The Foreign Service Journal, December 2009

D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 9 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 11 Acknowledging the difficulty of as- sessing the United States’ global stand- ing, the study’s authors encourage more such research. Only on the basis of reliable data can U.S. policymakers act effectively to improve America’s reputation worldwide. — Amanda Anderson, Editorial Intern Keeping a Not-So-Stiff Upper Lip Until 2006, British ambassadors leaving their posts traditionally sent a valedictory dispatch to London offer- ing a candid assessment of the country in which they had served. They could also use that message to write about the governments they had served, or the Diplomatic Service itself. Sadly for connoisseurs of plain speaking, the U.K. Foreign Office dis- continued the practice three years ago. Using material obtained under free- dom-of-information laws, BBC Radio 4 producer Andrew Bryson shared some classics of the genre on his Oct. 16 “Parting Shots” program that make clear why ( http://news.bbc.co.uk ) . For instance, Roger Pinsent’s final missive from Managua, sent in 1967, concluded: “There is, I fear, no ques- tion but that the average Nicaraguan is one of the most dishonest, unreliable, violent and alcoholic of the Latin Americans.” And here is LordMoran, high com- missioner in Ottawa between 1981 and 1984: “One does not encounter here the ferocious competition of talent that takes place in the United Kingdom. Canadians still seek wider opportuni- ties elsewhere. Anyone who is even moderately good at what they do — in literature, the theater, skiing or what- ever — tends to become a national fig- ure, and anyone who stands out at all from the crowd tends to be praised to the skies and given the Order of Canada at once.” But the message that precipitated the end of that venerable tradition — sent by Sir Ivor Roberts, Britain’s de- parting ambassador to Italy, in 2006 — did not criticize Rome but London. Deploring a Foreign Office under siege by management consultants, efficiency drives and Wall Street business-speak mumbo-jumbo, Roberts asked: “Can it be that in wading through the plethora of business plans, capability reviews, skills audits, zero-based reviews and other excrescences of the management age, we have indeed forgotten what diplomacy is all about?” — Steven Alan Honley, Editor Public Diplomacy Debate Gets Practical A recent exchange among distin- guished public diplomacy practitioners spotlights practical measures. Retired Ambassador WilliamA. Rugh targeted field operations in a statement first published in the e-zine www.ameri candiplomacy.org , presenting an ac- curate view of the public diplomacy profession and detailing administrative corrections to better support it. Five prominent FSOs responded, focusing on the structure needed to put U.S. outreach efforts on a strong and dynamic footing. Thomas Picker- ing, Henry Catto, David Hitchcock, Fred Coffey Jr. and Stanley Silverman offer a three-step fix to improve PD support for overseas programs, provide a clear chain of authority overseas from the under secretary and give field offi- cers a stronger voice inWashington di- rection. “The suggestions in these articles deserve serious consideration and prompt action,” says Phillip Seib, di- rector of the University of Southern California’s Center on Public Diplo- macy. The exchange is featured on the CPDWeb site ( www.uscpublicdiplo macy.com ) . ■ — Susan Brady Maitra, Senior Editor C Y B E R N O T E S 50 Years Ago... I ’m an optimist about the [Foreign] Service’s future. A few years ago it did not seem to me to offer as much because of public misunderstanding and certain antagonisms which you know about. I believe the Service has emerged from those trials stronger and more solid. We have many friends in Congress and in the country at large. … Our press actually is fair to us and I believe most of us have many good friends among the correspondents who are usually inclined to give us a break when we stumble and a kind word if we rate it. — Under Secretary of State Robert Murphy, from a talk at a Foreign Service luncheon, Sept. 24, 1959; December 1959 FSJ . All references in the Foreign Service Journal are linked to their source Web sites or e-mail ad- dresses in the online version of the magazine. Beginning with this issue, we will dispense with the long, unwieldy URLs that have been prominent in Cybernotes, providing generic references for print readers and relying on embedded links in the Internet edition.