raising foreign service kids in their own write us foreign policy in the arctic

96 Pages·2015·7.12 MB·English

PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE ASSOCIATION NOVEMBER 2015
IN THEIR OWN WRITE
RAISING FOREIGN SERVICE KIDS
U.S. FOREIGN POLICY
IN THE ARCTIC

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FOREIGN
SERVICE
November 2015
Volume 92, No. 9
AFSA NEWS
COVER STORY
AFSA President Urges Focus on
“New Threat Set” / 69
Getting into the Game: America’s Arctic Policy / 23
State VP Voice: AFSA Post Reps / 70
Climate change is opening up new opportunities and challenges in the Arctic.
FCS VP Voice: At Last! Temporary
Is the United States ready to lead?
Duty Housing / 71
BY ÁSGEIR SIGFÚSSON
Retiree VP Voice: Entitlements vs.
the Economy / 72
FOCUS ON BOOKS BY FOREIGN SERVICE AUTHORS
New Partnership Engages
Next Generation / 73
In Their Own Write / 31
Ambassador Young on the
We are pleased to present this year’s roundup of books by members Call to Serve / 74
of the Foreign Service community. CFC: Two Ways to Support AFSA / 75
BY SUSAN MAITRA
2016-2017 Scholarship
Applications / 76
A Bibliography of USAID Authors / 40
Second Annual AFSA Book
This new compendium of works by USAID authors focuses on development issues. Market / 77
BY JOHN PIELEMEIER New AFSA Staff Member
at USAID / 77
Of Related Interest / 50
Call for Nominations:
Here is a short listing of books of interest to diplomats that have Exemplary Performance / 78
not been written by members of the Foreign Service or their families.
Nominations for Sinclaire
Language Awards / 78
FS HERITAGE AFSA on the Hill:
Fighting for FS Families / 79
Taking Stock of Secretary of State AFSA Governing Board Meeting/ 79
Charles Evans Hughes / 61 Speakers Bureau Critical
for Outreach / 80
The 44th Secretary of State, a true statesman who displayed
exemplary foreign policy leadership, deserves more recognition. AFSA Welcomes Fall Interns / 80
BY MAXWELL J. HAMILTON AND JOHN MAXWELL HAMILTON
COLUMNS
President’s Views / 7
Opening the Conversation
FS KNOW-HOW
BY BARBARA STEPHENSON
Letter from the Editor / 8
Raising Foreign Service Kids / 65
Bring On the Books!
Get to know the nonprofit groups and State Department offices BY SHAWN DORMAN
that offer a social safety net for Foreign Service youth. Speaking Out / 20
BY JOHN K. NALAND The Trouble with the Lawyers List
BY JAMES EHRMAN
Reflections / 93
The Secretary Visits the Arctic
BY MIGUEL RODRIGUES
DEPARTMENTS
Letters / 10
Talking Points / 13
In Memory / 81
Local Lens / 94
MARKETPLACE
Classifieds / 86
Real Estate / 89
Index to Advertisers / 92
On the Cover: Books by Foreign Service authors and their family members. Photo and Design
Credit: Jeff Lau. Photo of Canadian Arctic city of Iqaluit. Credit: FSO Miguel Rodrigues
THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2015 5
FOREIGN
S
SERVICE
T
C
Editor in Chief
A
Director of Publications www.afsa.org
T
Shawn Dorman: [email protected]
N
Managing Editor O
Susan Brady Maitra: [email protected]
C
Associate Editor
Maria C. Livingston: [email protected] AFSA Headquarters: LABOR MANAGEMENT
[phone]; Fax [phone] General Counsel
Editorial/Publications Specialist State Department AFSA Office: Sharon Papp: [email protected]
Brittany DeLong: [email protected] [phone]; Fax [phone] Deputy General Counsel
USAID AFSA Office: Zlatana Badrich: [email protected]
Ad & Circulation Manager
[phone]; Fax [phone] Labor Management Specialist
Ed Miltenberger: [email protected]
FCS AFSA Office: James Yorke: [email protected]
Art Director [phone]; Fax [phone] Senior Staff Attorney
Caryn Suko Smith Neera Parikh: [email protected]
GOVERNING BOARD
Staff Attorney
Editorial Intern President
Raeka Safai: [email protected]
Shannon Mizzi Hon. Barbara Stephenson:
Staff Attorney
[email protected]
Advertising Intern Andrew Large: [email protected]
Secretary
Milo Opdahl Labor Management Counselor
William Haugh: [email protected]
Colleen Fallon-Lenaghan:
Contributing Editor Treasurer Hon. Charles A. Ford: [email protected]
[email protected]
Steven Alan Honley State Vice President
Labor Management Assistant
Angie Bryan: [email protected]
Editorial Board Jason Snyder: [email protected]
USAID Vice President
Beth Payne, Chair Executive Assistant
Sharon Wayne: [email protected]
James Bever Lindsey Botts: [email protected]
FCS Vice President
Angela Bond USAID Senior Labor Management Adviser
Steve Morrison: [email protected]
Hon. Gordon S. Brown Douglas Broome: [email protected]
FAS Vice President
Stephen W. Buck USAID Staff Assistant
Mark Petry: [email protected]
Eric Green Erika Bethmann: [email protected]
Retiree Vice President
Kara McDonald
Hon. Tom Boyatt: [email protected] MEMBER SERVICES
John G. Rendeiro Jr.
State Representatives Member Services Director
Duncan Walker
Lawrence Casselle Janet Hedrick: [email protected]
Tracy Whittington
John Dinkelman Membership Representative
Eric Geelan Natalie Cheung: [email protected]
THE MAGAZINE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Josh Glazeroff Retiree Counselor
PROFESSIONALS
Margaret “Nini” Hawthorne Todd Thurwachter: [email protected]
The Foreign Service Journal (ISSN 0146-3543), 2101 E
Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20037-2990 is pub- Philip Laidlaw Coordinator, Retiree Counseling
lished monthly, with combined January-February and Peter Neisuler and Legislation
July-August issues, by the American Foreign Service Erin O’Connor VACANT
Association (AFSA), a private, nonprofit organization.
Material appearing herein represents the opinions of the Leah Pease Administrative Assistant and Office Manager
writers and does not necessarily represent the views of Sam Thielman Ana Lopez: [email protected]
the Journal, the Editorial Board or AFSA. Writer queries Tricia Wingerter
and submissions are invited, preferably by email. The USAID Representatives COMMUNICATIONS
Jpohuortnoasl oisr nillouts rterasptioonnssi.b Aled vfoerr tuisninsogl iicniqteudir imesa anrues cinrvipittesd, . Jeffrey Cochrane Director of Communications
All advertising is subject to the publisher’s approval. Lorraine Sherman Ásgeir Sigfússon: [email protected]
AFSA reserves the right to reject advertising that is not FCS Representative Online Communications Specialist
iann kceee opfi nagd vweirtthis ietsm setnantsd haerdresi nan ddo oesb jneoctt iivmesp.l yT heen daoprpseea-r- Youqing Ma Jeff Lau: [email protected]
ment of goods or services offered. Opinions expressed in FAS Representative Corey Pickelsimer Communications and Press Specialist
advertisements are the views of the advertisers and do BBG Representative Vacant Allan Saunders: [email protected]
not necessarily represent AFSA views or policy. Journal APHIS Representative Mark C. Prescott Special Awards and Outreach Coordinator
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© American Foreign Service Association, 2015 Executive Assistant Scholarship Director
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6 NOVEMBER 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL
PRESIDENT’S VIEWS
Opening the Conversation
BY BARBARA STEPHENSON
L ast month, in “Setting Our We need to be able to speak and write
Course,” I concluded by saying
articulately about what the Foreign Service
that as AFSA president I want to
actually does and why that matters to
spark and sustain a conversa-
tion with you, the members of the Foreign the American people.
Service, about our profession.
As I write my third President’s Views
column, the new AFSA Governing Board,
sworn in on July 15, is headed to a retreat bridges across cultures and languages and Neither Ebola nor immigrants stay within
aimed at further refining the vision for disciplines, and we enable people to make borders.
our term in office and aligning AFSA’s common cause. With power becoming more diffuse,
resources behind the three pillars of the I invite you to join in this effort to U.S. convening authority can no longer be
work plan—comprehensive workforce describe—in compelling terms that taken for granted. We are going to have to
planning, outreach to the American public resonate with the American people—what work hard and smart to maintain our role
and inreach to our members—that sup- the Foreign Service does today and what it as the indispensable nation—harness-
port the goal of a stronger Foreign Service will be called upon to do in the future. The ing America’s unrivaled soft, attractive
fit to lead American foreign policy today, clearer we can be about the task before power to convene stakeholders around a
and a generation from now. us, the better we will do at advocating thoughtful agenda to achieve purposeful,
We will open the retreat by talking for a workforce properly resourced and collective action.
about the mission of the Foreign Service: structured to excel at the task. Please We are going to need to not only up our
What does the Foreign Service do and send your thoughts, using action verbs, to game but also understand that the game is
what will it be called upon to do in the [email protected]. changing—fast—and we must stay ahead
next 15 years or so? If we are going to be To get the conversation going, I invite of that change. We need to be knowledge-
successful telling our story to the Ameri- you to read the article by Maria Livings- able and strategic, playing an increasingly
can people and, indeed, to the newer ton in the AFSA News section on the critical role as the bridge builders central
members of our profession, we need to be speech I gave recently on the “New Threat to addressing complex global issues.
able to speak and write articulately about Set”—climate change, immigration, rising I will aim to report back to you next
what the Foreign Service actually does oceans, declining fisheries, pandemics, month on the best ideas from the AFSA
and why that matters to the American cyberattacks, food and water insecurity. Governing Board retreat and from you
people. I sometimes joke that we resort to In the face of these new challenges, we on how to tell our story and how best to
saying things like, “We write memos and in the Foreign Service will not be able to explain what the Foreign Service does and
go to meetings.” I call on our military colleagues (none of what we will be called on to do in the next
know we can do these threats is particularly responsive to 15 years. I also hope to be able to share
better than that. the application of military force), nor will with you a core set of arguments about
For example, we we be able to rely as much on traditional why it matters, or should matter, to the
convene stake- counterparts; namely, host government American people to have American diplo-
holders, we frame ministry officials. The oceans don’t have macy in the hands of a top-flight corps of
agendas, we build a government; neither does cyberspace. career professionals. n
Ambassador Barbara Stephenson is the president of the American Foreign Service Association.
THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2015 7
L E T T E R F R O M T H E E D I T O R
Bring On the Books!
BY SHAWN DORMAN
T
he leaves are turning in Wash- Featured in Talking Points are two new
ington, the air is crisp, so it films about diplomacy premiering this
must be time for the annual month. “America’s Diplomats” is a docu-
roundup of books by Foreign mentary from the Foreign Policy Associa-
Service authors, “In Their Own Write,” tion. “The Diplomat,” looks at the life and
and books “Of Related Interest” by work of Richard Holbrooke through the
authors outside the Foreign Service. lens of his eldest son, documentary film-
We have a great collection for you this maker David Holbrooke.
year, including 56 books by authors from The cover story this month is from our
the Foreign Service community. You will Icelandic-American colleague, Ásgeir
find books on a vast array of topics both Sigfússon, who offers an overview of
related and unrelated to diplomacy— Arctic policy and how the United States is
Latin American rebels in the 1800s, a “Getting into the Game.”
“short history” of evolution, Greek urban I also call your attention to the FS Her-
warriors, African strongmen, climate itage article, “Taking Stock of Secretary of
change. You’ll find more than a dozen State Charles Evans Hughes,” written by
memoirs, from Christopher Hill, George FSO father-son team Maxwell Hamilton
Glass, Deane Hinton and others. and John Maxwell Hamilton. This is a fas-
This year, we received more fiction cinating story of a lesser-known Secretary
submissions than ever before: We feature of State in the early 1920s. Sec. Hughes
23 books of fiction by Foreign Service was a strong proponent of State Depart-
authors. There are cooking books, chil- ment reform and the development of a
dren’s books, and how-to books. In addi- professional Foreign Service.
tion, we introduce a special bibliography At the time, the diplomatic career was
of USAID authors, courtesy of retired open only to the wealthy few who could
USAID FSO John Pielemeier. pay their own way overseas. Hughes
Join us in celebration of the writing strongly supported—and argued before
accomplishments of your friends and col- Congress in favor of—the reforms devel-
leagues, and find inspiration there for your oped by career FSO Assistant Secretary
own writing and publishing endeavors. of State Wilbur Carr and codified in the
We invite our Washington-area read- Rogers Act of 1924. The act established
ers to stop by AFSA headquarters on the Foreign Service we know today,
Nov. 19, between 1 and 4 p.m., for the merging the diplomatic and consular
Second Annual AFSA branches of the State Department, set-
Book Market featuring ting a uniform pay scale and granting
more than 20 Foreign representation allowances and retire-
Service authors and ment benefits that eliminated the need
their published works. for private incomes. n
Shawn Dorman is the editor of The Foreign Service Journal.
8 NOVEMBER 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL

LETTERS
Civ-Mil Partnerships work well with the interagency process, identifies diplomatic service as a profes-
Thank you for highlighting the impor- especially at our overseas missions. The sion. And, I would argue, in the Foreign
tance of civilian-military relations in the military respects and appreciates this Service Act of 1980, Congress did so as
Foreign Service in the October Journal. talent when we offer it. well.
In Iraq, I would joke to friends that it was 3. Being willing to show up when Of course, there are always steps we
often a challenge to be in a needed in difficult and even can and should take to further enrich
place where people dressed dangerous circumstances. and advance our profession. But there
differently, spoke a different To the extent that the For- is no good substitute for it—experts just
language, were hospitable eign Service, and State, are won’t do.
but clearly had different willing to embed officers As Penfield said: “No one would deny
beliefs and customs—and with military units or to staff that a good Merchant Marine skipper
then you would go outside provincial reconstruction is a professional sailor. It might even
the wire with the Marines and teams, and more generally be argued that he’s a better sailor than
be with the Iraqis. to send its best to embassies the average captain of a Navy ship, who
Based on my experience, I in countries at war, they gain spends a good deal less of his time at sea.
think the four keys to a strong credibility and respect from But who in his right mind would suggest
partnership between U.S. civilian agen- their colleagues in the military and in that the Navy would do its job better if it
cies and military units are: other agencies. hired Merchant Marine officers with-
1. An understanding of and respect for 4. Having the right leaders in the right out Navy experience to run some of its
each other’s mission, customs, personnel places. Embassy Baghdad under Ambas- ships?”
practices and underlying approaches to sador Ryan Crocker and the embassy- Deep experience in diplomacy is criti-
achieving objectives (what the military U.S. military relationship led by Amb. cal for good diplomatic decision-making.
calls “doctrine”). This holds regardless Crocker and General David Petraeus are Former Secretary of State Colin Powell,
of whether a given mission is primar- classic examples of the critical role of in his leadership book, It Worked for
ily civilian, with some military support leadership in establishing an effective Me, observed that the best decisions are
(what we have in most embassies), or U.S. government and coalition civilian- those that draw upon “superb instinct”
whether the mission has a high mili- military partnership. informed and developed through “long
tary component and yet has significant Stephen McFarland experience.” Such instincts are the hall-
diplomatic and other civilian agency ele- Ambassador, retired mark of professionals, not experts.
ments, as in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bogotá, Colombia Todd Kushner
2. Being able to “add value” to a given FSO
mission. For the Foreign Service this The FS Profession Rockville, Maryland
means drawing on (and supporting) Lamenting that the Foreign Service is not
its personnel who have deep area and yet a profession (Charles Ray, Speaking Back Story to the
language expertise; who can understand Out, July-August FSJ) is an unfortunate FS Act of 1980
and deal effectively with foreign societ- tradition that has resurfaced from time The September articles on the Foreign
ies’ ambiguities and contradictions, to time over more than 50 years. Service Act of 1980 were interesting and
their outcasts and opposition, as well as James K. Penfield addressed this issue factual but neglected the back story:
their privileged classes; who have long in the March 1960 edition of The Foreign the two-year battle of the then-AFSA
experience addressing often contradic- Service Journal and urged the Foreign Governing Board with the department,
tory policy goals in dealings with foreign Service to get over our “built-in inferior- on the one hand, and with Congress, on
governments, civil society, press and ity complex” and embrace the critical the other.
security services; who understand the professional role that we must play in the A little history may be in order: Con-
full range of U.S. diplomatic, develop- life of the nation. gress had already passed a major Civil
ment, intelligence, law enforcement and In his classic work, The Soldier and Service Reform Act and was then intent
military tools and interests; and who can the State, Samuel Huntington explicitly on writing a Foreign Service Act congru-
10 NOVEMBER 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL