The Foreign Service Journal, December 2008

AFSA congratulates Presi- dent-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden on their electoral victory. At press time, the Secretary of State-designate had not been named. But AFSA hopes for the traditional pre-inauguration meeting with the Secretary-designate to discuss the resource and manage- ment needs of diplomacy and develop- ment assistance. AFSA also looks for- ward to meeting with the USAID Administrator-designate and other incoming officials. Below are the high- lights of our message. U.S. diplomacy is in crisis. While the inauguration of a new president will likely produce an initial rebound in America’s standing in world opinion, that honeymoon will be short-lived unless the next administration takes concrete steps to strengthen diplomacy and development assistance. Issues requiring immediate attention include: • Staffing: Our foreign affairs agencies are hobbled by a human cap- ital crisis. An October report by the American Academy of Diplomacy — whose membership includes all living former secretaries of State — called for expanding State Department diplomatic staffing by 43 percent and USAID staffing by 62 percent within five years. Funding to begin that ex- pansion must be sought immediately. • Training: Foreign Service train- ing lags because of personnel shortages. As a result, our diplomats do not have to a suf- ficient degree the knowledge, skills and abilities needed for 21st-century diplomacy. We need to quickly ramp up train- ing in areas such as foreign languages, advanced area studies, leadership and management, job-spe- cific functional topics and program management. • Benefits: If legislation to close the Foreign Service overseas pay gap does not pass this year, ending this longstanding financial disincentive must be at the top of the next Secre- tary’s legislative agenda. Junior and mid-level Foreign Service members simply cannot continue to lose the equivalent of one year’s salary for every five years served abroad. • Hardship: As the number of unaccompanied and other hardship posts has jumped in recent years, insufficient efforts have been made to reduce some of the burdens of such service. The Separate Maintenance Allowance needs to be raised. New programs should be created to help spouses find employment. Safety nets must be strengthened for those who suffer physical or emotional injury while serving our nation abroad. • Management: The next Secre- tary must not focus solely on policy issues while ignoring the platform upon which diplomacy and develop- ment assistance are conducted. He or she should make time to lobby the White House, Congress and the Am- erican public for resources. The Secretary should pick a deputy secre- tary and under secretary for manage- ment with real ability in this area. • Morale: The Secretary should work to restore the morale of the car- eer Service, which has been sapped by a growing imbalance between the bur- dens and rewards of service. The Sec- retary should speak up when critics unfairly malign the Foreign Service and diplomacy. • Professionalism: The next ad- ministration should look to the Foreign Service for expert advice by scaling back the proliferation of non- career appointees, including ambas- sadors. On the other hand, the next Secretary should shun any career offi- cers who meekly recommend what they think the Secretary wants to hear or who mechanically implement direc- tives without first speaking up about likely negative consequences. Instead, the Secretary should encourage frank, constructive criticism to probe for potential pitfalls and unintended con- sequences in policy initiatives. Unless these urgent steps are taken to strengthen the diplomatic element of national security, no amount of jet- ting around the globe by the president or Secretary will restore our nation’s role as the world’s leader in interna- tional affairs. Without sufficient num- bers of properly resourced and well- trained diplomats and development professionals, America’s engagement with the world will suffer. P RESIDENT ’ S V IEWS SOS for DOS B Y J OHN K. N ALAND John K. Naland is the president of the American Foreign Service Association. D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 8 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 5