The Foreign Service Journal, October 2009

18 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / O C T O B E R 2 0 0 9 M y experience serving on the threshold promotion board this summer confirms my longstanding belief that the public diplomacy cone requires urgent atten- tion if it is to become truly competitive with other FS cones. In hopes of im- proving the outlook for my fellow PD officers, I’d like to offer some observa- tions on how the promotion process works and recommendations for our cone. Classwide vs. Conal First, a little background. All offi- cers compete for promotion twice: once by cone and once against all their peers at the same rank. In 2005, the “multifunctional” competition was changed to a “classwide” review of of- ficers. In that year, PD had the lowest percentage of officers promoted class- wide to FS-1 and FE-MC, and the second-lowest to FE-OC. We did better the following year, placing third at the FS-1 and FE-OC levels (behind the political and eco- nomic cones) and last at the FE-MC level. But that was the high-water mark for PD-cone FSOs in the class- wide competitions at the FS-1, FE-OC and FE-MC levels. In 2007, we were last at every level. In 2008, not a single PD officer was promoted classwide to the FS-1 level (the only cone to suffer this indignity) or to FE-OC (sharing the insult with management, which also failed to get any officer promoted classwide). And the PD promotion rate was second-to- last (ahead of management) at the FE- MC level. Although statistics for this year (2009) are not yet available, that miserable result is likely to be re- peated. The key to being promoted class- wide, at least at the FS-1 level, is to demonstrate leadership and ability not only within your own cone but also outside it. Yet PD officers (at least the cohort I saw) generally seem to stick pretty close to their own field of ex- pertise. In sharp contrast, lots of offi- cers from other cones serve in mid- to senior-level jobs outside their own cones or in “leadership” jobs, such as deputy chief of mission, principal offi- cer or office director. Though serving out-of-cone is nec- essary to be competitive classwide, it is also true that too much of that experi- ence can be detrimental in the conal competition. So it makes perfect sense for public diplomacy officers to give up trying for the sorts of jobs that result in classwide promotion and instead stick closely to in-cone work. And that strat- egy works fine — until the officer gets to be in the Senior Foreign Service and finds that PD jobs at that level are few and far between, and that just doing public diplomacy work does not make an officer competitive for senior jobs when compared with other officers who have already served as deputy chiefs of mission and principal officers at smaller posts. (One other note: Judging by my ex- perience on the threshold promotion panel, only masochists are going to do cultural work exclusively. It will not suffice to get an officer promoted into the Senior Foreign Service.) Myth Busting The articles in the focus section of this issue contain some claims dear to the hearts of all PD officers. Unfortu- nately, what I saw on the promotion panel makes clear that they are now the equivalent of urban myths. Myth No. 1: PD officers are fond of saying that with the experience ac- crued from their earliest assignments in managing large staffs and budgets, they should be competitive for top po- sitions. If this were ever true, it no longer is. Given the disastrous per- sonnel cuts of the 1990s, followed by the “Iraq tax” and other downsizing in PD: A View from the Promotion Panel B Y J ULIE G IANELLONI C ONNOR FS K NOW -H OW Here are some tips to help public diplomacy officers become truly competitive with other FS cones.