the Foreign Service has been stripped to the bone in terms of staffing and resources all over the world. We need them to realize that our foreign pol- icy cannot be based on lavishing funding on aU.S. military that is 500 times larger than the U.S. Foreign Service, while leaving our embassies and consulates fighting over scraps. And we have to hope that maybe, just maybe, the victor in this election will become the first U.S. president to have the courage to break from the deeply unfortunate American tra- dition, unique amongWestern democracies, of rewarding per- sonal cronies andwealthy campaign contributors who have lit- tle foreign affairs experience, with appointments to some of the most important U.S. ambassadorships overseas. o V.P. VOICE: STATE n BY STEVE KASHKETT The Presidential Candidates and the Foreign Service OC T OB E R 2 0 0 8 / F OR E I GN S E R V I C E J OU R N A L 63 A F S A N E W S We hope that both candidates realize that Foreign Service members today are no strangers to hardship and danger, and that we are serving our country with great dedication and self-sacrifice in some of the most difficult places on earth.