The Foreign Service Journal, November 2008

W e at AFSA — and most of our colleagues through- out the world — were gratified and relieved to see the stark contrast between this year’s assignment cycle for positions in Iraq andAfghanistan and that of previous years. Last fall, certainmedia outlets subjected the Foreign Service to an unwarranted public excoriation after it became known that senior department officials had decided prematurely (and, as we now know, unnecessarily) to identify “prime candidates” for possible directed assignment to Iraq. The Foreign Service was divided internally and attacked externally over the com- pletely unjustified perception that our peo- ple were unwilling to serve there. In order to prevent a repeat of that fias- co this year, the AFSA Governing Board made a series of recommendations to State management for what we believedwould be amore effective, less confrontational way to attract bidders to combat-zone assign- ments. Our conviction was that a positive approachwouldwork better than a coercive one and would be less likely to be misin- terpreted by sloppy, unscrupulous journal- ists. AFSA urged that the Secretary and the director general simply put out a call for volunteers at an early stage in the process, appealing to our members’ sense of duty and patriotism and reaffirming all the advantages of doing a year in one of the two war zones. We advised the department to publish much more detailed, more forthright descriptions of the real conditions and risks at Embassy Baghdad, Embassy Kabul and the Provincial Reconstruction Teams in both coun- tries. We predicted that themultiple incentives built into the Iraq and Afghanistan Service Recognition Packages, which AFSA has enthusiastically supported, wouldmotivate plenty of loyal State employees, both from the Foreign Service and the Civil Service, to seek out the challenging postings in those two coun- tries. We strongly recommended that the DG allow the nor- mal dynamic of our voluntary bidding system towork itsmagic and expressed confidence that, in the end, there would be no need for any talk of directed assignments. In an encouraging display of collaboration, senior depart- ment officials listened to AFSA’s advice and implemented our recommendations. The result was a successful “early season” in which capable and qualified volunteers came forward to fill every single position in Iraq and Afghanistan for summer 2009, one full year ahead of time. No one had to be threatened, no one had to be warned of being identified as a “prime candi- date,” and no one had to be subjected to ill-informed allega- tions fromState-bashing ideologues in the press and onCapitol Hill. Our people stepped up to the plate of their own accord. What lessons have we learned from this experience that can guide future directors general in filling combat-zone assign- ments? First, the Foreign Service is composed of proud professionals who have a highly developed sense of duty and do not respond well to threats. Second, our members are quite capable of understanding the needs of the service and want management to level with them. Third, our voluntary open assign- ments system— which is designed to pro- duce willing bidders for our most difficult danger-pay posts, our most appealing non- hardship posts, and everything in between — works perfectly well. AFSA has frequently heard one very revealing bit of feedback from members worldwide over the past three years. They say that, more than anything else, the constant drumbeat from senior department officials that service in Iraq and Afghanistan is a sacred duty would carry considerablymore credibility if many of those same senior officials had actually volunteered for an unaccompanied war-zone tour themselves. And if there were not somany high- profile senior officials—and some not so senior—who have been rewarded for 7th floor loyalty by being appointed to com- fortable ambassadorships without having checked the Iraq/Afghanistan box themselves. The future of our huge and unprecedented diplomaticmis- sions in those two wartorn countries will now depend on the next president and the next Secretary of State. They will deter- mine whether the Foreign Service will have to continue find- ing hundreds of volunteers every summer to serve unarmed in combat zones. If they decide that we do, let us hope they will get us the new positions we need to staff those missions without stripping bare the rest of our 265 embassies and con- sulates around the world. V.P. VOICE: STATE BY STEVE KASHKETT War-Zone Assignments: Lessons Learned NOV EMB E R 2 0 0 8 / F OR E I GN S E R V I C E J OU R N A L 77 A F S A N E W S Capable and qualified volunteers came forward to fill every single position in Iraq and Afghanistan for summer 2009, one full year ahead of time.