The Foreign Service Journal, November 2010

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 1 0 techniques to support our nation- building efforts. While these toolkits will need to be customized to local circumstances, there is no need (and never enough time) for our advisers to start from scratch on each mission. In addition, PRT members working in fragile states like Iraq and Afghani- stan would greatly benefit from regular in-country gatherings to discuss shared problems and workable solutions, as well as to share resources and lessons learned. During my tour in Iraq, I at- tended only one such gathering, an ex- cellent meeting sponsored by the Department of Treasury contingent in Baghdad to discuss effective ways to provide budget support to our Iraqi clients. Finally, one of the best ways to pre- pare people for the job is to ensure that there is at least a month overlap be- tween new staff and their predeces- sors. Perhaps the most common complaint I heard from both American and Iraqi counterparts was the heavy toll turnover takes on our nationbuild- ing projects. Strong Leadership Leadership failures are one of the primary reasons Provincial Recon- struction Teams fall short of achieving their missions. PRTs are generally led by career Foreign Service officers, and there is often a mismatch between their skills and the job requirements. I had the good fortune of working with a number of outstanding FSOs and came to realize just how instru- mental they are to our success abroad. But recent research, corroborated by conversations with dozens of my col- leagues, indicates that many of these individuals do not have the project management and operational experi- ence a PRT requires. Quite a few don’t have the right kind of experience, particularly in terms of leading an eclectic group of people from different professions and organizations. Making matters worse, many PRT members have more relevant technical experi- ence than the team leader, and little loyalty to the State Department for which they are now working. In order to attract the most talented leaders, State needs to make clear that PRT leader assignments are career-en- hancing. Indeed, the leader position must be viewed as a very selective job, as well as a box to be checked for pro- motion. Individuals with strong man- agement experience at State and USAID should be actively recruited, while PRT leaders who are not up to the task should be removed. To build a new generation of lead- ers experienced in nationbuilding, jun- ior officers should also be encouraged to join PRTs (and be rewarded for doing so). Nationbuilding is a critical foreign policy mission and, like the mil- itary, the State Department should be fielding its best and brightest leaders to carry it out. Part of effective leadership is build- ing commitment. To that end, the State Department should consider lengthening the current one-year as- signment to two. A single year is hardly enough time to adjust to a challenging environment, learn the lay of the land and build relationships with local coun- terparts. As an incentive, State should con- tinue to offer very generous salaries, but a portion should take the form of performance-based bonuses, given at the end of each year. Current rest- and-recreation benefits (also very gen- erous) should continue. In turn, PRT members should be held to a high standard of performance. Team lead- ers should not be viewed negatively if they remove underperformers, who are a drain on morale as well as tax- payer dollars. In fact, some midtour attrition should be expected. Finally, leaders must establish and work toward realistic, measurable goals with corresponding action plans — goals and plans that are not ad hoc in nature, but derived from research about fragile states — as well as a good understanding of the situation on the ground. Many of these goals will be (and should be) similar across PRTs: e.g., help the governor create a capital budget and gain stakeholder buy-in; help establish a functioning provincial investment commission; help conduct legal training via local attorney associ- ations; help the provincial council con- duct an investigation, hold hearings and craft solutions for the problems identified. There are many outstanding people working on our PRTs, but we need to do better. Development is the best vaccine to prevent extremism but, to be effective, our nationbuilding efforts must be conducted by teams of tal- ented, well-prepared and well-led ex- perts. Making the above changes will require a real investment. Can we af- ford it? Given the stakes, the more appro- priate question is: Can we afford not to? ■ Patricia Thomson was a Section 3161 Provincial Reconstruction Teammem- ber in Iraq from December 2008 to January 2010, serving as an adviser to the Diyala province’s government. Before that, she was executive vice president of the United States Insti- tute of Peace and an associate partner with PricewaterhouseCooper Con- sulting. S P E A K I N G O U T