The Foreign Service Journal, October 2020

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | OCTOBER 2020 17 perity of the United States. Nothing less is at stake and nothing more is at risk.” Ambassador (ret.) Barbara Stephen- son, a former AFSA president and now vice provost for global affairs at UNC– Chapel Hill, added: “This report focuses on issues that have long been important but have become increasingly urgent. The Department of State and the Foreign Service, in particular, are not in good shape. We as Americans need these vital institutions performing at the top of their game as we face rapidly rising competi- tion, competition for global leadership.” Asked for comment on the report, a department spokesperson said, “The State Department’s swagger is fully back,” according to the July 28 Politico . “From day one, Secretary Pompeo has delivered on advancing the interests 50 Years Ago Black Students and the Foreign Service ”W hat do black students want? Who are their real lead- ers?Why aren’t there more blacks in the Foreign Service of the United States?” When I was stationed in West Africa some of these questions were frequently raised by African students and cabinet officials, and my answers were second-hand. Thus I was pleased to spend part of last summer in a training program for 40 New Jersey ghetto teachers. It meant working with a cross-section of young blacks in their early 20s and translating this experience into language that might say something about this segment of current America to non-Americans. … Some of the interns asked about life in Africa, but only a few were interested in the Foreign Service, in part because of an ingrained hostility toward the Establishment, but also because few have been exposed to the Foreign Service. It has not figured as a career option for most of them to date. “You live in a different world,” one intern said. “I would no more think of going through the door of the State Department than you would about having lunch in the Soul Kitchenette.” It is time for change on both sides. If U.N. statistics are reasonably correct, more than half the world’s population is under 30 years of age, and the majority of that population is non-white. By honestly and clearly discussing “the black experience” as a central part of American his- tory and culture, we are helping find another bond between audiences in the ThirdWorld and the United States; and to the extent that the Foreign Service pursues an ener- getic minority recruitment program in the United States, it helps close the generation and color gap which confronts America in its representa- tion abroad. —Former Public Affairs Officer Frederick Quinn, excerpted from his article with the same title, October 1970 FSJ . and values of the American people both here at home and around the world,” the spokesperson said. “At the core of this suc- cess is the dynamic and talented team that forges ahead each and every day with one mission, and toward one future.” Pompeo Overturns Tradition, Speaks at RNC S ecretary of State Mike Pompeo broke with tradition—and his own department’s policy—when he recorded a political speech from Jerusalem that aired on Aug. 25 at the Republican National Convention. According to media reports, previous Secretaries of State—mindful that they represent the United States as a whole, not one political party—have not even attended a political convention for sev- eral decades, and none have spoken at a convention in 75 years. Recent guidance from the State Department came in the form of a July 24 cable, “2020 Hatch Act/Political Activi- ties” (20 State 71636). The cable states: “It is important that the department’s employees … adhere to the Hatch Act and department policies in their own political activities.” Further, the cable states: “Presiden- tial and political appointees and career SES are subject to significant restrictions on their political activity; they may not engage in any partisan political activ- ity in concert with a partisan campaign, political party, or partisan political group, even on personal time and outside of the federal workplace.” Israel-UAE Peace Deal T he Trump administration helped broker a peace deal that was announced between Israel and the United Arab Emirates on Aug. 13. The UAE becomes the third Arab