At Your Service Around the World

The Washington Post had a nice piece this past week about embassies around the world helping American citizens.

It is a really nice piece and I recommend you read it. It talks a lot about the work our consular officers do helping Americans, from warning them of potential dangers to issuing them new passports or in some happy cases, birth certificates (Babies entitled to American citizenship who are born abroad receive a CRBA, or Consular Report of Birth Abroad).

The reporter actually spent some time observing a consular officer doing his job. It is important work that I think most Americans, particularly those in Congress, are unaware of. As one of my colleagues said in a comment on the article, if Congress spent a day observing what we do abroad for American citizens, they would probably be rushing to increase our staff and budget rather than axing it.

Shout Out to the Folks in Addis

My wife and I are spending the weekend visiting her sister and our niece.

At the airport, we saw a family with a young boy they had clearly just adopted. They were showering him with adoration, and he was clearly very happy with them.

I asked them about it, and they said they were on their return trip from Ethiopia, where they had adopted him.

I said I hoped the folks in Addis has treated him well. As he changed his son into a Kansas City Jayhawks t-shirt, he said it had been a really long process, but the embassy folks had been great. I told him that many consular officers found adoptions one of the most rewarding things they did, bringing children to families who would love them.

And folks, you did a good job on this one. This family clearly adores this boy (who already knows how to shout KU!). To ease his transition into life as an American, they hired a tutor for the time while they were working their way through the process, to teach him some English. So he isn't as lost here as a child his age with no english at all.

So here's to the folks in Addis. Great job! You have played a part in making one happy, well-loved boy and a happy family.

Goose Crossing

Being a staffer is a fast-paced job. Coming back to FSI meant shifting into a lower gear. Sometimes that takes some getting used to...I confess that for me, it took maybe a day

I am so geared down that I even take time, even when I am late (because those who know me know that as a half-German, half Indian, I either have to be 15 minutes early or it is a good day to fish), to stop and smell the roses

Or let the geese cross, as the case may be.



If you have spent any time at FSI, you have seen geese. Canadian geese. There used to be tons of them, but there aren't as many now as there were the last time I was here...it seems the cardboard cut-outs of coyotes (which I admit I laughed at) have worked to a point. But some have figured it out and the geese (and goose poop) have returned. I guess we just built a smarter goose...more proof Darwin was right.

I have concerns about these geese though. I mean, they are Canadians. So I am not sure whether they are legal permanent residents, here on a visa, or here illegally. I do suppose though that the chicks they gave birth to at FSI are U.S. citizens since they were born here (at least until some birthright movement folks try to get their way and remove that protection from the Constitution).

Yes, FSOs are geeks...you knew that already.

More FSO humor: consular vs political

Thanks to Muttering Behind the Hardline for noticing this piece on the difference between consular and political work at Adventures in Good Countries. It is hysterical and 100% spot on!

I particularly sprayed Mountain Dew over this:

CONS: This is urgent! [Read: Someone is in danger!]

POL: This is urgent! [Read: Washington wants this real bad like!]

And this:

There aren't any FSNs in POL. Well, I mean, there are, but not physically in POL -- they're way over there, in the unclassified part of the building that you never think to step foot in. You probably have no idea what they're doing. In fact, you, PolOff, said to have your fingers on the proverbial pulse of the country in which you're stationed, can go pretty much all day without even seeing a Jordanian. Try that in CONS, and the FSNs will come find you and feed you things.

And let me tell you, the thing I miss most about Jerusalem is Consular FSNs (and how well they fed me).

It is important to note that you will NOT lose weight in a consular section.

State Department urged to boost hiring

From today's Government Executive:

State Department urged to boost hiring

If the State Department does not beef up its workforce, diplomatic programs will suffer and foreign policy will become more militarized, a new report warned.

"Today, significant portions of the nation's foreign affairs business simply are not accomplished," stated the report, released earlier this week by the American Academy of Diplomacy and the Stimson Center. "The work migrates by default to the military that does have the necessary people and funding, but neither sufficient experience nor knowledge. The 'militarization' of diplomacy exists and is accelerating... . The status quo cannot continue without serious damage to our vital interests." The report also studied staffing levels at the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The report recommended that the State Department hire 4,735 more Foreign Service staffers and other key personnel between fiscal 2010 and 2014. New hires would be involved in core diplomatic efforts such as operating embassies and working with businesses and nongovernmental organizations abroad; engage in public diplomacy; administer economic assistance programs like those at USAID; and manage reconstruction and stabilization projects similar to ones in Iraq and Afghanistan. Those staffers would fill a 2008 shortfall of 2,400 employees, the authors said, and help State expand its activities while allowing more employees to receive much-needed training.

The authors identified USAID itself and public diplomacy programs at State as areas where more staff is critically needed. The number of public diplomacy staffers has fallen 24 percent, from 1,742 in 1986 to 1,332 in fiscal 2008. The current staffing levels are enough to sustain some traditional outreach efforts like media campaigns, the report said, but are not sufficient to allow public diplomacy officers to make extensive personal contacts and develop media efforts to reach out to younger generations.

Public diplomacy officers create and manage programs designed to inform audiences in other countries how American history, values and traditions shape the country's foreign policy.
The contrast at USAID is even more striking. In 1990, 3,500 people administered $5 billion in program funding for economic assistance; currently 2,200 staffers oversee $8 billion. The agency employs only five engineers to oversee projects worldwide, and 29 education officers are responsible for programs in 84 countries. As a result, the report said, USAID has stopped managing many programs directly and relies on 1,200 temporary contractors rather than on career staff with technical expertise directly relevant to the projects at hand.

The report was the latest salvo from the foreign affairs community in a battle to increase staff in a range of areas at State and USAID. The U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy released in June its own comprehensive recommendations for reforming the public diplomacy workforce. The academy and the Stimson Center are co-sponsoring a forum next week on their report.

Sens. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, and George Voinovich, R-Ohio, chairman and ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Federal Workforce Subcommittee respectively, have held a series of hearings on the subject. Voinovich in particular has expressed impatience with the idea that State has been asked to "do more with less."

If there's going to be a coup...

I'm convinced that the reason I stay in the foreign service is because of the friends I have made and the conversations we have.

A friend from Jerusalem had a party yesterday and everyone there was a friend from one of the posts were she had served (or a significant other of one of those). And as usual, we got talking about the great stories you get while in the service. Not just consular stories but all kinds of stories. We talked about our clearance interviews (some stories were funny, some were just sad). But my friend T really topped it.

She was in Manilla, out having dinner with some friends and local folks. And there had been talk of a coup. But some of the local folks were leaving dinner and going to a bar, and they invited her along. She was tempted to go...it was a nice night and she was having fun. And then she thought, perfectly calmly, "You know, if there is going to be a coup, I should probably go home."

Now where in the real world do you come up with lines like that!

Consular Fiction?

Diplopundit has a post that is tagged as fiction, but it sounds like it could have been someone I dealt with as a consular officer (it isn't the obligatory naked American story, which we all have, but I think the American being watched by aliens is also pretty common - I have one of those too...)

You can read Diplopundit's story here.