Madam le Consul at The Consul's Files ("ask questions, answer questions, question answers, express frustrations, engage in debate, disagree, and tell their favorite consular stories, uncensored and anonymous") affirmed probably the most crucial role of front-line consular managers (Those studs. And studettes).
Money quote(s):
"More than anyone else in the mission, the consular section chief is responsible for raising up the next generation of FSOs, giving them a good, strong, broad, confident start in their new profession."
"What is a consular section chief's ultimate goal with the ELOs? It is to train them so well that if the chief is run over by a milk truck tomorrow, the section will barely hiccup. If we haven't taught them everything we know, we have failed.
What is a consular section chief's penultimate goal with ELOs? It is to teach them the most basic requirements of their careers: do hard work well; do it with class and style; do it with kindness and generosity; do it with the biggest possible picture in mind. We don't do our work for gratitude; we do it because it's our work. We don't bring our personal baggage to the work station. We are on a par with every other officer in the mission, and will be treated with and will behave with perfect professionalism and respect."
&
"What if they aren't consular coned and will never do another consular tour? Why bother to teach them so much? Because some day they will be doing visa referrals, they will be principal officers, they will be DCMs. It will strongly behoove us to assure that they know a great deal about and have great respect for consular work, if for no other reason than to spare the next generation of consular managers excessive heartburn."
Showing posts with label DCM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DCM. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Sunday, August 16, 2009
re: "Owlers: "Particularly Qualified" Letters Sent to Diplomats"
Domani Spero at Diplopundit ("Blogging the Foreign Service: Just one obsessive observer, diplomatic watcher, opinionator and noodle newsmaker monitoring the goings on at Foggy Bottom and the worldwide available universe.") observed the arrival of some correspondence of note, particularly for the recipients.
Money quote(s):
"I understand that the owl mail started hitting workstations last week. I received a tip that Career Development Officers (CDOs) have sent out DG-drafted letters late last week to Foreign Service officers deemed “particularly qualified” for service in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
One officer who received the targeted recruitment letter was quite surprised. Why? Well, because the job this officer was targeted for requires a specific language proficiency (which this FSO does not have) and reporting on economic conditions (FSO had no previous experience in the country nor in writing economic reports). The last time we’ve seen similar letters was about two years ago when State was staffing the diplomatic surge in Iraq, and diplomats were under threat of being sent on directed assignments."
"The military is expected to draw down soon in Iraq but there is no corresponding expectation for the draw down of US diplomatic presence there. So even as the State Department ramps up its diplomatic surge in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the demand for FS personnel in Iraq will not abate."
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"(W)ould volunteers continue to step up year after year? We're on Year 6 going on 7 in Iraq, plus Year 1 going on 4, at least in Af/Pak (under new policy). I'm not sure how long you can keep recycling the same volunteers (who are language qualified or with reporting or stabilization experience) into the war zones or into critical post. Aren't there folks doing their third tour in Iraq? (I should note that the most recent DCM coming out of Iraq is tapped for Sri Lanka; and the most recent DCM coming out of Kabul is going to Kosovo)."
Money quote(s):
"I understand that the owl mail started hitting workstations last week. I received a tip that Career Development Officers (CDOs) have sent out DG-drafted letters late last week to Foreign Service officers deemed “particularly qualified” for service in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
One officer who received the targeted recruitment letter was quite surprised. Why? Well, because the job this officer was targeted for requires a specific language proficiency (which this FSO does not have) and reporting on economic conditions (FSO had no previous experience in the country nor in writing economic reports). The last time we’ve seen similar letters was about two years ago when State was staffing the diplomatic surge in Iraq, and diplomats were under threat of being sent on directed assignments."
"The military is expected to draw down soon in Iraq but there is no corresponding expectation for the draw down of US diplomatic presence there. So even as the State Department ramps up its diplomatic surge in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the demand for FS personnel in Iraq will not abate."
&
"(W)ould volunteers continue to step up year after year? We're on Year 6 going on 7 in Iraq, plus Year 1 going on 4, at least in Af/Pak (under new policy). I'm not sure how long you can keep recycling the same volunteers (who are language qualified or with reporting or stabilization experience) into the war zones or into critical post. Aren't there folks doing their third tour in Iraq? (I should note that the most recent DCM coming out of Iraq is tapped for Sri Lanka; and the most recent DCM coming out of Kabul is going to Kosovo)."
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