12 OCTOBER 2023 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL The Case for Entry-Level Rotations As a former head of training assignments in what was then the Bureau of Personnel (now Global Talent Management), I can only applaud the continuing effort to establish a State Department training complement. And prodded by Beatrice Camp’s March 2023 FSJ article, “Learning the Ropes Through Rotations,” I can also vouch for the benefits of rotational assignments for new officers. I benefited enormously from a year’s rotation in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) as a member of the U.S. Information Agency’s very first junior officer program in 1954-1955, which qualified me to Share your thoughts about this month’s issue. Submit letters to the editor: journal@afsa.org The experience greatly facilitated learning what other officers do, and I subsequently specialized in political affairs and eventually served as deputy chief of mission and chargé d’affaires at other posts. George Lambrakis Senior FSO Paris, France n open two new one-man field posts in Laos in 1955-1956. Interestingly, my first assignments after I switched from USIA to State in 1957 taught me political and economic writing in what was then called intelligence-research on Africa, which by chance was broadened when I accompanied the first chargé d’affaires to open our embassy in Conakry and took on all the administrative work as well as my assigned consular duties.
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