re: "US ConGen Chennai: "Dirty and Dark" Tamil Remark Lands US Diplomat in Very Hot Water"

Domani Spero at Diplopundit ("Just one obsessive observer, diplomatic watcher, opinionator and noodle newsmaker monitoring the goings on at Foggy Bottom and the worldwide available universe.") explored how this could have happened.

Money quote(s):

"(A) US diplomat was caught in a very public row over her insensitive and thoughtless remark about Tamils during a speech at a local university in Chennai, India."

A fairly experienced individual, but new to formal diplomacy. Foreigners can be a mite tetchy about First World diplomats talking down to them, even if the diplomat didn't mean to do so.

"U.S. diplomats are on 24/7, 365 days a year. Even the lowest ranked, most junior U.S. diplomat is a representative of the United States Government.The press, and host country nationals in fact, will have high expectations even on the newest vice-consul. If there is a lesson to this, it is that no matter how junior a diplomat the individual might be, what he/she says and does reflect on the United States. The press, local or otherwise, will not make allowances that this is a diplomat's first assignment or whether or not he/she had lessons in public affairs and public diplomacy."

All true. It can be a bit heady; it's also quite dangerous (to the junior diplomats more than anyone).

Presumably V/C Chao's supervisor looked at her long experience in education and thought she'd be the ideal person to handle this particular speaking event. We all have to speak in public sooner or later; this is covered at least somewhat during the A-100 orientation that all FSOs attend.

"In a very competitive service, entry level officers often try to set themselves apart from the pack. Most volunteer for additional assignments, others use their portfolio assignments to stand out; in a pack of highly educated, talented newbies, they mostly want to be memorable to their bosses. But it can sometimes backfire.

In the last several years, there has also been a pushed for new officers to be out there. Even "newbies" on their first tours in consular sections are being asked to conduct consular public diplomacy outreach with radio, television and the print media. The State Department culture often presumes that a Foreign Service Officer, a generalist can do just about anything, whether they are trained for it or not. Some officers are indeed talented in dealing with the general public and the media; but others are not so."

First tour officers are worried about their annual performance appraisals; supervisors of those first tour officers are worried about coming up with something to write for each of perhaps as many as a dozen or more such individuals that makes each evaluation individual. So they get special projects or assignments, none of it make-work, that give them an opportunity to shine (or not).

I suspect that this vice consul's supervisor has had lots of occasion to reflect on all the ramifications of that.

"In another life -- in at least one consular section, I have seen a Consul General tasked entry level officers with extremely limited press training to go out and deal with the media in the section's public outreach. And it was not optional. The result was a group of new officers who desperately wanted to excel on something they were set to fail. For those naturally talented or PD-coned, the task was manageable; if you have the knack for it, you can get by by the skin of your teeth. For those who are non-PD coned, or those with no substantial experience dealing with foreign publics--some not always friendly to the United States, it was often like amateur hour. Why would a senior manager do something like this? Rumor had it that the Consul General was trying to impress somebody from his/her home bureau with an "innovative" program for new officers which carry no training cost. It was a shitty program but the junior officers were too afraid to complain or demand appropriate training." (Bold typeface added for emphasis. - CAA.)

All FSOs, but especially new ones, suffer (is the right word?) from varying degrees of Lake Woebegone-ness. That is, none of them can be described as being anything but above average. They can't be average (or below) to get anywhere within spitting distance of being hired into this line of work, no matter what fellowships or other line-cutting opportunities they're gifted with beforehand.

CAA admits to a certain trepidation when it comes to dealing with the media, but has benefited from generally U.S.-friendly interviewers and media outlets, which allowed him to gain experience without tongue-trampling too badly on camera (or in print).

"(E)ntry level officers who are on overseas assignment for the first time ought not deal with the foreign public/media without specific guidance/training from post's Public Affairs Officer. Some sections where bosses are not too addled with the illness known as promotiontitis, the officers get to do murder boards before they show up for public engagements. Despite what the name implies, a murder board does not involve actual murder and gets its origin from the U.S. Army's extensive training system; it simulates the actual presentation where the audience (usually colleagues) engaged in a role play including asking difficult and gotcha questions that the target group is likely to ask. It is a practice session that not only allows newbies to make mistakes in a learning environment; if handled effectively with appropriate feedback, it also help the new officers improve their persuasion, presentation and public speaking skills."

The concept of a "murder board" is also utilized when preparing political appointees for their confirmation hearings. The main drawback is time. Anyone who would be needed to put one of these together almost certainly has other things eating up the limited number of hours in their work day. So preparing media newbies for their first foray into the lion's den has to be made enough of a priority (by management) that it happens. To do otherwise invites media disaster, as we've seen.

8/15

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.