The Foreign Service Journal, November 2003

deserved attention given to the contri- butions Foreign Service specialists make to foreign diplomacy. I can tell you that all of my fellow Career Development Officers (at least on the specialist side) were impressed and glad to see this recognition, as I am sure specialists worldwide will be. Thanks for keeping your ear to the ground and your eyes open. C.W. Mathis Foreign Service Information Management Specialist Washington, D.C. Second-Class Is Okay! Your series of articles about and from specialists in the September issue of the Foreign Service Journal is timely. They lead to an important dis- cussion about the structure of the Foreign Service and what the Service is trying to accomplish with the resources at its disposal. I entered the Service in 1966 as a Foreign Service staff officer. After training, the United States Infor- mation Agency sent me to Cali, Colombia as a student affairs officer and assistant director of the Centro Colombo-Americano del Valle. Foreign Service staff officers were second-class citizens, so to speak. We did not take the Foreign Service exam. We did not have titles like secretary, counselor, consul or attaché. The Foreign Service saw us as an adjunct, yet valued what we did, the extra- governmental resources we controlled and our involvement in the local community. Our presence was good for both the U.S. and the host country. The old Foreign Service system was much more effective than the new one. USIA specialists then knew they were second-class and could stay in one place long enough to accom- plish something and build strong relations in the local community. And our low salaries meant we were a real bargain for the U.S. government. N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 3 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 9 L E T T E R S Pet-friendly