The Foreign Service Journal, November 2012

12 NOVEMBER 2012 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Soviet Union and to practice public diplomacy. They also produced many good ideas on what we should be doing to influence the Soviet public. Yale Richmond FSO, retired Washington, D.C. Combating Immigration Fraud Thirty years ago, my consular colleagues and I uncovered massive visa and pass- port fraud as many thousands of foreign nationals tried, in any way possible, to enter, work and stay in the United States. Large-scale fraud, illegal immigration and overstays for economic reasons have all become even more pervasive since then, straining U.S. social services, frus- trating legitimate travelers and fueling a contentious national debate on immigra- tion policy. Former and retired officials from the departments of State, Labor and Home- land Security are in a unique position to assist policymakers and agency officials in dealing with these challenges. Indeed, Congress needs our expertise to craft whatever system it decides is in the interest of the U.S. citizens its members represent. And our fellow citizens need our expertise to better engage their repre- sentatives. To supplement governmental efforts, educate the public and help policymak- ers make more informed decisions, the Center for Immigration Studies (www. cis.org), a n onpartisan research institute that examines the impact of immigration on American society, is calling on former and retired officials with expertise in the detection of visa and passport fraud, and non-immigrant and immigrant visa law, process and policy, to join the CIS Immi- gration Fraud Working Group. This group will provide a forum for former and retired officials to contribute to a constructive public discussion of these issues. Agencies are also welcome to have active-duty experts participate. The goal is to identify vulnerabilities in the current system and to present realis- tic options to lawmakers for enforceable laws and procedures that facilitate legiti- mate travel and immigration, advancing the interests of U.S. citizens. CIS plans to publish the Immigration Fraud Working Group’s findings, options and recommendations, and present them at a panel discussion in Washington, D.C. Invitees will include government experts and congressional staffers. If you would like to participate, or learn more about the project, please contact Jessica Vaughan, director of Getting Out and About Henry Kissinger was right, in his inter- view with Susan Johnson (September FSJ ), to warn against the Foreign Service getting too involved in the daily flow of cable traffic—and, in so doing, to neglect the strategic aspects of our work. When I was assigned to Moscow in 1967 as counselor for press and culture, I was appalled by the daily flow of cables from posts all over the world that I was expected to read and digest. I therefore decided to try to get out of the embassy every day and call on some Soviet agency that had seldom, if ever, seen an American official. I was never refused a visit, and was received correctly, if not always cordially. Such visits gave me a good oppor- tunity to promote U.S. objectives in the