The Foreign Service Journal, November 2009

14 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 9 Make Development Assistance a Separate Specialty Within State, I believe that devel- opment assistance should be made a separate cone (specialty), akin to exist- ing generalist career tracks such as po- litical, economic, public diplomacy and consular. USAID and other merged agency professionals would become fully equal to their State colleagues, and able to take advantage of similar growth opportunities (which often is not the case today). They would be ex- pected to spend part of their careers outside their specialty, serving as an economic officer, for example. As part of such an approach, politi- cal-cone FSOs and other generalists might spend tours as foreign aid pro- gram officers. Senior development professionals could reasonably aspire to become ambassadors, while other officers might become directors of bi- lateral aid programs. This would boost morale and performance across the Foreign Service, and help recruit the best people for the key work of eco- nomic development. There is one other major advantage to merging USAID and other develop- ment assistance spigots into State. It would increase their cumulative power and ability to fight the turf battles that Washington agencies are always en- gaged in, especially vis-à-vis Defense and Treasury in the case of foreign aid. Our nation’s international and do- mestic problems, to say nothing of the massively antagonistic nature of cur- rent political and civil discourse, make adoption and implementation of these recommendations a tall order. Still, the case for action is compelling, and the long-term advantages to U.S. for- eign policy are obvious. ■ Raymond Malley, a retired Senior For- eign Service officer, spent 23 years in operational and management positions with USAID, and performed numer- ous consulting assignments for the agency thereafter. After retiring from the Foreign Service, he pursued a sec- ond career as a senior executive with a large global Korean industrial manu- facturing group. A resident of Han- over, N.H., and McLean, Va., he now teaches international affairs at the In- stitute for Lifelong Education at Dart- mouth College. S P E A K I N G O U T