The Foreign Service Journal, November 2022

18 NOVEMBER 2022 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL A n important step towards the reorganization of the foreign service was taken on October 13, when Secretary [of State Charles Evans] Hughes addressed a letter to Representative John Jacobx Rogers, of Massachusetts, endorsing, in unqualified terms, the Rogers Bill, which was introduced by Mr. Rogers in the House of Representatives on September 1. … [From] Mr. Hughes’ letter: My dear Mr. Rogers, I have devoted considerable attention to the needs of the foreign service. Post war conditions have rendered a general betterment of the present organization so imperative that failure to provide for reorganization along constructive lines would be tantamount to retrogression. The Diplomatic Service is greatly underpaid; the sala- ries are so low that the choice of candidates is largely restricted to young men of wealthy families. …There must be an increase in the salaries as a means of broadening the field of selection and permitting the relative merits of candidates to be adjudged on the basis of ability alone. Furthermore, if young men of the greatest ability and intellectual ambition are to be attracted to the service there must be the prospect of career, recognition and distinction; they must feel that conspicuous ability and fidelity will be rewarded by promotion to the higher grades. … I am deeply interested in the developing of the foreign service as a prerequisite to the successful conduct of foreign affairs. It is with great pleasure, therefore, that I can assure you of my hearty support in securing the enactment of the legislation which you have proposed. —Excerpted from the lead article of the same title in the November 1922 issue of The American Consular Bulletin (which was renamed The Foreign Service Journal in 1924). In July, the Biden administration announced changes to the SIV program to decrease wait times and expanded the number of personnel overseeing Afghan SIV applications. Under the new guide- lines, SIV applicants file their petitions through the State Department alone, without sending separate paperwork to the U.S. Customs and Immigration Service (USCIS). Despite these improvements, tens of thousands of Afghans are still awaiting safe passage to the U.S. Many of those who have managed to land on American soil since the U.S. withdrawal in August 2021 hold a special humanitarian parole status, which is not a pathway to citizen- ship and leaves individuals at the mercy of the asylum system. According to Gov- ernment Executive , USCIS currently has a backlog of more than 400,000 asylum cases. Article 5: Do Cyberattacks Count? R ecent cyberattacks on NATOmember countries have some wondering how the organization’s paramount principle— that an attack on one is considered an attack on all—applies to the cybersphere. The question was recently brought to the fore when several member countries saw critical systems attacked by state-backed and criminal hacking groups. Albania, which joined NATO in 2009, cut diplomatic ties with Iran and expelled the country’s embassy staff in early September after learning that Tehran was behind a July attack on Albanian govern- ment networks, the AP reported. The ransomware event destroyed gov- ernment data and temporarily disabled digital services. Another attack in Sep- tember targeting the country’s Traveler Information Management System caused chaos at the border. 100 Years Ago Secretary Endorses Rogers Bill Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama called the cyberattacks “state-sponsored aggression,” citing investigations aided by Microsoft and the FBI that provided evidence that four Iranian government- backed groups were responsible. Tirana’s response is the first known case of a country cutting ties over a cyberattack. On Aug. 17, NATO member Slovenia reported a cyberattack against one of its national security administration systems, The Slovenia Times reported. Days later, government systems in Montenegro— a NATO member since 2017—were crippled by a ransomware group, according to Reuters. Since February, an independent Russian hacking group called Killnet has declared “war” on 10 countries, and has led cyberattacks on websites in Lithuania, Germany, Italy, Romania, and Norway—all NATO members. The target- ing often takes place after a country offers support for Ukraine, Wired noted. NATO has pledged to create a cyber rapid response force and to bolster mili-