The Foreign Service Journal, November 2014

10 NOVEMBER 2014 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL LETTERS Talking About Foreign Service Advocacy In his September column (“Talking About Foreign Service Advocacy”), AFSA President Robert Silverman usefully identified two ways the Foreign Service could enhance its capa- bilities, while simultaneously raising its profile within Washington and around the world. His anecdote recalling FSO Alberto Fernandez’s habit of taking notes in Ara- bic reminded me of former Ambassador Chas Freeman’s routine of speaking a for- eign language at dinner twice per week. Practices like these would foster the development of an ethos unique to the Foreign Service that will not only improve our performance in the field, but in Wash- ington, too. I also appreciated Silverman’s sug- gestion to create a new career track to institutionalize the lessons learned from our nation-building experiences. This not only would advance the goals he lays out in his column, but would foster greater cohesion and understanding among State, USAID and the military. Implementing a change like that could also encourage the department to incor- porate after-action reviews into our work processes, to enable continued growth as an organization. David S. Boxer Economic Officer Embassy New Delhi Remembering Embassy Kabul I greatly appreciated and enjoyed Bill Bent’s recent article about Foreign Service life in Afghanistan (“Serving at Embassy Kabul,” September FSJ ). From January through April 2002, I was the Kabul Overseas Building Operations contract project director for the reopening of the old embassy. In that capacity, I was responsible for setting up the 150-per- son container camp and its supporting utilities, power, sewer, phone, water, etc. The Marines did a first-class job guarding the compound, and when I got sick the medic gave me Cipro daily. After four days, the medic announced that I would not need a free helicopter ride! I did receive an Exem- plary Honor Award. Keep up the good work. Jeff Watts FSO, retired Gualala, Calif. Move Up or Out, Please George Lambrakis’s denunciation of “up or out” (September Speaking Out, “‘Up or Out’ Is Harming American Foreign Policy”) is severely dated and appears to be based on the bitter musings of a hand- ful of retired policy officers. State has no shortage of excellent policy minds, nor (short of another 1950s McCarthy-style witch hunt) is it ever likely to have one. What State does have a shortage of is proper management and leadership in the areas of conduct, suitability and dis- cipline (known as CSD) and performance management issues. That is precisely why we need more, not less, “up or out.” Foreign Service officers who are poor performers or have CSD issues need to be weeded out more aggressively, and their enablers (supervisors) should suffer the requisite career consequences. Dysfunctional and hostile workplaces (of which there are far too many in State and at our missions overseas) are poor purveyors of policy, endanger our secu- rity and imperil good diplomacy. Inspired policy will follow strong man- agement and leadership, not vice-versa. Matt Weiller FSO, FE-OC Washington, D.C. Advocacy on Assignment Restrictions I am particularly gratified to learn that AFSA is advocating modest reform and oversight in the Diplomatic Security assignment preclusion process. Preclusion had put a damper on my career until last summer, when I requested that DS reconsider what I per- ceived to be a prejudicial judgement. They did, and I can now spend two years in a Priority Staffing Post in a typi- cally hard-to-fill position. I already have the needed languages and hope to add greater dimension to post activities and programming, not to mention monitor- ing millions of dollars of U.S. government assistance. Kudos to AFSA for taking on this issue, which has direct bearing on recruitment, diversity in the Foreign Service and our overall success as an organization. Sofia Khilji Refugee Coordinator Embassy Islamabad Longer Career Paths “I agree with the idea that we should allow for longer career paths, especially if we can incorporate the kind of ‘mid- career’ training for FSOs (and other career State employees) that is a given for our colleagues in uniform. State has come a long way on training fromwhere it was when I started my career in 1973, but it cannot afford to rest on these laurels.” —Robert A. Mosher, commenting on September’s Speaking Out on the AFSA Facebook page n