The Hill - Diminishing American diplomacy around the globe a dangerous prospect

Brett Bruen at The Hill ("It signals the important issues of the moment.") makes some nice arguments about the importance of U.S. diplomacy to real life Americans.

Money quote(s):

"You’re robbed on a trip overseas. It’s late on a Friday night. A short message at the American Embassy informs you that due to budget cuts they no longer provide afterhours service. No help will be available until Monday. Even then, you’ll face long lines and limited options. Can our citizens really do without diplomats?"

Most consular services are supported by fees.  Application fees for visas, processing fees for passports, notarial fees; you get the picture.

There are some instances where there's no fee charged; in death cases, in assisting victims of crime, in visiting U.S. citizens detained, arrested, or imprisoned abroad.  That comes out of overhead.  Embassies and consulates (and the Bureau of Consular Affairs which pays the salaries of consular staff) eat the cost; the paying customers subsidize the non-paying ones.

One of the concerns about (possibly) moving the visa and passport missions to DHS is the question of who then shoulders the burden of some of the most sensitive functions of consular work, assisting U.S. citizens abroad?  Along with that, who pays for it?  Would State retain those responsibilities?  Would DHS assume them?  If the fees ($2 billion annually) were to move along with the visa and passport function to DHS, is Congress then going to begin appropriating a budget (which it hasn't had to do in decades) to pay for those non-fee generating services?

"In defending diplomacy, we too often talk in bold and broad terms. World peace. International trade. America’s standing on the global stage. These goals seem detached from the kinds of things that impact people every day. Less heralded are the concessions achieved by our negotiators that make the world a fairer place to do business. Few will connect the fact Americans need a visa to so few countries with the work of diplomacy. There are no parades for the war that didn’t happen."

Americans may travel to so many countries around the world needing to get a visa beforehand that some are honestly surprised when they encounter a situation where they do.  Naturally, that tends to happen (since nowadays nobody books trips through travel agencies which might have warned them) when they try to board a flight for their dream vacation destination and are denied boarding.  Even more naturally, that will happen as they try to change plans at an airport overseas and on a weekend in a city where they don't understand the language, they have no hotel reservations, and there is no U.S. consulate.

"There are those in the West Wing who doubt diplomats’ support for Trump’s foreign policies. Yet, every senior diplomat in Foggy Bottom served under Republican and Democratic administrations. They did so because they are guided by a belief in American principles, not party."

It's true our diplomats genuinely put country before party.  Nonetheless, it's also true that the last eight years really muddied those waters, especially in the minds of those who watched from the other side of the aisle.

re: "No mother-in-law evictions for consular officials"

Domani Spero at Diplopundit ("an obsessive compulsive observer, diplomatic watcher, and opinionator who monitors the goings on at ‘Foggy-Bottom’ (i.e. the State Department) and the “worldwide available” universe from Albania to Zimbabwe") relayed a blast of reality from our neighbors to the north.

Money quote(s):

"The Canadian Minister of State of Foreign Affairs recently issued areminder to Canadians traveling overseas on the importance of careful planning for safe travel and what consular officials can and cannot do"

Reminders of this sort can't possibly be disseminated often (or widely) enough.

"An excellent reminder, not at all different from what American consular officials can and cannot do for Americans overseas."

In bizarro-world, the embassy would send consular officers out to place mints on the pillows of all our expatriat fellow-citizens, would have aircraft carrier task forces (like in Jurassic Park!) on speed-dial, helicopters in our motor pool, and enough U.S. Marines without otherwise gainful employment to send them out for, er, domestic conflict resolution.

The essentials (of what the Canadian consular officials can do or not do):

"“Consular Officials CAN:

Provide advice and information for medical services.
Contact relatives or friends when you need serious help.
Provide sources of information for local laws and customs.
Replace lost or stolen passports.

“Consular Officials CANNOT:

Ask your mother-in-law to leave your house.
Purchase tickets for a musical or entertainment event.
Settle disputes between you and your partner."

It's not that consular officials don't love dogs; we do. It's just that we're not actually an international concierge service.

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Seasons Greetings

It's Winter. Officially it began this week with the Winter Soltice and Winterset.

Psychically, the holiday season itself seems to begin sometime between Halloween and Thanksgiving (holidays themselves, IIRC) with the appearance of Christmas decorations in shopping centers and drugstores.

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I'd like to take a moment to wish all of my colleagues and comrades, in uniform and out, military and diplomatic, American and allied, around the world and around the Beltway, a very Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukkah (as your own consciences guide you).

If Yule or Festivus (or even Kwanza) is your thing, likewise get on with it and have a great one.

(If none of those works for you, well, enjoy some officially-authorized time off anyway.)

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As I trawl (not troll) my way around the diplo- and mil-blogospheres, I notice from time to time CAA's presence on more than a few blog rolls and links lists. Like anyone, I appreciate the recognition and hope I will remain (or become?) worthy of it.

I've even noticed CAA's presence on the blog rolls of those who are not yet (but here's hoping!) FSOs. It is to those of you aspiring FSO candidates that I address the following:

First, don't give up. There's no penalty for multiple attempts at passing the various obstacles, er, examinations, which must be overcome in the hiring process. Just do some basic research about how the process works and be realistic about some of the factors, completely out of your control, which may have great influence on whether one is hired (or not) during any given year.

Second, as I alluded above, do your homework. The Department goes to admirable lengths to make lots of information about FS careers and about the hiring process itself on the various career webpages at www.state.gov. An educated applicant is our best candidate.

Third, be realistic about the career. It's not just a job, not just something to put on the resume to fill in the blank between graduate school and whatever you see as your next rung on the career ladder. While it's flattering to know that so many see having been an FSO as quite a feather in their professional cap, it's also a little bit insulting. Old school FSOs know that this is not just a job, it's a profession in which we take quite a bit of old-fashioned pride, it's a vocation to which we are called in service.

Having said that, it's not for everyone, and not necessarily forever. People change, people's goals change, and there's no shame in moving on to something else after a period of honorable service. If nothing else, you can always help to beef up the Foreign Service's eternally slender domestic constituency.

To go along with that, understand (as most of you do, I hope) that when they say "worldwide availability" they're not kidding. Only a slender few (and you know who you are) manage to get on the London-Paris-Rome-Brussels-Berlin-Vienna circuit as a career path. The great majority of us will labor on at hardship posts around the world, at risk to health (and life and limb), under-serving our children's education, and enjoy our occasional First World or Washington, D.C. assignments as a bit of a treat.

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People sometimes ask if I enjoy my work, if it's fun, if it's rewarding, &tc. Yes, but usually not all of those things at the same time.

The most enjoyable and fun things aren't actually the most professionally rewarding parts of the job. The travel opportunities have been unmatched, working for State has gotten me to faraway places to see things that you'd pretty much have to be a National Geographic photographer otherwise. I've met people and even made friends in other cultures, in other languages, that the average tourism traveler never could.

The flip side of that is, all that geographic access and personal contact have very practical applications when an American tourist or expatriat runs into difficulties abroad. When I worked (as hundreds of State Dept. staff and thousands of military personnel did) on the 2006 Lebanon evacuation, not that much of it was fun, although it was the most professional rewarding work I'd done up to that point.

Later on, as I performed American Citizen Services (ACS) work in the Third World, I visited Americans injured in traffic accidents in the hospital, assisted victims of sexual assault get immediate medical care, identified deceased Americans at local morgues, and made next-of-kin death notifications. None of those things are fun. Some of them can be downright traumatic, for all involved. But all of those things were, and are, professionally rewarding in a way that's hard to explain.

Consular officers performing those sorts of tasks are doing necessary, even crucial tasks, on behalf of victims' loved ones back in the U.S., things that have to be done and often done quickly. The family, spouses, or next-of-kin are thousands of miles away or otherwise unavailable, perhaps even victims themselves. So you step up for your countrymen and countrywomen on whose behalf you serve abroad.

That's what I mean by professionally rewarding.

In many cases, a consular officer can't make things better, things are bad and that can't be changed. But where a consular officer earns his (or her) pay on those occasions is by seizing the chance to keep things from getting any worse. And sometimes that's the best that can be done.

re: "Foreign SERVICE"

Becky at Small bits ("This blog is the bits and pieces that I am okay sharing with the world at large.") shares some thoughts from the FS spouse side of the house.

Money quote(s):

"(S)ome of the best people around here deal with hard stuff. And that maybe I am not the only one who has ever avoided sleep to avoid nightmares. I needed that."

Yeah. Just when started to get over my own nightmares, I now start having other people's.

Okay, that's a little opaque; but what I mean is I generally don't have nightmares (hardly, mostly) about my own traumatic events anymore (the wreck, Iraq, &tc.) but rather those of other folks' traumas that I've witnessed professionally. Morgue visits, crash sites; that sort of thing.

"Yes, you get to live in amazing places, experience all kinds of cultures, and have amazing experiences. However, this isn't always an easy job. You don't always go to work and come back every night to a nice house. You go to work and sometimes come home to a family in culture shock in a partially functioning home in a third world country. You can't always talk about work and so sometimes you come home and just hold your kids tight. Sometimes you live under constant stress from violence or pollution or disease. You go where you are asked and do what you are asked to do. I can tell you it is hard sometimes and I don't even do the job. I'm just along for the ride as a spouse.

Anywhere you go in the world, Foreign Service Officers will be on call 24/7 to help Americans."

That's why we're there. It's in the mission statement and everything.

&

"My thanks go to you and all the other officers who go to work every day because they care about their country and their countrymen. Because they understand that more than half of the Foreign Service is about service."

It's surprising how many people don't get that, probably because of how bastardized the concept of "service" has become in today's society. And partially because of how little people think of public service these days.

re: "The Importance of Making a Good First Impression"

NoDoubleStandards at Calling a Spade a Spade ("Rants of a Foreign Service Officer on the things that matter to you -- and matter to you not at all") had some great suggestions for first-line consular managers.

Money quote(s):

"As the wave of anticipation which began with the first day of A-100 crests with the arrival of Flag Day, for those who did not choose consular as their cone, one of the greatest hopes among junior officers about to be assigned to their first posts is this: will I luck out and avoid a consular tour my first time out?"

If anything, not getting consular assignment the first time out puts an entry-level officer at a major disadvantage the first time they are the embassy's duty officer at their first post, having had minimal preparation for dealing with late night calls from distressed American travelers, &tc.

Consular experience will stand every FSO in good stead throughout their careers for just that reason.

".... the reputation consular work still has as salt mine labor, where only sadomasochists spend the bulk of their careers. For everyone else, it's a purgatory one must endure before entering the "promised land" of work in your chosen cone.Think about what a challenge a consular manager faces when she receives a first-tour officer at post full of disappointment that he didn't at least score a rotational job: unhappy, unmotivated, perhaps, and looking to make this a relatively painless two years that will fly by quickly."

The challenge these new FSO's bosses have is to turn the "fly by quickly" and "relatively painless" expectation into something closer to "how do I make the most of this experience."

"(P)eople choose cones based on their own personal interests, their motivations and their personalities. A consular manager can't be expected to convert all his FAST officers into clones of Maura Harty. That said, if a consular officer doesn't appreciate with appropriate gravity the formative role he fills in the careers of the State Department's future leaders, he does us all a great disservice."

"The political section won't want to hear this, but ACS is hands down the most important work done overseas. How many congressionals do you get over botched or insufficient political reporting? And visas? These officers are the first line of defense in protecting our borders. The work consular officers do directly impacts American lives and the security of our nation in tangible -- not theoretical -- ways."

&

"(T)he accolades I treasure most are those I've received doing work that was extremely challenging for me -- jobs where I really felt like a fish out of water.

As officers who recognize the importance if the work CA does, we need to appreciate that the stint of every FAST officer who does consular work matters. Not one should leave their obligatory consular tours vowing never to have a thing to do with consular again. We need to be forward-thinking, understanding that those first two tours often set the tone for an entire career and leave lasting impressions of consular managers and consular work."

I agree about the accolades. When an experienced PD officer (one of the old-timers who came over from USIA) whom I'd worked with as a control officer encouraged me to bid on Public Diplomacy jobs because he thought I handled PD well, that made my month.

Advice from an FSO blogger

A fellow FSO and web logger emailed me over the New Year's holiday and asked:

"I’m a new FS blogger, and you’re sort of the legend in the field, so was wondering if you had any advice or tips for a new blogger. I notice that out of all the Foreign Service blogs I’ve read, yours is the only one that touches on foreign policy, and you use a fictitious name. Is there some rule (other than the required disclaimer) that prevents FSOs from blogging? Has blogging every caused you problems with the Foreign Service? Anything else I haven’t thought of that you wish you’d known when you started out?"

My response included:

"Advice? Hmm, how about don't? Sure, I use a fictitious name (taken from Herman Waulk's The Winds of War) and fictitious post & country (taken from Frederick Forsyth's The Deceiver). My political views, such as they are, don't have anything to do with how I perform my job; after all, we're all professional diplomats here. So I don't want to cloud the rating issues at EER time, but at the same time I have the same Constitutional rights to my own opinions, for instance, as did "X" when he wrote for Foreign Affairs back in the early Cold War days.

I haven't had any professional issues crop up related to the web log. I was more than a little startled the first time Liam Schwarz quoted/linked me on his Consular Corner. I keep waiting for a polite call from the Seventh Floor to tell me to knock it off; perhaps with the new administration.....

Anyhow, my only advice would be this:

As with anything we (FSOs) do, never do/say anything you're not prepared to explain before a congressional committee;

Don't engage in gossip-mongering, especially about your colleagues and/or superiors;

Don't violate the privacy of your colleagues, the fellow countrymen/women for whom you may provide American Citizen Services, or the foreign nationals you may provide (or not) visa services;

Encourage and applaud the things you feel the Department or the Service is doing right; be judicious in your public criticism (after all, Damning-with-faint-praise is something of an FS tradition);

Take advantage of the many opportunities to explain/defend your profession, the Service, the Department, when commenting at other web logs or when unfair/unbalanced media coverage slams us. As a Department, our PD effort is on the weak side, with lots of room for improvement, and as "new media" proliferates and increases in importance, it's incumbent upon individual FSOs to help "carry the water." It's not about being a mindless cheerleader, it's about combatting outdated and pernicious stereotypes that interfere with accomplishing our core missions. An informed citizenry is a bulwark of democracy."

I also noted:

"The notion that I am any sort of "legend" is one I find truly appalling."