This Memorial Day, Remember the Diplomats, Too

From the Dallas Morning News:

WASHINGTON — They are the proud, the few and the unarmed. They dodge bullets in the mountains of Afghanistan and brave the deserts of Iraq. They serve as America’s face to the world, from violence-ridden Mexico to the financial hubs of Asia to the capitals of Europe. They promote American business and protect American citizens abroad. They are the men and women of the U.S. Foreign Service.

On Memorial Day, we rightly pause to remember those who serve our nation in military uniform. But we should also recognize the more than 12,000 members of the American diplomatic corps who serve in Washington and in 271 missions across the globe.

“They are the ones out there on the front lines trying to advocate and explain [American] policies, regardless of which administration they are serving,” said Karen Hughes, former Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy under President George W. Bush.

She praised the Foreign Service as “a very dedicated group of public servants” who “work and make sacrifices around the world in some very difficult assignments.”

You may think of diplomats as tuxedo-wearing statesmen sipping cocktails at summits in Switzerland, but American diplomats are deployed in places like war-torn Africa and Afghanistan, where they often face the same dangers as members of the military. One diplomat I spoke to said he has been shot at five times in the line of duty.

Yet, even as America’s engagement with the world is growing more crucial, budget hawks are circling over the State Department. Speaking to the National Conference of Editorial Writers this month, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned, “There’s a huge gap between perception and reality … and people think that we can balance our budget on the back of our foreign operations.”

The continuing resolution passed to fund the government cut $8 billion for the State Department and USAID — while increasing the Defense Department’s budget by $5 billion. The demands on the State Department are growing, but the budget isn’t. “It is so out of whack with what we have to be doing,” Clinton lamented.

Part of the problem is that many Americans misunderstand diplomats’ role. Diplomacy isn’t about throwing money at the world. Yes, foreign aid — which accounts for only about 1 percent of the total federal budget — is a useful diplomatic tool. But too often diplomacy is dismissed as wasteful global charity or useless hemmin’ and hawin’ at the United Nations. Whether working to secure access to natural resources (like oil), leading reconstruction in Afghanistan or screening hundreds of thousands of visa applicants, diplomats are producing concrete results. They are the facilitators of globalization.

In an interconnected world, diplomacy is becoming ever more relevant to the daily lives of Americans, especially when it comes to the economy. Diplomats pave the way for American businesses to make profits at home by expanding overseas.

“If companies want to grow, if we want to grow our GDP, if we want to be competitive on a global basis in the 21st century, people really have to step up to export and export more, because that’s where the growth opportunities are,” said Lorraine Hariton, U.S. Special Representative for Commercial and Business Affairs.

Texas definitely enjoys the dividends of diplomacy. According to the latest figures from the International Trade Administration and Bureau of the Census, in 2009 the Dallas-Fort Worth area exported $19.9 billion worth of merchandise. And because of the Open Skies agreements liberalizing international air travel,Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport will see “billions of dollars in new business,” Clinton said this month.

Members of the Foreign Service play a crucial role in making that kind of lucrative international agreement possible, part of a government-wide campaign to help American businesses increase exports.

“We need to set up partnerships and relationships all around the world so we can understand the market needs in Kenya as well as the market needs in Fort Worth,” Hariton said.

Indeed, to maintain America’s global competitiveness and to capitalize on the opportunities globalization creates, we need a well-funded diplomatic corps.

“Diplomacy used to be thought of as the quiet, behind-the-scenes, government-to-government communications,” Hughes told me.

It’s now so much more than that. “In order for America to enact the kinds of policies we want to enact around the world,” Hughes explained, “we have got to build a public case for those policies, for our values and for our interests.”

Our diplomats are out in the trenches doing just that, often at great personal danger — remember the Iranian hostage crisis? Foreign Service officers have also been the targets of drug violence, insurgent attacks and kidnappings. Yet they man their posts, safeguarding American interests and protecting U.S. citizens overseas.

This weekend, as we salute our military, we also owe a tribute to America’s diplomats, many of whom are in conflict zones riding in the same Humvees as the troops. The only difference is that they can’t shoot back.

*Clayton M. McCleskey is a contributing writer for The Dallas Morning News based in Washington. His email address is letters@claytonmccleskey.com.*

And our next assignment is...

Kathmandu, Nepal!

I'll be the Information Systems Officer there, which means I'll supervise the local staff and ensure the functioning of the unclassified computer systems. Up until now I've been working mostly on classified systems.

Nepal has great hiking, trekking, white-water rafting, and other outdoor adventures that we enjoy. We also know several colleagues who have loved it there, and the USAID Country Director was in Ethiopia with us. The school has a great reputation as well.

Three tours, three continents... we're stoked!

Environmental Responsibility coming to a Federal Government near you

It occurred to me that while there's overwhelming scientific evidence that human activities are causing the release of greenhouse gases, and that these greenhouse gases are causing climate change, it doesn't really matter anymore whether you believe Al Gore or not. At least it doesn't matter if you work for or deal with the Executive Branch of the U. S. Government:

"...It is therefore the policy of the United States that Federal agencies shall increase energy efficiency; measure, report, and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions from direct and indirect activities; conserve and protect water resources through efficiency, reuse, and stormwater management; eliminate waste, recycle, and prevent pollution; leverage agency acquisitions to foster markets for sustainable technologies and environmentally preferable materials, products, and services; design, construct, maintain, and operate high performance sustainable buildings in sustainable locations; strengthen the vitality and livability of the communities in which Federal facilities are located; and inform Federal employees about and involve them in the achievement of these goals."

Source: Executive Order 13514 of October 5, 2009

My bid list is in!

Yesterday was our bidding deadline, so here's what we submitted, in alpha order:

Antananarivo, Madagascar
Hanoi, Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Jakarta, Indonesia
Kathmandu, Nepal
New Delhi, India
Quito, Ecuador
Tegucigalpa, Honduras

I've heard some good vibes from a few of them so we'll see how it all shakes out. We'll probably have a "handshake" offer in the next two weeks.

Depending on where we go, we'll probably leave Buenos Aires in June and spend a few months in the U.S. on home leave and training before heading to our onward assignment. School schedules figure greatly in the calculus, of course!

AFSA: Closing the Overseas Pay Gap

1. We have a major success to report in the long-standing effort to close the overseas pay gap suffered by entry-level and mid-level Foreign Service members stationed abroad. Legislative language to begin to close the pay gap is contained in the 2009 Supplemental for Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Pandemic Flu that has now cleared the House and Senate and is headed for an expected Presidential signature in the coming days.

2. To recap how we got here: Funding to begin to close the pay gap was appropriated this spring in the FY09 omnibus appropriation bill. However, authorization legislation to permit the expenditure of those funds was still lacking. Late last year, AFSA and key allies convinced the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee -- on a unanimous, bipartisan basis -- to approve bills containing the needed authorization. While those bills never gained final passage, it is now clear that getting them through the two committees was a key development that set the stage for supporters to place funding in the FY09 omnibus appropriations and attach the
necessary authorization language to the must-pass war supplemental bill.

3. Once the President signs the bill into law, AFSA understands that State will move swiftly to close approximately one third of the current 23.1 percent gap. USAID, FAS, FCS, and IBB management will need to take similar steps. AFSA understands that USAID has sufficient funding for the remainder of FY09 to do so. While FY09 funding for FAS, FCS, and IBB is tight, implementing this for their relatively small number of
overseas non-senior Foreign Service members will have a modest budgetary impact. AFSA is asking State management to reach out to the other foreign affairs agencies to encourage consistency and uniformity in the implementation of this new Foreign Service-wide pay policy.

4. AFSA understands that the new pay will be treated as base pay so that, for example, the dollar value of hardship differentials based on the new higher base pay will themselves rise. We further understand that, during an anticipated three year phase-in period, current practices will not change for calculating virtual locality pay for annuity computation purposes.

5. One complication is that the legislation will apply only to FY09 and will thus expire this October 1. There is no way to avoid that since language in an appropriations bill is only valid for the year covered. Thus, new language will need to pass later this year to continue the three-year implementation. Several legislative vehicles exist that could accomplish that. AFSA and our allies will work to get that accomplished.

6. AFSA has many allies to thank for getting us to the brink of an important victory on this top priority goal: -- In the Senate, special thanks go to Senate Appropriations
Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and the Ranking Republican Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH). We are also grateful for the work of Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry (D-MA) and committee Ranking Republican Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN). Senate Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia Chairman Daniel Akaka
(D-HI) and subcommittee Ranking Republican Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH) deserve great credit for their ongoing support. In addition, we appreciate the support of Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) for their support at key moments.

-- In the House of Representatives, we recognize the leadership of House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman (D-CA) and committee Ranking Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL). We recognize HFAC members Rep. Don Payne (D-NJ), Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY), and Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY). And a special thanks to Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) who has been a long time advocate for a solution. We appreciate the support of Chairwoman Nita Lowey (D-NY) of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs and subcommittee Ranking Republican Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX). Also, Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL), Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), and House Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) all made important contributions
at critical junctures.

-- In the Executive Branch, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton led the final successful push to secure legislation to close the overseas pay gap. During her tenure and also that of her predecessor, State’s senior management team worked actively behind the scenes to advance these efforts.

-- Last but not least, we thank those AFSA members (active duty and retired) who stepped up to the plate at various times in recent years to write to, or meet with, lawmakers to raise the pay gap issue. We thank the many members who provided vital support to AFSA’s lobbying efforts via their financial contributions to AFSA’s Legislative Action Fund. We thank those in the news media, the Government Accountability Office, and the Congressional Research Service who took the time to understand this issue and provide independent validation of the seriousness of the
pay gap problem. We give special thanks to AFSA Legislative Director Ian Houston (recently promoted to be AFSA Executive Director) whose persistence and persuasive abilities were vital to our success on Capitol Hill.

7. A final comment. On the eve of resigning the AFSA Presidency on June 12 to transfer overseas, John Naland left this note: “The effort to close the overseas pay gap began on February 16, 2001 when the Washington Post’s Federal Diary noted that CIA employees, but not Foreign Service members, receive Washington D.C.-based comparability pay when serving abroad. I, as then AFSA State Vice President, was the
source of that unclassified information which began the public discussion about pay equity for diplomats. Having been present at the start of this effort, I am delighted to see it headed to a successful, if long overdue, conclusion.”

No wheels blues

Unlike Ethiopia, public transit in Buenos Aires is extensive, safe, and cheap. Nevertheless, we miss having our own car to run errands and drop/pick up various and sundry children at social occasions and activities. So far, our grand plan for getting a car here has been thwarted.

We sold our Nissan Patrol 4x4 in Ethiopia - for what we paid for it two years before :-) - because we didn't need such a huge gas-guzzler in Argentina. We wouldn't even be able to park it in the garage here, Argentina has good streets and roads and a European-style small-car culture.

Realizing that renting a car during our seven weeks of home leave and training would have cost us upwards of $1600, we decided instead to buy a 2006 Honda Accord, thinking we could then ship it to Argentina. We hadn't counted on the continuing effects of a scandal here, which broke in January. In short, with the illicit cooperation of some corrupt people in the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs, some diplomats imported some very pricey vehicles tax-free and sold them to locals for huge profits. The entire MFA section responsible for customs clearance of all diplomatic shipments was fired.

Since then, air freight and household shipments have been cleared fairly rapidly, but the Ministry has been denying many automobile import requests. There also doesn't seem to be any logic to why some cars are permitted and others aren't, despite multiple requests for guidance and information.

Thus our perfectly-good Honda is sitting at my uncle's house in Florida while we await MFA's ruminations of whether we can import it. If they deny entry to it, our alternatives are inconvenient or expensive.

We're waiting and seeing while we hail another cab.

Arrived and Highspeed in Buenos Aires

Howdy folks. We arrived in Buenos Aires on July 31 and are settling in nicely. We moved right into our 5 BR, 4-1/2 BA mansion in the tony suburbs, about 10 mins. walk from school and the same distance from the train that takes me downtown to the Embassy. Clara and Gwendolyne started school and are enjoying it so far. Patricia plans to start Spanish classes at a private institute downtown on Monday, and I'll take classes twice a week at the Embassy starting Friday.

We still don't have our car - that's a whole other story I'll relate later - but our air shipment arrived and we have the first 700 lbs of our stuff.

We got high-speed Internet installed on Tuesday - 3 Mb down, 256 kb up, so we're able to use our Lingo VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol). This allows those of you who remember our telephone number from Arlington (and if you don't remember it, just e-mail us and we'll remind you) to call us - the phone rings right here in Buenos Aires. Ahhh, the wonders of modern infrastructure!

I reached an important milestone on July 28 - I received tenure! It doesn't come with a raise or anything, but now I can't be fired short of a criminal conviction. I'm in good company too, as all the IT guys I started with also received tenure, as did many of my colleagues in the other specialties.