The Foreign Service Journal, October 2009

O C T O B E R 2 0 0 9 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 21 appointee, at least make sure that ECA deputy assistant secretary positions are reserved for public diplomacy officers. • Give PD officers preference when filling senior jobs in the Bureau of Pub- lic Affairs, especially the department spokesman and deputy spokesman po- sitions. • Do whatever is required to have PD officers fill positions in the Na- tional Security Council press office. •All top PD officers should do what the best assistant secretaries in other bureaus are already doing: write extra memos for the EER files of the best PD officers working for them, whether in the field or in Washington. As I can attest from my time on the threshold panel this summer, a first-person memo by an assistant secretary adds extra “oomph” to a personnel file. • Be generous in writing up PD of- ficers for commendation and nominat- ing them for departmental awards. If at least some of these steps are not taken soon, then I predict that savvy Foreign Service officers will get the message: Doing PD is fine for a tour, but not for a career —unless one is content never to have a shot at sen- ior State Department leadership posi- tions. ■ Julie Gianelloni Connor, a PD-cone Senior Foreign Service officer, served on the 2009 threshold (FS-1 to SFS) promotion board. Currently an office director in the Bureau of International Organizations, she has served in many different regions with USIA and State and has been a public affairs officer, in- formation officer and cultural affairs officer at various posts. She is a mem- ber of the FSJ Editorial Board. F S K N O W - H O W Although the myth persists that only seasoned public diplomacy officers can adequately “do PD,” the EERs say otherwise.