The Foreign Service Journal, October 2016

10 OCTOBER 2016 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL LETTERS Ambassadorships and U.S. Elections I’d like to share a few thoughts about ambassadorships that anyone in the For- eign Service might want to ponder during this electoral season. First, there was considerable kvetch- ing at the start of President Barack Obama’s second term, including by the former president of AFSA, about how Pres. Obama was appointing a much higher percentage of political appointees as ambassadors than the historical aver- age of the last 50 years (which is around 30 percent). This is to be expected. All ambassa- dors must present their resignations at the start of any presidential term. Those from career ambassadors are almost never accepted, and they get to finish out what is left of their normal three-year tours. Those from political appointees are almost always accepted: the president has a new crop of people to thank for helping him get elected or reelected. Some want ambassadorships, and that is one way the president can reward them. So the frontloading of political appoint- ments early in any term always happens and then quickly decreases until the percentage returns to normal historical levels. Foreign Service Act of 1980 guidance notwithstanding, the 30 percent is not required by law or regulation. It is more of a tradition, with the real limitation being the number of comfortable embas- sies, with neither hardship nor danger pay, to which a political appointee would like to go. President Ronald Reagan managed to push the numbers up to 38 percent by sending non-career ambassadors to exotic places like Malawi and Rwanda where normally only a career officer would be found. Pres. Obama’s second term percentage was at just below 29 percent in August and won’t go up, given that the congressional appetite for confir- mations withers dramatically as elections approach. That raises a second point. What can be expected from the president who takes office on Jan. 20? Given Hillary Clinton’s experience, and the precedent set by previous presidents, it seems very likely that as president she would continue the 30/70 ratio. That is not to say there won’t be con- troversial appointments. One prediction: Vogue Editor Anna Wintour—high school dropout and British citizen—will be nominated as ambassador to the United Kingdom. What would a President Donald Trump do? There is no way to judge. One story in the New York Post asserted he had promised an ambassadorship to the publisher of the National Enquirer in return for all the favorable coverage he has received from that epitome of responsible journalism. One could argue that with few mega-donors, Trump might make fewer political appointments. He is a nontraditional candi- date, the first ever of a major party in American history to have no experience in either government or the military. The anti-insider candidate might appoint only outsiders as ambassadors. Think of the possibilities for a new reality TV show called “Ambassador Apprentice.” On the other hand, lacking any background in foreign affairs, a President Trump might make all his nominations from the career ranks to compensate. From the perspective of those FSOs with near-term chief-of-mission ambi- tions, both the downside risk and upside potential are much higher for a President Trump than for a President Clinton. One thing about which there is no doubt is that the foreign policy of the former would be far more challenging to represent than that of the latter. And if one wanted to make American embas- sies and ambassadors bigger targets for terrorism, it would be hard to think of a more effective way to do that than sug- gesting policies like banning Muslims from entering this country, torturing terrorist suspects and murdering their families. Dennis Jett Ambassador, retired Professor of International Affairs Penn. State, School of International Affairs University Park, Pennsylvania Writing Skills Required In his article “Examining State’s Foreign Service Officer Hiring Today,” in the July-August issue of The Foreign Service Journal , Glenn J. Gui- mond notes: “Those who have worked with the State Depart- ment’s entry-level profession- als in recent years can attest to their outstanding skills and abilities.” Yet early on in the article he states: “In response to dis- satisfaction among Foreign Service managers over the quality of entry-level officers’ writing ability, BEX [the Board of Examiners] is seeking ways to better measure a candi- date’s business writing skills.” Well, now. The ability to write well has always been considered one of the critical elements required of a Foreign Service officer. One can analyze informa-