The Foreign Service Journal, December 2007

term objectives and that the State Department, together with Congress, can implement starting now. ... Recommendation 7: Strengthen the Country Team All embassies are interagency platforms. Large coun- try teams and a distributed presence pose increasing challenges for the ambassador’s leadership. The scope and scale of representation from other federal agencies at embassies have been growing steadily, with 27 agencies (and numerous subagencies) represented overseas. In some large embassies, the proportion of State Depart- ment representation relative to other federal agencies can be less than one-third of full-time U.S. personnel. From 2004 to 2006, Defense Department personnel grew by 40 percent over previous periods, Department of Justice by 18 percent, and Department of Homeland Security by 14 percent, respectively. These increases reflect not only staffing in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also the growing importance of counterterrorism and law enforcement in U.S. foreign policy generally. The future strength of U.S. embassies depends on the ability of U.S. representatives to work together at all lev- els to advance American objectives. Ambassadors’ authorities over mission personnel are articulated in a presidential letter that provides the ambassador full responsibility for the direction, coordination and supervi- sion of U.S. government employees assigned to the embassy on official duty. U.S. ambassadors need the capabilities, authorities, support and institutional struc- tures and processes in place to lead a unified team. In the course of this study, which looked principally at rou- tine embassy operations, the commission identified a strong desire on the part of State Department personnel to more effectively leverage the presence of all agencies overseas. Ultimately, the responsibility for establishing a truly coordinated interagency policy is in Washington, where policy decisions are made and resources assigned. But if building enhanced interagency unity of effort must begin in Washington, a number of steps can be taken in-coun- try to build mission cohesion (where interagency cooper- ation is often stronger than in Washington) and strength- en policy implementation wherever possible. The rec- ommendations below reflect commissioners’ experi- ences, views and project field interviews. We note that in a number of cases they reiterate recommendations from one or more of the many other studies on this subject. Ensure that ambassadors and deputy chiefs of mission have the capacity to lead. The most impor- tant ingredient in a strong country team is the leadership capacity of the ambassador and, increasingly, the deputy chief of mission. To fulfill their roles successfully, they must be strong leaders, capable managers and adroit spokespeople for U.S. policy objectives. They must also be fully invested in the coordination of mission personnel and capable of providing strategic guidance. Conversely, mission personnel and their home agencies need to be educated and informed about the ambassador’s authori- ties in advance of deployment to the embassy. Leadership skills. Ambassadors must have leadership training and access to advice that will support them in leading large numbers of people who are both in the State Department and outside it. DCMs should have access to the leadership training as well. Language abili- ty will continue to be a very important factor for most assignments. Ambassador’s authorities as the president’s represen- tative. The ambassador’s authorities, articulated in a let- ter from the president, should be codified in an executive order. Such an order would have the value of being car- ried over across administrations and would underscore the ambassador’s role as the president’s representative. Ambassadors should develop a strong relationship with the interagency group that is supporting them while they are in-country, meeting with that group before and dur- ing their service overseas. Promote interagency cooperation. Agency coop- eration at post can be enhanced in a number of ways. Organizational structure. To strengthen, broaden and refine the use of interagency task forces, or “clusters,” ambassadors’ experiences implementing these task forces must be shared routinely with other ambassadors. Beyond that, the State Department should also explore the value of organizing embassies along functional rather than agency lines. Physical collocation. The State Department, together with other agencies represented overseas, should, to the extent possible, adopt floor plans that facilitate intera- gency interaction and cooperation. Floor plans that have been used successfully to implement this objective should be widely shared. Personnel practices. Personnel should have the op- portunity, particularly in larger posts, to serve voluntarily F O C U S 42 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 7