The Foreign Service Journal, December 2009

shortly after I arrived. The only such invitation had come from Englich. Years later, I visited him on a return trip to Prague. Englich was older and heavier, and wore thick glasses. As be- fore, he had a number of balls in the air, selling time for a newly licensed evan- gelical Christian radio station (even though he was Jewish), managing a record store for a startup local label, and working on another deal that, if it came through, would dwarf both of these. We talked some about our families, remi- nisced a bit about the old days and, after lunch, warmly shook hands. He briskly headed off though the hotel’s revolving doors to meet a client. I never saw him again. One recurring observation in the file was that I constantly gave Czechs “suspect” publications like Time , News- week and the New York Times . Part of the evidence in the trial of a dissident youth leader had been that he received a subscription to Newsweek from my predecessor. Another report said I had mailed several copies of the World Al- manac and Book of Facts, and noted: “This sort of publication should not be allowed in Czechoslovakia.” Despite the file’s length, I was sur- prised by what it left out — the visits of Benny Goodman and Johnny Cash and a steady string of journalists from the New York Times and other publica- tions. Vaclav Havel came to one of our film evenings, but his name was not in- cluded in any of the reporting about them. The Summing Up The ministry’s final report, nine double-spaced pages signed off on by six different officers, was compiled six months after I had left the country in 1978. The document’s stated purpose was to examine whether I worked for the CIA and to determine whether there was any possibility of compro- mising me. But neither objective was mentioned further, apparently because nothing had come of such efforts over the past three years. The opening section contained yet another biography of me. Next came a 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 51 The reporting format was clearly designed to keep a trainful of line officers employed writing or passing memoranda to one another. AFSA Resource Marketplace Find the Most-Requested Resources from the Overseas Briefing Center Online at www.afsa.org/ads 1. FSI’s Transition Center 2. U.S. Department of State Overseas Briefing Center (OBC) 3. Security Overseas Seminars: PSOS, ASOS, SAA, SOS, SOS 4. Transition Center Training home page for eligible family members and members of household (MOH) 5. International Jobs - Working Overseas 6. Country Information (Bidding Resources) 7. Transition Center Courses 8. Preparing to Go Overseas 9. Pets and International Travel 10. Foreign Service Assignment Notebook: What Do I Do Now? 11. U.S. Department of State Career Transition Center (CTC) 12. Personal Post Insights 13. Elementary School Stuff 14. Arrange Medical Clearance and Immunizations 15. High Stress Assignment Outbrief Program