The Foreign Service Journal, October 2018

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | OCTOBER 2018 11 date those Soviet citizens attempting to enter. Several FSOs who worked on human rights issues, often joined by other FSOs, would attempt to run inter- ference for Soviet friends trying to get past the official harassment at the gate. On one Saturday afternoon when Ambassador Hartman was out of town the Soviet thug force was particularly aggressive. When Donna learned of the situation, she raced out of Spaso House and confronted the Soviet harassers shouting “scandalous, scandalous!” in Russian. Her vociferous efforts caused the harassers to back off in short order, allowing the guests to enter. On another occasion, shortly after the Hartmans arrived in Moscow, Donna brought an enormous bouquet of roses into the street, greeting each passer-by and introducing herself as the wife of the new American ambas- sador. As she did so, she handed each a rose. Donna was a class act, a friend to the common people and a special friend to artists and victims of the Soviet system. Her human outreach touched many hearts. Edmund McWilliams FSO, retired White Oaks, New Mexico Defining “Foreign Service Leadership” Downward Writing in the September FSJ , Timo- thy C. Lawson hails Jon M. Huntsman, President Donald Trump’s ambassador to Russia, for boosting Foreign Service morale. And just how did Huntsman accomplish that remarkable feat? By stay- ing on the job after the July 16 Helsinki fiasco sparked calls for him to resign. I suspect I’m not the only reader to find that interpretation of events strange, on several levels. Let’s start with the inconvenient fact that Ambassador Huntsman is a political appointee, not a career Foreign Service officer. Why Mr. Lawson finds it courageous for a political appointee to defend the man who gave him his job is baffling. (If I were going to praise Mr. Huntsman for anything, it would be bipartisanship: He previously served as President Barack Obama’s ambassador to Beijing.) We all support Amb. Huntsman’s desire to “focus on the work that needs to be done to stabilize the most dangerous relation- ship in the world, one that encompasses nuclear weapons, fighting terrorism, stopping bloodshed in Ukraine and seeking a settlement of the seemingly intractable Syrian crisis.” But how did the Helsinki summit advance any of those objec- tives? If anything, it set them back. Nothing in Amb. Huntsman’s state- ment indicates he has ever heard of our institution’s long and honorable tradi- tion of dissent (which AFSA rightfully continues to celebrate). In contrast, I’d be willing to bet Mr. Lawson is quite familiar with it, but has no use for it when someone he likes occupies the White House. n Steven Alan Honley Former FSO Washington, D.C. Share your thoughts about this month’s issue. Submit letters to the editor: journal@afsa.org