The Foreign Service Journal, October 2009

42 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 F O C U S O N P U B L I C D I P L OM A C Y T HE L AST T HREE F EET : PD A S A C AREER dward R. Murrow fa- mously observed that “The really crucial link in the inter- national communication chain is the last three feet, which is bridged by personal contact, one person talking to an- other.” But a decade ago, in preparation for the Oct. 1, 1999, absorption of the U.S. Information Agency into the State Department, public diplomacy officers were preoccu- pied with making sure our phones would be answered and our lights would stay on. We were busy thanking our drivers and information technology folks, writing new job descriptions for Foreign Service Nationals, ob- taining grant authority, memorizing new acronyms and much more. While most were also mourning the passing of our home agency and predicting difficulties for the practice of public diplomacy, some of us hoped that consolida- tion would bode well for PD practitioners as individu- als, at least in terms of expanding the range of positions open to us. But it didn’t exactly work out that way. The Way It Was At that time, it is impor- tant to recall, USIA FSOs entered the Foreign Serv- ice by passing the same written and oral exams as State officers. Once hired, however, we had our own nine-week orientation cour- se, a separate assignment process and distinct career paths —and we spent most of our time in the field. Our administrative, educational and policy bureaus were staffed by civil servants, political appointees and a handful of FSOs. Even our “under secretary” for man- agement, the executive secretary to the director and the chief of Foreign Service personnel were all Civil Service employees. This division of labor freed up Foreign Serv- ice officers “to close that last three feet,” something they couldn’t do in Washington. Our first tours usually lasted between three and 12 months, during which we rotated through several sections of an embassy. On our second, and sometimes third, tours we served as assistant cultural affairs officers, assistant in- formation officers and assistant public affairs officers, get- O NE REASON PD OFFICERS DON ’ T GET THEIR FAIR SHARE OF SENIOR JOBS IS THAT THEY DON ’ T COMPETE FOR THEM . B UT THAT ’ S FAR FROM THE WHOLE STORY . B Y M ONICA O’K EEFE AND E LIZABETH C ORWIN E Monica O’Keefe and Elizabeth Corwin both joined the U.S. Information Agency in 1985. Now Senior Foreign Service officers at State, Monica currently serves as a member of the Board of Examiners, while Elizabeth is counselor for cultural affairs in Berlin. Doug Ross